A Clockwork Orange (1971)








Alex and his three droogs, live in a futuristic Britain void of proper law and civil protection. They do drugs, drink, skip school, and wreak havoc during the night. They beat up an old drunkard, steal cars, rape helpless women, and start gang fights in the streets. Alex, being a rather arrogant leader, is rude and disrespectful towards his other droogs, and because of this they plot behind his back against him. In their plan to rob a woman on the outskirts of town, Alex enters the house alone to unlock the door for the other. When confronted by the owner of the house he strikes her in the head in attempt to knock her out. Meeting his droogs outside he is met with a bottle being smashed over his own head, stunning him long enough for the cops to finally arrive and arrest him. It turns out the woman he struck inevitably ended up dieing from the blow and Alex now finds himself with a 14 year prison sentence. In hopes of severely shortening his sentence, Alex signs up for a new breakthrough treatment that "cures" criminals of their want to do evil. The Ludovico treatment, as it is called, consist of Alex living a very high lifestyle while twice daily being subjected to gory and hateful films full of all that is considered wrong and evil. Part of Alex's diet contains a special drug that causes him to slowly get sick as he is forced to watch these films. After a short period of time he is shown as being cured and when, in front of a small audience, he is subjected to another bullying man and a beautiful woman, he is unable to fight back or do what he would like to do, and instead is utterly paralyzed with sickness. The process stripped him not only of his evil, but more importantly and symbolically stripped him of his right to think and be free and live the life he wishes to. After being released from prison and kicked out of his home he is taken in by small group of people who want to get Alex's pitiful story out to the public to attempt to harm the current regime in time for the next election. During this process, Alex attempts suicide and fails, but because of this the doctors of the original Ludovico treatment set out to cure him. Alex awakes from his coma cured of the sickness and is finally able to think and do what he wishes again.


Books on A Clockwork Orange

Stuart Y. McDougal (editor)
Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange
Cambridge, 2003

Stanley Kubrick
A Clockwork Orange, Based on the Novel by Anthony Burgess
New York, 1972

Books with substantial mentioning of A Clockwork Orange

Lawrence Webb
The cinema of urban crisis, Seventies film and the reinvention of the city
Amsterdam, 2014

David Thomson
Have you seen?, A personal introduction to 1,000 films
New York, 2008

Gene D. Phillips, Rodney Hill
The Encyclopedia of Stanley Kubrick, From Day of the Fight to Eyes Wide Shut
New York NY, 2002

Mario Falsetto
Stanley Kubrick, A Narrative and Stylistic Analysis
Westport, Connecticut - London, 2001

Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast (eds.)
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 1. Films
Detroit/New York/San Francisco/London/Boston/Woodbridge, CT, 2000

James Howard
Stanley Kubrick Companion
London, 1999

Danny Peary
Alternate Oscars, One Critic's Defiant Choices for Best Picture, Actor, and Actress - From 1927 to the Present
New York, 1993

Neil Sinyard
Classic Movies
London, 1993

Thomas Allen Nelson
Stanley Kubrick, Spartacus, 2001: Odyssee im Weltraum, Uhrwerk Orange, Shining
München, 1984

Robert Bookbinder
The Films of the Seventies
Secaucus, NJ, 1982

Articles on A Clockwork Orange

James Chapman, 'A bit of the old ultra-violence', A Clockwork Orange, in: I.Q. Hunter (editor), British Science Fiction Cinema, London and New York, 1999

Chris Hewitt, A Clockwork Orange, in: Empire, nr. 216, 2007 pp. 152-153

Adam Smith, A Clockwork Orange, in: Empire, nr. 263 (May), 2011 pp. 90-92

Ian Nathan, "Honestly, if one thing comes back after all this time, it's how much fun I had.", in: Empire, nr. 263 (May), 2011 pp. 93

Articles with substantial mentioning of A Clockwork Orange

Adrian Curry, Graphic detail, in: Filmcomment, nr. 2 (March/April), 2015 pp. 80

Reviews

Robert Hughes, The Décor of Tomorrow's Hell, in: Stuart Y. McDougal (editor), Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, Cambridge, 2003

Pauline Kael, A Clockwork Orange: Stanley Strangeove, in: Stuart Y. McDougal (editor), Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, Cambridge, 2003