Starring Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Warren Clarke, Adrienne Corri, Michael Bates

(4-Bad Film)

Bleak. Sordid. Hellish.

Adapted from Anthony Burgess’ equally memorable novel, A Clockwork Orange follows Alex (McDowell) and his gang of deviants through a hellacious and random run of violent acts in dystopian England. Justice eventually catches up to Alex, it appears, and he’s hauled off to prison, but he’s later picked for a new “aversion therapy” that leaves him lobotomized essentially, and raises questions of control and freedom of choice. I’ve never thought much of A Clockwork Orange despite its stature, its iconic imagery, or its ability to get underneath my skin. First and foremost, it’s a drag of a two-hour film. The last half is downright tedious in my opinion. Second, its approach to the violent-sexual scenes of the book is to fetishize them. A Clockwork Orange is a squalid film; one of the most overrated.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

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