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Amazon.co.uk Review
Stanley Kubrick's striking visual interpretation of Anthony Burgess's famous novel is a landmark. Malcolm McDowell delivers a clever, tongue-in-cheek performance as Alex, the leader of a quartet of droogs, a vicious group of young hoodlums who spend their nights stealing cars, fighting rival gangs, breaking into people's homes, and raping women. While other directors would simply exploit the violent elements of such a film without subtext, Kubrick maintains Burgess's dark, satirical social commentary. We watch Alex transform from a free-roaming miscreant into a convict used in a government experiment that attempts to reform criminals through an unorthodox new medical treatment. The catch, of course, is that this therapy may be nothing better than a quick cure-all for a society plagued by rampant crime. A Clockwork Orange works on many levels--visual, social, political, and sexual--and is one of the few films that holds up under repeated viewings. Kubrick not only presents colourfully arresting images, he also stylises the film by utilising classical music (and Wendy Carlos's electronic classical score) to underscore the violent scenes, which even today are disturbing in their display of sheer nihilism. Ironically, many fans of the film have missed that point, sadly being entertained by its brutality rather than being repulsed by it. --Bryan Reesman, Amazon.com
Product Description
Malcolm McDowell, Adrienne Corri, Warren Clarke, Patrick MageeDirector: Stanley Kubrick
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
This review is for the bluray.
This film could so easily fall victim to its own hype because of its history, the reaction to its unveiling, the oscars, the was it banned or just withdrawn? - but it manages to rise above that and stand as a monument to its era, with a message on crime and punishment, that still has something to say to us today. Despite coming out in 1971 it somehow screams 'sixties' to me.
I've never seen this film before. As a teenager I read the book, at least twice. Even then I was part enthralled, part repelled; by the casual violence, the state intervention and the end result. So I recently bought the bluray and my reaction was pretty much the same. The film has a mesmeric quality about it. The 'ultraviolence,' the exclusive language, the use of music and the strange clothes. It was very carefully choreographed, particularly in the fighting and rape scenes, which for me at least gave a detached view, almost like watching a musical. The scenes in the milk bar were very much stranger than anything I managed to imagine from the book. If you haven't seen it you are definitely missing an experience you wont forget quickly.
Picture Quality was pretty good for a film of this age. Colours were good, particularly flesh tones, and the contrast was very good with the white clothes and strong coloured interiors. Some of the household interiors were quite psychedelic. Grain is evident much of the time, but for me at least it didn't detract from enjoyment of the film. It seemed to lend it an authentic feel.
Audio quality was good - there is an uncompressed pcm 5.1 track as well as a dolby digital 5.1 one. Sound is biased towards the front and dialogue is clear and distinct throughout. The music is also quite mesmerising. I don't think 'singing in the rain' will ever sound quite the same again.
So overall well worth watching if you have a strong enough stomach. It is strange, violent and stylised - but as a key milestone in the history of film viewing it was well overdue for me.
This film could so easily fall victim to its own hype because of its history, the reaction to its unveiling, the oscars, the was it banned or just withdrawn? - but it manages to rise above that and stand as a monument to its era, with a message on crime and punishment, that still has something to say to us today. Despite coming out in 1971 it somehow screams 'sixties' to me.
I've never seen this film before. As a teenager I read the book, at least twice. Even then I was part enthralled, part repelled; by the casual violence, the state intervention and the end result. So I recently bought the bluray and my reaction was pretty much the same. The film has a mesmeric quality about it. The 'ultraviolence,' the exclusive language, the use of music and the strange clothes. It was very carefully choreographed, particularly in the fighting and rape scenes, which for me at least gave a detached view, almost like watching a musical. The scenes in the milk bar were very much stranger than anything I managed to imagine from the book. If you haven't seen it you are definitely missing an experience you wont forget quickly.
Picture Quality was pretty good for a film of this age. Colours were good, particularly flesh tones, and the contrast was very good with the white clothes and strong coloured interiors. Some of the household interiors were quite psychedelic. Grain is evident much of the time, but for me at least it didn't detract from enjoyment of the film. It seemed to lend it an authentic feel.
Audio quality was good - there is an uncompressed pcm 5.1 track as well as a dolby digital 5.1 one. Sound is biased towards the front and dialogue is clear and distinct throughout. The music is also quite mesmerising. I don't think 'singing in the rain' will ever sound quite the same again.
So overall well worth watching if you have a strong enough stomach. It is strange, violent and stylised - but as a key milestone in the history of film viewing it was well overdue for me.
36 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence". Strange beginning for a movie, don't you think?. Disregarding that, that's the way in which this movie starts, and more or less what you can expect from the rest of "A Clockwork Orange".
This film tells the story of Alex (played by Malcolm McDowell), a teenager that has his own gang, and that does all kind of despicable things, from robbery and battery to rape, all without remorse of any kind. This band of outlaws has its own slang ("nadsat", a mixture of English and Russian) and dress code, and only one law: violence. Due to a fall out with the rest of the gang, Alex is caught by the police after commiting murder, and condemned to spend 14 years in jail.
Looking for a way to get out of jail early, Alex volunteers for a ground-breaking experiment, that supposedly transforms criminals into law-abiding citizens. He is chosen, and "conditioned" against violence, the end result being that he feels nauseous merely by the idea of committing a violent or sexual act. A secondary effect is that he now hates the music he had always loved, Beethoven's 9th symphony.
As a consequence of all this, Alex gets an early release from jail, and is thrown into the world without any kind of defense mechanism. The truth is, he has to be a model citizen because he doesn't have any other option. In a way, Alex is like a machine (a "clockwork orange"), because his actions are preordained. But how will the world treat this new Alex?. And do his actions have any kind of merit, if they aren't inspired on free will?. You can answer one of those two questions quite easily if you watch "A Clockwork Orange". The other involves a conclusion you will have to reach for yourself after watching the movie and reflecting on it for a while.
A word of caution is in order, though. "A Clockwork Orange" includes many explicit sex scenes, lots of violence, and parts that will make you recoil in disgust. If you think I'm exaggerating, take into account that even nowadays this movie is not for sale to persons under age 18, and that when it was first released in 1971 it received an "X" rating.
Finally, I want to point out that this movie is based on a book of the same name written by Anthony Burgess, that significantly differs from the film, especially in what regards to the ending. Furthermore, I think it is worthwhile to highlight the fact that Burgess didn't like his own book too much, and absolutely hated Stanley Kubrick's filmic version of it. Unfortunately for him, the movie helped to promote the book, and "A Clockwork Orange" has becomed Burgess' most well-known work.
All in all, and as a conclusion, I think this film is worth watching, and I recommend you to do so if you believe you can stomach the violent parts in order to eventually understand the message beneath them. I prefer to watch other kind of films, but I understand that this is a classic, and that as such it should be watched at least once.
Belen Alcat
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
The picture is amazing given the age, the image is sharp and clear, high level of detail and a great improvement over the previous dvds. You can see great care went into remastering this for HD. So far this, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket look as though they could have been made this year.
Extras: audio commentary from malcom mcdowell, documentary, featurette, career profile of malcom mcdowell, trailer.
Extras: audio commentary from malcom mcdowell, documentary, featurette, career profile of malcom mcdowell, trailer.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Outdated? I don't think so...
This movie is much smarter than 99% of modern movies currently produced: there is super cop, no self-troubled anti-hero, no usual dilemma of should we use violence or not to solve... Read more
Published 4 days ago by J. L. Vergaert
Horribly dated.
'A Clockwork Orange.' Great book, with it's invented language of 'Nadsat,' by Anthony Burgess. Iconic poster artwork by {now forgotten? Read more
Published 18 days ago by lordbrett
Brilliant but broken
I find it almost impossible to separate the book and the film as more than any other book and film one leads you to seek out the other. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Enquiringmind
Clockwork Orange DVD
I was not very impressed with the content of this DVD. The reason being was that it was the edited version, which I had not been highlighted of this fact before or during... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Emma
Cult classic
Taken from the book of the same name, there's a reason this film is a cult classic. Great acting, well made by Kubrick, with a great script. Storyline is strange but worth it. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Miss Z. V. Adams
POP ART MEETS ULTRA VIOLENCE in a gleeful amoral attack on good taste.
Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is much. much, better than the book. He guts the story of Burgess' phony moralising and turns it into a flat out visually exciting bawdy farce. Read more
Published 4 months ago by nelson viper
Good and thought provoking
I watched this when it first came out in the early 70's at the cinema before it was banned in the UK.
Very hard hitting back then, especially the sexual assault sequence. Read more
Very hard hitting back then, especially the sexual assault sequence. Read more
Published 5 months ago by BobM
A Clockwork Orange
This is an excellent movie. One which you can watch over and over and see more into the story each time. Iconic
Published 6 months ago by morril
Malcolm McDowell is a God
I personally think that Stanley Kubrick's Masterpiece "A clockwork Orange" is his best work, And I am a huge Stanley Kubrick fan. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Gennosuke
A Malenky Bit Horrorshow!
Alex and his 3 Droogs are no strangers to a bit of the old Ultra Violence. In actual fact, their the ones that pretty much wrote the gospel on it. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Ms. L. J. Braisby
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