Coming four years after his incendiary turn in Lindsay Anderson’s If… Malcolm McDowell sauntered on screen in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange as Alex, a showtune whistling psychopath with a love of Beethoven and his own particular brand of theatrical ultraviolence.
Few films retain their ability to shock an audience, yet as A Clockwork Orange, which has just been released as part of the new Blu-ray Stanley Kubrick: Limited Edition Collection boxset, passes the fortieth anniversary of its release there is still a tangible disquiet present in the film and the power of the film is as present and as vital as it has ever been.
I had the good fortune to sit down with Malcolm McDowell this week to talk about the film’s legacy and how the complexity of the character of Alex was helped to the screen.
Here’s the interview,
