A Clockwork Orange (1971)

A dystopian future London is the playground of a teenage gang leader in Stanley Kubrick’s stylish, controversial take on Anthony Burgess’s novel about violence and free will.

Stanley Kubrick’s films often place individuals in conflict with authority, but never to such controversial effect as in this adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s experimental 1962 novel. A Clockwork Orange stars Malcolm McDowell as Alex, an adolescent whose principal interests include rape, assault and Beethoven, and who is eventually subjected to extreme aversion therapy by the state.

The film’s bravura style, comprising modish interiors, Wendy Carlos’s electronic score and Burgess’s invented ‘Nadsat’ dialect, was overshadowed by its exuberantly realised sexual violence. Controversy led to the film’s withdrawal from British exhibition for over two decades. It remains a powerful essay on the pleasures and consequences of physical and psychological violence.

1971 USA, United Kingdom
Directed by
Stanley Kubrick
Produced by
Stanley Kubrick
Written by
Stanley Kubrick
Featuring
Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates
Running time
136 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for A Clockwork Orange

Critics

Arun A.K.
India
Javier Angulo
Spain
Marten Blomkvist
Sweden
Radmila Djurica
Serbia
Euan Franklin
UK
Steph Green
UK
Natalia Keogan
USA
Jennie Kermode
UK
Blagoja Kunovski
North Macedonia
Roy Menarini
Italy
Alistair Ryder
UK
Ab Zagt
Netherlands

Directors

Ali Abbasi
Denmark
Michael Moore
USA
Srijit Mukherji
India
Alex Ross Perry
USA
William Raban
UK
Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Thailand
Penelope Spheeris
USA
Nicolas Winding Refn
Denmark

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