clockwork orange ws wse sm special collection
stanley kubrick dissects the nature of violence in this darkly ironic near future satire adapted from anthony burgess novel complete with nadsat slang . classical music loving proto punk % alex malcolm mcdowell and his droogs spend their nights getting high at the korova milkbar before embarking on a little of the old ultraviolence such as terrorizing a writer % mr. alexander patrick magee and raping his wife while jauntily warbling & singin in the rain . after % alex is jailed for bludgeoning the % cat lady miriam karlin to death with one of her phallic sculptures % alex submits to the ludovico behavior modification technique to earn his freedom ; hes conditioned to abhor violence through watching gory movies and even his adored beethoven is turned against him . returned to the world defenseless % alex becomes the victim of his prior victims with % mr. alexander using beethoven s & ninth to inflict the greatest pain of all . when society sees what the state has done to % alex however the politically expedient move is made . casting a coldly pessimistic view on the then future of the late 70s early 80s kubrick and production designer john barry created a world of high tech cultural decay mixing old details like bowler hats with bizarrely alienating new environments like the milkbar . % alex s violence is horrific yet it is an aesthetically calculated fact of his existence ; his charisma makes the icily clinical ludovico treatment seem more negatively abusive than positively therapeutic . % alex may be a sadist but the states autocratic control is another violent act rather than a solution . released in late 1971 within weeks of sam peckinpah s brutally violent straw dogs the film sparked considerable controversy in the u.s. with its x rated violence ; after copycat crimes in england kubrick withdrew the film from british distribution until after his death . opinion was divided on the meaning of kubrick s detached view of this shocking future but whether the discord drew the curious or kubrick s scathing diagnosis spoke to the chaotic cultural moment a clockwork orange became a hit . on the heels of new york film critics circle awards as best film best director and best screenplay kubrick received oscar nominations in all three categories . lucia bozzola all movie guide . br br production notestheatrical trailernominations and awards . br br production notestheatrical trailernominations and awards .