A Clockwork Orange
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Metascore
78 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.6 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 244 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee
  • Summary: Kubrick makes of Anthony Burgess' celebrated novel a savage and satiric morality play centering on Alex (McDowell), who fights, robs, rapes and kills like any concsienceless predator. Captured and imprisoned, he undergoes treatment to condition him "safe", a "clockwork orange" healthy and whole on the outside - but crippled within by reflex mechanisms beyond his control. (Warner Bros.)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 1 out of 10
  1. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Gene Siskel
    100
    Kubrick's contributions are his wit and his eye. The wit, too much at times, is as biting as in "Dr. Strangelove," and the production, while of another order, is as spectacular as in "2001." [11 Feb 1972]
    All this critic's reviews
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    80
    The first punk tragicomedy, a chain-whipped cartoon meditation on Good, Evil, and Free Will that is as seductive as it is tasteless. That Kubrick misjudged the distance between comedy and cruelty seems to be unarguable.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    50
    It is just plain talky and boring. You know there's something wrong with a movie when the last third feels like the last half.
  4. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Dave Kehr
    20
    A very bad film--snide, barely competent, and overdrawn--that enjoys a perennial popularity, perhaps because its confused moral position appeals to the secret Nietzscheans within us.

See all 10 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 72 out of 86
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 86
  3. Negative: 7 out of 86
  1. bill
    10
    This is indeed one of Stanley Kubrick best films. Malcom Macdowell was cast perfectly as Alex del Large and I can't believe he didn';t get an Acadamy Award nomination for this role. Truly a classic.… Expand
  2. grandpajoe6191
    8
    Stanley Kubrick asks the audience a difficult question of whenether the sins of mankind should be adjusted or not. His film "A Clockwork Orange" doesn't really answer the prompt, but reflects it back to the audience and makes them deeply think about what morale we are exposed to, and if the morale we believe in is just or unjust.… Expand
  3. PeterJ.
    7
    After hearing about this movie for many, many years I finally decided to watch it when I saw it was available in Blu Ray. The beginning of the movie was a 10, but lost it's luster after a while. Overall, still a very good movie, especially being made in the 70's.… Expand
  4. SarahC.
    2
    Compared to the novel by Anthony Burgess, which in my opinion is an absolute masterpiece, this film sucked for lack of a better word. It was disgusting and captured nothing that Burgess intended to portray in his novel. BOO HISS, go read the book if you've only seen the movie because it did it absolutely NO justice.… Expand

See all 86 User Reviews

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