A Clockwork Orange

To be shown: 17 November 2001
Sponsored and introduced by Paula Thelwell

UK 1971
137 minutes
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Leading players - Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates.

Synopsis

The setting: the urban English jungle of the near future. Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) leads a stylish gang of disenchanted youths - Dim (Warren Clarke), Georgie (James Marcus) and Pete (Michael Tarn) - who thrive on mindless violence simply for the sake of it.

Stoked up on nothing stronger than milk they set out for an evening of fighting, mugging and sexual assault before returning to the milk bar for a healthy night-cap.

However, justice eventually catches up with our hero and to avoid life in jail he volunteers for a new aversion therapy to cure him of his anti-social interests.

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Stanley Kubrick based his film on Anthony Burgess' novel of the same name and while British audiences were deprived of the chance to see it until the director's death in 2000 it was adapted for the London stage in the late 80s.

Most 70s films have not stood the test of time but, maybe because of the ban, A Clockwork Orange has not suffered the same fate. Without doubt a landmark in modern cinema it still has the power to induce a whole host of emotions in the viewer.