A Clockwork Orange (Film)

Reception

Original trailer for A Clockwork Orange

Critical reception

On release, A Clockwork Orange was met with mixed reviews.[16] Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised the film: "McDowell is splendid as tomorrow's child, but it is always Mr. Kubrick's picture, which is even technically more interesting than 2001. Among other devices, Mr. Kubrick constantly uses what I assume to be a wide-angle lens to distort space relationships within scenes, so that the disconnection between lives, and between people and environment, becomes an actual, literal fact."[30] The following year, after the film won the New York Film Critics Award, he called it "a brilliant and dangerous work, but it is dangerous in a way that brilliant things sometimes are".[31] The film also had notable detractors. Film critic Stanley Kauffmann commented, "Inexplicably, the script leaves out Burgess' reference to the title".[32] Roger Ebert gave A Clockwork Orange two stars out of four, calling it an "ideological mess".[33] In her New Yorker review titled "Stanley Strangelove", Pauline Kael called it pornographic because of how it dehumanised Alex's victims while highlighting the sufferings of the protagonist. Kael noted the Billyboy's gang extended stripping of the woman they intended to rape, claiming it was offered for titillation.[34]

In a retrospective review, Leslie Halliwell described it as "A repulsive film in which intellectuals have found acres of social and political meaning; the average judgement is likely to remain that it is pretentious and nasty rubbish for sick minds who do not mind jazzed-up images and incoherent sound."

John Simon noted that the novel's most ambitious effects were based on language and the alienating effect of the narrator's Nadsat slang, making it a poor choice for a film. Concurring with some of Kael's criticisms about the depiction of Alex's victims, Simon noted that the character of Mr Alexander, who was young and likeable in the novel, was played by Patrick Magee, "a very quirky and middle-aged actor who specialises in being repellent". Simon comments further that "Kubrick over-directs the basically excessive Magee until his eyes erupt like missiles from their silos and his face turns every shade of a Technicolor sunset".[35]

Over the years, A Clockwork Orange gained a status as a cult classic. For The Guardian, Philip French stated that the film's controversial reputation likely stemmed from the fact that it was released during a time when fear of teenage delinquency was high.[36] Adam Nayman of The Ringer wrote that the film's themes of delinquency, corrupt power structures and dehumanisation are relevant in today's society.[37] Simon Braund of Empire praised the "dazzling visual style" and McDowell's "simply astonishing" portrayal of Alex.[38] Roger Ebert softened on the film years after first viewing it, declaring on his talk show that while he still thought the film had "all head and no heart", he felt Kubrick's detachments from the violence more so than he did in the first viewing.[39]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 80 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Disturbing and thought-provoking, A Clockwork Orange is a cold, dystopian nightmare with a very dark sense of humor".[40] Metacritic gives the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on reviews by 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[41]

Box office

The film was a box-office success, grossing $41 million in the United States and about $73 million overseas for a worldwide total of $114 million on a budget of $1.3 million.[4]

The film was also successful in the United Kingdom, playing for over a year at the Warner West End in London. After two years of release, the film had earned Warner Bros. rentals of $2.5 million in the United Kingdom and was the number three film for 1973 behind Live and Let Die and The Godfather.[1]

The film was the most popular film of 1972 in France with 7,611,745 admissions.[42]

The film was re-released in North America in 1973 and earned $1.5 million in rentals.[43]

Controversies

American version

In the United States, A Clockwork Orange was given an X rating in its original release in 1972. Later, Kubrick replaced approximately 30 seconds of sexually explicit footage from two scenes with less explicit action to obtain an R rating re-release later in 1972.[44][16][45]

Because of the explicit sex and violence, The National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures rated it C ("condemned"), a rating which recommended against Roman Catholics seeing the film. In 1982, the office abolished the "condemned" rating. Subsequently, films deemed to have unacceptable levels of sex and violence by the Conference of Bishops are rated O, "morally offensive".[46]

British withdrawal

Although it was passed uncut for UK cinemas in December 1971, British authorities considered the sexual violence in the film to be extreme. In March 1972, during the trial of a 14-year-old boy accused of the manslaughter of a classmate, the prosecutor referred to A Clockwork Orange, suggesting that the film had a macabre relevance to the case.[47] The film was linked to the murder of an elderly vagrant by a 16-year-old boy in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, who pleaded guilty after telling police that friends had told him of the film "and the beating up of an old boy like this one". Roger Gray, for the defence, told the court that "the link between this crime and sensational literature, particularly A Clockwork Orange, is established beyond reasonable doubt".[48] The press also blamed the film for a rape in which the attackers sang "Singin' in the Rain" as "Singin' in the Rape".[49] Christiane Kubrick, the director's wife, has said that the family received threats and had protesters outside their home.[50]

The film was withdrawn from British release in 1973 by Warner Bros at the request of Kubrick.[51] In response to allegations that the film was responsible for copycat violence Kubrick stated:

To try and fasten any responsibility on art as the cause of life seems to me to put the case the wrong way around. Art consists of reshaping life, but it does not create life, nor cause life. Furthermore, to attribute powerful suggestive qualities to a film is at odds with the scientifically accepted view that, even after deep hypnosis in a posthypnotic state, people cannot be made to do things which are at odds with their natures.[52]

The Scala Cinema Club went into receivership in 1993 after losing a legal battle following an unauthorised screening of the film.[53] In the same year, Channel 4 broadcast Forbidden Fruit, a 27-minute documentary about the withdrawal of the film in Britain.[54] It contains footage from A Clockwork Orange. It was difficult to see A Clockwork Orange in the United Kingdom for 27 years. It was only after Kubrick died in 1999 that the film was re-released theatrically, on VHS, and on DVD. On 4 July 2001, the uncut version premiered on Sky TV's Sky Box Office, where it ran until mid-September.

Censorship in other countries

In Ireland, the film was banned on 10 April 1973. Warner Bros. decided against appealing the decision. Eventually, the film was passed uncut for cinema on 13 December 1999 and released on 17 March 2000.[55][56][57] The re-release poster, a replica of the original British version, was rejected due to the words "ultra-violence" and "rape" in the tagline. Head censor Sheamus Smith explained his rejection to The Irish Times: "I believe that the use of those words in the context of advertising would be offensive and inappropriate."[58]

In Singapore, the film was banned for over 30 years, before an attempt at release was made in 2006. However, the submission for an M18 rating was rejected, and the ban was not lifted.[59] The ban was later lifted and the film was shown uncut (with an R21 rating) on 28 October 2011, as part of the Perspectives Film Festival.[60][61]

In South Africa, it was banned under the apartheid regime for 13 years, then in 1984 was released with one cut and only made available to people over the age of 21.[62] It was banned in South Korea[59] and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Nova Scotia.[63] The Maritime Film Classification Board also reversed the ban eventually. Both jurisdictions now grant an R rating to the film.

In Brazil, the film was banned under the military dictatorship until 1978, when the film was released in a version with black dots covering the genitals and breasts of the actors in the nude scenes.[64]

In Spain, the film debuted at the 1975 Valladolid International Film Festival under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. It was expected to be screened in the University of Valladolid but, due to student protests, the university had been closed for two months. The final screenings were in the commercial festival venues, with long queues of expectant students. After the festival, the film went into the arthouse circuit and later in commercial cinemas successfully.[65]

In Malta, a ban on the film was lifted in 2000, when it was shown in local cinemas for the first time.[66] The film was brought up during the compilation of evidence on the rape and murder of Paulina Dembska, which took place on 2 January 2022 in Sliema, for the accused attacker compared himself to Alex during police interrogation.[67][68]

Novelist's response

Burgess had mixed reception about the film adaptation of his novel, publicly saying he loved Malcolm McDowell and Michael Bates, and the use of music. He praised it as so "brilliant" that it might be dangerous. He was concerned that it lacked the novel's redemptive final chapter, an absence he blamed upon his American publisher and not Kubrick. All US editions of the novel prior to 1986 omit the final chapter. Kubrick called the missing chapter "an extra chapter" and claimed that he had not read the original version until he had virtually finished the screenplay, and that he had never seriously considered using it.[69] In Kubrick's opinion – as in the opinion of other readers, including the original American editor – the final chapter was unconvincing and inconsistent with the book.[70]

Burgess reports in his autobiography You've Had Your Time (1990) that he and Kubrick at first enjoyed a good relationship, each holding similar philosophical and political views and each very interested in literature, cinema, music, and Napoleon Bonaparte. Burgess's novel Napoleon Symphony (1974) was dedicated to Kubrick. Their relationship soured when Kubrick left Burgess to defend the film from accusations of glorifying violence. A lapsed Catholic, Burgess tried many times to explain the Christian moral points of the story to outraged Christian organisations and to defend it against newspaper accusations that it supported fascist dogma. He also went to receive awards given to Kubrick on his behalf. He was in no way involved in the production of the film. The only profit he made directly from the film was the initial $500 that had been given to him for the rights to the adaptation.

Burgess's own stage adaptation of the novel, A Clockwork Orange: A Play with Music (1984), contains a direct reference to Kubrick. In the final moment of the play Alex joins in a song with the other characters. In the script's stage directions it states that while this happens: "A man bearded like Stanley Kubrick comes on playing, in exquisite counterpoint, 'Singin' in the Rain' on the trumpet. He is kicked off the stage."[71][72]

Accolades

Award Category Nominee(s) Result
Academy Awards Best Picture Stanley Kubrick Nominated
Best Director Nominated
Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium Nominated
Best Film Editing Bill Butler Nominated
British Academy Film Awards[73] Best Film Stanley Kubrick Nominated
Best Direction Nominated
Best Screenplay Nominated
Best Editing Bill Butler Nominated
Best Production Design John Barry Nominated
Best Cinematography John Alcott Nominated
Best Sound Brian Blamey, John Jordan and Bill Rowe Nominated
Directors Guild of America Awards[74] Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Stanley Kubrick Nominated
Evening Standard British Film Awards Best Film Won
Best Actor Malcolm McDowell Won
Golden Globe Awards[75] Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Malcolm McDowell Nominated
Best Director – Motion Picture Stanley Kubrick Nominated
Hugo Awards[76] Best Dramatic Presentation Stanley Kubrick and Anthony Burgess Won
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards[77] Best Film Won
Nastro d'Argento Best Foreign Director Stanley Kubrick Won
National Film Preservation Board National Film Registry Inducted
National Society of Film Critics Awards[78] Best Film 3rd Place
Best Director Stanley Kubrick Nominated
Best Actor Malcolm McDowell Nominated
New York Film Critics Circle Awards[79] Best Film Won
Best Director Stanley Kubrick Won
Best Actor Malcolm McDowell Runner-up
Online Film & Television Association Awards[80] Hall of Fame – Motion Picture Won
Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards[81] Best DVD Commentary Malcolm McDowell Won
Satellite Awards[82] Best Classic DVD Nominated
Saturn Awards (2008)[83] Best DVD Collection A Clockwork Orange (as part of Stanley Kubrick: Warner Home Video Directors Series) Nominated
Saturn Awards (2012)[83] Best DVD Collection A Clockwork Orange (as part of Stanley Kubrick: The Essential Collection) Won
Saturn Awards (2015)[83] Best DVD or Blu-ray Collection A Clockwork Orange (as part of Stanley Kubrick: The Masterpiece Collection) Nominated
Turkish Film Critics Association Awards Best Foreign Film 5th Place
Venice International Film Festival Pasinetti Award (Best Foreign Film) Stanley Kubrick Won
Writers Guild of America Awards[84] Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium Nominated

This content is from Wikipedia. GradeSaver is providing this content as a courtesy until we can offer a professionally written study guide by one of our staff editors. We do not consider this content professional or citable. Please use your discretion when relying on it.