Famous for the copycat violence that controversially surrounded the film's release in 1971 and director Stanley Kubrick's decision to withdraw it in the UK in 1973 until his death in 1999, A Clockwork Orange can now be judged for what it is: intelligent, visually stunning but still incredibly disturbing.
Based on Anthony Burgess's disturbing novel about England in the totalitarian future, Alex (Malcolm McDowell) - a Beethoven-loving, head-bashing punk - leads his gang of "droogs" on ultra-violent assaults.
When he is eventually captured by the authorities, Alex is subjected to nasty behaviour-modification therapy and is conditioned to abhor violence. After he becomes a victim to his past victims, society sees what the state has done to him and the tables are ironically turned.
A Clockwork Orange is a Film programme that first aired in 1971 and has been classified a 18 certificate.
