A Clockwork Orange (film)

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A Clockwork Orange
Image:Clockworkorangeposter.jpg
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Anthony Burgess (novel)
Stanley Kubrick
Starring Malcolm McDowell
Patrick Magee
Produced by Stanley Kubrick
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date 19 December, 1971 (premiere)
Runtime 137 min.
Language English
Budget $2,200,000
IMDb page

A Clockwork Orange (1971) is a film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess. The film stars Malcolm McDowell as charismatic delinquent Alex DeLarge, and features a soundtrack by Wendy Carlos.

Burgess claimed that the title came from an old Cockney expression "As queer [i.e. strange] as a clockwork orange". He pointed out that the title enclosed the word orang, Malay for "man" (Burgess worked for six years in Malaya and Borneo). He later wrote that the "title would be appropriate for a story about the application of Pavlovian, or mechanical, laws to an organism which, like a fruit, was capable of colour and sweetness," referring to Alex's negatively conditioned responses to violence and sex which prevent his exercise of free will.

Contents

Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Set a few years in the future, the film follows the career of a teenager named Alex (surname ostensibly 'DeLarge' - but see below) whose main pleasures in life are European classical music, especially Beethoven, sex of all kinds, and random acts of extreme violence ("ultraviolence" in Alex's idiom). He tells his story in a teenage slang called "Nadsat", which mixes Russian with English slang.

Eventually Alex is caught and "rehabilitated" by a program of aversion therapy spearheaded by the government in an effort to solve society's crime problem, which, though rendering him incapable of violence (even in self-defence), also makes him unable to enjoy his favourite classical music as an unintended side effect. The doctors whisper to themselves that "It can't be helped" and that this is "The punishment factor, perhaps?" thus undercutting their own supposed high intentions.

The moral question of the film is that Alex is now "good", but his ability to choose this has been taken away from him; his "goodness" is as artificial as the clockwork orange of the title... a point which the prison chaplain verbalizes in criticizing the technique, echoing a point he had made to Alex earlier, that true "goodness" has to come from within. In fact, the chaplain appears to be the only good and honest friend that Alex ever has, although Alex does not realize it.

Eventually Alex falls afoul of both his former partners in crime ("droogies") and some of his former victims, and tries to "snuff it" by jumping out a window, but fails in the attempt. After a long recovery in hospital he seems to be back to his former self. While in the hospital, the head of the government visits Alex and apologizes for the treatment program, blaming the doctors administering it for sabotaging Alex in order to discredit the political party in power. Alex is then promised a position in government working for the party. The closing shots of the film feature Alex's voiceover saying "I was cured all right..." with him anticipating his return to creating havoc. However, his final vision suggests that his aggression is now accepted by society since Alex will be working with politicians instead of criminal outcasts.

(It's worth noting that the film's ending, with Alex's return to violent behavior, was created by omiting the final chapter of the original book of the same title, in which Alex matures and "grows out" of his evil habits, eventually becoming an upright citizen.)

Controversy

Rated X on its original release in the United States, the film was nonetheless nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (it lost to The French Connection) and reinvigorated sales for recordings of Beethoven's ninth symphony. Later, a censored R-rated version was also released in the US; both the original X-rated and the later R-rated version are today available on VHS and DVD. Notably, the MPAA has since reclassified the X-rated version of the film to R. The film was rated C (for "condemned") by the United States Catholic Conference's Office for Film and Broadcasting because of its explicit sexual and violent content (such a rating conceptually forbade Catholics from seeing the film so rated; the "condemned" rating was abolished in 1982, and since then films deemed by the conference to have unacceptable levels of sex and/or violence have been rated O, meaning "morally offensive").

In the United Kingdom the sexual violence in the film was considered extreme at the time, with the press blaming the influence of the film for an attack on a homeless person. It was widely believed that Kubrick's annoyance at this response led to him withdrawing the film from distribution in the United Kingdom. However, in a television documentary made after Kubrick's death, his widow Christiane confirmed rumours that Kubrick had withdrawn A Clockwork Orange from United Kingdom distribution on police advice after threats were made against Kubrick and his family. (The source of the threats was not discussed.) That Warner Bros. acceded to Kubrick's request to withdraw the film is an indication of the remarkable relationship Kubrick had with the studio, particularly the executive Terry Semel. Whatever the reason for the film's withdrawal, it could not easily be seen in the United Kingdom for some 27 years, until after Kubrick's death.

Soundtrack

As with most major movie releases, a soundtrack was issued for A Clockwork Orange. It may be considered to be a monumental album in that it contains a "first": the song "March From A Clockwork Orange" was the first recorded song to feature the use of a vocoder. It is available on the Warner Bros. record label. The soundtrack is cited as the reason that many Synth Pop bands formed. The track listing is as follows:

  1. "Title Music From A Clockwork Orange", Wendy Carlos
  2. "The Thieving Magpie (Abridged)", A Deutsche Grammophon Recording
  3. "Theme From A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana)", Wendy Carlos
  4. "Ninth Symphony, Second Movement (Abridged)", A Deutsche Grammophon Recording
  5. "March From A Clockwork Orange (Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement, Abridged)", Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind
  6. "William Tell Overture (Abridged)", Wendy Carlos
  7. "Pomp And Circumstance March No. 1", Sir Edward Elgar
  8. "Pomp And Circumstance March No. IV (Abridged)", Sir Edward Elgar
  9. "Timesteps (Excerpt)", Wendy Carlos
  10. "Overture To The Sun", Terry Tucker
  11. "I Want To Marry A Lighthouse Keeper", Erike Eigen (movie version is somewhat different)
  12. "William Tell Overture (Abridged)", A Deutsche Grammophon Recording
  13. "Suicide Scherzo (Ninth Symphony, Second Movement, Abridged)", Wendy Carlos
  14. "Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement, (Abridged)", A Deutsche Grammophon Recording (Von Karajan, 1963, uncredited)
  15. "Singin' In The Rain", Gene Kelly
Image:ACO Carlos LP.jpg

Three months after the official soundtrack was released, composer Wendy Carlos released a version (Columbia KC 31480) containing unused cues and other musical elements which had not appeared in the film. Kubrick had only used part of Carlos's Timesteps, for example, and the synthesizer rendition of the Scherzo from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony had been shortened. In addition to these materials, the second soundtrack LP contained a synthesizer version of Rossini's La Gazza Ladra, for which Kubrick had used an orchestral performance. In 1998, a compact disc was distributed containing a new, digital remastering of the synthesizer material. The CD contains Carlos's compositions, including those Kubrick did not use, and the cues Biblical Daydreams and Orange Minuet which the 1972 LP had not included.

It is interesting to note that Wendy Carlos had composed the first three minutes of Timesteps before reading Burgess's novel. Originally, Carlos had intended Timesteps to introduce a rendition of the Ninth Symphony's Choral movement, played with a vocoder. Timesteps was completed roughly the same time Kubrick had wrapped photography for his film; it and the vocoder performance of Beethoven's Ninth became the foundation for Carlos and Kubrick's collaboration.

Influence

Both the story and individual elements have had a strong influence on popular culture in general and popular music in particular. Perhaps most notably, the 1980s British electropop band Heaven 17 took their name from an eponymous band in the book. UK's Sigue Sigue Sputnik used in 1986 both the word "ultraviolence" and samples from the film on their single 'Love Missile F1-11', also adopting the film's imagery for their stage costumes and video clips. New Order had previously used "Ultraviolence" as the title of a track on its 1983 album "Power, Corruption and Lies". Although the British dance act Moloko's name simply means "milk" in Russian, it was adopted indirectly from Nadsat in which it has the same basic meaning, but also refers to a milk drink with admixed drugs. Blur paid homage to the movie version of A Clockwork Orange in the video for their song The Universal, in which Damon Albarn is dressed as Alex. References in pop music abound outside the English-speaking world as well. In 1988, the German punk rock outfit Die Toten Hosen released their breakthrough concept album Ein kleines bisschen Horrorshow (a reference to Alex's Nadsat phrase a bit of [the old] horrorshow [ultraviolence]), having been involved as musicians in a German stage production of A Clockwork Orange. In 2002, Poland's alternative stars Myslovitz released an album entitled Korova Milky Bar, a reference to the place where Alex and his friends meet to consume their drug-enhanced moloko. The Streetpunk/oi! band Lower Class Brats has maintained a theme of both the film and the book in the band's lyrics, merchandise, and even the members's tattoos. In 2005 Stereo Total from Germany turned the film's title music into their song 'Orange mécanique'. Countless other references can be traced in books, movies, and even computer games.

  • In the Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror III" episode, Bart is seen wearing an "Alex" costume.
  • In the Simpsons "Dog of Death" episode, Smithers props Santa's Little Helper's eyes open and forces him to watch a sequence of destructive scenes set to classical music. Santa's Little Helper transforms from playful and friendly to vicious and violent.
  • In Rob Zombie's song "Never Gonna Stop" there are several references to the film in the lyrics, "My Durango 95", which is the car that was driven in the "hogs of the road" scene and "step back and watch it flow" referring to the blood that pours from Alex's victims . In the video, Rob is seen dressed as Alex, with his band as droogs. The video features an homage to the milkbar scene and the "hogs of the road" scene. The song's alternate title (and the female-sung lyric) is "Red, Red Kroovy," a Nadsat expression for blood.
  • In David Bowie's song "Suffragette City," his words are directed at a "droogy." Further, in Ziggy Stardust: the Motion Picture, the pre- and post-show music playing on the house system (which Bowie is seen whistling along to backstage) is from the Clockwork Orange soundtrack.
  • The Hungarian film Nexxt a/k/a The Frau Plastic Chicken Show, is loosely based on the story, treating the novel and film as documentary and follow the "real" Alex around and make parallels to a more recent sociopath murderer.

Trivia

  • The film contains no mention of, nor reference to, the phrase "A Clockwork Orange". The fact that deranged author F. Alexander is supposed to have written a political tract of that name (with an explicit passage explaining the title, which is 'quoted' in the novel) is not mentioned. Nor is the deranged author's last name mentioned, omitting the ironic parallel between the two "Alexanders" inferred in the novel, although his first name, "Frank" is used.
  • After Kubrick's film was released, Burgess wrote a Clockwork Orange stage play. (He modeled one of Alex's early victims on Kubrick - a bearded trumpeter who plays Singin' in the Rain at the Korova milkbar.) In the stage version, Dr. Branom "defects" from the psychiatric clinic when she realizes that the treatment has destroyed Alex's ability to enjoy music. This version also restores the novel's 21st chapter, ending with Alex deciding to start a family.
  • A second version, entitled A Clockwork Orange 2004 was written for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1990. This is entirely free of references to the film, and does away with the 21st chapter.
  • Thinly-disguised references to Kubrick appear in another Burgess novel - Earthly Powers features a crafty director called 'Zabrick' - and a parallel with Burgess's own experience of being held accountable for the film appears in The Clockwork Testament with the fictional poet FX Enderby being attacked for supposedly glorifying violence in a film adaptation.
  • Seven years prior to the Kubrick film, Andy Warhol had produced a low-budget version, titled Clockwork (also known as Vinyl). Reportedly, the only two recognizable scenes are those where Victor (Alex) wreaks general havoc and undergoes the Ludovico treatment.
  • The first dramatization of A Clockwork Orange (excerpts from first three chapters only) was by the BBC, for part of the Tonight programme, broadcast shortly after the novel's original publication. No recording of this dramatization has survived.
  • During the filming of the Ludovico scene, star Malcolm McDowell scratched one of his corneas and was temporarily blinded. The doctor standing next to him, frequently dropping saline solution into his forced-open eyes, was not just for filming purposes, but was actually necessary to prevent McDowell's eyes from drying. He suffered cracked ribs during filming of the humiliation stage show, and he also nearly drowned when his breathing apparatus failed while being held underwater in the trough scene.
  • When Alex jumps out the window to try to end his torment, the viewer sees the ground coming toward the camera until they collide. This effect was achieved by dropping a portable camera from two or three stories up, lens pointing downward, thus presenting a realistic sense of what such a fall could be like... although the way Alex (either McDowell or a stuntman) jumped, he actually would have landed on his back (presumably into a net).
  • Wendy Carlos's synthesized score features the first ever use of a vocoder.
  • Members of The Rolling Stones proposed to film their own adaptation before Kubrick decided to do so. Other unrealized versions were supposedly to contain girls in miniskirts or senior citizens instead of the teenage rowdies.
  • There is also a pornographic spin-off, entitled A Clockwork Orgy. In this version, Alex is a female (Alexandra), the Korova is just a regular, run-of-the-mill bar, and there is no prison chaplain.
  • There was also the inevitable Mad magazine parody, A Crockwork Lemon.
  • The film of A Clockwork Orange contains several in-jokes: for example, the album cover of the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey is clearly visible in a record-shop scene.
  • Alex's surname is given verbally as 'DeLarge' on his arrival at prison in the film. This appears to have been taken from a pun in the book, when Alex (referring to his penis) refers to himself as 'Alexander the Large' (as opposed to 'Alexander the Great'). Alex's surname is not given in the book. However, in newspaper clippings seen towards the end of the film, Alex's surname appears as 'Burgess'. Whether this is a continuity error or another injoke is unknown.
  • In the film version, the car seen before the scene of ultraviolence at "HOME" is the M-505 Adams Brothers Probe 16. Only three were produced.
  • The female furniture sculptures in the Korova Milkbar were based on works by Allen Jones.

Alternate usages

References

Burgess, Anthony (1978). Clockwork Oranges. In 1985. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0091360803 (extracts quoted here)

See also

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:


Films by Stanley Kubrick
Day of the Fight | Flying Padre | The Seafarers | Fear and Desire | Killer's Kiss | The Killing | Paths of Glory | Spartacus | Lolita | Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb | 2001: A Space Odyssey | A Clockwork Orange | Barry Lyndon | The Shining | Full Metal Jacket | Eyes Wide Shut | A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
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