A Clockwork Orange (1971) First Time Watching! REACTION & REVIEW! | Stanley Kubrick

[@antkemp]

Kubrick is my favorite director. I suggest you check out all his movies, the man did not miss. Every genre of film that guy tackled he nailed it.

[@iamamaniaint]

Yes indeed. Watch them all! They are all masterworks.

[@LoneCloudHopper]

Minus his first two.

[@GeraldYniguez]

AMEN TRUE Kubrick FAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@AgentLemmon]

The big muscular guy carrying Alex when he ends up at the house again is the actor that played Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies btw.

[@unpaidrentals]

THATS SO SICK NICE SHOUT!

[@JohnLancaster-b5x]

The old man recognized who Alex was when he started singing in the bathtub

[@Cash27373]

He recognized him when he heard his voice

[@Kebmo338]

Singing in the Rain Ugh Ugh LOL

[@MinuteMan4-ot9zq]

Barry Lyndon and Dr. Strangelove are must watches broski.

[@unpaidrentals]

I’ll give them a look!

[@eddiemidnite]

I first saw this when I was 10, still a favourite after all these years despite being kinda traumatic at the time.

[@unpaidrentals]

very disturbing but greatly and tastefully crafted

[@flarrfan]

In 1971 this was intended to be futuristic, far away from the time the book was written and the film made. Note also that the writer in the wheelchair did not recognize him until he heard Singin' in the Rain and recalled the song from the attack. At first he had political motives in mind to use Alex against the government, but of course that changed after hearing the song. The film itself is to be "enjoyed" for what it is, a clever Kubrick take on free will and the lack of moral choice, as the prison charlie says at the demonstration. It's my second favorite Kubrick after Dr. Strangelove, his brilliant dark comedy on nuclear war at the height of the Cold War. Finally, the lingo is in fact from Russian and in the book, it's the author's vision of what language might have been like in a future time from when the book was written in mid-20th century.

[@russianpaul77]

yea the language can be tricky because A) this is set in UK over 50 years ago, B) a lot of the words are "nadsat" which is a made-up dialect combining russian words as slang. being russian i guess i had an advantage, i always understood what they were saying. moloko = milk, devotchka = girl, when it sounds like he's saying "horror show" it's actually "horosho" = good

[@LordEriolTolkien]

Real orrorshow O my droog

[@unpaidrentals]

Wow that helps a lot, thank you so much!

[@nicholasjanke3476]

"It is wrong to turn unforgiveably evil criminals into vegetables," Stanley Kubrick (on the moral of A Clockwork Orange)

[@scottgelb2650]

I first watched this film in 1978 when I was at university in Philadelphia. It played at a theater just off campus and was attended by a lot of fellow students. It was a midnight show and double featured with Deep Throat which you could consider a sort of palate cleanser (pun intended). Clearly, there is an overarching message about the dangers of Authoritarianism and the evils and excesses of a government trying to control people by whatever means necessary. It was interesting for me to watch as you began to feel sorry for Alex during his tortuous treatment. I felt that as well. But afterward, you began to root for him when his former victims (including his family) took their revenge. I remember watching the treatment scenes with a mixture of empathy and satisfaction. Empathy because I don't believe in torture or mind control, and satisfaction in that he was finally put in a position to be the victim and have the things most precious to him taken away. A couple of things to consider: this treatment, barbaric as it was, was not forced upon him. He was advised against it, but he chose it because it was a way to get out of prison early. More importantly, Alex was a psychopath, completely devoid of empathy and compassion and highly skilled at manipulating people and looking like the victim. He enjoyed ultraviolence and even his followers and collaborators soon found out they were not immune from his cruelty. In the end, he was freed from his emotional prison and was well on his way to becoming a danger once again. Even today, the only treatments we have for psychopathy are completely dependent upon the cooperation of the psychopath.

[@LordEriolTolkien]

I have watched this many times, and some scenes are still confronting to my jaded old eyes.

[@vorbeck5555]

The fact that Alex is the narrator makes you feel uncomfortable since he addresses "you" as his "good and only friend." As if you would sympathize and enjoy his tales of violence, sexual assault, etc. and feel bad for him when he is punished. It's also strange since sometimes you do when you shouldn't. Plus you have to just listen to him and can't disagree with him so you sort of feel like an accessory to his crimes.

[@th.burggraf7814]

"I was cured.., alright !" I love happy endings... 😋

[@freddymo3339]

THE BOOK EXPLAINES THE LINGO USED . Synthe-mesc - synthetic mescaline Melloko - milk brew

[@Reggie2000]

The theme of the film, and book, is Free Will. And how important it is to have free will, regardless of use.

[@littleghostfilms3012]

The film was banned in Britain after a number of horrible incidents in which the culprits referred to the film as inspiration. Kubrick himself called for the withdrawal of the film, but only because of the public outrage, and maintained that art cannot be an inspiration to do violence in a person who is not already in a state of being able to do so. It's a great dark satire in which society and it's authority figures are thoroughly shown as hypocrites and Buffoon's who really only look out for their own interests. Alex is just a pawn in their game.

[@Lethgar_Smith]

The movie was filmed entirely on location in London. The only set that was built for the movie was the Korova Milk bar. Everything else was a real place. Even the apartment he lives in with his parents was a real London flat.

[@Empty-Mask]

I love that too because they were looking for soulless dystopian buildings to film lmao

[@THE-ILL-MADE-KNIGHT]

I had to watch this movie three times before it actually clicked. It helped after I realized the movie was filmed in the 70's but take place in the 90's.

[@eZTarg8mk2]

This movie is definitely worth a few rewatches, it has a lot of subtle things going on that add nuance to what you're seeing on screen. The film is meant to be a not too distant future from when it was filmed (the middle aged women still having the fashion tastes of the 1960s, giving a rough timeline of about 15-20 years in the future), and in the book Alex is 15. It's a sort of prediction of how society would become and the products of that society, Alex and the other gangs, and what formed him into the sociopath he is. All the background details and slightly peculiar conversations are there to paint a picture of the world without outright stating it to the audience. (and it's kinda close to our current society, in an abstract way) With Kubrick it's worth paying close attention to the dialogue, as it often has an ambiguity to it, with several meanings, or implications, and it can be quite interesting unpacking it, contextualising it with the film as a whole, like subtle hints that Alex is being sexually abused by various authority figures in the film (Kubrick will also give visual hints, like the spit running down Alex's face looking like something...nuttier. He reused that concept in The Shining), or that Alex is faking his symptoms of the treatment, is still being manipulative and was chosen for that trait (how likely he'd be to play a long for a quick release), rather than his violent behaviour. I could pick this and other Kubrick films apart for days, so i'll stop with the info overload, lmao. Cheers for the reaction, it was an enjoyable watch

[@LordEriolTolkien]

This is still full frontal shocking, even after 50 years. Fun Fact: it was banned from cinema in the UK until after Kubriks death.

[@vahaneloyan]

It’s based off a novel and the language is a mixture of Russian and English. The movie is set in a dystopian Soviet dominated world. The novelist went to Russia in 1960s and made his observations based on the kids there.

[@AgentLemmon]

An absolute classic. It is a shocking movie, but remember, it's also a satire and there are some funny scenes in it.

[@unpaidrentals]

As I was editing I was appreciating it more and more.

[@AgentLemmon]

@@unpaidrentals When i first saw it i was already farmiliar with other Stanley Kubrick movies, and almost all of his movies deal with the theme of dehumanization of humanity. So in that sense i was prepared. This wis by far his most shocking movie so it had an impact for sure. But i think i saw that movie about 10 times by now, so i'm more engaged with the amazing visuals, the story telling and understanding it as a really dark existential comedy.

[@lindabell6638]

Looking forward to this!! It is a strange movie but worth a watch...like most of Kubrick's films IMO.

[@krunkle5136]

Any day a classic film reaction drops is a great one.

[@lisathuban8969]

This is a thought provoking film if nothing else. It has a message, but it's open to interpretation, much like "2001, A Space Odyssey".

[@unpaidrentals]

Perfectly said, honestly couldn’t have said it better

[@StGimbles]

I remember reading the book in high school because my brother who was in college read it. At 15 it was VERY challenging to understand and it actually had a dictionary in the back for all the wild language they use

[@unpaidrentals]

How would you compare the book to the film?

[@lisathuban8969]

@@unpaidrentals The book is much deeper in the subject, and a very interesting read. I've heard originally almost the entire book was shot, and then they cut the film back drastically to stay in a roughly 2 hour time limit. Otherwise, it's pretty true to the original story.

[@grimmhead9583]

Yes there is a book you should read it. Overall it's always good to read more books.

[@unpaidrentals]

I was just telling my fiancé recently that I wanted to start reading more so I’m looking for suggestions!

[@iamamaniaint]

​@@unpaidrentalsread Blood Meridean. A random suggestion in this comment section, i know, but it's an amazing, wildly hypnotic "western" that investigates all the real issues.

[@jameshenderson9830]

It's futuristic. A dystopian future with a cross of english and russian slang.

[@reyk3524]

The film is based on the book by Anthony Burgess, the scene where Alex and his friends break into the writer's house is based on real events. During World War II, four deserters raped his pregnant wife, after which she became depressed and drank herself to death. This is what prompted the writer to write a book about "A Clockwork Orange".

[@LordEriolTolkien]

The vernacular idiom is a language invented for the novel, called Nadsat. it is about 400 words that are a mix of Romani and Russian which is supposed to literally and figuratively mark the distinction between generations. The way such No Cap, Fo Shiz examples bemuse the boomer today...

[@OzzybinOswald]

This is intended to be set in a dystopic future, as anticipated from circa 1962, when it was written. The author thought there'd be a Russian influence, thus some of the jargon.

[@aaronlane1391]

In the book, Alex is 15 years old

[@russianpaul77]

the treatment was insane of course, making him lose his humanity and freedom of choice, which is what the title is pointing to, something that looks natural and organic superficially but operates mechanically/artificially inside. after they get all the blowback, the state over-corrects by pampering Alex which is why in the end he envisions society applauding him getting back to his wild ways. when he says he's cured he means cured of the cure lol

[@iamamaniaint]

Yep, evil societies reward evil individuals as long as they follow their rules, which is what I think Alex has learned at the end.

[@frglee]

The first-ever performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, widely viewed as his greatest composition, took place exactly 200 years ago today on the 7th May 1824 in Vienna.🙂

[@fishintheocean-i4g]

yes, A Clockwork Orange is based off a book. A classic of literature by Anthony Burgess up there with Brave New World and 1984. The book is really, really good too, even still better than the movie.

[@rayname908]

I was 14 when I first watched A Clockwork Orange. I was a bit young to get the themes and it was disturbing. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a more pleasant mind blowing Kubrick film 🕒🍊

[@frglee]

All the Stanley Kubrick films have something to get you thinking. Personal favourites include '2001', 'The Shining' and 'Barry Lyndon', as well as 'A Clockwork Orange' and 'Dr Strangelove'. Interestingly, Spielbergs 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence' was made in the style of Kubrick, as a tribute to him. Kubrick had plans to film the 1969 Brian Aldiss 'Supertoys Last all Summer Long' short story, but a few years before dying in 1999, Kubrick handed the film rights over to Spielberg .

[@russianpaul77]

yes the book came first, i read it and honestly don't remember anything that separates it from the movie, other than the fact years later the author decided to add a completely unnecessary chapter where i guess alex learns the error of his ways on his own and decides to reform. i get why the author would want that ending, that people have the power to change...but it felt out of place. Kubrick ended the story exactly where it was supposed to end

[@jonc2648]

The language is difficult at times because Burgess, the author, created punk argot for the punks. Unless you study the terms, it can be hard to get all the meaning right off the bat, although much of it you can guess at from context.

[@joseherrera8489]

So we all know what you think of the McPoyles

[@Lethgar_Smith]

The book this movie is based on was an exercise in answering the question, "What is the future of teenage delinquency, gangs, violence, etc.?" Essentially asking where is Youth heading? This story attempts to answer that question. It's a very bleak answer. Some say not too far off the mark.

[@iamamaniaint]

It also reveals the totalitarian methods used in attempting to prevent delinquency, and shows the ruling class as just as evil, only more savvy in their brutality. In Alex they saw a perfect young upstart. As we saw they had already hired Alex's droogs into their system. "Hiring brutal young things into the police..."

[@RobVanDelay_WholeFnContest]

I recommend you read the book its even better!

[@mana3735]

The book is better. It doesn't end there in the book.

[@danielstartek9729]

Hey Unpuked Rejects get a haircut!

[@unpaidrentals]

🤷🏽‍♂️