318 Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
Description
This article is from the Movie Trivia, by Murray Chapman muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au with numerous contributions by others.
318 Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
- The film rights were sold for ``a few hundred dollars'', but then re-sold
for a much larger amount. Before director 'Stanley Kubrick' (qv) become
involved in the film, several different casts were considered for Alex
and his droogs: girls in miniskirts, old-age pensioners, and
'The Rolling Stones' (qv).
- "2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)" (qv) (also directed by Kubrick) soundtrack
highly visible in record store.
- The book that Frank Alexander is working on when Alex and his droogs break
into is home is called ``A Clockwork Orange''. Author
'Anthony Burgess' (qv) uses a pun on the Malay word ``Ourang''. Burgess
lived for several years in Malaya. The attack on his wife was based on an
attack on Burgess' wife by four American GIs during WWII, which caused
her to miscarry.
- Many actors play multiple roles.
- The newspaper article gives Alex's last name as ``Burgess''.
- The photo-montage when Alex clobbers the old lady are mostly the paintings
the old lady has hanging in her room.
- Alexander's bodyguard was played by professional bodybuilder
'David Prowse' (qv). Even so, he was near exhaustion after the repeated
takes of him carrying Alexander and his wheelchair down the stairs.
- Many phallic symbols: snake crawling between the legs of the woman in the
poster, the popsicles held by the girls in the record store, the tip of
Alex's walking stick, the object used by Alex to kill the woman.
- Kubrick deliberately made continuity errors just before the author worked
out who Alex is. The dishes on the table move around and the level of
wine in the glasses change between shots to give a feeling of
disorientation to the viewer.
- The film was withdrawn voluntarily by Kubrick from the United Kingdom after
being criticized as too violent. Kubrick has stated that the film will be
released there only after his death.
- The film leaves out chapter 21 of the book, where Alex starts thinking
about getting married and settling down. Burgess said: ``A vindication of
free will had become an exhaltation of the urge to sin. I was worried. The
British version of the book shows Alex growing up and putting violence
by as a childish toy; Kubrick confessed that he did not know this version:
an American, though settled in England, he had followed the only version
that Americans were permitted to know. I cursed Eric Swenson of W. W.
Norton (the US publisher).''
- DIRTRADE(Stanley Kubrick): [three-way]: Alex vs Government vs
Alexander.
- DIRTRADE(Stanley Kubrick): [faces]: Alexander, when he realizes who
Alex is.
- DIRTRADE(Stanley Kubrick): [114]: The Durango's license plate is ``CRM-114'.
Alex is also given ``Serum 114'' when he undergoes the Ludovico treatment.
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