Known for being obsessively meticulous, Stanley Kubrick left very little room for improvisations. In his cult film “A Clockwork Orange”, however, at a specific moment, he left the field open to Malcolm McDowell….
53 years ago (already…), Stanley Kubrick threw a grenade of staggering and paralyzing violence in the faces of spectators: A Clockwork Orange. The story of Alex and his gang, fans of sex, ultra-violence and Beethoven in a still futuristic and terribly anxiety-provoking universe, petrified the public.
The film was banned in several countries. In Spain still under the yoke of the dictator Franco. As in Italy too, from 1971 to 2000; this means the time spent in purgatory. In Great Britain, the film was released for two years, before being withdrawn from release at the express request of Kubrick, and was only re-released in the country following the filmmaker’s death.
“The film was a big success there, but it also had a lot of problems” Jan Harlan, brother-in-law of the filmmaker, told us in 2011. “A lot of people discovered their morals and their baser instincts with this film. They attacked Stanley a lot, and at one point he had enough. He then asked Warner to remove the film from distribution, which the studio did.”
Warner Bros.
In the guise of Alex, Malcolm McDowell found the role of his life thanks to the film; even if the person concerned was not unworthy in the rest of his career.
Among the shocking scenes of the film is the one where, in the middle of a session of ultra-violence with a couple accompanied by his Droogs, Alex begins to resume Singing in the Rainthe flagship song from the film Let’s sing in the rain, while dancing.
Here is the sequence again…
Renowned for being particularly meticulous, not to say obsessively meticulous, Stanley Kubrick left very little room for improvisations. This scene was therefore well planned.
Except that after shooting it seven times, the director was still not satisfied with the result. He then suggested to Malcolm McDowell to do what he wanted. Hilarious behind his camera, Kubrick rushed to buy the rights to the famous song so he could use it in the film. A usage which horrified the original artist of the song, Gene Kelly, when he discovered the result on the screen…