SSC Film Studies

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

RELEASE DATE: 1971, re-released in 1999 in the UK.

BANNED? : The film wasn’t actually banned in any country and the closest it came was getting a re-release in America to cut 30 seconds from it in order to remove sexual scenes and get the rating moved down from a X rating to a R rating. However, it was condemned by the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures, which forbade Roman Catholics from seeing the film.

In the UK, it was not banned but instead withdrawn by Kubrick himself. This is due to several crimes and cases that were linked with the film, for example in March 1972 a 14-year-old had been accused of manslaughter and the prosecutor referred to A Clockwork Orange in the trial, suggesting it had been an inspiration and had relevance to the case. Kubrick also reasoned that he removed the film from screens due to the copycat violence that had caused several killings and rapes. Kubrick had also received several threats and had protestors outside his own home, as told by his wife. It was after this that Kubrick asked for the film to be withdrawn from British distribution. However the film was never banned by the BBFC