Product: A Clockwork Orange [VHS] (1972)
Rating: 3.0
Great Sets, Very Colorful (esp. Orange), TOO MISANTHROPIC!!
This is one of those movies I've wanted to check out for 30 years, and finally viewed it last night. I read its been banned in several countries,I think including Britain where it takes place. Honestly, I can see why. The McDowell character has to be the most vicious ever on the silver screen, or at least tied with Hannibal Lector...But maybe even more sadistic and bizarre. He must be in almost every scene, and after a while I got sick of watching him, even after he "reformed". The first hour of this is hard to stomach..Not only misanthropic but misogynistic too...No doubt brilliantly done, but too cynical. It seems everyone is manipulating everyone else ,be it gang of teenage killers, the government, the hospital, the police, Alex parents, even the victims. About the only sympathetic character here is the first rape victim..Yes, I realize this may be the point..Makes one long for the old days of the Hay Code and censorship...There have surely been sicker films since (defintely none prior to this though), and at least one can make a case that this is a work of art, outrageous as it is!