A Clockwork Orange Research

Release Date: 13th January 1972

But it was not only the director who feared the inflammatory force of its ambivalent morality. Time and again in the early 1970s, as a succession of horrific rapes and murders reached the courts, judges and police officers blamed the influence of the film on teenage minds.

A Clockwork Orange is released in Britain during a period when politicians and citizens' groups begin to question the escalation of onscreen violence. Fearful of its graphic content, the official British Board of Film Classification examines A Clockwork Orange in its entirety in 1971, quickly deciding it should be released with no cuts. For the next two years, Britons debate Kubrick's film, some lauding it for its artistry and social relevance, others condemning it for glorifying violence.

In 1972, Kubrick refutes the idea that one film alone can trigger violent behaviour. The British press seems to feel otherwise, chronicling a series of "copycat" crimes allegedly inspired by the film. Owning the rights to the picture, Kubrick delays A Clockwork Orange's general release by a year, limiting its run to one London theatre until the controversy dies down.

The controversy does not abate. In 1973, Kubrick himself, disheartened by continuing protests, bans A Clockwork Orange in the United Kingdom. The rape of a Dutch girl shortly thereafter, at the hands of men singing "Singing in the Rain" as Alex does, convinces many that Kubrick's decision was wise. 

according to the spokesperson of the so-called "silent moral majority"[2], Mary Whitehouse, it was "sickening and disgusting...I had to come out after twenty minutes"