Clockwork Orange

Alex, a young English hoodlum, heads a gang of four other young hoodlums. Instead of attending school, he spends his time performing acts of theft, rape, and violence. During the first night of the film, Alex and his gang members, the Droogs, gather at the Korova Milk Bar, which serves its patrons drug-laced milk from female mannequins. They take a drug that makes them hyperaware and ready for violence, then head out into the night and beat up an old homeless man. Next they come upon a rival gang about to rape a woman, and initiate a gang fight. They steal a car and speed out to the country. There, they don masks, burst into the home of a famous writer, Mr. Alexander, beat him, and rape his wife. As Alex rips off Mrs. Alexander's clothes before the rape, he sings "Singin' in the Rain" and dances like Gene Kelly does in the musical of the same name. During this night, Alex wreaks havoc in such a happy-go-lucky way that his violence seems motivated by pure enjoyment.

As the night comes to an end, Alex returns to his parents' apartment in a decrepit working-class housing complex. Before he climbs into bed, he turns on a symphony by Beethoven. The music conjures up images of bombings, hangings, and other forms of violence. In the morning, Alex's mother wakes him for school, but he says he feels ill. Though he plays the role of dutiful son, his parents clearly don't dare challenge him.

Soon, however, things begin to unravel for Alex. His Droogs have grown tired of his bullying, and they plan to oust him from power. The next night, they drive out to the home of a wealthy lady. Alex breaks in to rob her, but she fights back. In a surreal scene, she seizes a bust of Beethoven, and Alex seizes a statue of a penis. Just as police sirens begin to sound, Alex smashes her in the face with the statue and runs out. Outside, his friends lie in wait. They hit him over the head with a glass bottle of milk and run away, leaving him to the police.

During the night he spends in police custody, the woman dies, and soon the court sentences Alex to fourteen years in prison. For two years, he behaves like a model prisoner, but he has not truly reformed. What he wants is freedom. One day, Alex hears rumors circulating about a new experimental procedure called Ludovico's Technique. The government plans to use it to reduce overcrowding in its prisons and to bring law and order to the streets. Alex doesn't know what the treatment entails,