A Clockwork Orange

Name: A Clockwork Orange
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: December 20, 1971
Duration: 136 min
Rating: 77
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee

1971

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 1073 Ratings

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7.2

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7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 1073 Ratings

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A Clockwork Orange

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: December 20, 1971 | X

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 reflexKubrick 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

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller, Crime

Rating: X

Runtime: 136 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

James Berardinelli

It demands thought, compels the attention, and refuses to be dismissed. And, for that reason, A Clockwork Orange must be considered a landmark of modern cinema. Read full review

100

Jeremiah Kipp

If you watch Clockwork Orange and see that this is the game Kubrick is playing with us, giving us an avenue into understanding a corrosion of society, the film may be appreciated as his finest masterwork in a career full of them. Certainly, it’s his most human film, right next to Lolita in its refusal to judge its central character’s sickness. Read full review

100

Empire Simon Braund

Ethical screed aside, what does A Clockwork Orange have to offer beyond its curiosity value and a crash course in humanism? Well, for a start there's Kubrick's dazzling visual style which, rather in the manner that Trainspotting did 25 years later, translates the substance of an "unfilmable" book into the language of cinema. And at the dramatic core of the film is a simply astonishing performance by Malcolm MacDowell as Alex. It also features an orgy sequence that would have had Von Stroheim laughing his jackboots off — you'll certainly never listen to the William Tell Overture in quite the same way again. And as for Singin' In The Rain... Read full review

Kathleen Carroll

His film may offend (it very nearly makes one nauseous) but there is no doubting the fact that it is the end product of a brilliant, highly original mind. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Flawed or not, it is a compelling thought experiment. Read full review

Michael Atkinson

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. Read full review

Dave Kehr

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. Read full review

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User Reviews

Paul_Yoon

Sep 23, 2010

Kubrick marvellously questions toward the society about the 'real' definition of virtue and evil. Kubrick successfully followed the original storyline (of course, some of the storylines are deviated from the original) and attracted the audiences to make a different point of view.

16 of 57 users found this helpful1641

JumpCut_Online

Apr 9, 2019

A Clockwork Orange is still as brilliantly bleak as it was upon its first release, and its themes of government control and the power and influence of images and technology mean it is shockingly still relevant. A film whose reputation undoubtedly precedes it, it is also a film which feelsA Clockwork Orange is still as brilliantly bleak as it was upon its first release, and its themes of government control and the power and influence of images and technology mean it is shockingly still relevant. A film whose reputation undoubtedly precedes it, it is also a film which feels like it has earned that reputation. A masterpiece.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

AlanA.

Dec 30, 2007

Easily one of the greatest movies ever filmed. Some are blinded from its violence and sexuality and just see it as a horrific film. Sad. Kubrick is awesome!

0 of 0 users found this helpful

VikJ

Jan 29, 2008

Kubrick's a genius and you can't help but be entertained by the mischief of McDowell's character.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

Spangle

Dec 2, 2013

Right when I thought I had seen the oddest film ever, a new contender comes along. Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is extraordinarily weird, yet also brilliant. Not only is it beautifully filmed (as expected), but it raises numerous cultural issues as well. Odd, elegant, violent, andRight when I thought I had seen the oddest film ever, a new contender comes along. Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is extraordinarily weird, yet also brilliant. Not only is it beautifully filmed (as expected), but it raises numerous cultural issues as well. Odd, elegant, violent, and brilliant, A Clockwork Orange is certainly a classic.… Expand

0 of 11 users found this helpful011

lorem

Mar 31, 2020

A strange and disturbing movie, definitely with Kubrick's stamp, presenting a world in which the greatest vices and crimes of humanity are freely exercised.

0 of 6 users found this helpful06

Klebart

Dec 20, 2019

Movie is over-hyped. Perhaps by 70's standards it's OK, but that's an extremely low bar. When compared to movies before and after it doesn't stand up. Pass on this one.

9 of 12 users found this helpful93

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