Is *A CLOCKWORK ORANGE* (1971) the BEST Kubrick film!?
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- čas přidán 15. 08. 2023
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Random movie fact:
The large man who picks up the writer, is David Prowse, the man actually in the Darth Vader costume in Star Wars.
"I was cured all right."
That line always gives me a chill.
Especially with that look he gives right before he says it..
Probably the greatest end line of any film. I've never read the novel but apparently Burgess' (the author of the book) biggest sticking point of the film is how Kubrick left out the last chapter wherein we see Alex walking around a mall, watching people, and deciding to be a good, moral person. I can understand why he'd be miffed that Kubrick left this out. But this line and what it connotes with the last vignette as well as overall message of the film wouldn't be as powerful IMO.
Glad you enjoyed this one. I remember seeing this at a midnight showing, when I was 15 (and quite high as well).
At that time, I had no idea what to make of it. After seeing it again, several years later, I realized what an incredible film it really was. And it’s a film that continues to surprise you on repeat viewings. As a stoned, 15 year old kid I was fairly horrified by it. Now, at 55, I see it as the troubling, brilliant subversive comedy it is.
I mean... Yes. As a stoned 15-16 yr it really is just a "wtf" movie. As an adult it has turned into a truly "WTF" movie.
The absolute zenith of sadistic humor and visceral chaos.
Little side note- Malcom McDowell wasn’t acting in the theater, that shit on his face was hideously painful, but in classic Kubrick fashion, the real emotional reaction really REALLY makes that scene pop.
Sounds like Kubrick.
Saw Malcolm do a one man show where he talks about his experiences filming this. He was like yeah they tortured me but look at the beautiful fucking movie that got made lol
Even though the guy giving him the eyedrops was a real doctor, they managed to scratch his cornea, which is extremely painful.
glad you liked this one. the impact this movie had was huge, even beyond influencing other movies. so much of the look and attitude of early british punk and glam rock has its roots here, and the electronic score was cited again and again by musicians in the late 70s/early 80s as formative. it supposedly inspired copycat crimes - at least that's what the press and the law said, as they do - so kubrick pulled it out of circulation in the UK. (it was banned in a whole bunch of other countries for years or decades.) you'd think it might seem tame now considering how much graphic violence and sex we've seen over the last 50 years, but the whole thing is so weird and claustrophobic and sinister that it's still disturbing.
Not the most CZcams-friendly movie but Eyes Wide Shut over the years has gone on to become my favorite Kubrick film. He also considered it his greatest contribution to cinema
Nothing could’ve lived up to the expectations, I saw it on opening day, Kubrick’s final opus, and of course I was confused and disappointed - it didn’t help that I thought, and still think, Tom Cruise is a terrible actor. Like you, I’ve come to love it, although I’m still team Barry Lyndon ultimately, it’s probably 5th or 6th on my Kubrickmlist.
@@ronbock8291 When you go down the rabbit hole on that movie and think what might have been cut out after Kubrick's death, it is truly terrifying. Kubrick hob-nobbed with the world elites and Nicole Kidman said that Kubrick told her that the world is run by pedophiles. Jeffrey Epstein's island didn't do much to convince me otherwise.
It's a good movie but it has one of my most frustrating tropes: if someone is following you in public....why keep walking to a dark alley? Just go "hey everybody that guy over there is following me" cuz what can.the guy do after that
@@ronbock8291I think it’s arguably his best movie. It’s very controversial in the way that people either really hate it or they really like it. It’s a shame Kubrick passed away before he could put his finishing touches on the movie. Also really interested to see what the missing 25 minutes of footage was
Ummmm…. Dr. Strangelove is iconic as is 2001 Space Odeysey. I liked the queer feeling of Eyes Wide Shut.
Alex's dad was played by the same actor who played Delbert Grady in The Shining. (The "waiter" in The Shining who reveals he killed his daughters with an ax in the bathroom scene)
His dad in the movie played Grady in The Shining also.
Wow, I didn't realized It!
Dr. Strangelove next!!
Malcolm McDowell is a phenomenal actor
The original version of the book actually had an epilogue that showed Alex started a new gang, and on their first night out, the first victim they approached was Pete, the third gang member of Alex's who didn't become a cop, as he instead cleaned up his act and started a family. In the end, Alex really had been cured, as he then decided that it was time for him to grow up and become a normal member of society.
yeah, never really bought that. unlike people think, kubrick HAD seen that ending and decided against it, and I think he was right. If you are a psychopath, it is most likely hardwired into your physically, both in your body and brain. Psychopaths don't change like that.
I think you are one of the few reactors who REALLY gets this story. Thanks!
Barry Lyndon is for me the best Kubrick film. Underappreciated, but absolutely brilliant!
(partly) Agree !! I appreciate many Kubrick movies, including A Clockwork Orange, but I hold 2001 A Space Odyssey in the highest regard, having seen it as a child and it made a lifelong lasting impression. But immediately after that is Barry Lyndon., Kubrick's silent masterpiece.
It's also very very funny.
@@FrancoisDressler - Yes. Barry's opportunism, the card-play scenes, the robbery in the forest, ... there is so much, and the "unreliable narrator' ties it all together with irony.
For years I wanted to show this in my senior (high school) film class. I thought it was powerful when it came out when I was 21 and felt the same in my 50s and 60s teaching. Both the story/themes and the brilliant film execution were worthy of spirited classroom discussion. I always decided nyet to showing it though. Parents would have rained down their shock and fury. I still think it's one of Kubrick's best films, if not my favorite film of his.
My psychology teacher in high school showed the class this move back in 87 and no one complained surprisingly. My friend and I were the only ones that had already seen it several times so we loved that he showed it.
The Language the droogs speak is called Nadsat and was a mix of Russian. The novel has a glossary of about 400 or so words. When you read it, at first it is a bit jarring, but it rapidly makes sense, and much of it can be inferred contextually. It makes it both local and weirdly alien. It is meant to simulate the generation gap where kids seem to speak a different language to the adults. For real, for real, no cap, O my Droog
The ultra violence is supposed to be 'fun and engaging', if you have the guts to even say that. I agree 100% with your opinion on everything you said at the end of your reaction. Great vid!
My favorite instrument is the Ultra Violens
A Clockwork Orange grabs you from the first scene in the Korova Milkbar as the camera zooms in on the Droogs to the sound of Walter (now Wendy) Carlos on the Moog Synthesizer. Carlos actually helped develop the instrument, which was very new, with Robert Moog, and Carlos wrote the music score for the film. So this was something very new and very special. The opening scene, narrated by McDowell (Alex), gets right to the point of the the four misfits in a dystopian world drinking milk laced with drugs that incited 'ultra violence' -- and it is quickly shown that this distain of society conflicts with Alex' love of Beethoven when he reprimands one of his Droogs for berating the music. When people critique this movie, they often leave out that it was a novella written by one of the most brilliant writers that ever lived, Anthony Burgess. I've read most of his books. None of them are in any way similar to A Clockwork Orange, which was more of a statement by Burgess as to how England was descending into dystopia. When you look at Kubrick's other films, yes they are cinematically brilliant, but, in my opinion, none had the brilliant narrative that A Clockwork Orange has. And few people realise that the film was a satirical black comedy. Kubrick and Burgess crafted Alex to be likeable, they made the audience marvel at scenes like the Singing in the Rain scene. This is the art of black comedy. It's not meant to be taken seriously. Unfortunately many people did take it seriously.
I still say "FOOD ALRIGHT?" "TRY THE WINE" at my girl when we go out
You're the first reviewer I have seen that really understands the movie.
This movie shows that you can’t force a mind to think.
17:29 - the body-builder manservant is David Prowse...Darth Vader himself!
There is a Japanese movie from 1968 called Death by Hanging about the worst person in the world being condemned to death by a society that had escaped punishment for worse crimes. It being a film by Nagisa Ōshima, it is some bizarre twisted shit and I love it.
The big muscle man was Darth Vader's body and James Earl Jones did the voice.
Personally, I would recommend Eyes Wide Shut next. One of Tom Cruise's best performances
The writer's large bodyguard toward the end of the film was played by David Prowse...who went on to play Darth Vader...
I genuinely love this movie, even if it takes awhile to figure out what the hell anyone is saying.
NOT FUN FACT: Anthony Burgess was assaulted with his wife just like in this story, and his wife committed the S word, and then Burgess wrote the novel this movie is based on.
This is not true: *the "S" part
"Lynne Burgess died from cirrhosis of the liver, on 20 March 1968.[5] Six months later, in September 1968, (Anthony) Burgess married Liana" from Wikipedia
and no mention on that page of the attack (which does not mean it did not happen) but she did not K*ll herself.
A Burgess was an invalid(due to a brain Tumour) by the time he wrote A Clockwork Orange though so that part is the same
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Burgess
@@jacksmith4460 I was mistaken on the details of the assault as he wasn’t there. She was assaulted while he was in the service. She did drink herself to death after the attack. So you can’t prove S but she did k*ll herself (quite intentionally) as a direct result. Burgess seemed to think it was S according to an essay he wrote about the story after the movie was released.
@@jacksmith4460 that’s like saying “Ernest Hemingway didn’t commit S. He was shot.” Duh. She died of cirrhosis after she drank herself to death.
All of Kubrick's films are A1. This is a favorite. The book was a favorite as well.
I didn’t think you’d be able to think of Malcolm’s name. Nice job!
Yes it's the great British actor Malcolm McDowell. Was in films lots long before TV. Usually plays psychos. Played the pimp in Milk Money, the villain in Star Trek Generations, the villain in Tank Girl and the saboteur in Britannia Hospital among many other roles. On the good side played HG Wells in Time After Time.
19:04 The muscle man is David Prowse, who was also the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars
This channel deserved MUCH more attention
I saw ACO shortly after it's release in the UK in 1973 as a 19 year old and was astonished (and disturbed) by it. It's not a film you will easily forget!
It was nearly 3 decades before I saw it again. In Britain, after some criticism and allegations of copycat crimes to those shown in the film, along with threats to his family, Kubrick withdrew the film from distribution and public showing in the UK. So it was not shown at any cinema or on the television, and when home videos came, it was not available on video here either. Despite this, it was not forgotten in the UK. Maybe it even influenced punk fashions and music.
A lot of people falsely believed it had been banned by the film classification body, the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) when in fact it had been given a certificate suitable for teenagers to see it. Only after Kubrick died in 1999 was it shown again in the UK.
'catchy ass song'. Brilliant. Put a smile on my face. Cheers.
My Friend!
Huge Malcolm fan here; by degree, that is, not build.
You Must watch him as HG Wells chasing Jack The Ripper in San Francisco 1979.
TIME AFTER TIME. 👍👍👍👍
David Warner as Jack the Ripper, surprisingly good movie.
No fucking shot you upload this the day after I watch this for the first time!! This is gonna be good
You made some great comments about Clockwork Orange. I have love this movie since the 80’s when I first saw it. You hate Alex but you cheer for but you still hate him. The acting is stellar. The music is wonderful. The cinematography is fantastic. In the book, Alex is a bit younger and so are the females, like 8 to 10 years younger. Most CZcamsrs go in horrified but end kind of loving it (?). The film was banned in England for many years. People from the UK would rent a copy when they were in the US. I still listen to the soundtrack today.
The best Kubrick film is Paths of Glory for sure. I like Eyes Wide Shut a lot too though. And Barry Lyndon. Some of those will definitely enter your top 3.
Didja notice? When Alex runs into Georgie and Dim again, the numbers on their epaulettes are 665 and 667. And when they cuff him and take him out to the country, they both get out of the back of the jeep- If you watch carefully, you'll see the silhouette of a third cop sitting in the driver's seat...
Jullian the muscular bodyguard played by British actor David Prowse wore the costume for Darth Vader in Star Wars. James Earl Jones did the voice.
As good as the film is, Anthony Burgess' book is even better.
Alex's gangland slang comes directly from the book, Burgess used a bastardized form of Russian as the base. So "a malenky bit of cutter" (a little bit of money) uses the Russian word for small (malenki)
There are no good guys in this film, a rare thing in cinema
Ive seen a few people react to this but you're the only one I've seen who really loved it and also totally got it.
Knew you would love this; it's brilliant. The book is incredible too. One of my all-time favorites. There's also a pretty wild story about the original version and why it was banned (not what you might think). Pretty sure the guy who wrote it was a genius.
It brings the question, no matter show violent someone is do we have the right to take away someone’s free will.
Check out Dr. Strangelove next. It is by far Kubrick's funniest film and unfortunately, it's still relevant today.
"is that another language?" It's Cockney, might as will be. 😂
This is an amazing dystopian movie. I love that its a story that while it follows Alex its not about one horrible person. Instead we follow from ground up to how rotten society is on all levels in this future. Its begs the interesting question did society become so awful that it bred people like Alex to thrive in this environment. Or did people like Alex become so common that it rotted the core of society to become as ruthless as the gangs that roam it.
Barry Lyndon is by far my favorite Kubrick
You hafta admit that this still gets you right in the guts with the ultraviolence. I have seen all of Kubriks films, and this is perhaps the best
I watched this filmdrome when i was a young chelloveck and it does hit you in the guttiwutts o my brother
@@yungpoet i read it a couple o times before i saw it, and the book is less visceral. One of the few cases where the movie is at least as good as the original text
2:19 the instant realization 😂
What you touched on at the end is my main thing about the moral. The slippery slope of individual rights erosion and authority will always look for an excuse to erode them.
13:03 in the book, they're underage
It was Stanley Kubrick himself that asked for the film to be withdrawn. It is commonly believed that it was removed due to copycat violence only, but the truth is that Kubrick's family had received death threats. It was not allowed to be shown in the UK until Kubrick passed away, which happened in 1999.
You should check out O Lucky Man! It is the greatest English film, McDowell is fantastic in it.
The weird language you asked about came from the original Anthony Burgess novel where it was supposed to be a cross between Russian and British as the Soviets conquered Britain by the future it takes place in
If you enjoy Malcolm McDowell 'Gangster Number 1' is really worth checking out, it has a great cast and is hugely under seen for some reason.
Great movie
Thanks for doing this reaction! I’ve never seen the movie, but I’m currently reading the novel. It starts with a forward by the author who has a scathing review of how the American version of his book ends as well as this movie. Plus I don’t think anyone else has done a reaction to this, so kudos to you!!
I saw this 36 yrs ago and I still don’t know what to say. It was crazy, violent but brilliant.
Top 10 movie saw when I was 15 in 1980
Oh cool you figured out who it was! He was also in Caligula I think that got an x-rating.
He's got you now. I hope you keep and enjoy the Kubrick ride
I just now discovered your channel. Your enthusiastic reaction to this difficult, morally ambiguous film matches mine. I believe it's a masterpiece. It raises moral questions that are hard to answer. Is it preferable to remove Alex's free will? Or to let him commit violent crimes? No easy answers. But the movie is visually brilliant, the musical choices are inspired, McDowell's performance is top-notch, Kubrick's sense of humor is dark & morbid, and the plot twists are unexpected (for example, Georgie and Dim as police officers). When this film came out in 1971, people were OUTRAGED. They accused Kubrick of making mere "pornography." As a big fan of Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" I very much wanted to see "Clockwork" but they gave it an X-rating (no one under 18) and I was still in high school. (I saw it a few years later, when I was in college, and the rating had been reduced to R.)
The futuristic slang in the movie was all invented by the book's author, Anthony Burgess. It's a hybrid of English and Russian (the idea being that British youth in the future would be bombarded by subliminal Russian-language propaganda broadcasts). So "golova" (head) becomes "gulliver," "khorosho" (good) becomes "horrorshow," "tolchok" (hit), "devotchka" (girl), "droog" (friend), etc etc. The title is derived from an old Cockney expression: "Queer as a clockwork orange." But here it's used to mean that Alex is being deprived of his human free will and is being reduced to a wind-up mechanism.
Well, I don't want to ramble on too much. Overall, I very much enjoyed your thoughtful reaction to this difficult-to-like movie.
you should watch Barry Lyndon, it might seem stiff at first but it's one of Kubrick's best and one of the best looking movies ever made, frames worth hanging in galleries
Cathartic, sure. It’s incredibly troubling, but thrilling at the same time. It’s the power of cinema, and Kubrick knows it perhaps better than anyone, and plays us like fiddles. I saw this when I was 13, punk had just begun. I didn’t understand why I loved it, but I loved it. Still kinda true. For more amazing Malcolm McDowell from these days, try the overlooked masterpiece If, by Lindsay Anderson, and the sequel Lucky Man.
I love If.... and O Lucky Man! so damn much! Forgotten masterpieces...
Not a huge Kubrick fan but Paths Of Glory is amazing.
Watch Barry Lyndon next
The Slang the Droogs speak is called Nadsat it’s a mixture of Gutter Russian and Hebrew
Clockwork Orange is a masterpiece
The brilliance of this film is making you feel sympathy in the second half of the film for Alex
He lost his freedom of choice
A fellow droogie pour youself a moloko plus oh my brother
Maybe, or actually probably someone did mentioned it before, but that big dude at 'the 'Home'' residence is David Prowse, who also played (the physical) Darth Vader....
Interesting trivia; The muscular big dude was the actor that played Darth Vader in the first trilogy.
Oh so your watching this movie... So I must say this and The Thing (1982) are always flip flopping back and forth for my favorite film of all-time. Glad you enjoyed it.
Have you seen "Dr. Strangelove"? If not, I'd vote that next Kubrick movie to react to.
“She should have been a pit bull lady, not the cat lady.” 🤣
If you watch it again, there's a lot of subtle hints that the treatment doesn't work. The politician knows it doesn't work and chose Alex because he knew he would fake the symptoms. There's lots of moments, like him happily remembering what he'd done to the writer and singing in the bath..that should have made him ill (The music that affects him is a really shitty synth version of his favourite track, and it's that that bothers him).
The details are what make Kubrick's films so interesting, as there are usually 2 (or more) versions of the events you see happening on screen, and depending on the cues you follow you get a subtly different story playing out (at least Kubrick's films from 2001 a space odyssey onwards). The world you see is what shaped Alex into the sociopath he is, useless timid parents, a parole officer who's sexually abusing him, fascist police, corrupt government, corrupt political opposition (The crippled writer was going to torture Alex as a political stunt, before he even knew Alex had been the one to attack him, and he was calling those people to set it up), a hyper sexualised society (kinda how ours is now...but made more obvious) . The main story of freewill is almost secondary to the commentary on how Kubrick saw our society becoming.
Oh, lastly, the huge dude is David Prowse, who you probably know as Darth Vader.
Cheers for the reaction, it was a lot of fun watching along with you
I think the film is so much more effective at making you uncomfortable due to him being the narrator and behaving as if you're friends when he addresses you so it makes you feel sort of complicit or as if you condone his actions.
I was sitting here going "you know what Alex In and Out burger does sound good right now....oh....you meant something else"
5:48 2001 space odyssey cameo
Great reaction, an all time classic. I agree of all Kubrick's amazing films this one is my favorite (and that is saying a lot!) There is so much going on in this film (and the book it's based on.) but to me the major take away is how it elaborates on how a crooked establishment perpetuates itself by the power hungry who oppress the average citizen and inevitably incorporate the worst of them into their ranks to do their dirty work for them. I recommend Barry Lyndon next by Kubrick, it's one of the most visually stunning films ever, another masterpiece.
I’ve only read the book once, but I kinda remember that the writer recognising Alex was more nuanced (he did ? or he didn’t ? it didn’t matter, Alex was to be used as a pawn against the government) maybe Kubrick thought the viewer wasn’t smart enough to get it, using a sledgehammer to crack a nut is how the bath scene plays out to me.
13:15 I think it was meant to show that, when he wants to, he is charming enough to get consensual sex he simply chooses not to because it isn't just about encouraging it. He wants power and violence more.
"I think.....I'm having a blast!" - Jimmy Macram. 🤩 This reaction was the greatest, I could not stop laughing, every two seconds something happens in this movie, it gives a LOT for a reactor to work with, right? Believe me, I know how you feel. Even knowing Kubrick going in does not prepare anybody for "A Clockwork Orange".😂 Makes "The Shining" look like "Willy Wonka". He was at the absolute height of his powers when he made this movie. He did Dr. Strangelove, then 2001: A Space Odyssey, then Clockwork Orange. Holy moly. DAZZLING. This movie is dazzling and disturbing! I saw it back to back with another dazzling and disturbing movie: Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz". Pop THAT one on your list, nobody has done that one yet, one of the best of the 70s (a decade that had a lot of great ones! Like A Clockwork Orange!)
@@geraldh3932 YES! Dude, my mind was BLOWN! And I was 11! Alone in the house. 8:00 All That Jazz came on. I was stunned. That movie is 2 hours 3 minutes. After the shortest of station breaks (it was either Showtime or HBO) "Clockwork Orange" came right on. I never got off the couch for the entire 4 1/2 hours, and I just remember the buzz that both movies left when they ended, a MAJOR night in my cinema journey!!! All That Jazz, Clockwork Orange....and I've never been the same, lol. As if anything could top All That Jazz, right? That movie alone is a full meal of a movie!!! All I knew about either movie were these trailers that the cable station had been running which simply had quick shots of each movie with music from each (On Broadway and the synth version of "Ode To Joy") playing over them. And I knew family members loved both movies. But other than that: I had no idea what either was about. Thanks for letting me reminicse with you! I am so grateful that you appreciate what a wild double feature that was!
Well done sir, hard subject matter but you nailed it. Also one of my favorite Kubrick films.
Great reaction. I saw this film when it first came out. You should check out the novel by Anthony Burgess. It is excellent and gives more clarity to the film.
I’m a big Kubrick fan and this was my favorite film of his for the longest time. I do go back and forth now between this, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining. All for very different reasons obviously.
No consideration for Barry Lyndon? I'd put it on top, followed by 2001, Strangelove and Paths of Glory. Full Metal Jacket, Shining and Clockwork are the next tier down for me. Mind, a tier that any director could ever dream of achieving, if only once...
@@wickedymikeIf I HAD to choose a top 3 it would also be The Shining, 2001 and A Clockwork Orange, but Paths of Glory, Barry Lyndon, Dr. Strangelove are also 10/10s for me.
I'd put Eyes Wide Shut and Full Metal Jacket a tier below, but they're still like a 9.5/10 lol. Kubrick was a genius.
I don't know about "the best", but it is my favourite.
Great recap!
I liked the music.
Modern society is fast approaching Kubrick's 1971 dystopian vision.
I vote Lolitta.
The book is one of my favourites. Real 'orrorshow
I think it's time for Dr. Stranglelove after this one. Who's with me?
the first half of this movie, is like this psychedelic nightmare that i love and hate at the same time. this movie has made me feel stuff no other picture has. for awhile i was obsessed with it, then disgusted, now i just appreciate it. wild stuff
For me it goes Full Metal Jacket> Eyes Wide Shut> A Clockwork Orange > the others (as far as Kubrick goes)
This is one of The Greatest! 👍🏼 I still say eggy weggies Every Breakfast 🍳
Eggiwegs with lomticks of toast
No time for the old in-out love, I’ve just come to viddy your reaction! (Oh my brother)
Yes.
Try Oh, Lucky Man, great director too
Ultra-violence? Delicious!
Definitely in the running for best Kubrick film.
(1:07) It's _Trump's_ mugshot. Right there!
Anything to do with ACO I have to watch. This is a masterpiece. Worth repeated viewings
in the book they were all 14 yrs old
Alex turned 15 just at or before his entry into prison, from memory