SPOILERS! You've been warned.
Rated R
Last seen: December 2004
A Clockwork Orange
Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Original novel by: Anthony Burgess
DIRECTORIAL GENUIS
HIGHLY DISTURBING LIST
CHARACTERS
Alex DeLarge - a young man whose principle interests are ultra-violence, rape and Beethoven. Gets brainwashed...or does he?
The Droogs - Alex's band of terrorizers. Dim (one of the droogs) sets up Alex when his attempt to take over his position is thwarted.
Mr. Alexander - His house is called "Home". Alex and his droogs break into his house and rape his wife. After Alex gets out of prison, he unknowingly goes back "Home".
Mrs. Alexander - His wife. She gets raped by Alex and dies shortly after.
Catlady (Miss Weathers) - Alex kills her. It is the crime Dim set him up for. This lady sure has a lot of cats.
Tramp - Alex and his droogs beat him up.
PLOT
The movie begins with Alex DeLarge staring into the camera. He and his droogs are at Korova Milkbar. They all dress in white, with black hats. Alex has a cane, eyeball cufflings, and a fake eyelash on one eye. After they enjoy their drink, they go out walking. Seeing a tramp lying in a tunnel, they beat him senseless. Later on, they see another group of ultra-violence lovers raping a girl. After scaring them off, Alex and his droogs rape her. The highlight of their evening is when they break into "Home", paralyze Mr. Alexander and rape Mrs. Alexander while Alex sings "Singin' In The Rain".
Alex comes home ecstatic after his busy little night. We find out that he still lives with his parents, but he has a lock on his door. In the morning, he is cornered by a man (I don't remember what his name is), but he basically tells Alex that he's on to his little ultra-violence game. Alex goes out to a record store. There, he meets two lovely young girls. He invites them back to his place and a very long, very naked threesome played in fast-motion ensues.
Alex has had his fill. He's feeling very fine. The problem is though, that the Droogs (Dim especially) want to overthrow Alex as leader. They manage to do so, but not for long. Alex throws Dim in the water and almost drowns him. He regains his title of leader. He stupidly mistakes the droog's silence obidience for compliance, when really Dim is plotting to set him up. They embark on their ultra-violence trip, where they break into Catlady's house. Alex accidentaly ends up killing the Catlady when she confronts him. After running outside, Dim hits him in the side of the head with a milk-bottle and Alex passes-out, only to be found by the cops.
Alex is placed in jail. After 1 or 2 years of being there, he is placed in an experimental therapy conditioning program. There, he is brainwashed and shown pictures of the things he loves-rape and ultra-violence and conditioned to hate him. To Alex's dismay, they use his beloved Beethoven's 9th Symphony in the conditioning process.
Alex is placed in front of an audience of doctors after his conditioning is complete as proof of how well it worked. He is tempted with the things that he used to love, but now he is just sickened by them. In fact, he can't even remember who he is. Satisfied by the result, Alex is released back into the public.
He is sent to his house, where he finds out that his parents have let someone else live there while Alex was in jail and that they like him better. Dejectedly, Alex wanders down to the Korova Milkbar, only to be ejected. He encounters the Tramp, who gives Alex a licking. Worst of all, the droogs find him and almost kill him. Alex can't even fight back due to his conditioning.
Blindly stumbling for help, he goes back "Home". Mr. Alexander doesn't recoginze Alex and allows him into his house. He tells the story of Alex and the droogs to him and what happened to him and his wife, without him or Alex realizing what is actually going on. Mr. Alexander figures it out when Alex is in the bath singing "Singin' In The Rain". Mr. Alexander is horrified. At breakfast, he poisions Alex's cereal. Alex, who is oblivious to what is happening, eats the cereal and then passes-out into the bowl. When he awakes, he is trapped in an upstairs room where Beethoven's 9th Symphony is playing loudly. Since it was accidentaly incoporated into his conditioning, Alex can't stand it. He jumps out the window in hope of committing suicide.
He ends up in the hospital. A hero for some reason. The last shot of the movie is in his mind. He's passionatley fucking a women who's wearing a dog collar. Makes you think if the brainwashing was truely succesful.
FAVORITE SCENE
Alex eating breakfast at Mr. Alexander's "Home". He's wearing a neat robe.
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