Product Details

• Language: English
• Studio: Warner Studios
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (853 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0790701022
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,216 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "A Clockwork Orange" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Stanley Kubrick's striking visual interpretation of Anthony Burgess's famous novel is a masterpiece. Malcolm McDowell delivers a clever, tongue-in-cheek performance as Alex, the leader of a quartet of droogs, a vicious group of young hoodlums who spend their nights stealing cars, fighting rival gangs, breaking into people's homes, and raping women. While other directors would simply exploit the violent elements of such a film without subtext, Kubrick maintains Burgess's dark, satirical social commentary. We watch Alex transform from a free-roaming miscreant into a convict used in a government experiment that attempts to reform criminals through an unorthodox new medical treatment. The catch, of course, is that this therapy may be nothing better than a quick cure-all for a society plagued by rampant crime. A Clockwork Orange works on many levels--visual, social, political, and sexual--and is one of the few films that hold up under repeated viewings. Kubrick not only presents colorfully arresting images, he also stylizes the film by utilizing classical music (and Wendy Carlos's electronic classical work) to underscore the violent scenes, which even today are disturbing in their display of sheer nihilism. Ironically, many fans of the film have missed that point, sadly being entertained by its brutality rather than being repulsed by it. --Bryan Reesman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Blu Ray Transfer - Great extras, June 23, 2010

By 

Dellamorte - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Clockwork Orange [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

As with most older movies transferred to blu-ray, I'm pretty sure that most people who would be buying this have already seen this great film, and have their own opinions of it.

So, this review is strictly about the quality and extras of the BLU-RAY.

Hands down, this is one of the best transfers I have seen of a movie this old. Most blu-rays seem of older movies seem to be patchy as far as quality goes, but this one is consistently great all the way through.

The extras are what really sets this apart though. Commentary by Malcom McDowell, A documentary about the film, and a making of!

A solid buy for fans of the movie - this is a significant upgrade over past DVD's, and for the first time I don't feel ripped off by a repurchase/upgrade.

On a side note, Come on Amazon! - Start filtering the product reviews for blu-rays. What is the point of listing ALL of the DVD reviews for the same title? Seems like it could be an easy fix - maybe they'll actually do it someday...

79 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, November 6, 2007

By 

M. Hickey (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Clockwork Orange [HD DVD] (HD DVD)

In which high government officials are seen as the moral equivalents of street thugs (just better at p.r.), demonstrating that nothing has changed in 35 years.
The HD transfer is spectacular. This is how I remember the movie upon its opening in 1971. Pristine, startling, amazing.
Repeated viewings over the years of worn-out circuit prints, VHS and standard-def DVD had dimmed the movie's capacity to astonish. Now, in High Definition on BluRay disc, the luminous brilliance, texture and color of the images are restored, and the richness of the images makes a tremendous difference to the film's impact. The sound is also excellent -- certainly superior to the original theatrical release in the days of optical soundtracks.
In addition to the beauty of the Hi-Def picture, this is worth owning because (at last) it is a close approximation of the original theatrical aspect ratio (screen shape); the theatrical presentation being, after all, the venue for which Kubrick composed his shots. (Ignore those who claim he meant this film to be seen in full-frame 1.33:1, as in all the previous home video releases. He clearly created it to be seen in theaters, and in theaters he had the image matted to 1.66:1, which is very close to the aspect-ratio of this BluRay.
Buy it; watch it on your big-screen 1080 HDTV in a dark room, uninterrupted. Real horrorshow!
This is a 2-disc "Special Edition," with the same extras as the standard-def DVD in the new (2007) boxed set: commentaries, trailer, new interviews with Wm. Friedkin, Sydney Pollack, Malcolm McDowell, Wendy Carlos, Mrs. Kubrick, others.
Then take advantage of the recent (2011) BluRay release of "Barry Lyndon" (1975), Kubrick's underappreciated masterpiece, which also benefits greatly from High-Definition.

226 of 263 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A master film, by a master director, December 16, 2001

By 

Matthew K. Putnam (Brooklyn Park, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Clockwork Orange (DVD)

In 1964 director/producer Stanley Kubrick created the nuclear war comedic masterpiece "Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb". He followed that with the science fiction masterpiece "2001: A Space Oddysee". Stanley Kubrick would reach his creative peak with his next film. An Adaption of Anothony Burgess'novel "A Clockwork Orange." Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is one of those films that you will either love or hate. The film centers around the character of Alexander DeLarge (played to perfection by Malcolm McDowell) a 15 year old "droog" who with his friends Pete (Michael Tarn), Georgie (James Marcus), and Dim (Warren Clarke) drink Milk Laced with drugs at the local "Milkbar" and then go out on the town at night, doing horrible things to people. During one incident Alex is captured and taken to prison. He finds out about a treatment that can get him of prison. He goes through with the treatment (which will make him sick when he attempts to commit an act of violence), is released from prison and thrown back into the world, unable to defend himself. Out of all the things that make this movie great, the number one element is the performance of Malcolm McDowell as Alex. The entire movie revolves around him so if McDowell's performance isn't top notch then the movie isn't top notch. McDowell was in his late twenties when he made this movie. In the novel Alex is 15 years old. So although being much older then his character McDowell plays the adventureous youth wonderfully. Suprisingly McDowell was not nominated for an Academy Award. Another really strong element is the music. Never in my life have I seen a movie (non musical) where the music plays such an important role in a film. Gioacchino Rossini's "The Thieving Magpie" during the fight scence against the rival droogs. "The William Tell Overture" played 5 times too fast during the orgy scene and the use of Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Symphony no. 9" are just a few examples of how music plays an important role in this film. As far as things being wrong with the movie. The only real thing is the lack of any real supporting cast. Sure there are a few standout performances. Particularily James Marcus as Georgie and in no means are the rest of the supporting cast bad actors. There just isn't a real supporing cast there. But McDowell's performace makes up for it. This film get's 5 stars because of 3 things. Number one is the performance of Malcolm McDowell. Number two is the use of music in such a different and unique way and number three is the originality of it. This movie came out in 1971 and I haven't seen any movie like it that came out before or since then. A Clockwork Orange was nominated for several Academy Awards including "best picture" and "best director" but it lost in all categories to William Friedkin's "The French Connection"