A Clockwork Orange reviewed by Mark Kermode
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2021
- Mark Kermode reviews A Clockwork Orange. A 4K restoration of Kubrick's controversial satire comes to UK cinemas ahead of a new Blu-ray release.
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Its astonishing to think that "Barry Lyndon" was his next movie 3 years later, Kubrick wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to make a masterpiece in every genre.
Despite Lyndon being one of the most beautiful looking films ever made, it was actually somewhat of a rush job compared to other Kubrick films. Kubrick had been working on a Napoleon biopic with Jack Nicholson. He had done much of the pre production, but the project was shelved when another Napoleon biopic, Waterloo, failed to set the box office alight.
I've had Barry Lyndon on DVD for about 10 years now and haven't got round to watching it, but still very much looking forward to doing so.
@Stephen Lindsay Thanks for the advice, I'll try to watch it. It's never that cold in England but it is very misty at the moment.
Think Mark forgot to mention McDowells perfomance in "If". Amazing film aswell.
If is a great film
Still a masterpiece. Actually, even more of a masterpiece now.
I mean that’s just a masterpiece :P
That just tells you how ahead of its time it was
I'm glad people are starting to acknowledge that, whatever the problems with Caligula - and there are many! - Malcolm McDowell's performance is phenomenal. One of the most compelling screen actors of all time.
Saw the cinema release 20 years ago, and got tickets for this new print. A classic that deserves a new lease of life.
Yeah I remember seeing it in 1998 when I was 19, and there was quite a big buzz about it at the time because it had been officially banned for many years. It was better than I'd expected, which doesn't happen often with films.
An amazing film, has stayed with me for years, but i didn't get to see it until the re-release. Malcolm McDowell's best work
I've always thought that just as important as Alex being 'conditioned' into being unable to act on his urges is the way that one of the members of his gang who gets away without punishment (played by Warren Mitchell) ends up becoming a police officer enforcing a new form of brutality. *That's* the most inflammatory message of the film, in the way it equates the aimless home invading thugs of the beginning with the purposeful, state-sanctioned thugs of the end.
These are all astute observations, and there were actually two former gang members who become the police officers who brutalize the helpless Alex with impunity: Dim (played by Warren Clarke) and Georgie (played by James Marcus). In the original novel, Georgie actually dies while Alex is in prison, and it is Dim and Billyboy, Alex's former rival, who are the paired policemen who become Alex's tormentors.
I'm afraid I'm exactly where Mark is in that 20 yrs ago is recent, 30 yrs is 'a while back' and stuff from 40yrs ago is 'so cool, you losers have no idea!'
I had lasik eye surgery a couple days ago. While I had my eyes suctioned open, all I could think about was A Clockwork Orange.
I've been thinking about getting laser eye surgery. How did it go? Is your vision perfect? Would you recommend it?
@@theloniousmorphy The surgery isn't necessarily painful but it's fairly uncomfortable and VERY trippy. Post-op pain is pretty intense but that lets up after 6 hours or so. I'm still in recovery so it's somewhat difficult to assess but I think it'll be really great once I'm healed. I had better than 20/20 vision 22 hours post-op so that has been mind blowing! Definitely shop around and find the best doctor you can if you're considering it (I feel like that's where most people would run into issues). I'm in a big city and one of the top lasik specialists happens to practice here, so I got very lucky. Overall, I'm glad I took the plunge and made the investment in myself :) Good luck!
@@chattymaddie476 6 hours of intense pain. Wow. Thanks for the reply. I live in a big city London. We might probably be from different countries. If you don't mind my asking how much did you pay? Ballpark figure will do if you don't want to say exactly.
@@theloniousmorphy Yeah, I'm in the states so it's a whole different thing here with healthcare. I think out of pocket was $6600 and my vision insurance knocked it down to $4400. PRK (which is a different type of laser eye surgery) is slightly cheaper but is in the same ballpark. Healthcare expense is astronomical in the US so I'd assume the price tag in the UK wouldn't be as bad.
I had it done years ago! And yes I had the exact same thoughts “Leave me glazzies!!” 😂
I can’t wait for the remake directed by Michael Bay
NOOOOOOOOOO!
Staring who Timotheé Chalamet ? 🤦♀️
Me too.
Starring Will Smith as Alex.
Lol.
Shh, don’t give the industry such ideas!
This threatical re releases make me so jealous. We dont get them in Portugal.
I wish I could watch a clockwork orange in a theater.
Ughh I can relate. Spain here.
Based on the novel by Anthony Burgess, who wrote it in a hurry when he thought he was dying, so that his widow would have an income. It turned out he wasn't dying, and lived for many more years. He was a devout Catholic, so the overarching themes of the story--freewill, etc--are what you could expect from him.
The novel is a great read and was my favourite book for a while when I was younger.
Last watched it 20 years ago at the cinema and was blown away by it. It is a powerful film and we felt it to be almost Shakespearean in language and drama. Recommend the cinema for this.
one of my favourite classic movies by Stanley Kubrick and a great masterpiece can’t wait to get it in 4K and would love to see it projected and in cinemas
I've always loved this... the style, the music and the somehow chilling yet amiable performance from MM. Great, great movie.
Such a great film!!
Saw this in the cinema in Sheffield two years ago. I don't know if that was an official re-release, but great to see it on the big screen.
There was definitely a reissue a couple of years ago. I saw it in London and 'enjoyed' it all its undimmed rapey glory. I was one of about three people in the cinema and I've read a lot of Anthony Burgess. It's great but it's horrible.
I met the technician who projected the film footage while Alex had his eyes held open. He said the screams echoed around the whole building, and it went on for hours and hours.
Wait so it’s real ??? Damn I always thought it was like fictional
@@Interspirituality An actor's job is to make it real.
@@Gunt78 ahh right okay so they did use actors
@@Interspirituality dull, your sarcasm is dull.
McDowell's scratched corneas bothered him for years after the endless takes. He still loved Stanley, regardless.
This film is mesmerising, like most of Kubrick's films, even though there are a few clunky scenes which don't really work. When a film is still 10/10 despite some poor scenes, you know it must be a very good film.
I liked Malcolm McDowell in “If…”
I don't believe this film would EVER have caused the outrage that it did, had it have been shot in America. The fact that this is street level violence in England is it's danger, this together with the fact that it is a lawless England because of the establishments mistakes daring to point the finger at a right wing government for societies ills, within the story Alex himself is telling us this is a society in meltdown
it's not surprising that it took an American director to make it, plus the novel was nothing new having been written in 1962. I doubt if any British director would have touched this material, knowing they probably couldn't get it past the censors Another example of this was STRAW DOGS also Directed by an American & released the same year. and of course the real life England was in a state of anarchy with the mass striking and energy crisis at that time.
It was reissued in UK cinemas in April 2019.
Yep. I went to see it.
Absolutely, a Classic. A film that just stays with you for years. Kubrick: SUCH a Genius of creating impactful images that stick in your brain. Malcolm McDowell's performance and narration is just haunting as well.
Mark has a new camera. That's great
I think McDowell's performance in Aces High is well up there, too.
One of my favourite films of all time
Thoroughly recommend checking out Dominic Noble’s video on the film as an adaptation of the book! Loads of interesting insights :)
Watched it in the cinema, 5 people who sat behind me left before the second act, you could see why it makes some people uncomfortable. In fact when the movie was over, it was just myself and 2 other people that watched the entire film.
What year was this? Was this a recent viewing or some time ago?
For me i liked him more in Royal Flash and our friends in the North.
Nobody ever seems to mention that, in parts, it’s also very funny.
Watched this for the 1st time on Netflix with my GF at the end of a nice date night!
I highly recommend you do not do what I did. Cheers!
My top 3 malcolm mcdowell films are 1 a clockwork orange 2 if and 3 caligula very great films in my honest opinion
My second fav film ever
Whats the first?
@@silent-trouble 2001: A Space Odyssey
@@xcvsumextra i see. The third one Dr. Strangelove then?
@@silent-trouble lol nah that would be Vertigo
Great film a masterpiece. Time to rewatch it i think havent watched it in a while
Agreed - but let’s not forget ‘If’ in your comments about Malcolm McDowell’s best performances
Watched it for the first time this evening after having purchased the blu ray. Completely agree with mark on the first act but maybe for different reasons.
The first act was almost trying to appear too whacky and silly, maybe it’s just a thing of it’s age. It is shocking but it looks cheap.
The second act is by far the more interesting stuff, the incarceration, even the imagery improves, especially in the 3rd act. It is really quotable as well.
Maybe I’ll appreciate it more with a second or third viewing. Most acclaimed masterpieces have been like that for me personally.
One of my favourite films
Certified Masterpiece, nothing even close to its likes before or after
Such an amazing film, I was lucky enough to see it on the last theatrical re-release in the early 00's.
Would have been a 35mm print back then too!
It's a great film but to warn people it's very dark and not an easy watch.
Such a great film
Whoa another review
Anthony Burgess was someone you could trust far more than Stanley Kubrick. SK defended the film at one point saying, “Look it’s just a fable/fantasy”, and I’m just sitting there watching it thinking, that is an f’d up version of a fantasy - it’s too cold and pessimistic for its own good. A celebration of nihilism you could argue.
Really? I disagree. Look at the very final shot. That is Alex enjoying good ole fashioned hankie pankie with his wife while people around them celebrate. His other fantasies are perverse, like when he imagines he is one of the Roman soldiers whipping Jesus as he makes his way to be crucified, but that final fantasy is Alex imagining a day of celebration with his chosen life partner. The ending couldn't be more uplifting, you just have to read it right ;)
Yes
One can die but once. Dim died before he was born. That red redkrovvy will soon stop
Simultaneously a great film and an incredibly difficult-to-watch, quite sadistic fable. The vision of dystopia is so well realised it renders the film painfully bleak and uncomfortable. But I guess that was Kubrick's aim.
It's a really cool ride.
An oddly modern looking film. It doesn't necessarily look like it was made in the early 70s.
I would say the contrary. When I finally say it (in whatever year) it reminded me of a BBC production of the same era.
@@tinmachine693 It was made early 70s and looks it. I think it's aged badly.
How can one list Malcolm McDowell's finest performances and neglect to mention Tank Girl?
Or Home Alone: The Holiday Heist.
@@ralphenstein9105 Has anyone mastered the career decline as notably as Malcolm McDowell? Rutger Hauer, maybe?
Is Mark going to review Dune?
Great film and I still think it’s really funny
I will do my best to see this at my local cinema. I am already planning to order the 4K/BluRay collectors edition. Mark Kermode's absolutely spot on regarding how many people don't appreciate the film beyond its first act of "ultra violence". I counted myself as one of those when I initially saw A Clockwork Orange when I was only 13! Just wanted to see the notorious film to see what the fuss was about. Naturally, it went over my head. It wasn't until I was 19 that I realised "forget the violence, this film's about civil liberties!" It remains a seminal provocative and challengingly moral tale. One for the ages, and skilfully made by the master himself, Stanley Kubrick. I can't wait to watch it again.
Yeah we really needed Mark Commode to review A Clockwork Orange....
The movie that ultimately got the Scala Cinema Club closed down. :(
Better than Home alone 5.
Is this a prequel to "The Color Purple "?
Part of the brilliance of this movie is how bad it could have been in less capable hands.
It’s Malcolm McDowell’s commentary that gives the movie its distinctive edge
This is the only Kubrick film that hasn't aged well' compared to his others. Barry Lyndon in 100 years time will still look incredible.
Don’t do drugs kid
There is this low budget sci-fi movie to it for me. You never really get a sense of the world like you do in other science fiction movies. There is the fact that it comes of silly.
Kubrick's best film, in my opinion. It's still a very polarizing film that you either love or hate.
I thought McDowell was a stellar Doctor Loomis in the Halloween reboot.
The best summation of this film was something I read about 40 years ago.
What is the greater act of violence ?
That which Alex naturally inflicts on his victims
or
That which the establishment/society enforces on people robbing them of free will.
I highly doubt this film would be made today. It’s a film that seems to improve with age
Most Kubrick films do.
I always remembered the end with his eyes being forced open.
That scene is not at the end.
Lol you clearly haven’t seen the movie! That is not at the end. It’s at the end of the second act.
Thats the middle of the movie.
Mmmm, free will?? Like the Covid Passport coercion, how fitting.
F69
Based
A somewhat overrated film. Not keen on Kubrick. Like The Shining and 2001, in fact most of his output.
Must just be me, but I think it’s a terrible film.
It’s just you
Not really only a couple years later if II remember I spit on your grave came out and I think last house on the left came out in around the same time.
It isn't just you. It's dreadful. It didn't make me uncomfortable, I found it ridiculous, with a diabolical script (the source material doesn't help mind you, the book is a stinking heap of junk) and terrible and I mean really terrible (over) acting. It has also dated really badly. As it's Kubrick, it looks absolutely stunning though!
Kubricks films are always interesting but the self imposed banning gave this film a mystical quality it doesn't deserve. Early seventies view of the future that now looks ridiculous
I started off disliking it and now I hate it. It stripped the morality out of the book. Most overrated film of all time.
Look at that final shot. That's Alex fantasizing about his wedding day. Sure, he's imagining a frolicking roll in the hay with his new wife, but every other reference to sex in the film is somehow persevere or deviant, this one is healthy love making between man and wife. Kubrick fully understood the morality, but he chose to make his point in a less obvious way to the final chapter of the book.
How tastes can change. I first saw it early 90s and quite liked it but I've since grown to hate the film. McDowell is great as Alex and Kubrick's tehnical work remains impressive (as always) - but I now find A Clockwork Orange cold, nasty and actually pretty boring. Not to mention it contains some of the worst OTT acting in the history of motion pictures. Give me Barry Lyndon and Dr Strangelove any time.
Well overated.
Nah, it's brilliant.