A Clockwork Orange

One of Kubrick’s more controversial outings, A Clockwork Orange anticipated the punk anarchy that would rise later in the decade. At its murky bottom, it’s about free will versus state control. Played with adrenal glee by Malcolm McDowell, Alex is a demented, sociopathic bad boy. Following a crime spree, Alex is sentenced to prison, but his incarceration is reduced when he submits to a radical form of therapy. To establish the gangbangers as an autonomous cohort, Kubrick enlists author Anthony Burgess’s “Nadsat,” a slangy language. Always talking the talk, A Clockwork Orange is like a punch in the “guttiwuts.”