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Clockwork Orange: Movie Vs. Book

C

CatcherintheRye

New Member
I have been a huge fan of Anthony Burgess' Clockwork Orange, and just recently saw the movie. After hearing so many great things about it, I must say I was extremely disappointed. I felt that although the movie followed the actions in the book pretty closely, the movie missed the point of the novel. I think the victims of Alex were portrayed poorly, and rape was displayed as amusing. I felt the nudity was totally overdone and unnecessary to the point where it was distasteful. The phrase, "A clockwork orange" was never even mentioned, neither was the dramatic inquiry of Alex, "Am I to be just like a clockwork orange?" I believe that the movie just scrambled the underlying message about society that the book portrayed and instead turned it into a borderline porno. Is it just me? Or was anyone else disappointed in this movie?
 
I saw the movie this weekend just to see if the book is worth buying.
To get a feel of the story line. I did not like it. Maybe I didn't give it a chance with all those colored wigs, it was weird.

What is this story really about? I saw this phsycho, attacking for money, rape and other things for the hell of it, then got back some of what he deserved, and in the end he was nuts again. I probably just missed the whole story.:confused:

(sparkchaser,don't say "holy thread bump Batman")
 
the problem with the movie is that it leaves out the last chapter, and the last chapter makes the entire thing make sense. It changes everything about the rest of the book: while the debate about free will vs. 'the greater good's safety' remains intact but the perspective changes. book wins, hands down.
 
I enjoyed the movie but I think it was because throughout my childhood, my mother had said how horrible a movie it was and to never see it. Naturally when it got re-released (90's sometime I think), I couldn't see it fast enough. Not a great movie but it did try to be loyal with Anthony Burgess' novel for the most part. Kubrick is a funny little man and for better or worse he was always going to put his stamp on it.

Bottom line : the novel is far better than the movie - although the Nadsat language can be a bit overwhelming initially.
 
As dovener's cape mentioned, the movie totally leaves out the last chapter - which is appalling. The book is amazing and I'd highly recommend it.

The edition I read, the forward/intro by Burgess was very spoilerish. So, if you happen upon that edition (whichever it was), I suggest you read it afterwards.
 
I didn't see the film until many years after I'd first read the book. Hated it. It went for the cheap shocks without addressing the real point of the story. It's such a short book you might as well give it a try. If you can't understand what they're talking about, there are Nadsat dictionaries online, but it's pretty easy to pick it up as you go along.

I read the book when I was about 13, and my maths teacher's name was Anthony Burgess. Turns out he wasn't the same chap, which was a shame. He was a mean bugger and it would have explained a lot.
 
I'd say don't be put off the book by the film. I love books with their own lingo, like Iain M Banks' "Feersum Enjinn" and really enjoyed the book which I've read several times. I still call things "horrorshow" :) I too watched the film with glee as I'd been led to believe it was really wicked and unwholesome, but by the time I saw it it seemed lame & tame. It didn't match up with my visualisation of the characters at all.
 
There are studies about the differences between the books and the movie. Burgess himself was horrified at the time when the movie came out. IMO, Kubrick, with all his brilliance, has always had a bit of a problem not getting carried away with the movie-making, at the expense of the story.

He seems to have realized this only when there were copy-cat beatings-up of people - which scared him enough to have the movie pulled in the UK altogether.

Does anybody know if it is being shown again in Britain these days?
 
The book was good, "Real horror-show".

The slang was my favourite part of the book. It was scarry how easily I picked it up.
 
I haven't seen the movie in a long time, but whenever I end up seeing a movie version of the book, I have to completely separate it from the novel to enjoy it at all. While I do agree that the rape scenes and the nudity were...a bit much...I have to say I did enjoy the film. Of course, the book is fantastic, but as I said before, I needed to detach myself from the book and look at Kubrick's vision as a totally different "entity" for lack of a better word, and stop myself from comparing the two. It's two fields of art, it's apples and oranges, etc.

But sometimes I really despise that there is a movie version of it, because most folks I know claim "the book was too hard to get into" and watch the movie as if it were the same thing.
 
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