A
Clockwork Orange just reaffirms my general loathing for
Kubrick. It’s shocking, violent,
disturbing – but I really don’t have a problem with those things in and of
themselves. It’s the fact that the movie
pretends to be an ode to rebellion, to fighting off Big Brother and the
restraints he places, but really it’s just a celebration of sadism and
violence.
Not to mention the narrative is a mess; the film sacrifices
any possibility of good story-telling just get in as much graphic violence as
possible. I’ve seen Clockwork Orange twice now in my life. I don’t plan to ever see it
again.
To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Life is Beautiful , I felt like it kind
of got lucky in terms of its popularity and awards. I definitely don’t think it
belongs on a Top 100 list. For me, it’s
a bit schmaltzy, but then again: yay for
triumph of the human spirit!
I definitely give Life is Beautiful my vote this week. But I would pretty much give even
Spiderman 3 my vote over A Clockwork Orange.
AFI’s
Top 100
|
IMDB’s
Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
#58
|
The Gold Rush (1925)
|
Memento
(2000)
|
#68
|
Unforgiven
(1992)
|
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
|
#69
|
Tootsie
(1982)
|
Modern Times (1936)
|
#70
|
A
Clockwork Orange (1971)
|
Life is Beautiful (1997)
|
#71
|
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
|
Monty
Python & the Holy Grail (1975)
|
#72
|
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
|
Back
to the Future (1985)
|
#73
|
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
(1969)
|
The
Prestige (2006)
|
#74
|
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
|
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
|
#75
|
In
the Heat of the Night (1967)
|
Raging Bull (1980)
|
#76
|
Forrest
Gump (1994)
|
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
|
#77
|
All
the President’s Men (1976)
|
Singing In the Rain (1952)
|
#78
|
Modern
Times (1936)
|
Some Like it Hot (1959)
|
#79
|
The
Wild Bunch (1969)
|
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
|
#80
|
The
Apartment (1960)
|
Rashomon (1950)
|
#81
|
Spartacus
(1960)
|
All About Eve (1950)
|
#82
|
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
|
Amadeus
(1984)
|
#83
|
Titanic (1997)
|
Once
Upon A Time in America (1984)
|
#84
|
Easy
Rider (1969)
|
The Green Mile (1999)
|
#85
|
A
Night at the Opera (1935)
|
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
|
#86
|
Platoon (1986)
|
2001:
A Space Odyssey (1968)
|
#87
|
12
Angry Men (1957)
|
Inglorious Basterds (2009)
|
#88
|
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
|
The
Great Dictator (1940)
|
#89
|
Sixth Sense (1999)
|
Braveheart
(1995)
|
#90
|
Swing
Time (1936)
|
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
|
#91
|
Sophie’s Choice (1982)
|
The
Apartment (1960)
|
#92
|
Up (2009)
|
Goodfellas
(1990)
|
#93
|
The French Connection (1971)
|
Downfall
(2004)
|
#94
|
Pulp Fiction (1994)
|
Gran
Torino (2008)
|
#95
|
The
Last Picture Show (1971)
|
Metropolis (1927)
|
#96
|
Do The Right Thing (1989)
|
The
Sting (1973)
|
#97
|
Blade Runner (1982)
|
Gladiator
(2000)
|
#98
|
Yankee
Doodle Dandy (1942)
|
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
|
#99
|
Toy Story (1995)
|
Unforgiven
(1992)
|
#100
|
Ben Hur (1959)
|
The
Elephant Man (1980)
|
So the score is AFI -18, IMDb - 17. It has become quite the tight race. Next week: Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf? vs. Chinatown.
This one is hard... Clockwork is actually one of the few Kubrick movies that I really like. Well, one of the only I like (much less with some emphasis). I love LiB but I totally agree it was "lucky" to come along when it did (when, somehow, romantic, comedic Holocaust movies were not yet all the rage).
ReplyDeleteI think you have this one wrong though. Clockwork takes it. Not just at the film level, but in terms of iconic imagery, acting (everyone thought Benigni was great until you realized that was the only schtick he knew), etc.