A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Being
the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape,
ultra-violence and Beethoven . . .
The one unmissable (but unseeable in the UK) and Glammest of
seventies movies, which managed to combine music, sex and horror,
was Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.
On its release in 1971 there were legions of baggy-trousered
teens queuing at Odeon's around the country for a chance to view
this film.
When you consider some of the atrocities that have been
committed on screen in the name of art, it makes sense that a
great number of people were scared to see A Clockwork Orange.
The film was a post-skinhead orgy of ultra-violence and sex, set
bizarrely to a classical score.
Many of the scenes that were considered too risqué at the time
of its release would hardly cause viewers to blink an eyelid these
days, and it is nowhere as disturbing in nature as films such as Salo
or Le Grande Bouffe.
The leading role, Beethoven loving teen thug Alex, was played
by Malcolm McDowell, the criminally under celebrated king of
seventies film. McDowell's Alex was a cruel sardonic enigma that
immediately affected British street fashion, even at one point
causing skinhead gangs to wear comic false noses as disguises when
engaging in 'unlawful activity'
In a near-future, Alex and his gang of 'droogies' delight in
viciously beating up strangers on the streets and raping women.
Alex is finally apprehended and submits to a form of aversion
therapy that is almost as sadistic as the acts he has himself
committed.
 Rendered
to a state whereby violence makes him physically ill
("cured") he is released back into society, where he
becomes himself a victim of his friends, as well as his previous
enemies. The only solution seems to be to reverse the aversion
therapy, so that he may relapse into his old ways.
Widely hailed as Stanley Kubrick's most daring film, it is
indeed a brave venture. As much a political statement as it is a
prediction of the future, it was based on Anthony Burgess's
controversial novel about a morally bankrupt teenager who is
"reprogrammed" by government officials after his rampage
of ultraviolence brings him to their attention.
Shot in a circus-come-E.R. style, it is still an
unnerving film to look at. The violence is disturbing more for the
manner it is served to you - without any judgment.
A Clockwork Orange's bizarre soundtrack album, featuring
a good deal of synthesized Beethoven, took its place alongside
Alice Cooper's Killer and David Bowie's Rise and Fall of
Ziggy Stardust in the record racks for a while.
McDowell earned himself a healthy (or perhaps that's unhealthy)
cult following as Clockwork Orange fans flocked to his
later release O Lucky Man (1973) - which was a sequel to
Lindsay Anderson's satirical If... (1968).
TRIVIA NOTES
- Contrary to popular belief, the scene where Alex beats the
Cat Lady to death with a large plaster penis was never in the
book.
- Walter Carlos who scored the soundtrack to A Clockwork
Orange, later became a woman and is now known as Wendy.
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