A Clockwork Orange (1971 Stanley Kubrick & scr)

I don't find Malcolm McDowell's character attractive - in fact I enjoyed all the shit that was coming to him. Kubrick's self-banned controversy looks tame compared to today's nastiness, and in the way it attacks various institutions (prison, religion, politics) it reminds me of O Lucky Man (having McD in both probably helps form that link). Very stylishly made (Kubrick was doing the hand-held stuff himself) and often very funny (moment in hospital, for example, and the actorly flourishes of the couple that tease Alex on-stage). The most upsetting moments are McD with his eyes clamped open - his face looks oddly comic and touching.

Some quite idiosyncratic acting from Patrick Magee, Michael Bates (an almost Pythonish prison guard), Warren Clarke ('Dim'), Adrienne Corri, Paul Farrell (tramp), Miriam Karlin ('Catlady'), Pauline Taylor (psychiatrist), Anthony Sharp (politician, much on TV, also in Barry Lyndon), Philip Stone, Steven Berkoff, David Prowse, Gillian Hills.

There's something very catchy about Beethoven's Ninth played on Moog synthesizers. The Purcell theme ('Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary') comes over as totally creepy and maybe paved the way for such horror scores as Dawn of the Dead. John Alcott's photography is claustrophobic, favouring wide lenses - shot on location using natural light in 1.66:1. Very weird production design too (John Barry). One of the first films to use radio mikes.