History YMMV / AClockworkOrange

*** In general, Patrick Magee's performance in the film's third act is quite narmy, since he plays the character as something of a LargeHam. One might view this as a sign of the character's mental instability following his trauma and the death of his wife, but seeing him twitch madly while playing Beethoven for Alex is enough to take one out of the film somewhat.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** The name of their car is the Durango 95, although it's not a truck or an SUV. Ford released a Durango throughout the 1980s, while Dodge Durango [=SUVs=] have been around since the mid 1990s.
** Alex fantasizes about being in the decadent Roman times. Creator/MalcolmMcDowell would later star in ''Film/{{Caligula}}''.
** While he's in the hospital, Alex does a bit of roleplay with Dr. Taylor. At one point, he tells somebody to [[AssShove stick a watch up their ass]]. Apparently, [[Film/PulpFiction Captain Koons]] had the same idea.
** Its seems likely that Patrick Magee was remembered by a lot of people after the [[Film/TalesFromTheCrypt following year]] of the film's release as a handicapped man who gets brutalized and takes his own brutal revenge later in the script.
*** Speaking of, both Patrick Magee and Alex's actor Creator/MalcolmMcDowell would both appear in media adaptations of Creator/ECComics' ''Tales from the Crypt'', with Magee in the film adaptation a year after this film and [=McDowell=] in an [[Recap/TalesFromTheCryptS3E7TheReluctantVampire episode]] of the ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' television show.
*** The method of brainwashing Alex has been through. [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans He would use it against a team of superheroes]].
** Alex is an AxCrazy psychotic villain who wears [[LightIsNotGood light clothing]], frequently does the KubrickStare, is accompanied by henchmen who are/were cops, listens to [[Music/LudwigVanBeethoven Beethoven]] while committing atrocities and he's played by a British actor. Wait, are we sure that we're not talking about [[Film/TheProfessional Norman Stansfield]]?

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The iconic film score by Music/WendyCarlos (performed with Moog synthesizers), particularly her rendition of Purcell's "Music For the Funeral For Queen Mary", which can be considered the unofficial theme music for the movie. And that's not to mention Music/GioachinoRossini, Music/EdwardElgar and, above all, our old friend [[Music/LudwigVanBeethoven Ludwig van]]. The film's score, as well as its future-shock aesthetic, was a major influence on the PostPunk movement.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: The scene where Alex kills the CrazyCatLady with a phallic object.

* EvilIsSexy: Or Creator/MalcolmMcDowell was, anyway.

* TearJerker:
** Needless to say, the fate of all of Alex's victims deserves this mention.
** As horrific as the things he's done are, it can be difficult not to feel bad for Alex when, after he's released, he has no home due to a lodger staying in his room, he's left at the mercy of his previous victims, former gang members and rivals and he can't do anything to stop them because the treatment has left him unable to perform violence even to defend himself.
** In a meta sense, the origin of the novel is no slouch, either: Burgess wrote the novel inspired by the robbery and sexual assault his wife suffered from U.S. Army deserters.

* MemeticMutation:
** "Ultra-violence."
** "Well! Well well well! Well well well well well..."
** [[LargeHam "Try the wine!"]]

** [[Creator/{{Aeschylus}} If you live by the sword, you'll perish by the sword]]: while the abuse Alex suffers isn't exactly moral, it is only because he made so many people, including his own former droogs, hate him with his ultraviolent tendencies. If you choose to act out, you won't be making too many friends or people who will vouch for you.

** If you live by the sword, you'll perish by the sword: while the abuse Alex suffers isn't exactly moral, it is only because he made so many people, including his own former droogs, hate him with his ultraviolent tendencies. If you choose to act out, you won't be making too many friends or people who will vouch for you.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The iconic film score by Music/WendyCarlos (performed with Moog synthesizers), particularly her rendition of Purcell's "Music For the Funeral For Queen Mary", which can be considered the unofficial theme music for the movie. And that's not to mention Music/GioachinoRossini, Music/EdwardElgar and, above all, our old friend [[Music/LudwigVanBeethoven Ludwig van]].

** Julian, Mr. Alexander's nurse/protection, is played by a young weightlifter and wrestler named Creator/DavidProwse. After seeing the movie, Creator/GeorgeLucas was so impressed with his size that he offered him the part of [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]].

* OlderThanTheyThink: The first adaptation of ''A Clockwork Orange'' was in 1965, the film ''Vinyl'' by Creator/AndyWarhol. That film is some 60 minutes long, and is composed of long takes, changed the names of the characters and invented its own slang, "scum-baby" mostly, and it also used popular music ("Nowhere to Run", along with music by Music/TheKinks and Music/TheRollingStones). It is however considered a masterpiece of avant-garde cinema, and it does make explicit the S&M subtext of the Burgess novel and which is also there in the Kubrick film.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Mr. Alexander's torture of Alex is supposed to prove how [[HeWhoFightsMonsters he is no different from the evil government]]. But considering Alex and his goons paralyzed him, raped his wife in front of him, and his wife died from the trauma, and then Alex wormed his way into hospitality, one can think he was more than justified in tormenting Alex.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Mr. Alexander's torture of Alex is supposed to prove how [[HeWhoFightsMonsters he is no different from the evil government]]. But considering Alex and his goons paralyzed him, raped his wife in front of him, and his wife died from the trauma, one can think he was more than justified in tormenting Alex.

* AdaptationDisplacement:
** Far more people have seen the film than have read the book, which Creator/AnthonyBurgess himself considered one of his minor works (as do most literary critics, since he was a respected author of LitFic and a literary critic in his own right), and whose main resentment was that thanks to the film it became one of his {{Black Sheep Hit}}s.[[invoked]]
** Most people have never heard the original "Music For the Funeral For Queen Mary".
** For some "Film/SinginInTheRain" is associated with this film, and it still is among a small group of fans, but luckily for Creator/GeneKelly the audience that watches family musicals is always going to be bigger than people who watch Kubrick films.

* JerkassWoobie: Although {{Jerkass}} is maybe too light a term to describe Alex, many people see him as this in the second and third acts, considering what happens to him. His [[AttemptedRape near-rape in prison]], his inability to enjoy anything in life, and the merciless beatings at the hands of his victims-turned-victimizers humanize him quite a bit. Though again, some feel it falls apart and that Alex is only made sympathetic because he is made weak and dehumanized, or perhaps find it somewhat karmic.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** Alex did quite a few bad things, but going so far as to rape a woman in the ''Singing in the Rain'' scene takes his actions to another level of reprehensibility. This is partly why the twenty-first chapter is so controversial -- a lot of readers think it's simply not in his character to reform so suddenly, that is if they even see him as capable of it at ''all''.
** The Minister of the Interior arguably crosses this by signing off on the Ludovico Technique in the first place. While he ''could'' be seen as well-intentioned here, he's clearly doing it for self-serving reasons, and it's pointed out that the treatment may very well be turned on anyone who resists the government. He's only concerned about crime in the first place because of overcrowding in prisons, seeing as he plans to imprison political dissidents. He's certainly crossed it by the end, when he covers up the whole incident with Alex's cooperation, essentially making a DealWithTheDevil to protect himself.

* TearJerker:
** Needless to say, the fate of all of Alex's victims deserves this mention.
** As horrific as the things he's done are, it can be difficult not to feel bad for Alex when, after he's released, he has no home due to a lodger staying in his room, he's left at the mercy of his previous victims, former gang members and rivals and he can't do anything to stop them because the treatment has left him unable to perform violence even to defend himself.
** In a meta sense, the origin of the novel is no slouch, either: Burgess wrote the novel inspired by the robbery and sexual assault his wife suffered from U.S. Army deserters.

* ValuesDissonance: Especially with the advent of social media, ''many'' people would protest having a convicted murderer ''and'' rapist being let off with such a brief sentence as Alex's, regardless of the kind of treatment used to supposedly help them reform. There's also the fact that in the 2010s and beyond, being known as someone who raped two children would likely get Alex's ass kicked in prison, as many inmates believe in WouldntHurtAChild.
* ValuesResonance:
** Prison reform has become a serious topic in the 2010s, especially with ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' talking about how even nonviolent nuns are put in with thieves, murderers, and desperate drug addicts, and that it's hard for recently-released inmates to build a normal life. It also hammers home that someone has to ''want'' to become a better person and forcing the change on them isn't a good thing and will almost certainly have negative consequences.
** Police brutality is another topic that has become a more prominent issue in 2010s. Alex's former droogs becoming police officers and getting away with brutally torturing him is eerily prescient of the numerous incidents of police corruption and white supremacist groups infiltrating police departments.

* AwardSnub: Creator/MalcolmMcDowell ultimately didn't win an award for his performance as Alex. He didn't even get ''nominated''!

** If you live by the sword, you'll perish by the sword: while the abuse Alex suffers isn't exactly moral, it is only because he made so many people hate him with his ultraviolent tendencies. If you choose to act out, you won't be making too many friends or people who will vouch for you.

* ValuesResonance: Prison reform has become a serious topic in the 2010s, especially with ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' talking about how even nonviolent nuns are put in with thieves, murderers, and desperate drug addicts, and that it's hard for recently-released inmates to build a normal life. It also hammers home that someone has to ''want'' to become a better person and forcing the change on them isn't a good thing and will almost certainly have negative consequences.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Despite Kubrick's camera tricks (especially {{fisheye lens}}es) and the defenestration of Alex, it's pretty hard for some members of the audience to forgive Alex for his rather heinous crimes. Additionally, the fact most of the enemies are Strawman characters who can come off almost exaggeratedly grotesque thanks to the film's satirical focus, which can make it come off a little too much like simply the film is telling the audience what to think and feel.

** The face that the old man makes when he remembers who Alex is; it's supposed to be twisted in rage and horror, but the angle of the shot and the fact that he's convulsing while bent completely forward makes it look a bit silly.
** Magee was worried he was overdoing it and voiced his concerns to Malcolm [=McDowell=], saying (not incorrectly), "I look like I'm having a big ''shit!'' [=McDowell=] told him to play it the way Kubrick wanted: "I think this guy knows what he's doing." He was right: [[NarmCharm as over-the-top as it is, it works.]]

* ValuesDissonance: Especially with the advent of social media, ''many'' people would protest having a convicted murderer ''and'' rapist being let off with such a brief sentence as Alex's, regardless of the kind of treatment used to supposedly help them reform. There's also the fact that in the 2010s, being known as someone who raped two children would likely get Alex's ass kicked in prison, as many inmates believe in WouldntHurtAChild.
* ValuesResonance: On the other hand, prison reform has become a serious topic in the 2010s, especially with ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' talking about how even nonviolent nuns are put in with thieves, murderers, and desperate drug addicts, and that it's hard for recently-released inmates to build a normal life. It also hammers home that someone has to ''want'' to become a better person and forcing the change on them isn't a good thing and will almost certainly have negative consequences.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Mrs. Alexander (Adrienne Corri), who got raped by Alex and the Droogs, apparently died of the trauma offscreen (or from pneumonia in the film) if you believe her husband, Mr. Alexander. Having her StuffedIntoTheFridge to serve as her husband's motivation feels cheap to modern readers, and likewise it would have made the story much more gray and ambiguous if it was her at the end receiving and welcoming Alex and deciding to either kill him or help him out of her objections to the Ludovico technique rather than her husband, which would be missing the point of the film since she was the MoralityChain of Frank.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The book has multiple characters blather on in endless dialogues about free will and choice. The prison chaplain's speech is especially grating not only for its preachiness but its ineffectiveness (he makes the speech ''after'' Alex is submitted to aversion therapy, and not ''before'').

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The novel hammers the point that you can't force a person to reform, even with advanced technology. Change has to come from within to make it genuine, and so that the person can actually do good.

** Far more people have seen the film than have read the book, which Creator/AnthonyBurgess himself considered one of his minor works (as do most literary critics, since he was a respected author of LitFic and a literary critic in his own right), and whose main resentment was that thanks to the film it became one of his BlackSheepHit.[[invoked]]