A Clockwork Orange

Drama, Science Fiction, Crime

Malcolm McDowell	Alex DeLarge/Narrator/Prisoner 655321
Patrick Magee	Frank Alexander
Warren Clarke	Dim/Officer Corby
Michael Bates	Chief Guard Barnes
John Clive	Stage Actor
Adrienne Corri	Mrs. Alexander
Carl Duering	Dr. Brodsky
Paul Farrell	Tramp
Clive Francis	Joe the Lodger
Michael Gover	Prison Governor

Director	Stanley Kubrick
Producer	Stanley Kubrick; Si Litvinoff
Writer	Anthony Burgess; Stanley Kubrick
Cinematography	John Alcott
Musician	Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Set in a dystopic England of the future where gangs roam the streets, do drugs, and speak a slang language based on Russian, it follows the story of young delinquent Alex (Malcolm McDowell). Alex's love for cruelty and rape is only overshadowed by his love of classical music. After committing a terrible crime he is sent to a detention facility where he is subjected to a new technique for rehabilitating criminals. This technique involves forcing the subjects to watch films of violence while under the influence of drugs that cause pain. This technique creates an association in the subject between violence and pain and essentially cures Alex of his violent impulses. Unfortunately, the soundtracks of these films is the same classical music Alex once loved, and he necessarily comes to associate this music with extreme physical pain as well. After his release from the hospital, he wanders the streets and is beaten by his former friends, as he is now physically incapable of defending himself. He returns to the scene of the crime that got him arrested, where the husband of the woman he killed tortures him by forcing him to listen to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Alex attempts suicide by jumping out of a window, but survives. After some time in the hospital he returns to normal and is seduced into joining the current political administration, in order to repair the damage to their reputation caused by his attempted suicide. He is happily a violent delinquent again, this time in the pay of the government.