A Review of 'A Clockwork Orange'

"What's it going to be then, eh?" - the opening line of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven. In the story, we are introduced to young Alex and his droogs, who like nothing more than "lashings of the old ultra-violence". It is Alex who commits their first murder, and after being betrayed for droog-related political reasons, is sent to jail. Through …

…see Alex's character maturing, putting his old self behind him by choice, while the film shows Alex regressing to his former self. This has much to do with Americans (Kubrick being American) having a different edition of the book, which does not include this final, crucial chapter. Burgess prefers the book's ending, while Kubrick prefers the film's; I tend to agree with Burgess, but I'll leave it up to you to decide what you think.