A Clockwork Orange (Your very, very first thoughts)

Well, it was rated X upon original release. It contained far more interrelated sex and violence than any other mainstream film up until that time. It showed a world where government used torture techniques to turn habitually violent underage criminals into compliant "do-gooders". Sounds just like something Grandma and the kids would love...

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Let's add tormenting copy-cat attacks of actions that were illustrated in the movie...

__________________

Just goes to show how low this film was on my radar screen back then. I remember the protagonist going to bed with underage girlfriends and raping (and I think killing) an older woman, but I can't recall if there was any actual nudity on the screen. I assume so. But wasn't it about this time that husbands and wives and dating couples were going to see Behind the Green Door in some upscale theaters (away from the raincoat crowd)? With mainstream audiences accepting blatant pornography, I don't see how Clockwork could be all that exciting. Besides, consultants were using adverse therapy back then to get people to stop smoking and lose weight. One small step from that to "rewiring" criminals. Actually, I thought that part was a pretty good idea!

But most of all, I just liked the music.

Close, close. No, the major pornos were NOT out yet, but you see, I don't get the comparison. A Clockwork Orange was a legit, terrific film, which didn't need porno. I would have been embarrassed to take a girlfriend to see Deep Throat, but I would have expected that if she wanted to go out with me, that A Clockwork Orange was an honest and interesting movie to watch. I don't think I would have dated a woman who didn't find A Clockwork Orange at least interesting. That's the difference between you and me, ruffy. You went to movies to get laid, at least until you took your kids!

Clockwork Orange is so terrific because the way Kubrick illustrated the future of Britain (which is set to be devastating) followed by the excellent acting of Malcolm McDowell. The sets, the music and the message is all terrifying and unique. Clockwork is one of the most unique movies of all time, and no other film will ever match it's weirdness or original acting.

the first time i saw it,i was 16,u can imagine how i felt.i hated stanley kubrick and for one moment there,i forgot this was the same genius who had directed eyes wide shut. anyway,after i saw the movie for the second time i felt that it was really complicated and maybe this is the reason why we see some movies half way through,because it's hard to think the way directors do.

Whoa, Mark--where did that come from? I've never been laid at a movie . . . theater . . . uh, an indoor movie theater (passion pit drive-ins don't count, do they?)

Clockwork Orange was made in 1971 based on a book written in 1962 and that I read somewhere in the 9 years before the film came out, which may be why the film itself made such a small impression on me. I never said it was pornographic, although others in the forum claimed it had more sexual content (and violence) than most mainstream films of that day.

Like I said, Clockwork the movie came out in 1971. The first of the 3 most famous "porn chic" films, Behind the Green Door, was made in 1972, followed by The Devil in Miss Jones in 1973, and Deep Throat in 1974, so the early 1970s definitely was a period in which the film industry (speaking the broadest sense) was pushing the boundaries of sexual content. I'm not saying Clockwork opened the door to those other films, but these events did not occur in a vacuum. There was a rising tide of sexual revolution that was lifting all boats in that era. Certainly a film like Clockwork couldn't have been made in the 1930s, the 1940s, the 1950s, or even the 1960s, so obviously things were changing in the 1970s. Looking back at that period 30 years later, seems you could cut me some slack if I don't recall Clockwork as being a major force in those changing times--there was just too much else going on.

I've got no argument with that--it was and is just more interesting to some than to others.

Oh, Mark, that sounds snobbish, maybe even sexist. You won't go out with a woman unless she likes exactly what you like??? You'll never broaden your horizons that way!

Never say never--you've got no idea what may be coming to your local theater some day.

Hey, I'm tickled pink that you like the film! I even agree with you on the magnificient musical score (although I'm not sure I'd describe the classics as terrifying--maybe unique).

Meanwhile, is it okay with you if I personally don't believe it's the greatest piece of film ever released? I'm not going to burn it, understand, but I just have no desire to see it again. Surely you feel that way about some of the films I like.

Well the first word i think of is Offensive.. But this being one of my favs, i disagree

__________________
Is there someone inside you?
Sometimes.
Who is it?
I don't know.
Is it Captain Howdy?

Well; I'd like to know what are your favourite films are so your last statement may be true.

It's okay you don't like the movie but you have to admit it's an intelligent piece of film-making. When Kubrick died he left behind hundreds of boxes with still photographs on A Clockwork Orange (location to shoot etc.), it just goes to prove how desperate and passionate he was to make a interesting and different movie.

My first thoughts were that it seemed, in some ways, extremely dated. Sadly, nothing dates faster than 'futuristic' films. Although the whole 'look' Alex and his droogs wear is still very iconic.

Some parts I thought were well filmed, like a kind of violent ballet. Later parts of the film dragged a lot, I felt. I disliked the seeming conflation of rape and sex and the way that it appears to be the camera which is viewing women in a revoltingly objectified way, not just the rapist characters. That was my main problem with it, really.

Overall I just didn't think it had the impact of the book, it was not as inventive with cinematic techniques as the book was with language, and there a couple of changes, such as the ending, which I didn't feel worked so well.

And rufnek said he didn't recall any controversy about the film - as I recall, although I may be wrong, it was withdrawn at the director's insistence after a supposed copycat killing. I remember when it was re-released in cinemas about nine years ago. Although that may only have been in England, I don't know...

Yep, it was only in the UK and was, as you said, it was Kubrick who withdrew it. It wasn't actually banned so, when he died and could no longer stop it, it was re-released both in the cinemas and then on dvd.

I watched it again last night. Malcolm McDowell is terrific. From being a punk with so much power to being held helplessly, it's just fantastic. One of the most powerful and shocking movies of all time. No other movie will match it's theme or power.

My thoughts;
THEN - Stanley Kubrick is a genius.

NOW - It may be his second best film, after Dr. Strangelove.

__________________
R.I.P.

Okay, someone please help me with this film. I dont like it...at all. I saw it first when I was sixteen, and didnt like it. I recently tried to give it another go, and still didnt like it

Let me first acknowledge the positives of the movie (im not one to say it has none):
1. The acting was terrific
2. The music was terrific
3. It WAS interesting (albeit so is autoerotic asphyxiation, but you dont see that as a movie)
4. I did love alex and his friends' slang language

Now, my qualms. Im open to any views on this. I would love feedback
1. The name. Anyone know why its called this? (j/w?)
2. I think many people only like this movie because its weird and they get off on being different
3. It was drawn out and boring in between the rape/violence/ludovico technique
4. It was pretty tame in terms of violence/sexuality for me considering other films.
5. The plot is just too thin
6. I just really do not see how this is put alongside such masterpieces as the Godfather and memento on people's favs.

Help explain the Clockworkmania to me.

What made it a powerful watch to me, beyond the realisation of the ratpack of milk-drinkers, is the troubling and open-ended nature of the social 'solution'.

It has echoes of ongoing interrogation-vs-torture debates; it asks us to keep an eye on technological negations of 'antisocial behaviour' (past chemical castrations of homosexuals, for example); and it puts the 'what can society do about unreformable psychopaths' question front and centre. There's a spread of conundrums there, and they're played out in a mainly involving and believable world (give or take some dodgy back-projection driving scenes and that ).

So I'd definitely disagree with points 2 and 5, for a start

__________________
Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

The very first time i saw this film i was quite young and curious and my initial thought was WTFBBQSAUCE!!!!!!!!

__________________
"Tell 'em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper."

Right on. It's essentially about what level of control the state has over the actions or nature of an individual.

__________________
the angel stayed until something died, one more murder suicide

I loved every moment of it the first time I saw it. Which was on the big screen when they rereleased it over here. And since that time my love for it has only gotten stronger.

In a word - mesmerizing. Straight from the get go I knew I was watching something special. It's unsurpassed from a technical standpoint and I think it's easily Kubrick's best. I have more to say on it but that's for another thread