A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, adapted from Anthony Burgess' 1962 short novel A Clockwork Orange. It features disturbing, violent images, facilitating its social commentary on psychiatry, youth gangs, and other social, political, and economic subjects in a dystopian, future Britain.

Alex (Malcolm McDowell), the main character, is a charismatic, sociopathic delinquent whose interests include classical music (especially Beethoven), rape, and what is termed "ultra-violence". He leads a small gang of thugs (Pete, Georgie, and Dim), whom he calls his droogs (from the Russian друг, "friend", "buddy"). The film chronicles the horrific crime spree of his gang, his capture, and attempted rehabilitation via controversial psychological conditioning. Alex narrates most of the film in Nadsat, a fractured adolescent slang comprising Slavic (especially Russian), English, and Cockney rhyming slang.

A Clockwork Orange features a soundtrack comprising mostly classical music selections and Moog synthesizer compositions by Wendy Carlos (then known as "Walter Carlos"). The artwork of the now-iconic poster of A Clockwork Orange was created by Philip Castle with the layout by designer Bill Gold.

Plot
In futuristic London, Alex (Malcolm McDowell) is the leader of his "droogs", Pete (Michael Tarn), Georgie (James Marcus), and Dim (Warren Clarke), one of many youth gangs in the decaying metropolis. One night, after intoxicating themselves on "milk plus", they engage in an evening of "ultra-violence", including beating an elderly vagrant (Paul Farrell) and fighting a rival gang led by Billyboy (Richard Connaught). Stealing a car, they drive to the country home of writer F. Alexander (Patrick Magee), where they beat Mr. Alexander to the point of crippling him for life. Alex then rapes his wife (Adrienne Corri) while intoning "Singin' in the Rain".

The next day, while truant from school, Alex is approached by probation officer Mr. P. R. Deltoid (Aubrey Morris), who is aware of Alex's violence and cautions him. In response, Alex visits a record store where he picks up two girls. Alex and the girls have sex in a fast-motion scene.

After the events of the night before, his droogs express discontent with Alex's petty crimes, demanding more equality and more high-yield thefts. Alex reasserts his leadership by attacking them and throwing them into a canal. That night, Alex invades the mansion of a wealthy "cat"-woman (Miriam Karlin), filled with erotic art. While his droogs remain at the front door, Alex bludgeons the woman with a phallic statue. At the climax of the attack, close-ups of the erotic paintings on the walls are barely visible in single-frame sequences. Hearing police sirens, Alex tries to run away, but is betrayed by his droogs. Dim smashes a pint bottle of milk across his face, leaving him stunned and bleeding. Alex is captured and brutally beaten by the police. A gloating Deltoid spits in his face and informs him that the woman subsequently died in the hospital, making him a murderer. Alex is sentenced to 14 years incarceration.

Two years into the sentence, the Minister of the Interior (Anthony Sharp) arrives at the prison looking for test subjects for the Ludovico technique, an experimental aversion therapy for rehabilitating criminals within two weeks; Alex readily volunteers. The process involves drugging the subject, strapping him to a chair, propping his eyelids open, and forcing him to watch violent movies. Alex, initially pleased by the violent images he sees, becomes nauseated due to the drugs. He realizes that one of the films' soundtracks is by his favourite composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, and that the Ludovico technique will make him sick when he hears the music he loves. He tries unsuccessfully to end the treatment.

After two weeks of the Ludovico technique, the Minister of the Interior puts on a demonstration to prove that Alex is "cured". He is shown to be incapable of fighting back against an actor (John Clive) who insults and attacks him, and he becomes violently ill at the sight of a topless woman (Virginia Wetherell). Though the prison chaplain (Godfrey Quigley) protests at the results, saying that "there's no morality without choice", the prison governor (Michael Gover) asserts that they are not interested in the moral questions but only "the means to prevent violence".

Alex is released and finds that his possessions have been confiscated by the police to help make restitution to his victims, and that his parents have rented out his room. Homeless, Alex encounters the same elderly vagrant from before, who attacks him with several other friends. Alex is saved by two policemen but is shocked to discover they are two of his former droogs, Dim and Georgie. They drag Alex to the countryside, where they beat and nearly drown him. The dazed Alex wanders the countryside before coming to the home of Mr. Alexander, and collapses. Alex wakes up to find himself being treated by Mr. Alexander and his manservant, Julian (David Prowse). Mr. Alexander does not recognize Alex as his attacker, but has read about his treatment in the newspapers. Seeing Alex as a political weapon to usurp the government, Mr. Alexander intends to expose the Ludovico technique as a step toward totalitarianism by way of mind control. As Mr. Alexander prepares to introduce Alex to colleagues (John Savident and Margaret Tyzack), he hears Alex singing "Singin' in the Rain" in the bath, and the memories of the earlier assault return. With his colleagues' help, Mr. Alexander drugs Alex and places him in a locked upstairs bedroom, playing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony through the floor below. Alex, in excruciating pain, throws himself from the window and is knocked unconscious by the fall.

Alex wakes up in a hospital, having dreamt about doctors messing around inside his head. While being given a series of psychological tests, Alex finds that he no longer has an aversion to violence. The Minister of the Interior arrives and apologizes to Alex, letting him know that Mr. Alexander has been "put away". He offers to take care of Alex and get him a job in return for cooperation with his PR counter-offensive. As a sign of goodwill, the Minister brings in a stereo system playing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Alex then realizes that, instead of an adverse reaction to the music, he sees an image of himself having sex in the snow with a woman in front of an approving crowd dressed in Beethoven-era fashion. He then states, in a sarcastic and menacing voice-over, "I was cured, all right!"

Reception
Despite the film's controversial nature, A Clockwork Orange was a hit with American audiences, grossing more than $26 million on a conservative budget of $2.2 million, and was critically well received and nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture (losing to The French Connection). It also boosted sales of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. More recently, A Clockwork Orange earned a 91% "Certified Fresh" rating in the Rotten Tomatoes movie review website.

Despite general praise from critics, the film had notable detractors. Film critic Stanley Kauffmann commented, "Inexplicably, the script leaves out Burgess' reference to the title". Roger Ebert gave A Clockwork Orange two stars out of four, calling it an "ideological mess."  In the New Yorker review titled "Stanley Strangelove", Pauline Kael called it pornographic because of how it dehumanised Alex's victims while highlighting the sufferings of the protagonist. Kael derided Kubrick as a "bad pornographer", noting the Billyboy's gang extended stripping of the very buxom woman they intended to rape, claiming it was offered for titillation.

John Simon noted that the novel's most ambitious effects were based on language and the alienating effect of the narrator's Nadsat slang, making it a poor choice for a film. Concurring with some of Kael's criticisms about the depiction of Alex's victims, Simon noted that the writer character (young and likeable in the novel) was played by Patrick Magee, "a very quirky and middle-aged actor who specialises in being repellent". Simon comments further that "Kubrick over-directs the basically excessive Magee until his eyes erupt like missiles from their silos and his face turns every shade of a Technicolor sunset."

The film was re-released in North America in 1973 and earned $1.5 million in rentals.

Responses and controversy
Along with Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Wild Bunch (1969), Dirty Harry (1971), and Straw Dogs (1971), the film is considered a landmark in the relaxation of control on violence in the cinema.[23] In the United Kingdom, A Clockwork Orange was very controversial and withdrawn from release by Kubrick himself. It is 21st in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills and number 46 in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies, although in the second listing, it is ranked 70th of 100. "Alex De Large" is listed 12th in the villains section of the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains. In 2008, the AFI's 10 Top 10 rated A Clockwork Orange as the 4th greatest science-fiction movie to date. In 2010, TIME placed it 9th on their list of the Top 10 Ridiculously Violent Movies.

American censorship
In the United States, A Clockwork Orange was rated X in its original release form. Later, Kubrick voluntarily replaced approximately 30 seconds of sexually explicit footage from two scenes with less bawdy action for an R rating re-release in 1973. Current DVDs present the original X-rated form, and only some of the early 1980s VHS editions are the R-rated form.

The National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures rated it C ("Condemned") because of the explicit sex and violence. Conceptually, said rating of condemnation forbade Roman Catholics from seeing A Clockwork Orange. In 1982, the Office abolished the "Condemned" rating; hence, films that the Conference of Bishops deem to have unacceptable sex and violence are rated O, "Morally Offensive".

Accolades
Academy Awards
Best Director – Stanley Kubrick (nominated)
Best Film Editing – Bill Butler (nominated)
Best Picture (nominated)
Best Adapted Screenplay – Stanley Kubrick (nominated)

BAFTA Awards
BAFTA Film Award Best Art Direction – John Barry
Best Cinematography – John Alcott
Best Direction – Stanley Kubrick
Best Film
Best Film Editing – Bill Butler
Best Screenplay – Stanley Kubrick
Best Sound Track – Brian Blamey, John Jordan, Bill Rowe

Directors Guild of America
1972 Nominated DGA Award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures – Stanley Kubrick

Golden Globes
nominated 1972 Nominated Golden Globe Best Director: Motion Picture – Stanley Kubrick
nominated Best Motion Picture – Drama
nominated Best Motion Picture Actor: Drama – Malcolm McDowell

Hugo Awards
1972 Won Hugo Best Dramatic Presentation

New York Film Critics Circle Awards
1971 Won NYFCC Award Best Director – Stanley Kubrick
Best Film

Writers Guild of America, United States
1972 Nominated WGA Award (Screen) Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium – Stanley Kubrick
In 2008, Empire magazine rank this at #37 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time."