Special Topics in
Film Studies: The
Films of Stanley
Kubrick
Dr. David Lavery
Fall 2012
1964
The Making of Dr.
Strangelove
A Documentary
Chapter Titles (as listed on the DVD)
Dr. Strangelove
1. Start
2. Condition Red
3. Wing Attack Plan R
4. Fred Calls Buck
5. Three Simple Rules
6. Attack Profile
7. Captain Mandrake
8. In the War Room
9. Six Points
10. Survival Kit Check
11. Ambassador De Sadesky
12. Friendly Fire
13. Merkin and Dimitri
14. A Monstrous Commie Plot
15. Dr. Strangelove
16. Ripper’s Theory
17. The Base Surrenders
18. Evasive Action
19. Colonel “Bat” Guano
20. Assessing the Damage
21. Deviated pervert
22. One Plane Left
23. A Change of Target
24. “Is There Really a Chance?”
25. Final Check”
26. “Yahoo!!!”
27. 100-Year Plan
28. “We’ll Meet Again”
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and
Love the Bomb
UK (1964): Science Fiction/Comedy/War
93 min, No rating, Black & White
Production Credits
Producer: Stanley Kubrick
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter: Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, Peter
George, based on the novel Red Alert by George
Cinematographer: Gilbert Taylor
Editor: Anthony Harvey
Composer: Laurie Johnson
Production designer: Ken Adam
Art director: Peter Murton
Special effects: Wally Veevers
Costumes: Bridget Sellers
Makeup: Stuart Freeborn
Cast List
Peter Sellers: Capt. Lionel Mandrake/President Merkin
Muffley/Dr. Strangelove
George C. Scott: Gen. "Buck" Turgidson
Sterling Hayden: Gen. Jack D. Ripper
Keenan Wynn: Col. "Bat" Guano
Slim Pickens: Maj. T.J. "King" Kong
Peter Bull: Ambassador de Sadesky
Tracy Reed: Miss Scott
James Earl Jones: Lt. Lothar Zogg
Jack Creley: Mr. Staines
Frank Berry: Lt. H.R. Dietrich
Glenn Beck: Lt. W.D. Kivel
Shane Rimmer: Capt. G.A. "Ace" Owens
Paul Tamarin: Lt. B. Goldberg
Gordon Tanner: Gen. Faceman
Robert O'Neil: Adm. Randolph
Roy Stephens: Frank
xxxxx
MAD: Mutually
Assured
Destruction
Watch the whole film online here.
50 Years Ago This Month: The
Cuban Missile Crisis, October
1962
November-December 1963
November 22nd: President Kennedy
assassinated.
November 23rd: First episode of Doctor
Who airs.
December 12th: Scheduled premiere of
Doctor Strangelove scheduled but
cancelled.
Dr. Strangelove, 93 minutes
A Dr. Strangelove Lexicon
merkin: a genital
hairpiece or toupee
A Dr. Strangelove Lexicon
turgid(son): swollen ,
engorged, tumescent
General Buck Turgidson
A Dr. Strangelove Lexicon
(Bat) guano: A substance
composed chiefly of the dung of sea birds
or bats, accumulated along certain coastal
areas or in caves and used as fertilizer.
Colonel “Bat”
Guano
A Dr. Strangelove Lexicon
mandrake:
A southern European
plant (Mandragora officinarum) having
greenish-yellow flowers and a branched root.
This plant was once believed to have magical
powers because its root resembles the human
body.
Group Captain Lionel
Mandrake
In 1960 the novelist Philip Roth
predicted that by the 21st century
the front page of the New York
Times would be satire.
Black Humor
From Murfin, Ross and Supryia M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical
and Literary Terms. Boston: Bedford 1997.
black humor: A dark, disturbing, and often morbid or grotesque mode of
comedy found in certain modern texts, especially antinovels and Absurdist
works. Such humor often concerns death, suffering, or other anxiety-inducing
subjects. Black humor usually goes hand in hand with a pessimistic world-view or
tone; it manages to express a sense of hopelessness in a wry, sardonic way that
is grimly humorous.
EXAMPLES:
Thomas Pynchon's V (1963), Joseph , Heller's Catch-22 (1961), and John
Kennedy Toole's novel A Confederacy of Dunces (1980) contain a great deal of
black humor. Little Shop of Horrors, originally a Roger Corman film that was
made into a long-running musical and then remade as a movie (1986), contains
many instances of black humor. Other contemporary films utilizing black humor
include Eating Raoul (1982) and Fargo (1996). The writer and illustrator Edward
Gorey consistently incorporates black humor into children's books; in The
Gashly'crumb Times (1962), Gorey presents each letter of the alphabet via the
name of a child who met an untimely death: "A is for Amy, who fell down the
stairs. B is for Basil, assaulted by bears...."
Black Humor
From the Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition (2003)
[I]n literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the
absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary
characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal
satire or irony. Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is
sometimes equated with tragic farce. For example, Stanley Kubrick’s film Dr.
Strangelove; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1963) is a
terrifying comic treatment of the circumstances surrounding the dropping of an
atom bomb, while Jules Feiffer’s comedy Little Murders (1965) is a delineation of
the horrors of modern urban life, focusing particularly on random assassinations.
The novels of such writers as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, John Barth,
Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth contain elements of black humor.
Black Humor
From Cuddon, J. A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory.
Fourth Edition. NY: Penguin, 1998.
BLACK COMEDY. The term is a translation of comedie noire, which we owe to
Jean Anouilh (1910-88), who divided his plays of the 1930S and 1940s into pieces
roses and pieces noires. It is more than likely that the term also in part derives
from Andre Breton's Anthologie de I'humeur noire (1940), which is concerned
with the humorous treatment of the shocking, horrific and macabre. Black
comedy is a form of drama which displays a marked disillusionment and
cynicism. It shows human beings without convictions and "with little hope,
regulated by fate or fortune or incomprehensible powers. In fact, human beings
in an 'absurd' predicament. At its darkest such comedy is pervaded by a kind of
sour despair: we can't do anything so we may as well laugh. The wit is mordant
and the humour sardonic.
This form of drama has no easily perceptible ancestry, unless it be tragi-comedy
(q.v.) and the so-called 'dark' comedies of Shakespeare (for instance. The
Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, All's Well that Ends Well and The
Winter's Tale). However, some of the earlier works of Jean Anouilh (the pieces
Black Humor
noires) are blackly comic: for example, Voyageur sans ba.ga.ge (1936) and La.
Sauvage (1938). Later he wrote what he described as pieces grincantes
(grinding, abrasive), of which two notable examples are La Valse des toreadors
(1952) and Pauvre Bitos (1956). Both these plays could be classified as black
comedy. So might two early dramatic works by Jean Genet: Les Bonnes (1947)
and Les Negres (1959). Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962),
Pinter's The Homecoming (1965) and Joe Orton's Loot (1965) are other examples
of this kind of play. The television dramatist Giles Cooper also made a very
considerable contribution.
In other forms of literature 'black comedy' and 'black humour' (e.g. the 'sick
joke') have become more and more noticeable in the 20th c. It has been
remarked that such comedy is particularly prominent in the so-called 'literature
of the absurd'. Literary historians have found intimations of a new vision of man's
role and position in the universe in, for instance, Kafka's stories (e.g. The Trial, The
Castle, Metamorphosis), in surrealistic art and poetry and, later, in the philosophy
of existentialism {q.v.). Camus's vision of man as an 'irremediable exile', lonesco's
concept of life as a 'tragic farce', and Samuel Beckett's tragi-comic characters
Black Humor
in his novels are other instances of a particular Weltanschauung (q.v.).
A baleful, even, at times, a 'sick' view of existence, alleviated by
sardonic (and, not infrequently, compassionate) humour is to be found
in many works of 2oth c. fiction; in Sartre's novels, in Genet's nondramatic works also, in Giinter Grass's novels, in the more apocalyptic
works of Kurt Vonnegut (junior). One might also mention some less
famous books of unusual merit which are darkly comic. For example,
Serge Godefroy's Les Loques (1964), Thomas Pynchon's V (1963) and his
The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (1961), D. D. Bell's
Dicky, or The Midnight Ride of Dicky Vere (1970) and Mordecai Richler's
St Urbain's-Horseman (1966). See NONSENSE; SURREALISM; THEATRE OF
CRUELTY; THEATRE OF THE ABSURD.
Stills from the Set of Dr. Strangelove
Stills from the Set of Dr. Strangelove
Stills from the Set of Dr. Strangelove
Stills from the Set of Dr. Strangelove
John Hall Wheelock
Earth
"A planet doesn’t explode of itself," said drily
The Martian astronomer, gazing off into the air.
"That they were able to do it is proof that highly
Intelligent beings must have been living there."
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Kubrick’s shock upon learning
about the first atomic bomb
test (about the possible chain
reaction that might result).
 Kubrick claimed he
considered moving to
Australia to avoid nuclear war.
 The “people will laugh”
concern.
 Discovered Terry Southern via
The Magic Christian (given to
him by Peter Sellers).
 Scott claimed he deserved
screen credit.
 Sellers came up with the idea
that his hand was still a Nazi.
 15 weeks of principal
photography.
Terry Southern
(1924-1995)
 Terry Southern Official Site
 Perspectives in American
Literature on Southern
 Internet Movie Data Base Page
 Terry Southern, "Notes from the
War Room"
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Shepperton Studios outside of
London—13,000 square feet.
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Sellers was originally to play Kong but was
reluctant. Southern helped with the accent, but
after falling on the bomber set, Sellers opted out.
 John Wayne was offered the role of Kong, and
Dan Blocker was considered, but rejected it as
“too pinko.” Kubrick remembered Slim Pickens
from the One-Eyed Jacks project.
 Sellers might have played “Buck Schmuck” as
well.
 Sellers paid
$1,000,000—50%
of the entire
budget.
 Kubrick spotted
James Earl
Jones on stage
and cast him as
Lt. Lothan Zogg.
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Hayden had trouble with the technical jargon but
found Kubrick very understanding.
 Reliance on Jane’s.
 Often contrasted to Fail-Safe (Sidney Lumet, 1964)
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Names in earlier versions: Admiral Buldike, Private
Tung, Major Nonce, Lt. Binky Ballmuff.
 Always eating—according to Jones.
 Composer Laurie [a man) Johnson built the score
around “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.”
 Was Columbia’s biggest success of 1964.
 The pie fight that was cut.
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
From Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.
DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB
(BRITISH/I 964) B&W/93m-102m. Stanley Kubrick directed this classic nightmare
comedy, which he, Terry Southern, and Peter George adapted from George's
more serious novel Red Alert. It's so funny because, as ludicrous as the characters
and events are, there is nothing in this picture that is beyond the realm of
possibility. Perhaps we are laughing at ourselves (instead of worrying) for living in a
world whose fate is controlled by buffoons. One buffoon is General Jack D. Ripper
(Sterling Hayden). Believing that the communists have poisoned the water supply—
that, he believes, is why his sexual proficiency has diminished—he orders U.S.
bombers to conduct a nuclear attack on Russia. He kills himself rather than reveal
the recall code to his British assistant, Capt. Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers).
President Muffley (also Sellers) explains the situation to the Soviet Premier (we never
see him), who informs Muffley that if a nuclear bomb goes off in Russia then a
From Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic
Russian Doomsday device will destroy the world. Perverse Dr. Strangelove (Sellers
again), a former Nazi who works for the U.S., reveals his contingency plan in which
America's politicians, top brass, and bigwigs will retreat to underground chambers
where there will be ten women for every man. Kubrick considered ending the film
with a slapstick pie fight in the war room. I'm glad he didn't. Watching the film
today, I grow impatient with most of the scenes outside the war room. Inside there
are many classic bits: gum chewing Gen. Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott)
explaining to Muffley what Ripper has done; Muffley having hilarious Bob Newharttype conversations over the hot line; Strangelove (who's not in the film enough)
trying to stop his out-of-control metal hand (which automatically gives a Nazi
salute) from strangling him. Sellers is marvelous in all three roles (he has a terrific
American accent) —somehow he lost out on the Oscar, which went to Rex
Harrison for My Fair Lady. Photography is by Gilbert Taylor. Production design is by
Ken Adam. Vera Lynn's WWII recording of "We'll Meet Again" is used effectively at
the conclusion. Also with: Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens (who rides a bomb to cinema
glory), Peter Bull, Tracy Reed, James Earl Jones.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review: 3.5 stars out of 5
More relevant with each passing year, Stanley Kubrick's uproariously funny yet
deadly serious DR. STRANGELOVE did much to bring underground filmmaking
techniques and concerns into the commercial mainstream. Combining a
satirical indictment of U.S./U.S.S.R. Cold War policies, brilliantly limned
caricatures, and an inventive visual style, this extraordinary black comedy, like
Stanley Kubrick's masterful 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968), makes an important
statement about the apocalyptic consequences of humankind's relinquishment
of its destiny to machines.
Synopsis. Mad bomber. After opening with the midair refueling of a long-range
bomber, the film shifts into high gear when Gen. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden)
goes completely mad, seals off Burpelson Air Force Base, and sends his bomber
wing to attack the Soviet Union. U.S. President Merkin J. Muffley (Peter Sellers, in
one of three roles he performs) responds by calling a desperate meeting with his
advisors, including blustery Gen."Buck" Turgidson (George C. Scott) and Dr.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Strangelove (Sellers again), a mysterious, wheelchair-bound German scientist
whose mechanical arm is always on the verge of launching his black-gloved
hand into a Nazi salute. After a hot-line consultation with the Soviet leader,
Premier Kissoff who is finally tracked down at a Moscow brothel, drunk, a plan is
formulated to shoot down the American planes. Although the Soviets have been
informed of every U.S. move, they remain suspicious and set into motion their
dreaded "Doomsday Machine"—a defensive system with a destructive capacity
so great that the world will be engulfed in fallout for more than ninety years
should even one bomb be dropped on the USSR and automatically trigger the
buried nuclear weapons.
Back at Burpelson, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (once more Sellers), a British
liaison officer, busies himself with trying to trick Gen. Ripper into revealing the
code that will recall his bombers. He is unsuccessful, however, as the mad
general—who is convinced that the fluoridation of water is a communist plot—
puts him off with tales of how he has kept his "precious bodily fluids" to himself,
"denying women [his] essence." Gen. Ripper then excuses himself, goes into a
washroom, and blows out his brains.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Code busting. Meanwhile, a force commanded by Col. "Bat" Guano (Keenan
Wynn) breaks through Ripper's defenses just as Mandrake has determined the
recall code. With only a pay phone to alert the White House but without a dime,
Mandrake suggests they break into a soda pop vending machine. Col. Guano,
who warns the Briton against trying any "preeversions," shoots into the machine,
but not before warning Mandrake that he will have to answer to the Coca-Cola
Company of America.
Armed with the code, President Muffley's War Room staff is able to recall all of
the bombers that haven't been shot down except the one piloted by crafty Maj.
T.J. "King" Kong (Slim Pickens), who guides his damaged plane through the Soviet
defenses on its way to a secondary target. As the plane approaches its
objective, however, trouble arises with the bomb release mechanism. Ever the
enterprising warrior, Maj. Kong manually releases the bomb, and, cowboy hat in
hand, rides it to earth like a bronco buster.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Doomsday. The explosion, of course, triggers the Russian "Doomsday Machine."
Just before the end of the world, President Muffley and Dr. Strangelove fritter
away precious time discussing how society's male elite and a proportionately
larger contingent of beautiful women might survive the nuclear holocaust in
underground hideouts, eventually repopulating the planet. Then, moments
before the screen is filled with mushroom clouds and the sound track swirls with
Vera Lynn's version of "We'll Meet Again," Dr. Strangelove staggers to his feet,
proclaiming, "Mein Fuhrer, I can walk."
Critique. One of the finest, funniest, most intelligent black comedies ever made,
DR. STRANGELOVE demonstrates Kubrick's mastery of cinematic art from its first
frame to its last. The film is more than just funny or didactic, however, becoming
engrossingly suspenseful as Kubrick continually shifts his focus from one of the
film's three principal settings to another, cutting among them with increasing
rapidity as the film nears its climax, catching the audience up inextricably in the
tension-filled race to save the world.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Expressive set design. Moreover, each of the film's relatively inexpensive sets is
skillfully designed and photographed to heighten the impact of the events that
transpire there. As production designer Ken Adam explained to Michael Ciment,
author of Stanley Kubrick, the War Room was rendered larger than life to lend
the distanced decision-making that occurs there an appropriately fantastic
quality. Gen. Ripper's office and Kaj. Kong's bomber, The Leper Colony, on the
other hand, are presented with a gritty realism. Indeed, the scenes inside the
bomber are claustrophobically framed and filmed with source lighting, while the
assault on the Air Force base—shot in a cinéma vérité style with a hand-held
camera that was operated most of the time by Kubrick himself—has the look of
a documentary. In each case the results are among the 1960s' most expressive
black-and-white images.
Sexual imagery. Throughout the film Kubrick also uses his visuals to suggest the
connection between the warring impulse and the male sex drive. From the
sensual quality of the midair refueling that opens the film to Maj. Kong's
wahooing ride to destruction on the huge oblong bomb at the film's end, DR.
STRANGELOVE is full of phallic and sexual imagery. All of it mirrors the sexual
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
obsessions of the film's most militant warriors: Jack Ripper's hoarding of his
precious bodily fluids and Buck Turgidson's profligacy with his, most notably with
his secretary, Miss Scott (Tracy Reed), who also appears as the centerfold in the
Playboy ogled by Maj. Kong.
Comedy started as drama. Significantly, Kubrick intended his adaptation of
Peter George's novel Red Alert to be a straightforward drama, along the lines of
FAIL-SAFE, 1964's other cautionary tale about the horrors of nuclear weaponry.
However, as Gene D. Phillips notes in Stanley Kubrick: A Film Odyssey, Kubrick
decided to make the film "a nightmare comedy" after discovering, while trying
to flesh out the screenplay, that he was continually forced to leave out things
"which were either absurd or paradoxical in order to keep [the screenplay] from
being funny; and these things seemed to be close to the heart of the scenes in
question." Collaborating with George and Terry Southern, Kubrick crafted an
immensely clever script, loaded with hilariously memorable scenes and
dialogue, enlivened by the improvisational contributions of the film's
accomplished cast.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Cast. At the time of the film's release, none of the cast members had attained real
star status (though Sellers and Scott would later, of course). Rather, Kubrick
assembled an extraordinarily talented lineup of character actors and let them run
with their roles. Scott is unforgettable as gut-slapping hawk Buck Turgidson (the film's
character names are themselves a howl). His War Room scuffle with Soviet
Ambassador de Sadesky—played with terrific tongue-in-cheek stoicism by Peter
Bull—is among the film's highlights, topped off by Muffley's killer punch line:
"Gentleman, you can't fight in here. This is the War Room!" Equally delightful is Scott's
bug-eyed description of a lone bomber's chances against the Soviet defenses.
But as good as Scott's performance is, Sellers steals the show, bringing deft comic
shading to each of his three roles: milquetoast liberal President Muffley; reserved but
exasperated Group Captain Mandrake (whose slow burns bring to mind those of
Monty Python's Cleese); and the absurdly grinning Dr. Strangelove, whose battles
with his arm with an ideology of its own are worth the price of admission as he
whips, bangs, and even sits on it before his hand finally attempts to strangle him.
Hayden, Pickens, Wynn, and, in a smaller role, James Earl Jones also contribute
wonderfully over-the-top supporting performances.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Surprisingly, Kubrick originally intended to end DR. STRANGELOVE with a colossal
custard pie fight in the War Room. In fact, he spent nearly a week filming the
melee before opting to culminate the film with a bang and sneer—the ironic
combination of exploding hydrogen bombs and "We'll Meet Again."
Certainly Stanley Kubrick is one of the masters of the American cinema, his
impressive oeuvre including such outstanding films as THE KILLING (1956); PATHS
OF GLORY (1957); SPARTACUS (1960); LOLITA (1962); 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
(1968); A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971); BARRY LYNDON (1975); THE SHINING
(1980); and FULL METAL JACKET (1987).
Awards. Sellers was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, as well as Kubrick for
Best Direction and the film itself for Best Picture, but all lost to MY FAIR LADY.
Kubrick, Peter George and Terry Southern were also nominated for Best Adapted
Screenplay.
Special Topics in
Film Studies: The
Films of Stanley
Kubrick
Dr. David Lavery
Fall 2012
1968
"[Like the monolith in 2001, Stanley
Kubrick] was a force of supernatural
intelligence, appearing at great
intervals amid high-pitched shrieks,
who gives the world a violent kick up
the next rung of the evolutionary
ladder."
David Denby
Chapter Titles (as listed on the DVD)
2001: A Space Odyssey
1. Overture
2. Opening Credits
3. The Dawn of Man
4. From Earth to the Moon
5. Voice Print Identification
6. Squirt
7. A Great Big Mystery
8. Off to Clavius
9. Purpose of the Visit
10. Deliberately Buried
11. The Monolith
12. Jupiter Mission
13. The World Tonight
14. Frank’s Parents
15. Chess with HAL
16. Sketches and Suspicions
17. Removing the AE35
18. Human Error?
19. A Bad Feeling
20. Intermission
21. Cut Adrift
22. Rescue Mission
23. The Big Sleep
24. “Open the Doors!”
25. Emergency Airlock
26. My Mind is Going
27. Prerecorded Briefing
28. Jupiter
29. . . . And Beyond the Infinite
30. Through Space and Time
31. Star Child
32. End Credits
2001: A Space Odyssey
UK (1968): Science Fiction
Production Credits
139 min, Rated PG, Color, Available on videocassette and laserdisc
Producer | Stanley Kubrick
Director | Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter | Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, based on the short story
"The Sentinel" by Clarke
Cinematographer | Geoffrey Unsworth, John Alcott
Editor | Ray Lovejoy
Production designer | Tony Masters, Harry Lange, | Ernest Archer
Art director | John Hoesli
Special effects | Stanley Kubrick, Wally Veevers, Douglas Trumbull
Costumes | Hardy Amies
Makeup | Stuart Freeborn
2001: A Space Odyssey
UK (1968): Science Fiction
Cast List
Keir Dullea | David Bowman
Gary Lockwood | Frank Poole
William Sylvester | Dr. Heywood Floyd
Daniel Richter | Moonwatcher
Leonard Rossiter | Smyslov
Margaret Tyzack | Elena
Robert Beatty | Halvorsen
Sean Sullivan | Michaels
Frank Miller | Mission Controller
Alan Gifford | Poole's Father
Vivian Kubrick | | "Squirt"
John Ashley | Astronaut
Dave: Open the pod bay doors, please, HAL. Open the pod bay doors,
please, HAL. Hello, HAL. Do you read me? Hello, HAL. Do you read me?
Do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you.
Dave: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave: F&*K you HAL!
HAL: Without your space helmet, Dave, you're going to find that rather
difficult.
--Found on the door of a toilet stall, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud,
Minnesota, 1972
W. R. Robinson on 2001:
 (with Mary McDermott), “2001 and the Literary
Sensibility”
 “The Birth of Imaginative Man in Part III of 2001: A
Space Odyssey”
David Lavery, “Like
Light: The Movie Theory
of W. R. Robinson”
2001: A Space Odyssey
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review: 3.5 stars out of 5
A beautiful, confounding picture that had half the audience cheering and the
other half snoring. Stanley Kubrick clearly means to say something about the
dehumanizing effects of technology, but exactly what is hard to say. One of
those works presumed to be profound by virtue of its incomprehensibility, 2001 is
nevertheless an astounding visual experience—one to be enjoyed, if possible,
only on the big screen.
Synopsis
The distant past. The story can be synopsized, but can it be understood? For the
first half hour or so, we are treated to the sight and grunts of a tribe of apes, circa
4 million years ago. Kubrick uses actors in ape suits plus a few real animals, and
they happily cavort as vegetarians in their prehistoric world. Then a large black
monolith appears and seems to be calling to the apes. The moment they touch
the ebony slab, the peaceful simians become carnivorous, territorial, and begin
using the bones of their prey as weapons to keep other apes away from their
small domain. A bone is tossed in the air, begins to revolve in slow motion, and
the film jumps 4 million years forward to 2001.
2001: A Space Odyssey
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
At the lunar station. The rotating bone becomes the rotating spaceship Orion. Dr.
Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) is a scientist aboard the spaceship on his way
to a lunar station. When he is questioned by Russian colleagues about why they
have been banned from the space station despite having an agreement with
the U.S., Dr. Floyd says he has no idea why they are not allowed. He arrives at the
station and talks to several Americans. It turns out he knows full well why the
Russians have been kept in the dark, but he has been forbidden to speak of it to
anyone other than people cleared on the highest classified level.
Discovery. There has been a tremendous discovery, and the U.S. government
fears that any leak of the "discovery" might cause a panic back on Earth. Dr.
Floyd and his compatriots use a lunar buggy to go to the site and come upon
the monolith that is, as near as they can determine, 4 million years old. They
approach the edifice, which lets out an ear-piercing screech that seems to be in
the direction of Jupiter.
2001: A Space Odyssey
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Meet HAL. Dissolve to a year-and-a-half later, as a spaceship makes its way to Jupiter.
David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) run the ship with the
help of HAL 9000, the most sophisticated computer ever devised. The voice of HAL
(Douglas Rain) has a pleasant tone but with the slightest malevolent edge. (Martin
Balsam had originally recorded the voice but was replaced.) There are three other
men in a deep freeze, and neither Poole nor Bowman knows the real mission. HAL
knows, but he has been programmed not to tell them until they reach their
destination. Poole and Bowman take care of the minor business aboard the ship,
exercise, and try to keep from going nuts as HAL runs the voyage.
HAL takes over. The computer is not supposed to ever tell a lie or make an error, so
they take it as Gospel when HAL says there is a malfunction in the spaceship's
antenna. They plan to go outside and do an on-site check. On Earth, the men at
mission control report that HAL is wrong and that it is impossible for such a thing to
have happened. Poole and Bowman wonder now about the efficacy of their onboard computer. Poole goes outside the spaceship, and HAL arranges to have the
lifeline cut. Poole is floating in space, and Bowman attempts to rescue him but fails.
At the same time, HAL shuts off the units that are keeping the deep-frozen astronauts
alive.
2001: A Space Odyssey
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Bowman tries to get back on board but is being stopped by the machinations of
HAL. He finally gets back on the ship by manually overriding the computer. Once
on board, Bowman cuts off the electrical system that keeps HAL going and now
learns about the slab found on the moon. The ship approaches Jupiter, and
Bowman sees a slab go past his ship. The next sequence has Bowman immersed
in a light show, a vast array of many-colored oceans and seas and skies and
explosions, none of which he can fathom (and all of which were sheer delight to
the drug-laden viewers of the late 1960s, who thought this movie was heavensent).
Next thing he knows, he is in a bedroom circa 1700, where he discovers an old
man, himself at age 100. Bowman plays both characters, who have an enigmatic
conversation. Then a monolith appears in the room and moves toward the bed.
Finally, an embryo that looks vaguely like Bowman is seen floating toward Earth
as the film concludes.
2001: A Space Odyssey
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Critique
For sheer spectacle, it may be unsurpassed; for storytelling, it stays as dark and
deep as the monolith that is its focal point. Kubrick was delighted by the
confusion the movie caused and maintained that he deliberately kept questions
unanswered because he wanted to pique the curiosity of audiences. The rebirth
of Bowman at the film's end has been thought to signify the next leap forward of
humankind, but that is still open for discussion. Some have said that it broke new
ground by creating a new film "language." We think that a bit more story would
have helped, or at least a translation of this new language. 2001 continues to
annoy and delight audiences years later, and its real meaning cannot be
explained to anyone's liking.
The casting of Lockwood, Dullea, and Sylvester, three undynamic actors (in these
roles), must have been deliberate, as Kubrick didn't want anything in the way of
his vision (whatever that was).
The movie has many Woody Allen-like jibes at Howard Johnson's, Hilton Hotels,
and others.
2001: A Space Odyssey
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Clarke's short story was first made into a novel, then into the screenplay that
MGM financed for $6 million. The budget kept rising, and the studio execs feared
a disaster. They didn't reckon with Kubrick's vision. Made at a cost of only $10.5
million, the film began to build slowly but eventually took in almost $15 million in
North America, then about half that upon rerelease in the slightly shorter version
(141 minutes) in 1972.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY was followed by a sequel in 1984, 2010.
Awards
Understandably, the movie won the Oscar for Best Special Effects in 1968, and
was nominated for Best Direction, Best Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. It also
took the BFA Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Art
Direction.
2001: A Space Odyssey
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review
Music
Made at Boreham Richard Wood's British Studios in England, it featured many
classical tunes as the background score: Aram Khatchaturian's "Gayane Ballet
Suite" (played by the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gennadi
Rozhdestvensky), Richard Strauss's "Thus Spake Zarathustra" (played by the Berlin
Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Karl Boehm), Johann Strauss's "Blue Danube
Waltz" (played by the Berlin Symphony, conducted by Herbert von Karajan),
Gyorgy Ligeti's "Atmospheres" (played by the Southwest German Radio
Orchestra, conducted by Ernst Baur), Ligeti's "Lux Aeterna" (played by the
Stuttgart State Orchestra, conducted by Clytus Gottwald), and Ligeti's "Requiem
for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Two Mixed Choirs and Orchestra" (played by the
Bavarian Radio Orchestra, conducted by Francis Travis).
From Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic. New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1986.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (BRITISH/I 968) C/ 141m-160m. The most
awesome, beautiful (the visuals and classical music), mentally
stimulating, and controversial science-fiction film ever made was
directed by Stanley Kubrick, adapted from Arthur C. Clarke's short story
"The Sentinel" by Kubrick and Clarke, and photographed by Geoffrey
Unsworth and John Alcott, and features incredible, Oscar-winning
special effects by Wally Veerers, Douglas Trumbull (who supervised the
miraculous star-gate sequence). Con Pederson, and Tom Howard. It
begins four million years ago when a black monolithic slab appears to a
family of apes. Once peaceful vegetarians, they become meat-eaters
and intelligent enough to use bones as weapons to kill other animals for
food and to chase other apes away from their territory. They have
evolved into apemen and their human descendants will retain their
warring instincts—progress and brutality go hand in hand—the territorial
From Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
imperative, and a notion of God. It is for the viewer to decide if the
superior alien intelligence that sent the monolith and caused man to
evolve from the apes (instead of the neighboring tapirs!) is God as we
define God. (I believe that Kubrick thinks the concept of God is so
unfathomable to us that if an alien intelligence has the power over us
that we always associated with God, then we might as well call it God.)
Film moves from the past to 2001, when Dr. Heywood Floyd (William
Sylvester), an American scientist, investigates the discovery of a
monolith on the moon. The monolith sends a piercing signal (through
space's vacuum?), a distant intelligence, no doubt, that man has
evolved to the point where the monolith has been discovered. But man
is nothing special: he is boring, untrusting (Floyd keeps the discovery
secret from the Russians), nationalistic, uncommunicative; while man
From Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
has made great technical advances in communication, men are
incapable of meaningful, intelligent conversation, and are unworthy of
their own scientific achievements. American big business has
expanded: Pan Am, Bell Telephone, the Hilton chain, and Howard
lohnson's are prominent at the space station. On a spaceship we see
that the astronauts. Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Poole (Gary Lockwood),
are completely subservient to a computer named HAL. HAL is actually
more interesting than the men—they are mechanized; HAL is a neurotic.
HAL represents both a Frankenstein monster turning on its human
creators (he tries to dispose of the crew) and a Big Brother in which,
unlike the situation in Orwell, men intentionally have set up to spy on
them. There is no scarier scene than when HAL reads the lips of Bowman
and Poole as they plan to dismantle this rebellious computer. In an
unforgettable scene Bowman dismantles HAL. The battle between man
From Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
and computer, resulting in HAL'S death, releases emotions that Bowman had
previously held in check: fear and sorrow. The destruction of the oppressive
computer is the signal to the aliens—who may have set up the combat, if
we are to believe the dualist concept of God's omnipotence and man's
having free will under God's auspices—that Bowman is worthy of being the
human being who comes to them. After traveling through space—"the
ultimate trip"—Bowman finds himself in a terrarium observed by alien
creatures. There he ages rapidly and becomes the first character in the film
to eat at a table and the first to eat tasty food—from a plate, too. He
becomes civilized man; Kubrick believes that "the missing link between the
apes and civilized man is the human being—us." Lastly, Bowman dies and
evolves into a star child, floating through space toward earth. The evolution
of man from ape to angel is complete. Originally released in Cinerama at
160m. Peter Hyams directed the badly muddled, forgettable 2070. Also with:
Daniel Richter, Leonard Rossiter, Margaret Tyzack, Douglas Rain (voice of
HAL).
The Music of 2001
The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss
The Music of 2001
“Thus Spake Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss
The Music of 2001
Atmosphères by György Ligeti
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Working Titles: How the Solar System Was Won, Universe,
Tunnel to the Stars, Planetfall, Journey Beyond the Stars
 Kubrick admired Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956).
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Kubrick sought out Clarke, whose Childhood’s End he
admired greatly
Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008).
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Kubrick was worried about “outguessing the future.”
 Concerned about the ending.
 Budget of $10.5 million.
 The moon based was built at Shepperton.
 Kubrick didn’t like filming further than 10 miles from home.
 “The Dawn of Man” used second unit work in Namibia.
 The crotch problem.
 The centrifugal cylinder
 The role of Douglas Trumbull.
 The Stargate sequence and Jordon Belson (1926-2011). (The
image below is from Allures (1961).
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 No name cast.
 Bland, inane dialogue.
 HAL (and IBM).
 Rejecting North’s score. Last minute choices.
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 The bone to spaceship match cut.
Special Topics in
Film Studies: The
Films of Stanley
Kubrick
Dr. David Lavery
Fall 2012
1971
Production Credits
137 min, Rated R, Color, Available on
videocassette and laserdisc
Producer: Stanley Kubrick
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter: Stanley Kubrick, based on
the novel by Anthony Burgess
Cinematographer: John Alcott
Editor: Bill Butler (cinematographer)
Composer: Walter Carlos
Production designer: John Barry
Art director: Russell Hagg, Peter Shields
Stunts: Roy Scammell
Costumes: Milena Canonero
Makeup: Freddie Williamson, George
Partleton, Barbara Daly
Chapter Titles (as listed on the DVD)
1. Alex and His Droogs
2. The Old Ultraviolence on a Tramp
3. Battling Billy Boy
4. Through the Real Country Dark
5. Country House
6. Disciplining Dim
7. At Home with Ludwig Von
8. Home Ill; Mr. Deltoid
9. The Music Shop
10.Two Ladies
11. Dissent Among Droogs
12.A Real Leader
13.The Cat Lady’s House
14.Now a Murderer
15.Prisoner #655321
16. The Chaplain’s Remarks
17. Big Book Fantasies
18. The Minister’s Visit
We will watch all the chapters in
bold.
19. Arrival at Ludovico
20.“And Vidi Films I Would”
21. “I’m Cured, Praise God!”
22. On Display
23. The Sickness
24. Your True Believer
25. Family Reunion
26.No Room for Alex
27. Three Familiar Faces
28. Droogs with Badges
Break
29. Return to the Country House
30. Mr. Alexander’s Hospitality
31. The Hospital
32. A Slide Show
33. A Very Special Visitor
34.“I Was Cured All Right”
35. End Credits
Lindsay Anderson
(1923-1994)
Six Degrees of
Separation (me,
Clockwork)
Lindsay Anderson (1923-1994)
Six Degrees of Separation (me,
Clockwork)
1973
1968
Six Degrees of
Separation (me,
Clockwork)
Six Degrees of
Separation (me,
Clockwork)
Clockwork as a Cult Film
Eco, Umberto. "Casablanca:
Cult Movies and Intertextual
Collage." Travels in Hyper
Reality. Trans. William
Weaver. New York:
Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich,
1986: 197-211.
LIVING TEXTUALITY. The authentic cult work,
Eco observes, must seem like "living textuality,"
as if it had no authors, as postmodernist proof
that "as literature comes from literature,
cinema comes from cinema" (199).
Clockwork as a Cult Film
A COMPLETELY FURNISHED WORLD. Another
closely related prerequisite of The Cult, Eco
observes, is its capacity to "provide a
completely furnished world so that its fans can
quote characters and episodes as if they were
aspects of the fan's private sectarian world, a
world about which one can make up quizzes
and play trivia games so that the adepts of the
secret recognize through each other a shared
experience" (198).
Clockwork as a Cult Film
DETACHABILITY. The cult work, according to Eco,
must also be susceptible to breaking, dislocation,
unhinging, "so that one can remember only parts of
it, irrespective of their original relationship with the
whole." The cult viewer watching these moments-indeed watching for such moments—may let out an
audible "I love this."
Clockwork as a Cult Film
Anthony
Burgess
(1917-1993)
Cast List
Malcolm McDowell: Alex
Patrick Magee: Mr. Alexander
Michael Bates: Chief Guard
Warren Clarke: Dim
John Clive: Stage Actor
Adrienne Corri: Mrs. Alexander
Carl Duering: Dr. Brodsky
Paul Farrell: Hobo
Clive Francis: Lodger
Michael Gover: Prison Warden
Miriam Karlin: Cat Lady
James Marcus: Georgie
Aubrey Morris: Deltoid
Godfrey Quigley: Prison Chaplain
Sheila Raynor: Mum
Madge Ryan: Dr. Branom
John Savident: Conspirator Dolin
Anthony Sharp: Minister of Interior
Philip Stone: Dad
Pauline Taylor: Psychiatrist
Margaret Tyzack: Conspirator Rubinstein
Steven Berkoff: Constable
Lindsay Campbell: Inspector
Michael Tarn: Pete
David Prowse: Julian
Jan Adair: Handmaiden
Prudence Drage: Handmaiden
Vivienne Chandler: Handmaiden
John J. Carney: C.I.D. Official
Richard Connaught: Billyboy
Carol Drinkwater: Nurse Feeley
George O'Gorman: Bootick Clerk
Cheryl Grunwald: Rape Victim
Gillian Hills: Sonietta
Craig Hunter: Dr. Friendly
Barbara Scott: Marty
Virginia Wetherell: Stage Actress
Katya Wyeth: Girl in Fantasy
GLOSSARY OF NADSAT LANGUAGE (originally
prepared by Stanley Edgar Hyman). Words that
don't seem to be of Russian origin are distinguished
by asterisks.
*appy polly loggy—apology
baboochka—old woman
baddiwad—bad
banda—band
bezoomny—mad
biblio—library
bitva—battle
Bog—God
bolnoy—sick
bolshy—big, great
brat, bratty—brother
bratchny—bastard
britva—razor
brooko—belly
brosay—to throw
bugatty—rich
cal—feces
*cancer—cigarette
cantora—office
carman—pocket
chai—tea
*charles, charlie—chaplain
chasha—cup
chasso—guard
cheena—woman
cheest—to wash
chelloveck—person, man, follow
chepooka—nonsense
choodessny—wonderful
*chumble—to mumble
clop—beak
collocoll—bell
*crack—to break up or "bust"
*crark—to yowl?
crast—to rob or steal; robbery
GLOSSARY OF NADSAT LANGUAGE
creech—to shout or scream
*cutter—money
dama—lady
ded—old man
deng—money
devotchka—girl
dobby—good
*dook—trace, ghost
domy—house
dorogoy—dear, valuable
dratsing—fighting
*drencrom—drug
droog—friend (ie: my droogies)
*dung—to defecate
dva—two
eegra—game
eemya—name
*eggiweg—egg
*filly—to play or fool with
*firegold—drink
*fist—to punch
*flip—wild?
forella—"trout"
gazetta—newspaper
glazz—eye
gloopy—stupid
*golly—unit of money
goloss—voice
goober—lip
gooly—to walk
gorlo—throat
govorett—to speak or talk
grahzny—dirty
grazzy—soiled
GLOSSARY OF NADSAT LANGUAGE
gromky—loud
groody—breast
gruppa—group
*guff—guffaw
gulliver—head
*gulliwuts—guts
*hen-korm—chickenfeed
*horn—to cry out
horrorshow—good, well
*in-out in-out—copulation
interessovat—to interest
itty—to go
*jammiwam—jam
jeezny—life
kartoffel—potato
keeshkas—guts
kleb—bread
kootch—key
knopka—button
kopat—to "dig"
koshka—cat
kot—tomcat
krovvy—blood
kupet—to buy
lapa—paw
lewdies—people
*lighter—crone?
litso—face
lomtick—piece, bit
loveted—caught
lubbilubbing—making love
GLOSSARY OF NADSAT LANGUAGE
*luscious glory—hair
malchick—boy
malenky—little, tiny
maslo—butter
merzky—filthy
messel—thought, fancy
mesto—place
millicent—policeman
minoota—minute
molodoy—young
moloko—milk
moodge—man
morder—snout
*mounch—snack
mozg—brain
nachinat—to begin
nadmenny—arrogant
nadsat—teenage
nagoy—naked
*nazz—fool
neezhnies—underpants
nochy—night
noga—foot, leg
nozh—knife
nuking—smelling
oddy knocky—lonesome
odin—one
okno—window
oobivat—to kill
ookadeet—to leave
ooko—ear
oomny—brainy
oozhassny—terrible
oozy—chain
GLOSSARY OF NADSAT LANGUAGE
osoosh—to wipe
otchkies—eyeglasses
*pan-handle—erection
*pee and em—parents
peet—to drink
pischcha—food
platch—to cry
platties—clothes
pletcho—shoulder
plenny—prisoner
plesk—splash
*plosh—to splash
plott—body
podooshka—pillow
pol—sex
polezny—useful
*polyclef—skeleton key
pony—to understand
poogly—frightened
pooshka—"cannon"
prestoopnik—criminal
privodeet—to lead somewhere
*pretty polly—money
prod—to produce
ptitsa—"chick"
pyahnitsa—drunk
rabbit—work, job
radosty—joy
raskazz—story
rassoodock—mind
raz—time
razdraz—upset
razrez—to rip, ripping
rock, rooker—hand, arm
rot—mouth
rozz—policeman
GLOSSARY OF NADSAT LANGUAGE
sabog—shoe
sakar—sugar
sammy—generous
*sarky—sarcastic
scotenna—"cow"
shaika—gang
*sharp—female
sharries—buttocks
shest—barrier
*shilarny—concern
*shive—slice
shiyah—neck
shlem—helmet
*shlaga—club
shlapa—hat
shoom—noise
shoot—fool
*sinny—cinema
shazat—to say
*skolliwoll—school
skorry—quick, quickly
*shriking—scratching
shvat—to grab
sladky—sweet
sloochat—to happen
sloosh, slosshy—to hear, to listen
slovo—word
smech—laugh
smot—to look
sneety—dream
*snoutie—tobacco?
*snuff it—to die
sobirat—to pick up
GLOSSARY OF NADSAT LANGUAGE
*sod—to fornicate, fornicator
soomaka—"bag"
soviet—advice, order
spat—to sleep
spatchka—sleep
*splodge, splosh—splash
*spoogy—terrified
*Staja—State Jail
starry—ancient
strack—horror
*synthemesc—drug
tally—waist
*tashtook—handkerchief
*tass—cup
tolchock—to hit or push;blow,
beating
toofles—slippers
tree—three
vareet—to "cook up"
*vaysay—washroom
veck—(see chelloveck)
*vellocet—drug
veshch—thing
viddy—to see or look
voloss—hair
von—smell
vred—to harm or damage
yahma—hole
*yahoodies—Jews
yabzick—tongue
*yarbles—testicles
yeckate—to drive
*warble—song
GLOSSARY OF NADSAT LANGUAGE
zammechat—remarkable
zasnoot—sleep
zhenna—wife
zoobies—teeth
zvonock—bellpull
zvook—sound
Alex: There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs,
that is Pete, Georgie Boy and Dim. And we sat in the
Korova Milk Bar trying to make up our rassoodocks
what to do with the evening. The Korova Milk Bar sold
milk plus - milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or
drencrom which is what we were drinking. This would
sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the
old Ultra-Violence.
Clockwork Dialogue
Alex: “Viddy well, little brother, viddy
well!”
Clockwork Dialogue
Alex: I woke up, the pain and sickness all over me like
an animal. Then I realized what it was. The music
coming up from the floor was our old friend Ludwig
Van and the dreaded 9th Symphony. Let me out.
Open the door, open the door. Turn it off, turn it off,
turn it off, turn it off, turn it off. Stop it. Turn it off. Turn it
off. Turn it off. Turn it off. Please, turn it off. Suddenly I
viddied what I had to do and what I had wanted to
do and that was to do myself in. To snuff it, to blast off
forever from this wicked cruel world. One moment of
pain perhaps and then sleep forever and ever.
Clockwork Dialogue
Dim: What did you do that for?
Alex: For being a bastard with no manners. Without a dook of an
idea about how to comport yourself public-wise, O my brother.
Dim: I don't like you should do what you done and I'm not your
brother no more and wouldn't want to be.
Alex: Watch that. Do watch that O Dim, if to continue to be on live
thou dost wish.
Dim: Yarbles, great bouncy yarblockos to you I'll meet you with
chain, or nudge, or britva, any time, I'm not have you aiming
tolchoks at me reasonless. It stands to reason, I won't have it.
Alex: And I'll scrap any time you say.
Dim: Right, right. Doobidoob. A bit tired may be best not to say more.
Bedways is rigthways now, so best we go homeways and get a bit of
spatchka. Right, right.
Clockwork Dialogue
It had been a wonderful evening and what I
needed now to give it the perfect ending was
a bit of the old Ludwig Van. Oh bliss, bliss and
heaven. Oh it was georgeousness and
georgeosity made flesh. It was like a bird of
rarest spun heaven metal, or like silvery wine
flowing in a spaceship gravity all nonsense now
as I slooshied I knew such pretty pictures.
Clockwork Dialogue
Alex: This is the real weepy and tragic part of
the story being O my brothers and only friends.
After a trial with judge and a jury and some
very hard words spoken against your friend
and humble narrator, he was sentenced to
fourteen years in Stargent number 84-F among
smelly perverts and hardened crustoodniks.
Clockwork Dialogue
And viddy films I would. Where I was taken to, Brothers, was like no cine I
ever viddied before. I was bound up in a straight jacket and my guliver
was strapped to a headrest with like wires running away from it. Then
they clamped like lidlocks on my eyes so that I could not shut them no
matter how hard I tried. It seemed a bit crazy to me but I let them get on
with it. If I was to be a free young malchick again in a fortnights time I
would put up with much in the meantime, O my Brothers. So far the first
film, was a very good professional piece of cine. Like it was done in
Hollywood. The sounds were real horroshow, you could slooshie the
screams and moans very realistic. You could even get the heavy
breathing and panting of the tolchcoking malchicks at the same time.
And then what do you know, soon our dear old friend the red red vino on
tap. The same in all places, like it was put out by the same big firm,
began to flow. It was beautiful. It's funny how the colors of the real world
only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen. Now all the
Clockwork Dialogue
time I was watching this, I was beginning to get very aware of like not
feeling all that well. And this this I put down to all the rich food and
vitamins. But I tried to forget this concentrating on the next film which
jumped right away on a young devotchka who was being given the old
in-out, in-out. First by one malchick, then another, then another. When it
came to the sixth or seventh malchick leering and smecking and going
into it, I began to feel really sick. But I could not shut my glassies and even
if I tried to move my glassballs about, I still not get out of the line of fire of
the picture.
Clockwork Dialogue
From Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic. New York: Simon
and Schuster, 1986.
CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A (British/1971) C/137m. In the not too
distant future our Humble Narrator, young Alex (Malcolm
McDowell), and his pals (“droogs”) spend the nights
practicing ultra-violence: beating, raping, terrorizing citizens.
One night Alex kills a snobbish man, and his droogs, who are
angry with him, knock him out and leave him for police. He's
sent to prison. His only chance for freedom is to undergo the
Liberal Party's experimental "Ludovico" treatment whereby he's
made ill when watching violent movies; afterward violence and
Beethoven make him nauseous. When freed he is unable to hurt
a fly; he becomes the victim of the droogs (now policemen)
and ends up in the house of liberal Mr. Alexander (Patrick
Magee), who doesn't recognize Alex as the one who raped
and caused the death of his wife. Eventually Alex gets that evil
gleam back in his eye. You can't cure the habitual thrill criminal.
From Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic.
Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess's novel is
visually brilliant and thematically reprehensible. Because Alex is
meant to embody our savage, anarchic impulses, Kubrick
figured we'd identify with him. At least, that is what he
intended—so that we wouldn't identify with Alex's victims, he
manipulates us into accepting Alex in relation to the world.
Played by McDowell instead of by a less appealing actor of the
Sean Penn mold, Alex is energetic, handsome, witty, and more
clever, honest, intelligent, aid interesting than any of the adults
in the cruel world. Without exception, Kubrick makes Alex's
victims more obnoxious than they are in the book (his treatment
of women is insulting). Kubrick makes their abuse at Alex's hands
more palatable by making them grotesque, mannered,
snobbish figures. Kubrick uses other distancing devices: extreme
wide angles, slow motion, fast motion, surreal backgrounds,
songs that counterpoint the violence. The violence that Alex
perpetrates is very stylized, but when it comes time for him to
From Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic.
endure violence (a bottle to the head, police brutality, the
Ludovico technique), it is much more realistic. Poor Alex we
think. Our hostility is directed toward everyone, but he is like an
alley cat who is declawed before being returned to the streets.
Burgess believed that the book and film were parables that
expressed two basic points: "If we are going to love mankind,
we will have to love Alex as a not-unrepresentative member of
it; it is preferable to have a world of violence undertaken in full
awareness—violence chosen as an act of will—than a world
conditioned to be good or harmless." But the mankind Kubrick
shows us is totally alien to us and not worthy of our love. And
even before he undergoes the Ludovico treatment, Alex's
violent acts don't seem to be made through free choice, but
are reflexive, conditioned by past violence—he is already a
clockwork orange (human on the outside, mechanized on the
inside). Film's strong, gratuitous violence is objectionable (as is
the comical atmosphere when violence is being perpetrated)
but the major reason the film can be termed fascistic is Kubrick's
heartless, super-intellectual, super-orderly, antiseptic,
From Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic.
anti-human, anti-female, anti-sensual, anti-passion, anti-erotic
treatment of its subject. In his cold world, all emotional stimuli,
from drugs to Beethoven, are lumped together as being
harmful; all art (classical music, theater, literature, painting,
sculpture, and film) is pornographic. Film has cult following due
to wild clothes, visual design, and violence. John Alcott is the
cinematographer. Also with: Anthony Sharp (as the Minister who
wants to us "cured" Alex for political purposes), Warren Clarke,
Aubrey Morris, James Marcus, Michael Tarn, Adrienne Corri,
Michael Bates
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Was considering Eyes Wide Shut when he decided to do
Clockwork.
 Terry Southern once owned the rights.
 A producer (Sandy Lieberson) wanted to do it with Mick
Jagger (a big fan) as Alex and the others Stones as his
droogs; Ken Russell considered doing it as well.
 Fears of censorship from the beginning.
 Abandoned Napoleon to embark on Clockwork.
 Kubrick ignored previous screenplays and wrote his own
(using a computer).
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 McDowell’s injuries: near drowning, broken ribs, scratched
corneas, freezing in the shower.
 Abuse of Adrienne Corri
 McDowell was 28, twice the age of the novel’s Alex.
 Prowse [Julian] + James Earl Jones = Darth Vader.
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Walter/Wendy Carlos hired to do electronic versions of Ninth.
Rossini’s William Tell, Purcell’s Music on the Death of Queen
Mary.
 “Singin’ in the Rain”: the only song McDowell knew.
 “There seems to be an assumption that if you’re offended by movie
brutality, you are somehow playing into the hands of the people who
want censorship. But this would deny those of us who don’t believe in
censorship the use of the only counterbalance: the freedom of the
press to say that there’s anything conceivably damaging in these
films — the freedom to analyze their implications. If we don’t use this
critical freedom, we are implicitly saying that no brutality is too much
for us — that only squares and people who believe in censorship are
concerned with brutality. Actually, those who believe in censorship
are primarily concerned with sex, and they generally worry about
violence only when it’s eroticized. This means that practically no one
raises the issue of the possible cumulative effects of movie brutality.
Yet surely, when night after night atrocities are served up to us as
entertainment, it’s worth some anxiety. We become clockwork
oranges if we accept all this pop culture without asking what’s in it.
How can people go on talking about the dazzling brilliance of movies
and not notice that the directors are sucking up to the thugs in the
audience?”—Pauline Kael
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
 Kubrick was vehemently anti-censorship but his “self-imposed
became the most effective censorship of a film in British
history.”
 Production budget: $2 million; worldwide gross $15.4 million
Complete Kubrick Talking Points
A Clockwork Orange
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review: 4.0 stars
out of 5
Teenage delinquents Alex (Malcolm McDowell), Dim (Warren Clarke),
Georgie (James Marcus), and Pete (Michael Tarn) living in a futuristic
British state, indulge in nightly rounds of beatings, rapings, and, as they
call it, "ultraviolence." Among their victims is prominent writer Mr.
Alexander (Patrick Magee); they beat him senseless, and brutally gangrape his attractive wife (Adrienne Corri). (Mr. Alexander later becomes
manic, and his wife dies as a result of the attack). After violently quelling
an uprising among his own gang, Alex is betrayed by them during an
attack on another home, having been knocked senseless and left for the
police. In prison, he agrees to undergo experiments in "aversion therapy"
in order to shorten his term. Now nauseated by the mere sight of
violence, he is pronounced cured and released into the outside world.
There, vengeance of one kind or another is wreaked upon him by his
erstwhile fellow gang-members (now policemen), and by his former
victims (including Mr. Alexander). After another spell in prison Alex returns
home, where we expect him to resume his old criminal ways.
A Clockwork Orange
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review: 4.0 stars
out of 5
Critique
Adapted from the novel by British author Anthony Burgess, A
CLOCKWORK ORANGE is a visually dazzling, highly unsettling work that
revolves around one of the few truly amoral characters in either film or
literature. It pits a gleefully vicious individual against a blandly inhuman
state, leaving the viewer little room for emotional involvement (though
McDowell gives such an ebullient, wide-eyed performance as the
Beethoven-loving delinquent that it is hard for us not to feel some
sympathy toward him). Meanwhile, we are dazzled by Stanley Kubrick's
directorial pyrotechnics—slow motion, fast motion, fish-eye lenses, etc.;
entertained by John Barry's witty, ostentatious sets; and intrigued by
dialogue laden with Burgess's specially created slang (gang members
are "droogies," sex is "the old inout," etc.). This is a particularly graphic film
which has divided critics, but which no serious moviegoer can afford to
ignore.
A Clockwork Orange
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review: 4.0 stars
out of 5
Awards
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE won four Academy Award nominations: Best
Picture; Best Director; Best Adapted Screenplay; and Best Editing. The film
was also honored by the New York Film Critics Circle with awards for Best
Picture and Best Director.