TGME Round 1: A Clockwork Orange Vs. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

[GregMcduck]

How it works: Each poll will be open for two weeks, giving all of you time to watch each film. New polls added every Sunday and Wednesday.

A Clockwork Orange (1971) vs. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966)



A Clockwork Orange is a satirical science fiction film adaptation of a 1962 novel of the same name, by Anthony Burgess. The adaptation was produced, co-written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It stars Malcolm McDowell as the charismatic and psychopathic delinquent Alex DeLarge, whose pleasures are classical music (most especially Beethoven), rape, and ultraviolence. He is leader of a small gang of thugs (Pete, Georgie and Dim), whom he refers to as his "droogs." Alex narrates most of the film in "Nadsat"; the fractured, contemporary adolescent argot comprising Slavic (especially Russian), English, and Cockney rhyming slang. Alex is irreverent and abusive of others; he lies to his parents to skip school and has an expensive stereo sound deck blasting a classics recordings collection. He is soon captured by the police and sentenced to 14 years in prison. After serving two years and gaining the favor of the prison chaplain, he is offered a chance at parole if he submits to the Ludovico technique, an experimental aversion therapy developed by the government to solve societal crime. The technique involves being exposed to extreme depictions of on-screen violence under the influence of a nausea-inducing drug. Buckled into a straitjacket, strapped into a seat, his head clamped and his eyes held open with specula, Alex has no choice but to watch the films. After two weeks, he is presented to prison and government officials as a successfully rehabilitated member of society and released. The treatment has left him unable to perform, or even think about, any kind of violent action without becoming severely ill. However, he learns that it worked to well, because he cannot even defend himself against an attacker when necessary. In an unintended side effect, the technique has also rendered him incapable of listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the background score used in a film with film of the Nazis, the Wehrmarcht, images of war and various Nazi atrocities. The scientist-doctors apologize for this coincidence, that it can't be helped, suggesting to each other that the music can be used as a "punishment factor."

A Clockwork Orange features disturbing, violent imagery to facilitate social commentary on psychiatry, youth gangs, and other topics in a futuristic dystopian society. The film was rated X on its original release in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the sexual violence in the film was considered extreme. Furthermore, it was claimed that the film had inspired copycat behavior. In March 1972, a prosecutor at a trial of a 14-year-old boy accused of the manslaughter of one of his classmates referred to A Clockwork Orange, telling the judge that the case had a macabre relevance to the film. The attacker, a boy aged 16 from Bletchley, pleaded guilty after telling police that his friends had told him of the film "and the beating up of an old boy like this one"; defense 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 influence of the film for a rape in which the attackers sang "Singin' in the Rain". Kubrick subsequently requested that Warner Brothers withdraw the film from UK distribution.



The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. In a desolate ghost town, bandit Tuco narrowly shoots his way past three bounty hunters to freedom. Miles away, Angel Eyes interrogates a former soldier about a missing man named Bill Carson and a cache of Confederate gold, shooting the soldier after the interrogation. Meanwhile, Tuco's journey across the desert leads him into a group of bounty hunters, who prepare to capture him when they are approached by Blondie, a mysterious lone gunman who challenges the hunters to a draw, which he wins with lightning speed. Initially elated, Tuco is enraged when Blondie delivers him to the local authorities for the reward money. Hours later, as Tuco awaits his execution, Blondie surprises the authorities and frees Tuco, the two later meeting to split the reward money, revealing their lucrative money-making scheme. The two repeat the process at another town before Blondie, weary of Tuco's consistent complaints, abandons him in the desert. A livid Tuco rearms himself in a nearby town and surprises Blondie in his hotel room. As Tuco prepares to kill Blondie, a cannonball demolishes the room, allowing Blondie to escape. Following a relentless search, Tuco ambushes Blondie and marches him across the harsh desert. As Blondie collapses from dehydration, Tuco prepares to kill him when a runaway carriage appears on the horizon. Inside, Tuco discovers a dying Bill Carson, who reveals that Confederate gold is buried in a grave in Sad Hill cemetery but falls unconscious before naming the grave. When Tuco returns with water, he discovers Carson dead and Blondie slumped against the carriage. As he passes out, Blondie says that he knows the name on the grave.

Wallach was almost poisoned during filming when he accidentally drank from a bottle of acid that a film technician had set next to his soda bottle. Wallach mentioned this in his autobiography and complained that while Leone was a brilliant director, he was very lax about ensuring the safety of his actors during dangerous scenes. Wallach was endangered in another scene, where he was to be hanged after a pistol was shot and the horse underneath him was to run away in fright. While the rope around Wallach's neck was severed, the horse was frightened a little too well. The horse rode off for about a mile with Wallach still on top of the horse and his hands bound behind his back. The third time Wallach's life was threatened was during the scene where he and Mario Brega jump out of a moving train. The jumping part was fine, but Wallach's life was endangered when his character attempts to sever the chain binding him to the (now dead) henchman. Tuco places the body on the railroad tracks, making the train roll over the chain to sever it. Wallach and presumably, the entire film crew were not aware of the heavy iron steps that jutted one foot out of every box car. If Wallach had stood up from his prone position at the wrong time, one of the jutting steps could have decapitated him.

Please take the time to watch or re-watch these two films before voting. You can use this thread to post reviews after having watched them, campaign for your preferred movie, or just discuss the movies in general.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I've watched both of these so many times, impossible for me to choose between them...

Watch for all the layers of conditioning in A Clockwork Orange, this movie was used as an example for conditioning when I took psychology as an elective way back when...

  Trivia:
McDowell had his cornea scratched during filming one of the treatment sessions.
Also Gene Kelly hated the fact that Singing In The Rain was used in this film.


The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly is one of the best westerns ever, and of course has the greatest showdown ending of all time...

Both movies have music that stay in your head for days...

All Kubrick movies should be watched in Hi-Def, his use of lighting and subtle color gets diminished on standard video.

[GregMcduck]

This does not perfectly reflect my personal opinions of the films, but I'm a fan of Rob Ager, Youtube's resident over-analyzer of films. Here's his take on Clockwork Orange.

Part One got taken down while I wasn't looking. You can download a WMV of it here:

http://www.collativelearning.com/a%20clockwork%20orange%20review.html

NSFW

[BBQ Platypus]

Sorry, Stan, but A Clockwork Orange loses based solely on the fact that it doesn't have this scene in it:

[Petey Wheatstraw]

This is a little tougher.

[mrbasehart]

Hm...While A Clockwork Orange is a really good - and influential - film, I could watch The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly every week.

[Doktor Sleepless]

I can't be arsed.

[Ortega]

I have to go with Clockwork Orange.  No offense to TGTB&TU, but Clockwork Orange is the only film of Kubrick's that i like, and the fact that that pretentious, over-indulging director actually made a film i can enjoy is quite an accomplishment.

[ScottotD]

that pretentious, over-indulging director actually made a film i can enjoy is quite an accomplishment.

Wes Anderson remade Clockwork Orange?

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I have to go with Clockwork Orange.  No offense to TGTB&TU, but Clockwork Orange is the only film of Kubrick's that i like, and the fact that that pretentious, over-indulging director actually made a film i can enjoy is quite an accomplishment.

Have you ever seen Dr Strangelove?  I'd have to put that one up there with Clockwork Orange.

And 2001, unfortunately it loses a lot on video, I saw it on the big screen as a kid, seeing it on Blu-Ray was the first video version that came close to that experience.

I always forget he did The Shining, but I read the book before seeing that one so it's hard to judge, the mini-series on cable several years ago was truer to Steven King's book but didn't have the acting talent the movie had.

Unfortunately people remember Kubrick for his last 2 movies, Eyes Wide Shut and Full Metal Jacket.

Back to the vote, I still can't pick one over the other after watching them again....

[Relaxing Dragon]

A Clockwork Orange is a good movie, but not my favorite from the Kubrick. And The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is one of the best westerns I've ever seen (though I think there wasn't enough Angel Eyes). Though since I need to decide between the two, I'm going with Orange, if just because I think that movie has better pacing (GBU just keeps on going and going; I like epics and everything, but this one felt a bit too long) and shear quotability.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

A Clockwork Orange is a good movie, but not my favorite from the Kubrick. And The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is one of the best westerns I've ever seen (though I think there wasn't enough Angel Eyes). Though since I need to decide between the two, I'm going with Orange, if just because I think that movie has better pacing (GBU just keeps on going and going; I like epics and everything, but this one felt a bit too long) and shear quotability.

If you like epic westerns try "Once Upon A Time In The West", I'd rate that one slightly above TGTBTU, with Unforgiven 3rd.

If going by quotability I guess Clockwork is the winner, all that made up slang, lots of quotable lines.  I guess I might have to go with Clockwork after all...

[Relaxing Dragon]

A Clockwork Orange is a good movie, but not my favorite from the Kubrick. And The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is one of the best westerns I've ever seen (though I think there wasn't enough Angel Eyes). Though since I need to decide between the two, I'm going with Orange, if just because I think that movie has better pacing (GBU just keeps on going and going; I like epics and everything, but this one felt a bit too long) and shear quotability.

If you like epic westerns try "Once Upon A Time In The West", I'd rate that one slightly above TGTBTU, with Unforgiven 3rd.

If going by quotability I guess Clockwork is the winner, all that made up slang, lots of quotable lines.  I guess I might have to go with Clockwork after all...

Been meaning to watch that one, actually. It's somewhere on my Netflix list at the moment. And yeah, Unforgiven was excellent.