A Clockwork Orange [Blu-ray] [1972] [US Import] [1971] | ![A Clockwork Orange [Blu-ray] [1972] [US Import] [1971]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YL4rlI%2B9L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Actors: Michael Bates, Steven Berkoff, Gaye Brown, Peter Burton, Lindsay Campbell
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
Buy New: £14.15
New (12) Used (2) from £13.79
Rating:  78 reviews
Sales Rank: 59835
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, Original Recording Remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Media: Blu-ray
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 137
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.5
MPN: WARBR115674
UPC: 085391156741
EAN: 0085391156741
ASIN: B000Q678OO
Theatrical Release Date: 1971
Release Date: October 23, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships from the USA, please allow 10-14 days for delivery. Region 1 encoding requires a North American or multi-region DVD player and NTSC compatible TV. Over 2,000,000 satisfied customers worldwide.
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Stanley Kubrick's striking visual interpretation of Anthony Burgess's famous novel is a landmark. 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 holds up under repeated viewings. Kubrick not only presents colourfully arresting images, he also stylises the film by utilising classical music (and Wendy Carlos's electronic classical score) 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, Amazon.com
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| Customer Reviews: Read 73 more reviews...
 Overated November 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was half way through watching a clockwork orange when i couldnt help but think what is all the fuss about??. Yes it may be shocking but that is all it is. Some times people for some reason regard controversial films as masterpieces when in trueth they are average. A good performance from the lead but the storyline is patchy and doesnt flow well. The film realise on shocking rape scenes to make up for the awful storyline, maybe a sign of poor filmmaking but thats being way way to critical
The only reason i have given "A clockwork orange" 4 stars is because of Kubricks other work such as Full metal jacket and the shining and the fact he is no longer with us influenced my desicion. For this film alone i wouldnt go further than 2 stars just for sheer overated piece of work that it is. It was just such a dissapointment after all the glowing reviews i had heared and read.
 Bizarre! Metaphorical! Sardonic! June 29, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The reasons behind the troubled release of Stanley Kubrick's jet black comedy satire have been misread over the years (I would go so far as to say deliberately mis-written by the tabloid press) meaning that when the film finally received a posthumous UK release it was assumed that the film was previously 'banned' on the basis of copycat incidents. In fact, Kubrick himself demanded the film never be shown in his adopted country out of fear for his family's safety, following hate mail and death threats, the exact content and source of which may never be known.
That is not to say the film is NOT shocking. The violence inflicted by Little Alex (Malcolm MacDowell, fresh off that other anti-establishment classic If...) and his droogs is deliberately, sickeningly glorified; it's as if they are playing out their fantasies as if performing on some great stage, complete with their own Shakespearean-style syntax not spoken by straight-cued Ma 'n' Pa (Philip Stone and Sheila Raynor). One of the opening scenes is a ludicrously exaggerated fist-fight played out in a deserted theatre.
Very few redeeming characters raise their head above the mire. As a result, we, as an audience, are left in the unenviable position of sympathising with the calculated, and later stricken, rapist and murderer at the film's centre. Or rather, we are forced to sympathise with his predicament: stripped of his free will, is he truly human at all? Even HAL 9000, the homicidal super-computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, possessed the power of choice.
Superficially, this is the most dated of Kubrick's films, distinguished by psychedelic art design straight from the turn-of-the-decade era. But we should not allow this to detract from the fact that Kubrick and (original novel writer) Anthony Burgess' future vision is essentially a stylised depiction of logical sociological progression, complete with hyperbole, and just because today's thugs DON'T maraud in bowler hats and oversized codpieces, spouting pidgin Russian over pints of alcoholic milk, does not make the film-makers' alternative version of reality any less convincing. Nor less relevant: as always, Kubrick's themes are timeless.
A highly successful adaptation May 27, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
First and foremost, I really can't understand the minority of reviewers who gave this film 1 or 2 stars, they must be either a) a philistine, b) a stuffed shirt or c) blind. This film is a remarkable transformation from a novel to the big screen. Kubrick, to some degree has been able to portray the main characters (Alex and his droogs) in a convincing way that does not deviate fro the characters in Burgess's novel. More pleasingly is the use of `nadsat' language in the film also, which to the more educated of film viewers will be able to transliterate. When this film was released, I wasn't even due to be born for another 3 years, but thanks to some over zealous film censorship thanks to our government sticking their hypocritical noses in it this film was subsequently banned for many years. It was however seen by mail order VHS or in secret cinema viewings. I had to wait until I was 10 before I saw it, on a grainy copy of a copy of copy and I found it fascinating, so much so I read the book and got a real feel of the story. Fast forward 15 years and it is re-released and I finally watch it in its full cinematic colour ad I got the same feeling as I did when I was 10 years old. This film really is a cult classic which will be more appreciated by readers of the books. Although I have no criticisms of the film, my only recommendation would have been the inclusion of the 21st chapter of the book, which was omitted from the US version of the book and subsequently the film. Burgess intentionally made the book 21 chapters to illustrate the coming of age of man, which can then be split in 3 to show the 7 ages of man. However I digress, enjoy this feel and viddy well; otherwise you'll get a kick in the yarbles.
Brilliant, classic cinema March 19, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
A stunning film. A simple story, a yobbish thug of the future is imprisoned and then given a diversion therapy treatment as an experiment to have his predelection for violence and evil forcibly removed from him by an equally yobbish though more covertly so state. The film is stylish beyond compare and even the clearly 70s sets and decor do not detract from the futuristic setting. As one would expect from Stanley Kubrick, it si visually stunning. Garish colours, symmetrical camera work, exquisite editing all add to the overall impact. However, at the centre of the film around whom the whole thing revolves is a simply stunning central performance from Malcolm McDowell. With the slightest of facial movements, McDowell transforms Alex from one characterisation to another. He is twisted, evil, perverse and monstrous whilst at the same time cultured, charming, humorous and ironic. His northern accent fits perfectly in casting him apart from the other droogs all of whom speak with London accents and if ever there was an actor born to play a part, it is McDowell in this career defining part. The film has been described as Brain-searingly brilliant by film critic Jonathan Ross and indeed it is, for under all the stunning visuals, the violence, the rape, the irony and the mesmeric performance from McDowell, the film deals with one of the most important issues of the modern age and despite the film approaching its 40th anniversary it is still a very important issue today,- the extent to which the state should interfere with the free will of the individual.
REEL horrorshow: ALEX in the HELL that is tomorrow March 3, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This movie boasts possibly the most striking opening-shot in cinema history; a slow pull-back of the leering, smirking, demonic droog ALEX de LARGE and his dubious crew, centred in the nightmare HELL of the KOROVA MILKBAR: a grotesquely distorted nighterie of tomorrow's thugs: all garish nude- fiberglass sculpture and styized cartoon writings on the walls.
There follows a typical evening of sadistic mayhem, including the 'delights' of beatings, rape and torture.......all depicted in bizarre 'ballet'mode by ALEX and his killer-clowns. This first section of the film seduces the viewer into a false sense of euphoria, and the average viewer [if he or she is capable of any human consciousness] is left slightly disturbed and alienated by the nightmarish, on-screen acts of evil.
This is all counterbalanced by the extremely effective use of [mostly] CLASSICAL music [which the youth of tomorrow appear to appreciate, despite the bleak decline in futuristic morals depicted in this film]-----which makes for a mesmerising, disorientating, --and, paradoxically thrilling----cinematic experience.
It has to be said that this film slows down severely after the first 40 minutes, and no longer appears quaintly, outlandishly-twistedly futuristic-seeming, as in the opening reels.
Sparodic brilliance pepper the remaining two-thirds of the running-time, and the movie ends on a brilliant note; --a crescendo of ALEX triumphantly cavorting with a nude girl [paradoxically in a VICTORIAN setting] to the strains of uplifting, exuberant CLASSICAL music.
I personally feel that the treatment of women in this movie is exploititive and gratituitous, but overall this film is a bewildering, senses-assaulting, and unforgettable one-off experience.......DON'T MISS IT.
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