A Clockwork Orange

Dir. Stanley Kubrick. 1971. 137 mins. New 4K DCP. With Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adrienne Corri, Miriam Carlin. Kubrick’s savage adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel is among the most infamous and controversial mainstream movies ever made. McDowell is unforgettable as Alex, the amoral, nihilist, Beethoven-obsessed head of the Droogs, a gang of marauding teen rapists and murderers rampaging across a dystopic, diseased future London. After arrest, he is subject to a treatment in which his violent impulses are turned back on him, leading to provocative questions about government control and free will. A Clockwork Orange, which was rated X upon release, remains shocking, bleak, and grimly funny.