Customer Reviews

A Clockwork Orange

5 star:		(609)
4 star:		(102)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(34)
1 star:		(76)

 

 

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...

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.

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"

The story is set in a near future society that has unthinkable methods of crime and punishment. Alex ( Malcolm McDowell)is a man that loves to fight, rob, rape, and kill. However, his luck finally runs out and he is captured. While imprisoned, he undergoes treatment to render him " safe" to the world around him, which is refered to as a " Clockwork Orange". While Alex is made to look perfectly normal on the outside, he is crippled by reflex mechanisms beyond his control on the inside. This prevents him from committing any acts of violence whatsoever. After Alex's release, things go from bad to worse however, when his "cure" leaves him defenseless to the revenge of his victims.

"A Clockwork Orange" is Stanley Kubrick's best film, and one of my favorite films overall. It is one of those movies that you can watch over and over again, and still be amazed everytime. I have never been as shocked as I was when I saw this film. The first 20 minutes involves two brutal beatings and an extremely graphic rape scene. It only gets more shocking from there on out. The story also offers a hilarious sense of irony. Alex is supposedly cured of all his afflictions, but is thrust back into a world of violence when forced to deal with his victims. The camera work used in this film is amazing, and the music is wonderful. All of the actors do an outstanding job in this film, but Malcom McDowell gives one of the most memorable performances ever as Alex. I have never experienced such a use of my emotions before when dealing with a fictional character. He will make you hate him and shock you with how he acts before he is captured. But then Alex makes you feel almost sorry for him with what he has to go through afterwards.

Stanley Kubrick has made some great movies with "2001: A Space Oddesey", "Full Metal Jacket", "Barry Lyndon", "Paths of Glory", and "Dr. Strangelove...." In my opinion however, " A Clockwork Orange" is his best film. The overall story, acting, music, camera work, and truly shocking scenes set it apart from the rest. It is definately a must own, because it only gets better with repeated viewings. The DVD however, is very mediocre. The quality of the film itself is just above average, and there are no extras at all.

One of the most powerful, thought provoking and disturbing movies of all time. Anyone who thinks that this movie glorifies or condones violence and rape just does not get it. Alex and his "droogs" are evil people. They are doing what comes naturally to them. This might not be right or moral, but the point is, they have to be able to choose between good and evil. The real horror of the movie is the technique used on Alex to render him a useless shade of a human being. You actually start to feel sorry for him even though he is a truly wicked person. Burgess' novel used a foreign language (Nadsat) to lessen the impact of the violence, but in the movie the violence must be shown for the full effect of the movie. I felt Kubrick chose well to leave out the last chapter of the BRITISH version because it would seem like such a tame way to end the movie after such a thrilling ride. You have to watch this movie with an open frame of mind or else you will only look at it superficially, which would be a big mistake my brothers.

A lot of people would say that Stanley Kubrick's best work was 2001: A Space Oddyssey or Dr. Strangelove, but Clockwork Orange is his most remarkable film. Combining the best qualities of both 2001 and Strangelove -- which are both fantastic films also -- never before has Kubrick given audiences such a satirically brilliant movie. For some people, Clockwork will be hard to stomach; the rape scene at the beginning is pretty explicit and there's a lot of nudity. The fighting scenes, though, are for the most part more comical than brutal. Whether you hate it or love it -- and there isn't a lot of room for middle ground to be taken with this film -- you will certainly remember it because it will most likely have some kind of impact on you. In his first film role, Malcolm McDowell gives an incredible performance as the twisted gang leader Alex, who delights in rape, ultraviolenece, and Beethoven. McDowell is amusing and frightening at the same time and, without a solid, believable performance from the lead, this film would not have worked. The rest of the characters are eccentric, too, although their sole purpose is to reinforce the qualities of Alex. There are two major themes in this film, one of which deals with politicians and the manipulation with which they operate in order to avoid bad publicity. When the operation to reform Alex backfires, causing him terrible trouble as opposed to making him a decent person, the politician who originally championed the controversial operation does a quick clean-up job so that the situation won't seem as bad as it is. He offers Alex a cushy government job, basically an attempt to bribe the criminal so that he won't go to the papers with his horrifying experience. Alex, of course, is too young and unschooled to realize that he has been taken advantage of -- both by the people who promoted the operation and by those who opposed it -- and he is just happy to be himself again. The other main theme of this film deals with how far we should or shouldn't go in order to reform people who commit heinous crimes. If we ever developed the technology to do such a procedure as was done on Alex, this film gives us a good reason not to go through with it. Besides taking away a person's inborn ability to make his own moral choices, this would also leave the person particularly vulnerable to the revenge of those he's wronged in the past (which is what happens to Alex). The book of the same title, which was authored by Alex Burgess, is even better than the film and deserves more credit as a literary masterpiece. Some people believe that the movie is too soft and doesn't go as far as the book as far as the sexual scenes are concerned, but this movie will offend enough people without Alex taking advantage of two naive, pre-teen girls. Burgess himself was disappointed by the film (he makes this obvious in the newer version of the book) because the book was 21 chapters and the movie ended at the conclusion of the 20th chapter; however, the ending of the movie works better on screen while the ending of the book works better on paper. In each context, the endings work. Besides, the movie was already two and a half hours, and adding the book's ending would have meant at least 30 more minutes. Anyway, A Clockwork Orange is a thrilling experience and should not be missed, whether you like Kubrick or not. This film should have been ranked higher on AFI's Top 100 list.

"A Clockwork Orange (Two-Disc Special Edition)" is the edition of Stanley Kubrick's "ultra-violent" classic to own, offering a remastered print recapturing the richness of image and sound that Kubrick strove to achieve, plus bonus features that really explains the 'how and why' of this most powerful, remarkable film.

Based on Anthony Burgess' 1962 novella, of a ruthless gang of hedonistic children terrorizing near-future London, Kubrick wanted to prove, after the complex and very expensive "2001: A Space Odyssey", that he could produce a low-budget feature with all of the edge of "Easy Rider" and other groundbreaking films of the time. With Malcolm McDowell as Alex, the monstrous yet charismatic leader of the gang (in an inspired piece of casting), and working directly from Burgess' book, Kubrick literally wrote the screenplay as he filmed, toning down the Russian/English slang of the characters, and stylizing the extreme violence and sexual abuse into a visual ballet, orchestrated to "Singing in the Rain", and Walter Carlo's electronic adaptations of classical music. The end result was staggering, an astonishing mix of black humor, social satire, and irreverence that literally rocked the film world, and turned him into a pariah in Great Britain, where Alex's nonconformity and allure proved so attractive that 'copy-cat' crimes based on the film sprang up. When Kubrick's life and the lives of his family were threatened, in an unprecedented move, he convinced Warner Brothers to pull the film from distribution in England, where it remained 'banned' until his death.

While 'no frills' editions of the film have been available in the U.S. for a number of years, this new release truly explores the creative process involved, through the optional commentary track, and in the second disc, offering two 'making of' featurettes, with observations by Kubrick's family, McDowell, the production staff, and some of today's best-known directors. As Kubrick himself never spoke publicly about his work, these insights are a revelation into the mind of a master filmmaker. Also on the second disc is a marvelous bio-documentary of Malcolm McDowell ("O Lucky Malcolm!"), brilliant and as wickedly funny as the man, himself.

"A Clockwork Orange" was a film far ahead of it's time, disturbing and incomprehensible for many 1972 audiences; today, in our climate of violence, terrorism, sexually-oriented crimes, and loss of personal freedom, it seems remarkably timely. And at the remarkably low price Amazon is offering for this Special Edition, Kubrick's visionary work should not be missed!

I've seen all of Kubrick's work (except for Fear & Desire, if it counts), and out of all his truly great movies, a Clockwork Orange has to be my favorite. The following is the standard banal description of all great films. Here goes: This movie has it all. Cinematography, colors, acting, script, music, etc. But a Clockwork Orange really does stand true to each of these claims. Kubrick paints a rather disturbing picture of advanced technology in the future and how it affects one's overall judgement and/or free will.

The majority of people who worked with Kubrick during his pre-Eyes Wide Shut movies said he was an obsessive perfectionist who shot take after take after take just to get his vision exactly the way he wanted it. So? Why complain? These actors should consider themselves lucky to have worked with an outstanding and passionate director such as Kubrick. Every one of his films I've seen, I truly enjoyed, so it's not like all the time and effort put into the film was for naught. After a Clockwork Orange was done shooting, Malcolm Mc Dowell said he and Kubrick hated each other. Oh, well. That's show business. Bottom line: Kubrick was one of the minority of directors who truly believed in his work. He never slacked off and gave each of his projects everything he could. His eye for camera placement and movement was nothing short of brilliant. This man was a genius.

Kubrick knew how to tell a story without words. Not many people realize this. His ambient color techniques are truly captivating. For the first forty minutes of the film, Alex beats, rapes and tortures other people as if it were some sort of game. Notice how rich and vibrant the colors are and how they accentuate Alex's play-world. Once Alex is caught and sent to prison, the atmosphere turns bleak; Kubrick's motif in this particular sequence of the film is highlighted with grays and dark blues.

If you've never seen the film before, you don't know what you're missing. And after you've watched it, just try going through the week without speaking a word of Nasdat. I'm glad I waited to buy it on DVD; the initial copy is only 2-channel audio, I believe. This new version is supposed to be 5.1 dolby digital. I could be wrong. I'm basing this on what I've heard. But with Wendy Carlos' AMAZING synth score blaring on the soundtrack, 5.1 wouldn't be too shabby, now would it? If you've never seen a Kubrick film before, I'd recommend any one of his films. But a Clockwork Orange just so happens to be my favorite of his. Not particularly for the Scream crowd, but oddly enough, Generation Xers identify themselves with this film. Teenagers identifying with a Stanley Kubrick film. If that doesn't convey the greatness of this film, I don't know what will.

What a great moment in movie history, and one of the greatest adapted screenplays of all time! This is the all new remastered Clockwork Orange, and finally released on a bran new dvd set with all new special features!

Special Features include:
Commentary with the main star!
Remastered version of the movie!
Channel 4 documentary: Still Tickin: The Return of Clockwork Orange!
Career profile: O Lucky Malcolm!
New featurette: Making A Clockwork Orange

Purchase a work of art by one of the greatest filmakers ever!

There are 2 customer reviews so far complaining that this disc is labeled "Rated X," when it's actually a different, R-rated version. So which version is it, X or R? Not as simple to answer as it may seem...
The original theatrical release in 1971 was rated X. According to IMDB, the movie was re-released in 1973 with three editorial changes (see IMDB under "ACO"/ Trivia for a description of the changes). This altered 1973 version was rated R by the MPAA. (This is not unheard of: Paramount did the same thing with "Saturday Night Fever," re-editing the R film to a PG, to allow Travolta's teenage fans to see it in re-release.)
By the time the first Home Video release of "Clockwork" came around (mid-'80s), the original X version was considered to be more properly an R by then-current standards, and so the X version was released on Home Video with a new R rating. (IMDB says the MPAA did not re-rate it for Home Video, that the studio simply changed it. Having worked at a major studio for some years, I don't believe the MPAA would allow a studio to change an MPAA rating without their input; they own the ratings system. But, with or without them, the original X version has always been released on Home Video with an R rating). The re-edited version from 1973 has not seen the light of day since.
Bottom line (I said it wasn't going to be simple): This DVD contains the original, unaltered, X-rated version, which is now distributed with an R rating.
Thanks to Prof Cicero for his help with this history.