A Clockwork Orange (Your very, very first thoughts)

I was about 17 or so when I saw it. I was amazed by it. I loved it. I loved a lot of things about it including Malcolm McDowell. I have been a huge fan of his since.

It holds the #1 spot on my English language films, along with The Wicker Man from 1973.

It was a little predictable at the time so I gave it... a 9.5. It's an incredible movie, but I don't have any interest in seeing it again. Too antagonistic. But I admit that the combination of story, characters and themes makes it better than 2001.

It is my least favorite Kubrick movie. It starts off interesting, but once Alex is released, the plot then recycles itself over and over, and I found the ending to have no real resolution or wrap up to anything.

I also find unlike other Kubrick movies, that this one is a made for TV look and feel to it, and just doesn't pop for me at all.

The first time I watched it was for a highschool assignment, just to make sure I got what happened in the book correct. I mostly did, but at the time I had not yet synced up with Kubricks style, and did not like it.



The second time I got around to it though, I loved it. And my Kubrick fixation began.

The beginning and ends of the film are direct mirrors of eachother, with everything reversed, so it's definitely is repetitive by design. It's partially what I didn't like on my first watch. But in comparing those two pieces of the film, their is a humor and terror in how they work with and against eachtoher.

I saw this way too young, I was 13 or 14, and I thought it was absolutely astonishing and amazing and everything, a major film taking me down the pathway(s). I was completely engrossed in it for a while and I probably watched it 20 times by the time I was 15 or 16.

The first time I saw this I brought a copy back from France (to the UK, 1997-ish). I had read the Burgess book and was full of anticipation and had never seen any clips or scenes. It pretty much blew me away with the stylized direction and blackly comedic depiction. I've watched a few times since and think it still really stands up as ground-breaking cinema on Kubricks part.