A Clockwork Orange movie storyline. In a futuristic Britain, Alex DeLarge is the leader of his “droogs”, Georgie, Dim and Pete. One night, after getting intoxicated on drug-laden “milk-plus”, they engage in an evening of “ultra-violence”, which includes a fight with a rival gang led by Billyboy.
They drive to the country home of writer F. Alexander and beat him to the point of crippling him for life. Alex then rapes his wife while singing “Singin’ in the Rain”. The next day, while truant from school, Alex is approached by his probation officer Mr. P. R. Deltoid, who is aware of Alex’s activities and cautions him.
Alex’s droogs express discontent with petty crimes and want more equality and high yield thefts, but Alex asserts his authority by attacking them. Later, Alex invades the home of a wealthy “cat-lady” and bludgeons her with a phallic sculpture while his droogs remain outside. On hearing sirens, Alex tries to flee but Dim smashes a bottle on his face, stunning him and leaving him to be arrested by the police. With Alex in custody, Mr. Deltoid gloats that the woman he attacked died, making Alex a murderer. He is sentenced to fourteen years in prison.
Two years into the sentence, Alex eagerly takes up an offer to be a test subject for the Minister of the Interior’s new Ludovico technique, an experimental aversion therapy for rehabilitating criminals within two weeks. Alex is strapped to a chair, injected with drugs, and forced to watch films of sex and violence with his eyes propped open. Alex becomes nauseated by the films, and then recognises the films are set to music of his favourite composer, Ludwig van Beethoven.
Fearing the technique will make him sick upon hearing Beethoven, Alex begs for the end of the treatment. Two weeks later, the Minister demonstrates Alex’s rehabilitation to a gathering of officials. Alex is unable to fight back against an actor who taunts and attacks him, and becomes ill at the sight of a topless woman. The prison chaplain complains Alex has been robbed of his free will, but the Minister asserts that the Ludovico technique will cut crime and alleviate crowding in the prisons.
Alex is let out as a free man, only to find his parents have sold his possessions as restitution to his victims, and have let out his room. Alex encounters an elderly vagrant whom he had attacked years earlier, and the vagrant and his friends attack him. Alex is saved by two policemen, but is shocked to find they are his former droogs Dim and Georgie. They drive him to the countryside, beat him up, and nearly drown him before abandoning him. Alex barely makes it to the doorstep of a nearby home before collapsing.
Alex wakes up to find himself in the home of Mr. Alexander, where he is being cared for by Alexander’s manservant, Julian. Mr. Alexander does not recognise Alex from the previous attack but knows of Alex and the Ludovico technique from the newspapers. He sees Alex as a political weapon, and prepares to present him to his colleagues.
While bathing, Alex breaks into “Singin’ in the Rain”, causing Mr. Alexander to realise that Alex was the person who assaulted him and his wife. With help from his colleagues, Mr. Alexander drugs Alex and locks him in an upstairs bedroom. He then plays Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony loudly from the floor below. Alex is unable to withstand the sickening pain and attempts suicide by throwing himself out the window, falling unconscious on the ground.
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 dystopian crime film adapted, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel of the same name. It employs disturbing, violent images to comment on psychiatry, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs, and other social, political, and economic subjects in a dystopian near-future Britain.
The soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange features mostly classical music selections and Moog synthesizer compositions by Wendy Carlos. The artwork for the now-iconic poster of A Clockwork Orange was created by Philip Castle with the layout by designer Bill Gold.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, Adrienne Corri, Clive Francis, Aubrey Morris, Miriam Karlin
Screenplay by: Stanley Kubrick
Production Design by: John Barry
Cinematography by: John Alcott
Film Editing by: Bill Butler
Costume Design by: Milena Canonero
Art Direction by: Russell Hagg, Peter Sheilds
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: February 2, 1972
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