MovieChat Forums > A Clockwork Orange (1972) Discussion > I have ultimately come to the conclusion...

I have ultimately come to the conclusion that this is actually my favourite film of all time.


And it is my favourite Stanley Kubrick film as well as film in general that is my favourite. Oh yes. :)

reply

It's a good choice.

It's a truly enjoyable movie, that's very rewatchable and has aged very well.

I still prefer 2001 Space Odyssey, but would probably place A Clockwork Orange in second place.

reply

It's become a favorite of mine too.

reply

There are times when I feel this is my favorite too. But when I sit down and critically compare movies, invariably, I give the nod to Ordinary People - a totally different film, I grant you.

reply

I've never seen Ordinary People. I'll have to give it a try.

reply

You should, pazuzu9. Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton, and Judd Hirsch all did a fantastic job. It was Robert Redford's directorial debut, for which he won the Best Director Academy Award that year, 1980. Filmed in the affluent northern Chicago suburbs (where I grew up), I could really relate to the characters and the setting.

reply

I watched Ordinary People and it was excellent. Impressive performances all around. Thanks for the tip.

reply

That's awesome, pazuzu9. I'm flattered you took my advice and happy you enjoyed it as much as I have. What a good example of what a film discussion site like this can accomplish. So glad the IMDB boards found a place to go once IMDB terminated serving as the clearinghouse.

reply

It was good advice. I watch a lot more movies in recent years so I'm always open to suggestions.

I thought it was pretty cool seeing MTM play such a role. I only know her from The Dick Van Dyke show and The MTM show. She did a great job. I thought for sure her character would have a change of heart at the end but she didn't. Made the story stronger I think.

Thanks again.

reply

Yes, the Mary Tyler Moore character (Beth) is at the core of Ordinary People. Robert Redford was so intuitive for a first time director. He sensed there was something deeper to MTM that people never saw from her roles in The Dick Van Dyke Show (Laura Petrie) and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Mary Richards). He wanted people to see "the dark side of Mary Tyler Moore," and, boy, did he accomplish that.

I found her character a bit more sympathetic than most because I grew up near Lake Forest, IL (where the book and novel were set), and I was familiar with that personality and how it forms. The decision to nominate her for the Best Actress Academy Award as opposed to Best Supporting Actress that year likely robbed her of an Oscar. Sissy Spacek was not going to lose for her portrayal of Loretta Lynn (Coal Miner's Daughter) in 1980. But, again, Moore's character of 'Beth' was so central to the story of Ordinary People, it would have been awkward to nominate her for a supporting role. (Though she would have handily nabbed the award in that category.)

reply

Ordinary People is a very good movie, but also very depressing as well

reply

Sometimes I think the movies people see as depressing as more interesting because of that. Like The Road. I can see what you're saying though.

reply

My Kubranking:

The Shining
Eyes Wide Shut
2001
Chocolate Orange

Chorange is great but I prefer the texture and vibe of his slow, dark stuff like Shino and Eyes Wide.

All his films are hypnotic though. Once you start watching you have to finish. For a photographer he really had a knack for storytelling.

reply

My Kubranking Top 5:

The Shining
Eyes Wide Shut
2001
Dr. Strangelove
A Clockwork Yellow

reply

I’m very pleased to see Eyes Wide so high on your Kube-list, it doesn’t get nearly enough praise. It’s a great Christmas movie.

reply

It's certainly right up there for me, too...I watch it often, and every time I do it gives me a nice, warm vibraty feeling all through my guttiwuts!

reply

You like those gang-rape scenes huh?

reply

Err, we don't "enjoy" such scenes but just because they are depicted and dealt with, doesn't mean we can't admire and watch the movie and we can appreciate it for many of its OTHER qualities too rather than that material. With all due respect, Melton, is it hard to grasp, and on the other side - is that aspect REALLY so hard to ignore without outright explicitly going into, well, that direction and question it all on that side? And how much do you know naturally about human nature and male human nature too including in today's day and age and from that point of view?

reply

Or maybe just admire the film in general and recognize their presence in a "disturbing art cinema appreciation sort of way", but certainly not actually gaining any pleasure from them and being disturbed of course but appropriately too. Somewhat similar but differently to, perhaps, appreciating films with other forms of violence albeit here understandably with more restraint due to the general also sensitive social nature of such a material. At least we hope so too.

reply

You seem to be making a set of presumptions about how I view A Clockwork Orange 🤷🏻‍♂️

reply

Kinda like the presumptions you made about how I view A Clockwork Orange, huh?

reply

Not remotely. I asked you a short and simple question about your assertion.

reply

Go away, troll, you're not worth my time...

reply

Fuck off you creepy gang-rape loving shit-stain.

reply

Folks, let's just calm down and knock it off PLEASE, thank you. (Dear God, even in 2024, people online still tend to bicker and conflict in less than pleasant ways, God.)

reply

Also, love it how (in an ironic way), what I wrote above didn't even so much as make some or all folks here take a pause, a deep breath, give it a proper thought (as in, compare it to other forms of cinematic violence including murder of innocents, that this movie ALSO portrays mind you) and focus on appreciating this movie due to its, and it has a plenty plus look at the background of its late director Stanley Kubrick, ARTISTIC qualities and merits. No, let's all immaturely fight and argue with each other and accuse others of perverse personal selfish proclivities like that and swear like immature school bully like kids, very intellectually stimulating, yeah right.

reply

It’s a real shame but of course once obnoxious users turn needlessly abusive it becomes necessary to smack them down.

reply

Dumb comment, Melton.

reply

Eat shit. I simply asked a pertinent question, you can take your unsolicited opinion of it and shove it back up your ass.

reply

Yikes. See a psychologist, ASAP.

reply

See one yourself you obnoxious tit.

reply

WOW, WOW, WOW, FOLKS, COULD WE PLEASE STOP all this highly immature and vulgar arguing like ultra bratty school kids and respect ourselves, our views and each other, and not throw around in confrontation f and s words or even de-facto "troll" accusations please, thank you very much, its unnecessary and does nothing good for anything or anyone.

reply

It’s a real shame. I ask a simple question and these little bitches suddenly lose their shit 🤷🏻‍♂️

reply

Top tier Kubrick, which makes it among the best movies ever made.

reply

It's one of those rare films* that(for me, anyway,) exist as a kind of violence/"feelgood" hybrid...It makes you feel good about violence!

To those in this thread who may have never have seen it before I say:

"Viddy it for yourself, and make up your own mind!"



*Other films I would place into this category: Goodfellas, American History X, and Falling Down for starters...




reply

Difficult to argue with this choice.

reply

It's a great film. It's more fast paced than Kubrick's other late period films (starting with 2001).

reply