A Clockwork Orange (1971)

VERDICT:
7/10 Ludwig Vans

Good movie, but read the book.

A Clockwork Orange is about a 15 year-old in a future crime-ridden England who spends his days like any upstanding lad of the time by running around town beating, raping, stealing and eventually killing any old chap he comes across with the help of his three loyal droogs. Then one day his hobbies catch up with him and he’s subjected to a new form of “therapy” by Johnny Law to cure his evil urges once and for all, stripping him of free will and turning him into a “model citizen” despite any and all attempts to behave otherwise.

For all intents and purposes, this little number is a classic. It’s no surprise that so many folks hold it in such high regard and I’m not gonna be the guy to tell them otherwise, but since I can already sense some heat coming my way for stamping it with a 7, I’m just gonna jump right in and explain myself.

I might be wrong, but I think I’m one of eight people on Earth who read Anthony Burgess’ novel before seeing Kubrick’s adaptation of it. Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s an entirely accurate figure; Google it, I dare you. It was one of the select books in High School that I didn’t immediately refer to SparkNotes for and it remains one of my favorite books of all-time. Makes me wonder what other gems I missed out on, but something tells me The Scarlet Letter wasn’t exactly my bag anyway.

The reason I bring this up is because it’s hard for me to watch this movie without continually comparing it to the source material. Usually I try my very best to distance myself from this frame of mind, but considering that the two more or less mirror each other in a great many ways, distancing myself wasn’t much of an option this time around.

For the most part, Kubrick does a bang-up job of translating the story verbatim in regards to plot and dialogue and such, the morbidly dark humor is also more immediately apparent thanks to all the upbeat classical pieces that play over the constant ultraviolence, and, like all of his efforts, he makes it look damn good. But the few liberties he does take are ones that definitely left me confused and bothered and are the primary reasons as to why this isn’t even an 8.

If you’ve ever heard through the movie nerd grapevine that some folks out there don’t like Kubrick because his movies are misogynistic, A Clockwork Orange is at times a prime example of that argument even if that statement might sound absurd. Not really sure what I think of the guy quite yet, but in contrast to the source material, Kubrick over-sexualized this movie in a big ol’ way. I get the whole dystopian/uber-deviant vibe he’s going for, and there is a good deal of nudity and whatnot in the novel, but after a while Kubrick makes it feel like nudity and rape to the point of excess instead of nudity and rape for a purpose.

What’s the thinking behind turning a crazy cat woman that gets killed by a statue to the head into a closet sex fiend that gets killed by a giant, ceramic cock to the mouth? That’s just one of numerous examples and it’s that kinda shit that makes me wonder “Why?” Same kinda issue I had with Zack Snyder turning Watchmen into a complete and utter bloodbath.

Why?

The other thing is that when Burgess first published the novel overseas, American publishers made him take out the last chapter, leaving us with the ending that Kubrick ultimately provides us with. My issue here is that Kubrick knew about the last chapter and decided to leave it out regardless of Burgess’ protesting. I don’t know, maybe it’s just because I love the last chapter, and I know it’s Kubrick’s call anyway, but it still seems like a dick move even if the ending isn’t all that bad as is.

But everything else is pretty swell, though a lot of that is because of Burgess anyway.

Malcolm McDowell was a good choice for our humble narrator, Alex DeLarge, and, like I said, the story is still very much intact. It’s also something else to see the whole thing brought to life and that outfit of Alex’s sure doesn’t come across as wonderfully as it does in text.

So, personal gripes aside, A Clockwork Orange is nevertheless a brilliant story, brilliantly told about the cost of humanity and the ethics of free will that will entertain, shock and undoubtedly stick with you. Apologies for turning this into a “book vs. movie” review, because I usually hate writing those, but since I’m such a fan, this is where I’m at. If you haven’t seen this yet, take a stab at the book first, and if decoding Alex’s language ends up being more frustrating than rewarding (which is entirely understandable), you’ll still probably dig the movie. And if you already love this thing, at least hop on over to Barnes and Noble and check out the last chapter. Trust me, it’s worth it.