A Clockwork Orange
Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Production
Budget
$2 200 000
Revenue
$27 108 263
Director
Scenario
Anthony Burgess
Author
Composer
Producer
Actors
Malcolm McDowell
Alex
Patrick Magee
Mr. Alexander
Carl Duering
Dr. Brodsky
Michael Bates
Chief Guard
James Marcus
Georgie
Michael Tarn
Pete
Miriam Karlin
Catlady
Short description
A Clockwork Orange is set in a near-future Britain where Alex, a young man who leads a gang called the Droogs, spends his nights committing violent crimes alongside his friends. Alex is also devoted to classical music, above all Beethoven. After a break-in that ends in murder, his own associates turn on him and he is arrested. Offered a way out of prison, he agrees to take part in an experimental government programme intended to remove his urge toward violence, a procedure that leaves him unable to act on his own impulses at all.
Stanley Kubrick directed the film, his ninth in a run of thirteen, made between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Barry Lyndon. He also wrote the screenplay and produced. Malcolm McDowell plays Alex, with Patrick Magee, Carl Duering, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke and James Marcus among a credited cast of fifty-one.
The film was released in October 1971 and runs 137 minutes. Made for around two million dollars, it returned roughly twenty-seven million worldwide, a strong result for its budget. On IMDb it holds 8.2 out of 10 from more than fourteen thousand votes, while the critics' rating stands at 8.9 out of 10 from eighty-four reviews, an unusually close match between critical and audience assessment.
What's left behind the scenes
- The futuristic-looking car that appeared in the film under the name Durango 95 is actually a car called Probe 16, built in three copies by the Adams brothers.
- Once, Kubrick stated that if he hadn't found Malcolm McDowell, the film probably would never have been made.
- During the assault on the homeless man, the shadows in the tunnel are different. This is especially noticeable in the upper part of the wall.
- To finance the project, Kubrick negotiated with the American Zoetrope film studio, founded by Francis Ford Coppola; however, the collaboration did not work out. Finally, in 1970, Kubrick signed a contract with Warner Bros. for three films at once. By that time, Malcolm McDowell, noticed by Kubrick after the release of "If....", had already been approved for the main role.
- After Alex lands face-first in spaghetti, the remnants of food on his face look different in various shots.
- At the police station, when Deltond's mentor arrives, Alex is bleeding, and papers, like napkins, are thrown at him. One of the napkins unexpectedly appears on the floor.
- When Alex notices the police chaplain at his home, the chaplain is sitting on the edge of the bed. With a change of shot, the chaplain moves closer to the center of the bed.
- When Alex struggles with the cat's owner, blurred shadows of the operator breathing down their necks are visible on each of the opponents.
- While working on the film "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," Terry Southern suggested to Kubrick that he adapt Anthony Burgess's novel "A Clockwork Orange." When Kubrick first read the book, he was put off by Burgess's linguistic sophistication. Southern recalled: "Initially, the novel didn't appeal to Stanley at all. He said that no one would understand such language." Southern then requested the rights to work on the novel for six months and, together with Michael Cooper, wrote a screenplay. Producer David Puttnam considered the screenplay promising but advised the screenwriters to find out whether their work would be acceptable to the British film censor. The censor returned the screenplay unread and, according to Southern, stated the following: "I am familiar with this book, and there is no point in reading a screenplay based on it, since the novel depicts youth's disobedience to authority; it won't pass." Southern extended the rights but then abandoned the idea. His lawyer, Saul Litvinoff, who was then dreaming of breaking into the film industry, bought the rights in the hope that the film would serve as a striking advertisement for The Rolling Stones, with Mick Jagger playing Alex, a great admirer of the novel. A screenplay was commissioned from Burgess. English critic Adrian Turner recalled: "It was about 300 pages long, and it was completely unreadable. Burgess simply rewrote the book in its entirety." Although Litvinoff retained the rights to the adaptation, the project failed. Italian director Tinto Brass also intended to adapt Burgess's novel, dreaming of transferring many of the erotic scenes from the book to the screen. Meanwhile, Kubrick realized the potential of the book and bought the rights from him.
- After being released from prison, Alex leaves home and walks along the embankment. At that moment, there are waves on the canal, but when Alex looks into the distance, the waves disappear. When a homeless man approaches, waves reappear on the canal.
- The wine bottle is turned twice when the writer's influential friends appear.
- Kubrick forced his assistant to destroy all footage that did not make it into the film.
- The novel received the title "A Clockwork Orange" from an expression that was once widespread among London Cockneys – inhabitants of the working classes of the East End. Older generation Cockneys speak of unusual or strange things as being "crooked as a clockwork orange," meaning things of a most whimsical and incomprehensible nature. Anthony Burgess lived in Malaysia for seven years, and in Malay, the word "orang" means "person," while in English, "orange" means "orange."
- Burgess's first impression of watching the film, arranged for him by Kubrick, was terrible. The writer's wife and his literary agent wanted to leave after the first ten minutes, but Burgess decided that it would look provocative.
- During the massacre on the embankment, as Dim crawls out of the water, a hat appears on George.
- When Alex arrives at the prison, the stamp for sealing on the guards' table continuously rotates when shown from the front and back.
- Malcolm McDowell suffered a great deal during filming: in one scene he broke his ribs, in another he injured his eyes, and in the scene of Alex's immersion, McDowell nearly choked due to a malfunction in his breathing apparatus.
- During filming, McDowell and Kubrick often played table tennis for long periods. To his great disappointment, McDowell later discovered that the hours spent playing tennis had been deducted from his fee.
- When Alex talks to the prison warden in his office, the warden's glasses move on their own. When the warden asks him to sign a document, the glasses jump onto the yellow folders to the left, and then return to their original position.
- The wine the writer offers is too light for a 10-year-old "Château Médoc." Kubrick wanted McDowell's character to drink precisely this wine, but in order to prevent the actor from becoming incapacitated, the wine was diluted with water after each take.
- Following accusations of promoting violence and after receiving anonymous death threats, Kubrick withdrew the film from circulation in the United Kingdom a year after its premiere. The ban remained in place until 1999, until the director's death.
- The snake appeared in the film after McDowell carelessly admitted to Kubrick that he was afraid of reptiles.
- During the rape scene, Malcolm McDowell sang "Singin’ In The Rain" simply because it was the only song whose lyrics he knew.
- During the wine tasting at the writer's house, a black-and-red ottoman standing against the wall disappears in the background. Later, the ottoman will repeatedly appear and disappear.
- Initially, it was assumed that Ken Russell would adapt the novel, as his style seemed the most suitable (he even found an actor for the lead role – Oliver Reed). Burgess was unhappy when Kubrick took over the project, but he was ultimately highly satisfied with the result, although he admitted with a touch of regret that the film's success made "A Clockwork Orange" his most famous work, while his other novels were overshadowed.
- Stanley Kubrick asked the band "Pink Floyd" to sell the rights to their song "Atom Heart Mother." But since he wanted a perpetual license and unlimited opportunities to mutilate the musical material, the band refused. In the record store scene, an album cover for "Atom Heart Mother" hangs above the counter.
- Several real-life instances of imitation of the film's characters, manifested in real acts of teenage violence, were reported. It was reported that attackers sang 'Singin’ in the rain' during their crimes.
- Having written the screenplay, Kubrick said: “I think Burgess wanted to say in the book the same thing that came out in the screenplay, but I introduced some changes and altered some scenes.” The most significant difference between the film and the source material was the omission of the final chapter, in which Alex loses interest in violence, listens to German romances instead of Beethoven, and dreams of having a wife and children. Kubrick was not familiar with the original ending when he began working on the film. The fact is that he had the American edition of the book, from which the final chapter had been removed because the director of W. W. Norton & Company publishing house believed it was unjustified and diminished the tension. Kubrick later stated that even if he had known about the different editions, it would not have affected the screenplay.
- In the prison library, Alex studies the Bible while a priest walks by. With a change of frame, the hero's hands are positioned differently, and the books are slightly closer.
- When the female doctor approaches Alex, who is lying in a cast, and takes his newspaper, everything in the ward changes abruptly: the pillows are arranged differently, and the projector cart moves closer to the bed.
- When the police officers bring the 'corrected' Alex to the forest, the car stops behind a concrete post by the road, but when he is led out, the post is opposite the back door.
- On the counter of a music store, at the 26-minute mark of the film, is visible The Beatles' ninth studio album, "Magical Mystery Tour".
- Despite its low-tech nature compared to "2001: A Space Odyssey," Kubrick demonstrated his talent for innovation; to film one scene, he dropped Newman Sinclair spring-motor cameras from the roof to achieve the effect he wanted.
- During the rape in the opera, one sandal with straps around the ankle is removed from the victim. Shortly after, when Alex and his droogs appear, the woman is wearing both sandals again.
- The film is based on Anthony Burgess's novel 'A Clockwork Orange' (1962).
- Burgess, seeking to enliven his novel, saturates it with slang words from the so-called "nadsat," created by Burgess in Leningrad and borrowed from the Russian language. The main difficulty in translating the novel into Russian is to make these words appear as unfamiliar to a Russian-speaking reader as they do to an English-speaking one. V. Boshniak, who translated the text, came up with the idea of typing these words in Latin script, thereby distinguishing them from the text in Russian. Mostly, the characters use common, everyday Russian words as slang – “malchik” (boy), “litso” (face), “chai” (tea), etc. Due to this same "nadsat," Stanley Kubrick stipulated that the film "A Clockwork Orange" should be shown in Russian distribution exclusively with subtitles.
- The numbers of Alex's former friends, who became police officers, are 665 and 667. A hint that Alex is the 666th among them.
- Before Stanley Kubrick became involved with the project, the members of The Rolling Stones were planned to play the roles of Alex and his gang.
- Kubrick demanded that the milk in the milk machines be changed every hour. The reason was that under strong lighting, the milk would thicken and turn into curd cheese.
- Upon returning home and deciding to listen to Beethoven, Alex removes the red cassette from the tape recorder twice: first, he places it on the table and finds a yellow one with Beethoven, and then, in a close-up, he pulls out the same red cassette from the tape deck.
- Operation 'Uninvited Guest' (11th minute): an elderly writer is pressed to the floor, filmed from different angles.
- On the vinyl rental counter (00:26:30), a promotional poster for the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" is visible.
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