Product: A Clockwork Orange [VHS] (1972)
Rating: 5.0
The Ultimate Black Comedy
If Stanley Kubrick still isn't considered by and large the finest filmmaker of the last fifty years, this is solid proof. As with every other Kubrick film, it is hard to categorize this one. Is it a grim apocalytic vision of the future, a parable of modern times or one of the finest science-fiction films ever made? A bit of all three, with satire favoring in most strongly. Even though several of the scenes are shocking (and, for some, highly offensive), it cannot be denied that many of the performances are played as comedy. Malcolm McDowell, as the amoral protagonist, takes a gleeful delight in his anti-hero role that rivals Jack Nicholson's Joker in sheer anarchy. It's an unbelievable performance. Even the bit characters, such as the prison guard, are right out of Monty Python territory. Kubrick's ultimate satrical tool, however, is the film's Moog-drenched classical soundtrack. You'll never hear Beethoven's Ninth or "Singin' in the Rain" the same way again. One of the finest films of the last half-century.