Malcolm McDowell was there for a Q&A after the
screening of A Clockwork Orange. That was a very
pleasant surprise as there was no mention of it on the Aero website. Also,
Bernard Williams, the film's associate producer, showed up to briefly discuss
the film prior to the screening. He talked about having pretty much given up his
life to work with Kubrick on the production. He is still very much the
anti-establishment type and made the suggestion to Kubrick that the droogs
should wear hats like bowlers, as he felt that would "piss off the
establishment."
F. X. Feeney, the film critic, writer and film historian,
hosted the event, talking to Williams at the beginning, and to Malcolm
afterwards. Most of what MM shared with the sold out audience has
been said before and can be found on this site, but it was great to hear it
first-hand from MM himself.
MM got a standing ovation, both at the beginning and at the end. He appeared to
be reconciling with his previous published comments regarding Kubrick. Even his
story about having his cornea scratched during the Luduvico sequence lacked the
harshness he'd previously gone on record about, adding a bit of humor in his
telling here. He also said more than once he still loves Kubrick and considers
ACO one of his best works. The interview was videotaped, though for what purpose
or venue to be shown I have no idea. MM stayed afterwards to sign a few
autographs from fans.
The print looked as though it was from a dupe negative,
looking a bit grainier than prints I remember seeing long ago. It also could
have been a print shown in the UK, as it had the British Film Board rating on it
prior to the WB logo being seen. Also, and this is odd, on this print when
Deltoid takes his drink from the glass with the dentures in it and realizes what
he's doing, we don't hear his grunt echoing, nor do we hear the sound of the
glass going back on the table with an echo either. It just sounds normal. This
is the first time I've seen it this way.
There was also one other exclusion, but it looked like it
came from a break in the print. It is the part in the hospital where the
Minister is offering Alex a job in the government. We do see and hear the
Minister say, "We shall see to everything -- a good job on a good
salary." But instead of cutting to Alex saying, "What job and how
much?" we have what looks like a splice in the print that shows Alex, then
cutting to the Minister saying, "You must have an interesting job..."
and so on. I'm not sure what happened there or why it happened. By Boaz
Archived 2005-08 Alex D. Thrawn for www.MalcolmMcDowell.net