A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 satirical futuristic film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange. The film concernsAlex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell), a charismatic, psychopathic delinquent whose pleasures are classical music (especially Beethoven), rape, and ultra-violence. He leads a small gang of thugs (Pete, Georgie, and Dim), whom he calls his droogs (from the Russian друг, “friend”, “buddy”). Alex narrates most of the film in Nadsat, a fractured, contemporary adolescent argot comprising Slavic (especially Russian), English, and Cockney rhyming slang.
This cinematic adaptation was produced, directed, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It features disturbing, violent images, to facilitate social commentary about psychiatry, youth gangs, and other contemporary social, political, and economic subjects in a dystopian, future Britain. A Clockwork Orange features a soundtrack comprising mostly classical music selections and Moog synthesizer compositions by Wendy (then Walter) Carlos. A notable exception is “Singin’ in the Rain”, chosen because it was a song whose lyrics actor Malcolm McDowell knew.[1] The now-iconic poster of A Clockwork Orange, and its images, was created by designer Bill Gold. The film also holds the record in the Guinness World Records for being the first movie in media history using the Dolby Sound system.
