By
Cole Smithey
 A
Clockwork Orange
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
1971, Rated R, 136 minutes
There’s Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange,”
and then there’s everything else. Kubrick’s
1971 adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s complex
literary satire of crime and punishment is an
earth-shattering cinematic experience that elicits
an unprecedented visceral response from its
audience. Malcolm McDowell plays British thug
and sociopath Alex De Large, who wanders around
a futuristic, economically ravished Britain
where trash fills the streets. Alex lends friendly
narration to the audience that he calls “brothers”
as he incites violence with a band of delinquent
misfits (called “droogs”) at his command.
McDowell’s complex characterization is simultaneously
replusive and alluring. His daringly over-the-top
performance gives the film its unique thematic
hook. Alex gets imprisoned after viciously raping
and murdering an upper-class woman in her home
with a large plastic phallus. Rather than go
to prison our unfortunate anti-hero opts to
undergo a torturous rehabilitation therapy (the
“Ludovico technique”) involving forced viewings
of Nazi war films accompanied by Beethoven’s
Ninth Symphony. The proven effects of the treatment
lead to Alex’s release into a society where
he is repeatedly punished for his past transgressions.
“A Clockwork Orange” proved a crucial touchstone
for significant cultural shifts in music and
film. ‘70s era filmmakers like Coppola and Scorsese
were liberated by Kubrick’s visionary approach
to style, form, and subject matter. Many aspects
of the punk rock movement are directly attributable
to it. The film is intoxicating in its use of
atmosphere, music, and irony to excite the viewer’s
imagination at a palpitating tempo. Everything
comes as surprise for the voyeuristic viewer
who is implicated in every criminal act of citizen
and state. We are all victim, killer, police,
and legislator. Sleep on that, if you can. CV
 Jaws
Directed by Steven Spielberg
1975, Rated PG-13, 124 minutes
Spielberg’s opening sequence in “Jaws” pushes
the second-act shocker from Hitchcock’s “Psycho”
up to the start of a terrifying horror movie
that also borrows from Hitchcock’s other masterpiece
“The Birds.” A sexy nude woman goes for a midnight
swim in the pitch-black ocean off Amity Island,
where the most phallic of creatures lurks below.
John Williams’ pulsing musical score sends shockwaves
of fear deep into the central nervous system
of the audience. Suddenly all teetering apprehension
erupts into sheer panic as the vulnerable girl
is thrashed about in the open sea like a rag
doll by an unseen monster of enormous strength
and fury. The ferocity of nature must return
to attack children before local police chief
Brody (Roy Scheider) calls upon the salty-dog
shark-hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) and a geeky
oceanographer named Matt (Richard Dreyfus) to
go after the fish that threatens the livelihood
of the resort town.
In 1975 “Jaws” made Steven Spielberg a household
name by delivering on an unpredictable primal
threat and fear of the unknown. For as many
women who refused to take showers after seeing
“Psycho,” just as many stayed away from the
ocean after seeing “Jaws.” Peter Benchley’s
characters are exquisitely fulfilled by Scheider,
Shaw, and Dreyfus, who carry out the literary
portent of their archetypes to the letter. In
the end, the shark is a MacGuffin necessary
for the men to bond and test themselves against
what they fear most--their own mortality. CV |
