Bad Cinema...

A clockwork orange was released in 1971 and was based on Anthony Burgess' novel of the same name released in 1962.

In the United States, A Clockwork Orange was rated X in its original release form. Kubrick later, voluntarily, replaced some 30 seconds of sexually explicit footage, from two scenes, with less bawdy action, for an R-rated re-release in 1973. Current DVDs present the original X-rated form, and only some of the early '80s VHS editions are the R-rated form. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting rated it C (“Condemned”) because of the explicit sex and violence. Conceptually, said rating of condemnation forbade Roman Catholics from seeing A Clockwork Orange. In 1982, the Office abolished the “Condemned” rating; hence, films the Conference of Bishops deem to have unacceptable sex and violence are rated O, “Morally Offensive”.

The British authorities considered the sexual violence extreme, furthermore, there occurred legal claims that the movie A Clockwork Orange had inspired true copycat behaviour, as per press cuttings at the British Film Institute. In March 1972, at trial, the prosecutor accusing the fourteen-year-old-boy defendant of the manslaughter of a classmate, referred to A Clockwork Orange, telling the judge that the case had a macabre relevance to the film. The attacker, a Bletchley boy of sixteen, pleaded guilty after telling police that friends had told him of the film “and the beating up of an old boy like this one”; defence counsel told the trial “the link between this crime and sensational literature, particularly A Clockwork Orange, is established beyond reasonable doubt”. The press also blamed the film for a rape in which the attackers sang "Singin' in the Rain". Popular belief was that those copycat attacks led Kubrick to withdraw the film from distribution in the United Kingdom, however, in a television documentary, made after his death, widow Christiane confirmed rumours that he withdrew A Clockwork Orange on police advice, after threats against him and family (the source of those threats are undiscussed). That Warner Bros. acceded to his withdrawal request indicates the good business relations the director had with the studio, especially the executive Terry Semel. The ban was vigorously pursued in Kubrick’s lifetime. One art house cinema that defied the ban in 1993, and was sued and lost, is the Scala cinema at Kings Cross, London.

Whatever the reason for the film's withdrawal, for some 27 years, it was difficult to see the film in the United Kingdom.

When I first encountered 'A Clockwork Orange' I was 16 years old. My English teacher had copies of the book for the sixth form class who were doing is as part of their A Levels. I managed to talk her into lending me a copy because I thought it looked like a good read. It really was. To this day it is still one of my favourite books. I saw the film a couple of years later and was also enamoured with that. The ultra violence thrilled me and I still haven't seen a film as good or as violent as this.

It puts it into perspective just how nasty the film is when you watch a film like Kids, which, quite frankly really isn't

that shocking at all. Granted, I don't know anyone who has HIV, but I've been to much worse parties than featured in the film and have seen a lot more shit with my own eyes.

To me, in this day and age, it shouldn't be drugs that parents are worrying about when it comes to their teenagers. It should be violence. Films like A Clockwork Orange are surprisingly more up to date than Kids when it comes to social issues.