--- title: "A Clockwork Orange" year: 1971 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/a-clockwork-orange" fi1m_id: "a-clockwork-orange" imdb_id: "tt0066921" tmdb_id: 185 wikidata_id: "Q181086" fi1m_score: 78 critics_score: 72 critics_reviews: 11 published: "2026-09-12" updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:12.788246+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # A Clockwork Orange (1971) Directed by Stanley Kubrick · 2h 17m · MPA NC-17 · Science Fiction, Crime ## Identity A Clockwork Orange - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/a-clockwork-orange - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** a-clockwork-orange - **IMDb ID:** tt0066921 - **TMDB ID:** 185 - **Wikidata ID:** Q181086 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/185, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q181086 **Fi1m score: 78** · Critics 72 from 11 reviews *In a sentence:* Beethoven deserves a better class of admirer > Stanley Kubrick’s *A Clockwork Orange* is gripping and worth the discomfort, with Malcolm McDowell making Alex appallingly good company. But it gives too little attention to the people he hurts, especially in its treatment of sexual violence. ## Synopsis Alex (Malcolm McDowell) is a young man with a taste for Beethoven, rape and extreme violence. In this science-fiction crime story, his appetite for cruelty becomes part of a wider struggle over how a regulated society treats individual freedom. Stanley Kubrick adapts Anthony Burgess’s novel, placing Alex at the centre of questions about punishment, responsibility and the right to choose to do wrong. Patrick Magee plays Mr. Alexander, Carl Duering plays Dr. Brodsky and Michael Bates plays the Chief Guard. ## Review Stanley Kubrick’s *A Clockwork Orange* asks us to consider the freedom of a young man who uses his freedom to hurt people. It is a gripping, often repellent film, and we think it worth seeing despite a serious failure to give those people their due. Adapting Anthony Burgess’s novel, Kubrick makes Alex’s appeal essential to the problem. The question is how far we will let a charismatic performance take us. Malcolm McDowell takes us an uncomfortable distance. McDowell plays Alex with such pleasure in his own behaviour that the usual signs of screen villainy become unnecessary. We are watching someone enjoy himself, and the ease of the performance keeps drawing our attention back to him. We were sickened by the sexual violence, especially by the delight accompanying it. McDowell’s charm remains active even there, which makes the performance frightening and gives Kubrick a responsibility the film does not always meet. John Alcott’s cinematography makes the violence appallingly watchable. His ordered compositions give us time to inspect what is happening, and there is no reassuring visual mess to suggest that the film itself has lost control. We notice the care given to the framing even when the behaviour inside it is repulsive. Kubrick leaves us conscious of how carefully our attention has been directed. John Barry’s production design makes the surroundings feel as wilfully exaggerated as Alex himself. The places demand attention as insistently as the central performance, and that can be exhausting. It suits Kubrick’s picture of a society in which brutality and sophisticated behaviour are entirely compatible. But it also makes the people around Alex seem like further exhibits, with too little ordinary life to interrupt his hold on the film. Wendy Carlos’s music helps make the close fit between sound and image unsettling. The musical timing gives the brutality a precision that makes it hard to watch without also noticing the skill involved. Alex’s enthusiasm for Beethoven matters here: enjoying music does nothing to restrain his cruelty. Kubrick does not invite us to mistake that enthusiasm for kindness, though the pleasure he takes in presenting Alex makes the distinction less clear than it ought to be. Bill Butler’s editing keeps the pace measured enough for repulsion to become fascination. At 137 minutes, the film also gives us time to grow familiar with its provocations. We begin to recognise the repeated invitation to enjoy Alex and then examine that enjoyment, and the repetition weakens the effect. Some passages could be shorter without losing the difficulty of what Kubrick is asking us to consider. The film meets a useful test for science fiction: its questions stay awkward once its strange society has become familiar. What should a society be allowed to do to prevent someone choosing badly? Kubrick chooses someone whose freedom we have little instinct to defend. McDowell keeps that question alive even when Alex’s behaviour seems to have settled it. Yet the people he hurts receive too little of the attention lavished on him. Calling the film deliberately disturbing does not settle that objection. Kubrick has made the aggressor fascinating, and the imbalance deserves scrutiny even from those of us persuaded by the defence of free will. There is plenty here for company willing to disagree afterwards. Do not choose it for a relaxed evening, and take the sexual violence seriously before pressing play. *Fi1m score 78, published 12 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is A Clockwork Orange worth watching?** *A Clockwork Orange* is worth watching for anyone prepared to be repelled and gripped at once, and we scored it 78. Malcolm McDowell makes Alex appallingly good company, and Kubrick's questions about freedom and punishment stay awkward. Our reservation is that the film gives far too little attention to the people Alex hurts, especially in its sexual violence. **How long is A Clockwork Orange, and what is it rated?** *A Clockwork Orange* runs 2h 17m and is rated NC-17 by the MPA in the US. It is a science fiction and crime film. **Where can I watch A Clockwork Orange in the US?** *A Clockwork Orange* is streaming on HBO Max, Hulu and The Roku Channel in the US. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is A Clockwork Orange, and is it suitable for children?** *A Clockwork Orange* is an 18 certificate and is not suitable for children or younger teenagers. It contains extreme violence and sexual violence, shown with a delight that we found sickening, and the film's care and precision make it harder rather than easier to watch. Take the sexual violence seriously before choosing it, and do not pick it for a relaxed evening. **How does A Clockwork Orange compare to if....?** *A Clockwork Orange* is the harsher and more disturbing of the two, while [*if....*](https://film.one/film/if-1968) is the angrier and funnier. Both give Malcolm McDowell a troubling rebel to play against British institutions, but Anderson's film observes bullying and institutional absurdity with more warmth for its victims. Choose *if....* for sharp school rebellion; choose Kubrick's film if you can take sustained cruelty. **Is A Clockwork Orange based on a true story or a book?** *A Clockwork Orange* is based on Anthony Burgess's novel of the same name, not on a true story. Kubrick keeps Alex at the centre of Burgess's questions about punishment, responsibility and the right to choose to do wrong. You do not need to have read the book to follow the film, and the film stands on its own. **What should I watch after A Clockwork Orange?** After *A Clockwork Orange*, try [*If....*](https://film.one/film/if-1968) (1968, Fi1m 82): Malcolm McDowell supplies another troubling rebel, with British institutions firmly in view. Then [*The Conformist*](https://film.one/film/the-conformist) (1970, Fi1m 87): Political conformity becomes a matter of posture, rooms and carefully managed appearances; and [*Funny Games*](https://film.one/film/funny-games) (1997, Fi1m 74): Another director makes watching violence uncomfortable, while denying the aggressors much seductive charm. ### Reviews we read (11) - **Empire**, Kim Newman (90/100, inferred): The film is a much-maligned and misunderstood classic and one of Kubrick's finest. It is resoundingly fable-like and abstract rather than a glamorisation of violence, with a stylised approach, sculpturally perfect sets and an astonishing performance by Malcolm McDowell at its core. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/clockwork-orange-review/) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (90/100, inferred): Kubrick's film is a brilliant and dangerous work, an almost perfect example of the disorienting New Movie that remains aloof from the matters it depicts. It fashions the rise and fall of Alex as the most elegantly stylized and classically balanced movie Kubrick has ever made. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1972/01/09/archives/-orange-disorienting-but-human-comedy-orange-disorienting-human.html) - **Variety**, Murf. (90/100, inferred): Kubrick's film is a brilliant nightmare that runs contemporary social syndromes through a cinematic centrifuge to produce comic horrors of a regulated society. It makes an opaque argument for preserving respect for man's free will, even to do wrong, using vulgarity, brutality and sophisticated comedy. [Read](https://variety.com/1971/film/reviews/a-clockwork-orange-1200422624/) - **Slant Magazine**, Jeremiah Kipp (85/100, inferred): The critic views the film as Kubrick's finest masterwork, praising its refusal to judge Alex while forcing viewers to confront their own morality through the director's ironic, distancing aesthetic. McDowell's charismatic, gleeful performance as the ultra-violent protagonist is highlighted as central to the film's human and satirical power. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/a-clockwork-orange/) - **The Guardian** (85/100, inferred): The critic calls the film chilling and mesmeric, predicting it could become one of the seminal movies of the seventies through its density of quality and imaginative use of cinema's first principles. They single out the technical symmetry of sight and sound, along with strong performances especially from Malcolm McDowell as Alex. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/1972/jan/13/stanleykubrick) - **Radio Times**, Andrew Collins (4/5): The critic notes the film's inflated mythology due to its long unavailability in the UK but finds it prescient, visceral, and compelling despite its shocking violence. Kubrick's distinctive vision stands out, even if the film falls short of undisputed masterpiece status. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-07mm3u/a-clockwork-orange/) - **The New Yorker**, Pauline Kael (40/100, inferred): Kubrick's film is literal-minded in its sex and brutality and Teutonic in its humor, the work of a strict professor making a pornoviolent sci-fi comedy that turns the novel's meanings around. By making victims more repulsive than the thugs, Kubrick has learned to love the punk sadist and puts the audience on Alex's side. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1972/01/01/a-clockwork-orange-pauline-kael-movie-review-stanley-kubrick) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (20/100, inferred): The critic calls the film an ideological mess that celebrates its sadistic hero Alex rather than critiquing society or the state, using visual techniques to make the audience identify with him. It is ultimately talky, boring, and a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading as social commentary. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-clockwork-orange-1972) - **Den of Geek**, Matt Edwards (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film one of the best ever made and says hardly any element falls short, praising its visually striking quality from the opening and Malcolm McDowell's magnificent central performance that makes the character compelling despite his actions. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/a-clockwork-orange-blu-ray-review/) - **Paste**, Scott Wold (70/100, inferred): The film is a relentlessly vicious satire of a society permissive of brutal youth culture, where science and psychology serve as countermeasures to ultra-violence. It highlights how evil ultimately wins in the end, with Malcolm McDowell's electric performance as Alex standing out. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/stanley-kubrick/stanley-kubrick-ranked) - **The Ringer**, Adam Nayman (50/100, inferred): The film is a contradiction: a classic that is also a failure and a masterpiece that falls short of its ambitions, with undeniable visceral intensity and visual imagination. It excels particularly in its contrapuntal use of music but struggles with simplistic pitting of the antihero against authority and overemphasis on his charisma at the expense of other characters. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2019/03/13/movies/revisiting-a-clockwork-orange-stanley-kubrick) ## Details - **Director:** Stanley Kubrick - **Director:** Stanley Kubrick - **Screenplay:** Stanley Kubrick - **Novel:** Anthony Burgess - **Cinematography:** John Alcott - **Editor:** Bill Butler - **Music:** Wendy Carlos - **Production design:** John Barry - **Costume design:** Milena Canonero - **Producer:** Stanley Kubrick - **Cast:** Malcolm McDowell as Alex; Patrick Magee as Mr. Alexander; Carl Duering as Dr. Brodsky; Michael Bates as Chief Guard; Warren Clarke as Dim; James Marcus as Georgie; Michael Tarn as Pete; Miriam Karlin as Catlady - **Runtime:** 2h 17m - **Certificate (MPA):** NC-17 - **Release (the US):** 2 February 1972 - **Genres:** Science Fiction, Crime - **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 1971); [BAFTA Best Film winners](https://film.one/collections/bafta-best-film.md) (Nominee, 1972); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Nominee, 1971) - **Budget:** $2 million - **Box office:** $27 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T54uZPI4Z8A ## Where to watch in the US - HBO Max: streaming - Hulu: add-on, hd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd *Checked 2026-09-12.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, EC, IT, JP, MX, PA, PE, PT, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1972: Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Picture (nominated) - Hugo Awards 1972: Best Dramatic Presentation (won) ## If you liked this - *If....* (1968), Fi1m 82: Malcolm McDowell supplies another troubling rebel, with British institutions firmly in view. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/if-1968.md) - *The Conformist* (1970), Fi1m 87: Political conformity becomes a matter of posture, rooms and carefully managed appearances. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-conformist.md) - *Funny Games* (1997), Fi1m 74: Another director makes watching violence uncomfortable, while denying the aggressors much seductive charm. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/funny-games.md) - *RoboCop* (1987), Fi1m 91: Corporate control and bodily autonomy get a sharper, bloodier satirical treatment. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/robocop.md) - *Battle Royale* (2000), Fi1m 83: Young people and organised cruelty meet in a harsher test of social obedience. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/battle-royale.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/a-clockwork-orange