Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee and Michael Bates in the Stanley Kubrick movie ‘A Clockwork Orange’

To say that we review a dystopian crime film feels like understatement. The Stanley Kubrick film adaptation of the 1962 Anthony Burgess book A Clockwork Orange shrinks not from the book; that the movie, titled A Clockwork Orange (1971), comments on an aversion experiment also understates the movie presented for your consideration.

(From left, James Marcus as Georgie, Michael Tarn as Pete, Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge and Warren Clarke as Dim in the Stanley Kubrick movie A Clockwork Orange).

To ask if this movie as presented was necessary misses much. The film focuses extensively on Alex DeLarge, an antisocial yet charismatic delinquent with wildly inappropriate interests in committing outrageously excessive acts of violence, rape and theft. Malcolm McDowell portrayed DeLarge, curiously enjoys classical music with a fixation on the music of Ludwig van Beethoven.

(From left, Patrick Magee as Frank Alexander and Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge in the Stanley Kubrick movie A Clockwork Orange).

The film uses disturbing, violent imagery to comment of psychiatry, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs as led by Alex DeLarge with mates Dim, Pete and Georgie at the forefront of it with DeLarge. Writer Frank Alexander and his wife, as portrayed by Patrick Magee and Adrienne Corri, were victims of crime by Alex’s gang. Warren Clarke, Michael Tarn and James Marcus portrayed Dim, Pete and Georgie, respectively. The vulgar and graphically depicted crime spree of this group, with narration before and after by Alex, is followed by Alex’s capture. The heinous and visceral emotions evoked by this make the film difficult to recommend.

(From left, Barrie Cookson as Dr. Alcott, Ludovico Center check-in, Michael Bates as Chief Guard Barnes and Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge in the Stanley Kubrick movie A Clockwork Orange).

The period leading to Alex’s capture and subsequent processing into custody were as jarring and dehumanizing, eliciting conflicting feelings that contest those of crimes Alex committed. The motivation P.R. Deltoid, who was aware of the lewd and depraved behavior of Alex and his gang, makes him just as complicit. The permission to participate in DeLarge’s eventual intake into custody through the police inspector and a pair detectives was just as reprehensible. Aubrey Morris, Lindsay Campbell, John J. Carney and Steven Berkoff portrayed Deltoid, the police inspector, and the detectives, respectively.

(From left, John J. Carney as Detective Sergeant, Aubrey Morris as P.R. Deltoid, Lindsay Campbell as Police Inspector and Steven Berkoff as Detective Constable Tom in the Stanley Kubrick movie A Clockwork Orange).

With Alex in custody, British Minister of the Interior Frederick, as portrayed by Anthony Sharp, sets about experimental psychological conditioning on Alex. The experiment aims, in lieu of prolonged jail time, to rehabilitate Alex in a manner that redirects the offender in what will be declared a well-adjusted, healthy and safely functioning member of society. The dark psychological uses of Beethoven‘s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 (Ninth Symphony) and Gene Kelly‘s Singin’ in the Rain, with the systemic responses before and subsequent with these points, reflect trauma like the original crimes, including what follows with Georgie and Dim as police officers.

(From left, Anthony Sharp as Frederick, Minister of the Interior and Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge in the Stanley Kubrick movie A Clockwork Orange).

The circular absurdity of the story with powerful cultural references to make distinct commentary into the distasteful law enforcement and criminal segments of society. Controversy surrounded and surrounds this movie to this day. While A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick remains a powerful film exemplifying the director’s skills as a storyteller, I give the movie 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, July 15, 2023

Jon Finch, Barry Foster and Barbara Leigh-Hunt in the Alfred Hitchcock movie ‘Frenzy’

The second to last full-length Alfred Hitchcock movie ever made was Frenzy (1972). The distinctly British production is set in London, England. The Anthony Shaffer screenplay is based on the Arthur La Bern novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square. The movie itself is simultaneously the most explicitly risqué and explicitly visceral movie presentation of any in the Hitchcock canon.

(From left, Jon Finch as Richard Blaney and Barry Foster as Robert Rusk in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Frenzy).

The story of Frenzy deals in the underlying subject of the serial murder of women by someone called the “Necktie Strangler”. We in the audience are presented our first primary suspect in the way of Richard Blaney, who until recently had led a squadron in the Royal Air Force (RAF) of the United Kingdom. Blaney is fired as a bartender in Covent Garden, near the produce stand of his friend, Robert Rusk. Covent Garden is located in the City of Westminster, an inner borough of London, England. Blaney and Rusk are portrayed by Jon Finch and Barry Foster, respectively.

(From left, Jon Finch as Richard Blaney and Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Brenda Margaret Blaney in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Frenzy).

Rusk offers Blaney a horse racing tip that Blaney cannot possibly use, given his having just been fired. Displeased, Blaney visits Brenda Margaret Blaney, his ex-wife at her matchmaking agency. Having complained loudly about his overall situation. Brenda sends her secretary to lunch as a means to avoid further embarrassment. Appearances are not in Blaney’s favor when he gets caught leaving the matchmaking agency as the secretary returns. Brenda Margaret Blaney, as portrayed by Barbara Leigh-Hunt, had been murdered.

(From left, Barry Foster as Robert Rusk and Anna Massey as Barbara Jane Milligan in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Frenzy).

That the Necktie Strangler looks like Blaney is clear, which leads Blaney to seek help from Barbara Jane Milligan, as portrayed by Anna Massey. Milligan, a former colleague for Blaney at the pub, makes love to Blaney in a nearby hotel after becoming convinced of his innocence. While later retrieving Blaney’s belongings from the pub, the later rape and murder of Milligan leads to a series of mistakes for the legitimate Necktie Strangler, whose identity was revealed to the audience after the first murder.

(From left, Vivien Merchant as Mrs. Oxford, Alec McCowen as Chief Inspector Timothy Oxford and Michael Bates as Sergeant Spearman in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Frenzy).

The course of the investigation, coupled with the progress being made in identifying the true nature of the killings, leads Chief Inspector Timothy Oxford, Sergeant Spearman and the suspect, Richard Blaney, to be multiple steps behind the reality of who was committing the crimes. The treachery that reveals to Richard Blaney the truth is what gets Blaney charged, and additionally. The extended take with Mrs. Oxford and dinner offers a distinctly British study on the humor of manners. Chief Inspector Oxford, Mrs. Oxford and Spearman were portrayed by Alec McCowen, Vivien Merchant and Michael Bates, respectively.

(Director Alfred Hitchcock, shown in cameo wearing a black hat, in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Frenzy).

The comedic tone of Frenzy as a murder film feels quite deliberately done and executed with clear effect. The film was received with more critical than audience acclaim, as shared here by the folks at Rotten Tomatoes. Overall, I found the movie well executed true to form, though not the best offered by Hitchcock. All things considered, I grant Frenzy as directed by Alfred Hitchcock 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, August 6, 2022