A Clockwork
Orange
*see bottom of
script.
Based on the novel by Anthony Burgess
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick
Produced by Stanley Kubrick
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Cast List:
Malcolm McDowell Alex
Patrick Magee Mr. Alexander
Michael Bates Chief Guard
Warren Clarke Dim
John Clive Stage Actor
Carl Duering Dr. Brodsky
Paul Farrell Tramp
Clive Francis Lodger
Michael Gover Prison Governor
Miriam Karlin Catlady
James Marcus Georgie
Philip Stone Dad
Sheila Raynor Mum
FADE
IN:
INT.
KOROVA MILKBAR NIGHT
Tables,
chairs made of nude fibreglass figures.
Hypnotic
atmosphere.
Alex,
Pete, Georgie and Dim, teenagers stoned on their milk-plus, thier feet resting
on faces, crotches, lips of the sculptured furniture.
ALEX (V.O.)
There was me,
that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie and Dim and we sat in
the Korova milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the
evening. The Korova Milk Bar sold milkplus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or
drencrom which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you
ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence. Our pockets were full of money so
there was no need on that score, but, as they say, money isn't everything.
INT.
PEDESTRIAN UNDERPASS TUNNEL NIGHT
A
Tramp lying in tunnel, singing.
TRAMP
In
Dublin's fair city
Where
the girls are so pretty
I
first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As
she wheeled her wheelbarrow
Through
streets wide and narrow...
Shadows
of the boys approaching fall across Tramp.
TRAMP
Crying
cockless and mussels alive,
Alive
O...
Alive,
alive O... Alive, alive O...
Crying
cockless and mussels alive,
Alive
O...
ALEX
(V.O.)
One
thing I could never stand is to see a filthy, dirty old drunkie, howling away
at the filthy songs of his fathers and going blerp, blerp in between as it
might be a filthy old orchestra in his stinking rotten guts. I could never
stand to see anyone like that, whatever his age might be, but more especially
when he was real old like this one was.
The
boys stop and applaud him.
TRAMP
Can
you... can you spare some cutter, me brothers?
Alex
rams his stick into the Tramp's stomach. The boys laugh.
TRAMP
Oh-hhh!!!
Go on, do me in you bastard cowards. I don't want to live anyway, not in a
stinking world like this.
ALEX
Oh
and what's so stinking about it?
TRAMP
It's
a stinking world because there's no law and order any more. It's a stinking
world because it lets the young get onto the old like you done. It's no world
for an old man any more. What sort of a world is it at all? Men on the moon and
men spinning around the earth and there's not no attention paid to earthly law
and order no more.
The
Tramp starts singing again.
TRAMP
Oh
dear land, I fought for thee and brought you peace and victory.
Alex
and gang move in and start beating up on old Tramp.
INT.
DERELICT CASINO NIGHT
Billyboy
gang on stage tearing clothes off a screaming Girl.
ALEX
(V.O.)
It
was around by the derelict casino that we came across Billyboy and his four
droogs. They were getting ready to perform a little of the old in-out, in-out
on a weepy young devotchka they had there.
Alex
and gang step out of the shadows.
ALEX
Ho,
Ho, Ho... Well, if it isn't stinking Billygoat Billyboy in poison. How are
thou, thou globby bottle of cheap stinking chip oil? Come and get one in the
yarbles, if you have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly thou.
Billyboy
snaps open a switchblade knife.
BILLY
BOY
Let's
get 'em boys.
The
fight begins, chains, knives, kicking boots. Police siren.
ALEX
The
Police... come on, let's go... come on.
Alex
and the boys rush out of casino.
EXT.
/ INT. CAR NIGHT FAST DRIVING SHOTS
Swerving
car, forcing other cars off the road, trying to hit pedestrians, etc.
ALEX
(V.O.)
The
Durango-95 purred away real horrorshow a nice, warm vibraty feeling all
through your guttiwuts. Soon it was trees and dark, my brothers, with real
country dark. We fillied around for a while with other travelers of the night,
playing hogs of the road. Then we headed west, what we were after now was the old
surprise visit, that was a real kick and good for laughs and lashing of the
ultra-violent.
EXT.
"HOME" NIGHT
A
cottage on its own, on outskirts of a village.
Bright
moonlight. Cheery light inside.
Car
pulls to stop.
Alex
shushes his giggling boys and gets out of the car.
INT.
"HOME" NIGHT
Mr.
Alexander typing. Bell rings.
MR.
ALEXANDER
Who
on earth could that be?
MRS.
ALEXANDER
I'll
see.
Mrs.
Alexander, a good-looking red head in a red jumper suit.
MRS.
ALEXANDER
Yes?
Who is it?
ALEX
Excuse
me, Mrs... will you please help, there's been a terrible accident.
She
opens the door on the chain and peeps out.
ALEX
My
friend's lying in the middle of the road bleeding to death. Could I please use
your telephone for an ambulance?
MRS.
ALEXANDER
I'm
sorry, but we don't have a telephone. You'll have to go somewhere else.
ALEX
But
Mrs... it's a matter of life and death.
From
inside the sound of clack clacky clack clack clackity clackclack of Alexander
typing stops.
MR.
ALEXANDER
Who
is it, dear?
MRS.
ALEXANDER
There's
a young man here. He says there's been an accident. He wants to use the
telephone.
MR.
ALEXANDER
Then
you'd better let him in.
MRS.
ALEXANDER
Wait
a minute.
ALEX
Thank
you, Mrs.
Mrs.
Alexander opens door, saying...
MRS.
ALEXANDER
I'm
sorry, we don't usually let people in in the middle of the night.
Alex
and boys have put on their masks and rush into house, carrying and dragging
Mrs. Alexander along with them.
INT.
HOME NIGHT
They
go roaring in.
Mr.
Alexander is kicked in the face and goes down. Georgie leaps on him. Pete jumps
up and down and the settee. Dim grabs hold of Mrs. Alexander. Alex whistles
piercingly.
ALEX
Right,
Pete. Check the rest of the house.
Alex
turns to Dim who holds the struggling Mrs. Alexander.
ALEX
Dim...
Dim
sets her down but holds her firmly. Alex starts to sing "Singin' in the
Rain", accompanying it with a kind of tap dance.
ALEX
(singing)
I'm
singing in the rain...
He
kicks Mr. Alexander accenting the lyrics.
ALEX
(singing)
Just
singing in the rain...
He
clubs Mr. Alexander with stick, in the time to the music.
ALEX
(singing)
What
a glorious feeling, I'm happy again.
He
pushes a rubber ball into Mrs. Alexander's mouth and binds it with sellotape.
ALEX
(singing)
I'm
laughing at clouds so dark up above.
The
sun's in my heart and I'm ready for love.
Let
the stormy clouds chase...
He
kicks Mr. Alexander again.
ALEX
(singing)
...
everyone from the place.
Come
on with the rain...
He
puts ball in Mr. Alexander's mouth and sellotapes it.
ALEX
(singing)
...
I've a smile on my face.
I'll
walk down the lane... to a happy refrain.
I'm
singing... just singin' in the rain.
He
knocks down the book cases and moves to Mrs. Alexander being held by Dim.
Starts to repeat on song as he cuts slowly up each leg of her cat suit, until
she is naked. This coincidences with the song finishing.
He
turns to Mr. Alexander.
ALEX
Viddy
well, my little Brother. Viddy well.
INT.
KOROVA MILKBAR NIGHT
The
boys enter yawning..
ALEX
(V.O.)
We
were all feeling a bit shagged and fagged and fashed, it having been an evening
of some small energy expenditure, O my brothers, so we got rid of the auto and
stopped off at the Korova for a nightcap.
Dim
moves over to milk machine and speaks to the statue of the nude girl.
DIM
Hello
Lucy, had a busy night?
Puts
money in machine.
DIM
We've
been working hard too.
Takes
glass.
DIM
Pardon
me. Luce.
He
raises glass to breast, pulls red handle between her legs. Milk spurts into
glass.
Dim
joins the others. Alex looks at a party of tourists.
ALEX
(V.O.)
There
was some sophistos from the TV studios around the corner, laughing an
govoreeting. The Devotchka was smecking away, and not caring about the wicked
world one bit. Then the disc on the stereo twanged off and out, and in the
short silence before the next one came on, she suddenly came with a burst of
singing, and it was like for a moment, O my brothers, some great bird had flown
into the milkbar and I felt all the malenky little hairs on my plott standing
endwise, and the shivers crawling up like slow malenky lizards and then down
again. Because I knew what she sang. It was a bit from the glorious 9th, by
Ludwig van.
Dim
makes a lip-trump followed by a dog howl, followed by two fingers pronging
twice in the air, followed by a clowny guffaw.
Alex
brings his stick down smartly on Dim's legs.
DIM
What
did you do that for?
ALEX
For
being a bastard with no manners and not a dook of an idea how to comport
yourself publicwise, O my Brother.
DIM
I
don't like you should do what you done. And I'm not your brother no more and
wouldn't want to be.
ALEX
Watch
that... Do watch that, O Dim, if to continue to be on live thou dost wish.
DIM
Yarbles,
great bolshy yarblockos to you I'll meet you with chain, or nozh or britva, any
time, not having you aiming tolchocks at me reasonless. It stands to reason, I
won't have it.
ALEX
A
nozh scrap any time you say.
Dim
weakens.
DIM
Doobidoob...
a bit tired maybe, everybody is. A long night for growing malchicks... best not
to say more. Bedways is rigthways now, so best we go homeways and get a bit of
spatchka. Right, right.
INT.
ALEX'S FLATBLOCK MAIN LOBBY ENTRANCE NIGHT
Alex
passes a mural in the hall. Nude men and women. Their massive stylized bodies
embellished and decorated by handy pencil and ballpoint.
The
elevator door is buckled.
INT.
ALEX'S FLAT NIGHT
Alex
pees in toilet.
Alex
goes into his room. Tosses his loot into a drawer, full of money, wristwatches,
cameras, etc.
Fifty
small loudspeakers cover one wall.
He
puts his pet boa constrictor on tree branch mounted on the wall, above four
Christ figures who have their arms intertwined like a chorus line.
He
puts a cassette into the tape player.
A
heavy shockwave of sound Beethoven's 9th.
ALEX
(V.O.)
It
had been a wonderful evening and what I needed now to give it the perfect
ending was a bit of the old Ludwig van.
Music
starts.
ALEX
(V.O.)
Then,
brothers, it came. O bliss, bliss and heaven, oh it was gorgeousness and
georgeosity made flesh. The trombones crunched redgold under my bed, and behind
my gulliver the trumpets three-wise, silver-flamed and there by the door the
timps rolling through my guts and out again, crunched like candy thunder. It
was like a bird of rarest spun heaven metal or like silvery wine flowing in a
space ship, gravity all nonsense now. As I slooshied, I knew such lovely
pictures. There were veeks and ptitsas laying on the ground screaming for mercy
and I was smecking all over my rot and grinding my boot into their tortured
litsos and there were naked devotchkas ripped and creeching against walls and I
plunging like a shlaga into them.
INT.
ALEX'S FLAT DAY
He
is asleep. The boa curled up at his feet. There is a knock on the door.
ALEX
What
d'you want?
EM
It's
past eight, Alex, you don't want to be late for school, son.
ALEX
Bit
of pain in the gulliver, Mum. Leave us be and I'll try to sleep it off... then
I'll be as right as dodgers for this after.
EM
You've
not been to school all week, son.
ALEX
I've
got to rest, Mum... got to get fit, otherwise I'm liable to miss a lot more
school.
EM
Eeee...
I'll put your breakfast in the oven. I've got to be off myself now.
ALEX
Alright,
Mum... have a nice day at the factory.
INT.
KITCHEN DAY
Pee
sitting at breakfast table.
Em
enters.
EM
He's
not feeling too good again this morning, Dad.
PEE
Yes,
I heard. D'you know what time he got in last night?
EM
No
I don't know, luv, I'd taken my sleepers.
PEE
I
wonder where exactly is it he goes to work of evenings.
EM
Well,
like he says, it's mostly odd things he does, helping like... here and there,
as it might be.
INT.
EM'S BEDROOM DAY
Alex
comes out of his room and finds P.R. Deltoid sitting on bed in parent's room.
ALEX
Hi,
hi, hi there, Mr. Deltoid, funny surprise to see you here.
DELTOID
Ah,
Alex boy, awake at last, yes? I met your mother on the way to work, yes? She
gave me the key. She said something about a pain somewhere... hence not at
school , yes?
ALEX
A
rather intolerable pain in the head, brother, sir. I think it should be clear by
this afterlunch.
DELTOID
Oh,
or certainly by this evening, yes? The evening's a great time, isn't it, Alex
boy?
ALEX
A
cup of the old chai, sir?
DELTOID
No
time, no time, yes. Sit, sit, sit.
Alex
sits next to him.
ALEX
To
what do I owe this extreme pleasure, sir? Anything wrong, sir?
Deltoid
"playfully" grabs Alex's hair.
DELTOID
Wrong?
Why should you think of anything being wrong, have you been doing something you
shouldn't. Yes?
He
shakes Alex's hair.
ALEX
Just
a manner of speech, sir.
DELTOID
Well,
yes, it's just a manner of speech from your Post Corrective Advisor to you that
you watch out, little Alex.
He
puts his arm round Alex's shoulder.
DELTOID
Because
next time it's going to be the barry place and all my work ruined. If you've no
respect for your horrible self, you at least might have some for me who'se
sweated over you.
He
slaps Alex on the knee.
DELTOID
A
big black mark I tell you for every one we don't reclaim. A confession of
failure for every one of you who ends up in the stripy hole.
ALEX
I've
been doing nothing I shouldn't, sir. The millicents have nothing on me,
brother, sir, I mean.
Deltiod
pulls Alex down on the bed.
DELTOID
Cut
out all this clever talk about milicents. Just because the Police haven't
picked you up lately doesn't, as you very well know, mean that you've not been
up to some nastiness. There was a bit of a nastiness last night, yes. Some very
extreme nastiness, yes. A few of a certain Billyboy's friends were ambluenced
off late last night, yes. Your name was mentioned, the word's got thru to me by
the usual channels. Certain friends of yours were named also. Oh, nobody can
prove anything about anybody as usual, but I'm warning you, little Alex, being
a good friend to you as always, the one man in this sore and sick community who
wants to save you from yourself.
Deltoid
makes a grab for Alex's joint but finds his hand instead. Alex laughs.
Derisively and rises. Deltoid distractedly reaches for a glass of water on the
night table, and fails to notice a set of false teeth soaking in them. He
drinks from the glass. The clink of the teeth sounding like ice-cubes.
DELTOID
What
gets into you all? We study the problem. We've been studying it for damn well
near a century, yes, but we get no further with our studies. You've got a good
home here, good loving parents, you've got not too bad of a brain. Is it some
devil that crawls inside of you?
ALEX
Nobody's
got anything on me, brother, sir. I've been out of the rookers of the milicents
for a long time now.
DELTOID
That's
just worries me. A bit too long to long to be reasonable. You're about due now
by my reckoning, that's why I'm warning you, little Alex, to keep your handsome
young proboscis out of the dirt. Do I make myself clear?
ALEX
As
an unmuddied lake, sir. Clear as an azure sky of deepest summer. You can rely
on me, sir.
Deltoid
drinks again but this time sees the teeth in the glass. He groans and retches.
INT.
MUSIC BOOTICK DAY
Alex
enters. Two pretty micro-boppers, Marty and Sonietta, sucking phallic ice
sticks.
ALEX
Pardon
me, brother. I ordered this two weeks ago. Could you see if it's arrived.
CLERK
OK.
I'll see if it's in.
Clerk
exits. Alex turns to the girls.
ALEX
Pardon
me, ladies
He
steps in between them and goes through the motions, looking through.
ALEX
Enjoying
it then, my darling?... A bit cold and pointless isn't it, my lovely... What's
happened to yours, my little sister?
Marty
giggles.
MARTY
Who
you getten bratty, Goggly Gogol? Johnny Zhivago? The Heaven Seventeen?
ALEX
What
you got back home, little sister, to play your fuzzy warbles on? I bet you got
little save pitiful portable picnic players. Come with Uncle and hear all
proper. Hear angel trumpets and devil trombones. You are invited.
INT.
ALEX'S BEDROOM DAY
The
two girls, naked, jumping up and down on Alex's still unmade bed zonked by the
booming, all engulfing sound of Alex's incredible Hi-Fi.
INT.
ALEX'S FLATBLOCK LOBBY HALL DAY
Alex
finds the gang waiting for him.
ALEX
Hi,
hi, hi, there
ALL
THREE
Well,
hello.
DIM
He
are here! He have arrived! Hooray!
ALEX
Welly,
welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, well. To what do I owe the extreme pleasure
of this surprising visit?
Georgie
rises.
GEORGIE
We
got worried. There we were waiting and drinking away at the old knify Moloko
and you had not turned up and we thought you might have been like offended by
something or other, so around we come to your abode.
ALEX
Appy
polly loggies. I had something of a pain in the guliver so had to sleep. I was
not awakened when I gave orders for awakening.
DIM
Sorry
about the pain. Using the guliver to much like, eh? Giving orders and
disciplining and that perhaps, eh? You sure the pain's gone? You sure you'll
not be happier back up in bed.
ALEX
Lets
get things nice and sparkling clear. This sarcasm, if I may call it such, does
not become you, O my brothers. As I am your droog and leader, I am entitled to
know what goes on, eh? Now then, Dim, what does that great big horsy gape of a
grin portend?
GEORGIE
All
right, no more picking on Dim, brother. That's part of the new way.
ALEX
New
way? What's this about a new way? There's been some very large talk behind my
sleeping back, and no error. Let me hear more.
GEORGIE
Well,
we go round shop crasting and the like, coming out with a pitiful rookerful of
money each.
DIM
Pitiful
rookerful...
GEORGIE
And
there's Will the English in the Muscleman coffee mesto saying he can fence
anything that anything that any malchick tries to crast.
DIM
Yeah...
Pete the English.
GEORGIE
The
shiny stuff. The Ice. The big, big, big money is available's what Will the
English says.
DIM
Big,
big money.
ALEX
And
what will you do with the big, big, money? Have you not everything you need? If
you need a motor-car, you pluck it from the trees. If you need pretty polly,
you take it.
GEORGIE
Brother,
you think and talk sometimes like a little child. Tonight we pull a mansize
crast.
ALEX
Good.
Real horrorshow. Initiative comes to them as waits. I've taught you much, my
little droogies. Now tell me what you have in mind, Georgie Boy.
GEORGIE
Oh,
the old moloko-plus first, would you not say
DIM
Moloko-plus.
GEORGIE
Something
to sharpen us up, you especially. We have the start.
EXT.
FLATBLOCK MARINE DAY
The
gang come out of the flatblock and walk along the marina.
ALEX
(V.O.)
As
we walked along the flatblock marina, I was calm on the outside but thinking
all the time, so now it was to be Georgie the General, saying what we should do
and what not to do, and Dim as his mindless, grinning bulldog. But, suddenly, I
viddied that thinking was for the gloopy ones and that the oomny ones use like
inspiration and what Bog sends, for now it was lovely music that came to my aid
and I viddied at once what to do. There was a window open with the stereo on.
IN
SLOW MOTION
Alex
clubs Georgie into water with his stick. Dim swings chain. Alex ducks. Dim goes
into water.
Alex
kneels, hands behind back, takes knife from sword stick, offers hand to help
Dim, and slashes Dim when he gets it.
Dim
falls back into the water.
Alex
laughs.
INT.
DUKE OF NEW YORK PUB
The
four boys sit round table.
ALEX
(V.O.)
I
had not put into any of Dim's main cables and so, with the help of a clean
tashtook, the red, red kroovy stopped, and it did not take long to quieten the
two wounded soldiers, down in the snug in the Duke of New York. Now they knew
who was Master and Leader. Sheep, thought I, but a real leader knows always
when like to give and show generous to his unders.
ALEX
Well,
now we're back to where we were. Yes? Just like before and all forgotten?
Right, right, right.
ALL
BOYS
Right.
Right. Right.
ALEX
Well,
Georgie Boy. This idea you've got for tonight. Well, tell us all about it then.
GEORGIE
Not
tonight not this nochy.
ALEX
Come,
come, come, Georgie Boy. You're a big strong chelloveck like us all. We're not
little children, are we, Georgie Boy? What, then, didst thou in thy mind have?
Confrontation.
Georgie backs down.
GEORGIE
It's
this Health Farm. A bit out of the town. Isolated. It's owned by this like very
rich ptitsa who lives there with her cats. The place is shut down for a week
and she's completely on her own, and it's full up with like gold and silver and
like jewels.
ALEX
Tell
me more, Georgie Boy.
INT.
CATLADY'S HOUSE
Catlady
doing yoga exercises.
Room
is full of cats. Doorbell rings.
CATLADY
(softly
to herself)
Oh
shit.
She
goes to the door.
EXT.
CATLADY'S HOUSE
CATLADY
Who's
there?
ALEX
Excuse
me, missus, can you please help? There's been a terrible accident. Can I please
use your telephone for an ambulance?
CATLADY
I'm
frightfully sorry. There is a telephone in the Public House about a mile down
the road. I suggest you use that.
ALEX
But,
missus, this is an emergency. It's a matter of life and death. Me friend's
lying in the middle of the road bleeding to death.
CATLADY
I...
I'm very sorry, but I never open. I'm very sorry but I never open the door to
strangers after dark.
ALEX
Very
well, madam. I suppose you can't be blamed for being suspicious with so many
scoundrels and rouges of the night about.
Alex
walks away from door, then ducks into the bushes where the others are hiding.
They put on their maskies and follow Alex round to the rear of the house.
ALEX
Dim,
bend down.
(Alex
points to an upstairs window)
I'm
gonna get in that window and open the front door.
He
climbs up drain-pipe to the bathroom window.
INT.
CADLADY'S HOUSE
The
Catlady enters and dials a number.
CATLADY
Hullo,
Radlett Police Station. Good evening. It's Miss Weathers at Woodmere Health
Farm. Look, I'm frightfully sorry to bother you but something rather odd has
just happened... Well, it's probably nothing at all, but you never know...
Well, a young man rang the bell asking to use the telephone... He said there
had been some kind of accident. The thing that caught my attention was what he
said the words he used, sounded exactly like what was quoted in the papers
this morning in connection with the writer and his wife who were assaulted last
night... Well, just a few minutes ago... Well, if you think that's necessary,
but, well, I'm quite sure he's gone away now. Oh... alright. Fine. Thank you
very much. Thank you.
She
puts phone down, turns and nearly jumps out of her leotard when she sees Alex
in the doorway.
ALEX
Hi,
hi, hi there, at last we meet.
CATLADY
What
the bloody hell d'you think you're doing?
ALEX
Our
brief govereet thru the letter hole was not, shall we say, satisfactory, yes?
CATLADY
Now
listen here, you little bastard, just you turn around and walk out of here the
same way as you came in.
Alex
eyes a giant white, fibreglass phallic sculpture on the table beside him.
ALEX
Naughty,
naughty, naughty, you filthy old soomaka.
CATLADY
No!
No! Don't touch it. That's a very important work of art. What the bloody hell
do you want?
ALEX
You
see, madam, I am part of an international student's contest to see who can get
the most points for selling magazines.
CATLADY
Cut
the shit, sonny, and get out of here before you get yourself in some very
serious trouble.
He
rocks the giant phallus which has a special weight swinging inside causing it
to swing up and down an eccentric motion.
CATLADY
I
told you to leave it alone. Now get out of here before I throw you out,
wretched slummy bedbug. I'll teach you breaking into real people's houses. Get
out!
She
grabs up a bust of Beethoven and rushes at Alex. He grabs the giant phallic
sculpture.
Circling,
Alex fends off her mad rushes with skilful jabs of the giant phallus.
She
ducks under and clobbers him with the heavy bust of Beethoven.
He
goes down, pulling her off balance and they both wind up the floor.
In
the struggle, Alex bashes her with the phallus.
Distant
Police sirens.
He
exits.
EXT.
CATLDAY'S HOUSE NIGHT
Alex
rushes out. Dim and the others are waiting.
ALEX
Come
on. Let's go, the police are coming.
DIM
One
minoota, droogie.
Dim
smashes Alex in the face with a full milk bottle. He goes down. The others run
away, laughing.
ALEX
(screaming)
You
bastards... bastards.
INT.
POLICE HQ NIGHT
Inspector
takes out cigarette and lights up.
INSPECTOR
Right.
Right , Tom, we'll have to our little friend, Alex, here that we know the law,
too, but that knowing the law isn't everything.
He
nods to Fatneck.
FATNECK
That's
a nasty cut you've got there, little Alex. Spoils... all your beauty. Who gave
you that then... eh... eh...
He
presses Alex's nose, inflicting great pain. Alex sinks to his knees.
ALEX
Ow...
what's that for, you bastard?
FATNECK
That
was for your lady victim. You ghastly wretched scoundrel.
Alex
grabs his balls.
Alex
is beaten by the other Cop.
Inspector
exits to outside office where Sergeant sits, sipping a cup of tea.
Deltoid
has just entered.
INSPECTOR
Sergeant.
SERGEANT
Sir.
INSPECTOR
Ah,
good evening, Mr. Deltoid.
DELTOID
Evening,
Inspector.
SERGEANT
Would
you like your tea now, sir?
INSPECTOR
No,
thank you, Sergeant. We'll have it later. May I have some paper towels, please.
SERGEANT
Yes,
sir.
INSPECTOR
We're
interrogating the prisoner now. Perhaps you'd care to come inside.
DELTOID
Thank
you very much
They
move into Interrogation Room.
Alex
is on the floor in the corner covered with blood.
DELTOID
Evening,
Sergeant. Evening, all. Dear, dear, this boy does look a mess, doesn't he? Just
look at the state of him.
FATNECK
Love's
young nightmare like.
INSPECTOR
Violence
makes violence. He resisted his lawful arrestors.
DELTOID
Well,
it's happened, Alex boy, yes. Just as I thought it would, yes. Dear, dear,
dear. Well, this is the end of the line for me... the end of the line, yes.
ALEX
It
wasn't me, brother, sir. Speak up for me, sir, for I'm not so bad. I was led on
by the treachery of others, sir.
INSPECTOR
Sings
the roof off lovely, he does that.
ALEX
And
where are my stinking traitorous droogs. Get them before the get away. It was
all their idea, brothers. They forced me to do it. I'm innocent.
DELTOID
You
are now a murderer, little Alex. A murderer, yes.
ALEX
Not
true, sir. It was only a slight tolchock. She was breathing, I swear it.
DELTOID
I've
just come back from the hospital. Your victim has died.
ALEX
You
try to frighten me, sir, admit so, sir. This is some new form of torture. Say
it, brother, sir.
DELTOID
It
will be your own torture. I hope to God it will torture you to madness.
FATNECK
If
you'd care to give him a bash in the chops, sir. Don't mind us. We'll hold him
down. He must be a great disappointment to you, sir.
Deltoid
spits in Alex's face.
HELICOPTER
VIEWS OF PRISON
ALEX
(V.O.)
This
is the real weepy and like tragic part of the story beginning, O my brothers
and only friends. After a trial with judges and a jury, and some very hard
words spoken against your friend and humble narrator, he was sentenced to 14
years in Staja No. 84F among smelly perverts and hardened prestoopnicks, the
shock sending my dadda beating his bruised and kroovy rookas against unfair Bog
in his Heaven, and my mom, boohoohooing in her mother's grief as her only child
and son of her bosom, like letting everybody down real horrorshow.
INT.
PRISON CHECK-IN ROOM DAY
A
bell rings and a Warder goes and unlocks first a wooden door and then a barred
door.
GUARD
Morning.
One up from Thames, Mister.
WARDER
One
in from Thames, sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Right.
Open up, Mister.
WARDER
Yes,
sir.
He
opens door and steps back. Alex and another Warden move to Reception desk.
WARDER
Good
morning, sir. Committal sheet.
CHIEF
GUARD
(who
shouts everything)
Thank
you, Mister.
He
signs sheet.
GUARD
Name?
ALEX
Alexander
de Large.
CHIEF
GUARD
You
are now in H.M. Prison Parkmoor and from this moment you will address all
prison officers as sir! Name?
ALEX
Alexander
de Large, sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Crime?
ALEX
Murder,
sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Right.
Take the cuffs off him, Mister.
The
cuffs are removed.
CHIEF
GUARD
You
are now 655321 and it is your duty to memorise that number.
He
hands clipboard back to Warder.
CHIEF
GUARD
Thank
you Mister. Well done.
WARDER
Thank
you, chief.
CHIEF
GUARD
Let
the officer out.
Officer
exits.
CHIEF
GUARD
Right.
Empty your pockets!
Alex
moves to desk and leans forward.
CHIEF
GUARD
Are
you able to see that white line painted on the floor directly behind you,
655321?
ALEX
Yes,
sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Then
your toes belong on the other side of it!!!
ALEX
Yes
sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Right
carry on.
Alex
tosses a bar of chocolate on the desk.
CHIEF
GUARD
Pick
that up and put it down properly.
Alex
does so, and continues to empty his pockets.
CHIEF
GUARD
One
half bar of chocolate. One bunch of keys on white metal ring. One packet of
cigarettes. Two plastic ball pens one black, one red. One pocket comb black
plastic. One address book imitation red leather. One ten penny piece. One
white metal wristlet watch, "Timawrist" on a white metal expanding
bracelet. Anything else in your pockets?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Right.
Sign here for your valuable property.
Alex
signs.
CHIEF
GUARD
The
chocolate and cigarettes you brought in you lose that as you are now
convicted. Now go over to the table and get undressed.
Alex
walks to table and undresses. Chief Guard moves to table with his clipboard.
CHIEF
GUARD
Now
then, were you in Police custody this morning?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHECK-IN
One
jacket blue pinstripe.
CHIEF
GUARD
Prison
custody?
ALEX
Yes,
sir On remnd, sir.
CHECK-IN
One
neck tie blue.
CHIEF
GUARD
Religion?
ALEX
C
of E, sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Do
you mean Church of England?
ALEX
Yes,
sir, Church of England, sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Brown
hair, is it?
ALEX
Fair
hair, sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Blue
eyes?
ALEX
Blue
eyes, yes, sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Do
you wear eye glasses or contact lenses?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHECK-IN
One
shirt blue, collar attached.
CHIEF
GUARD
Have
you been receiving medical treatment for any serious illness?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHECK-IN
One
pair of boots black leather, zippered, worn.
CHIEF
GUARD
Have
you ever had any mental illness?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Do
you wear any false teeth or false limbs?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHECK-IN
One
pair of trousers blue pinstriped.
CHIEF
GUARD
Have
you ever had any attacks of fainting or dizziness?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHECK-IN
One
pair of socks black.
CHIEF
GUARD
Are
you an Epileptic?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHECK-IN
One
pair of underpants white with blue waistband.
CHIEF
GUARD
Are
you now, or ever have been, a homosexual?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Right.
The mothballs, Mister.
CHECK-IN
Mothballs,
sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Now
then. Face the wall. Bend over and touch your toes.
Chief
Guard inspects Alex's anus with a penlight.
CHIEF
GUARD
Mmmmmmm...
any venereal disease?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Crabs?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Lice?
ALEX
No,
sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Through
there for a bath.
ALEX
Yes,
sir.
INT.
PRISON CHAPEL DAY
Priest
in pulpit big rough state-proper type.
Convict
audience.
Alex
sits apart tending an overhead projector.
PRIEST
I
ask you friends. What's it going to be then? Is it going to be in and out of
institutions like this?Or more in then out for most of you? Or are you going to
attend the divine word and realise the punishment that awaits unrepentant
sinners in the next world as well as this. A lot of Idiots you are, selling
your birthright for a saucer of cold porridge. The urge to live easy. I ask you
friends, is it worth it? When we have undeniable proof yes, my friends,
incontrovertible evidence that Hell exists. I know, I know, my friends. I have
been informed in visions that there is a place darker than any prison, hotter
than any human flame of fire, where unrepentant criminals, sinners like
yourselves...
A
convict burps.
All
laugh.
PRIEST
Don't
you laugh, damn you, don't you laugh. I say like yourselves scream in endless
and unendurable agony. Their nostrils choked with the smell of filth, their
mouths crammed with burning ordure. Their skins rotting and peeling. A fireball
spinning in their screaming guts. I know... oh yes, I know.
A
convict lets rip some lip music prrrrrrrp. There is laughter. Chief Guard
moves forward points.
CHIEF
GUARD
I
saw you, 920537. I saw you.
CONVICT
Up
yours, mate.
CHIEF
GUARD
Just
you wait, 744678. One on the turnip coming up for you.
PRIEST
Quiet,
my friends. Quiet. Quiet, I say. We will now sing Hymn 258 in the Prisoner's
Hymnal.
Piano
starts up and Alex starts up overhead projector which displays the words of the
hymn.
CHIEF
GUARD
Show
a little reverence, you bastards. Quiet!
Convicts
and all start to sing.
SINGING
I
was a wandering sheep.
I
did not love...
CHIEF
GUARD
Sing
up damn you. Louder, sing up.
SINGING
...
the fold
I
did not love my shepherd's voice.
I
would not be controlled.
CHIEF
GUARD
Come
on, sing up, damn you.
SINGING
I
was a wayward child
I
did not love my home
I
did not love my father's voice
I
loved afar to roam.
ALEX
(V.O.)
It
had not been edifying, indeed not, being in this hell hole and human zoo for
two years now, being kicked and tolchocked by brutal warders, and meeting
leering criminals and perverts ready to dribble all over a lucious young malchick
like your story-teller.
INT.
PRIEST'S LIBRARY DAY
Alex
reading the Bible.
ALEX
(V.O.)
It
was my rabbit to help the prison charlie with the Sunday service. He was a
bolshy great burly bastard, but he was very fond of myself, me being very
young, and also now very interested in the big book.
Priest
walks by and nods pleasantly.
ALEX
(V.O.)
It
had been arranged by the prison charlie, as part of my further education to
read him the Bible. I didn't so much like the latter part of the book which is
more like all preachy talking, than fighting and the old in-out. I liked the
parts where these old yahoodies tolchock each other and then drink their Hebrew
vino and, then getting on to the bed with their wives' handmaidens. That kept
me going.
BIBLE
FANTASY FIGHTING DAY
Biblical
fighting shot. Alex slashing away. Blood spurting.
HANDMAIDEN
FANTASY IN TENT DAY
Alex
lying with three semi-nude handmaidens.
EXT.
BIBLICAL STREET
Christ
being whipped on by Alex, dressed as a Legionary.
ALEX
Move
on there. Move on.
ALEX
(V.O.)
I
read all about the scourging and the crowning with thorns and all that, and I
could viddy myself helping in and even taking charge of the tolchocking and the
nailing in, being dressed in the height of Roman fashion.
BACK
TO THE LIBRARY
Alex
sits with his eyes closed.
Priest
comes over and squeezes his shoulder.
Alex
looks up at him and smiles.
PRIEST
(reading
from Alex's Bible)
Seek
not to be like evil men, neither desire to be with them, because their minds
studieth robberies and their lips speak deceits.
ALEX
If
thou lose hope being weary in the days of distress, thy strength shall be
diminished.
PRIEST
Fine,
my boy, fine, fine.
ALEX
Father,
I have tried, have I not?
PRIEST
You
have, my son.
ALEX
I've
done my best, have I not?
PRIEST
Indeed.
ALEX
And,
Father, I've never been guilty of any institutional infractions, have I?
PRIEST
You
certainly have not, 655321. You've been very helpful, and you've shown a
genuine desire to reform.
ALEX
Father
may I ask you a question in private?
PRIEST
Certainly,
my son, certainly. Is there something troubling you, my son? Don't be shy to
speak up. Remember, I know all the urges that can trouble young men deprived of
the society of women.
ALEX
No
Father. It's nothing like that, Father. It's about this new thing they're all
talking about. About this new treatment that you out of prison in no time at
all and makes sure you never get back in again.
PRIEST
Where
did you hear about this? Whose been talking about these things?
ALEX
These
things get around, Father. Two Warders talk as it might be, and somebody can't
help overhearing what they say. Then somebody picks up a scrap of newspaper in
the workshops and the newspaper tells all about it. How about putting me in for
this new treatment, Father?
PRIEST
I
take it you are referring to the Ludovico Technique?
ALEX
I
don't know what it's called, Father, all I know is that it gets you out quickly
and makes sure that you never get in again.
PRIEST
That's
not proven, 655321. In fact, it is only in the experimental stage at this
moment.
ALEX
But
it is being used, isn't it, Father?
PRIEST
It
has not been used yet in this prison. The Governor has grave doubts about it
and I have heard that there are very serious dangers involved.
ALEX
I
don't care about the danger, Father. I just want to be good. I want for the
rest of my life to be one act of goodness.
PRIEST
The
question is weather or not this technique really makes a man good. Goodness
comes from within. Goodness is chosen. When a man cannot chose, he ceases to be
a man.
ALEX
I
don't understand about the whys and wherefores, Father. I only know I want to
be good.
PRIEST
Be
patient, my son, and put your trust in the Lord.
ALEX
Instruct
thy son and he shall refresh thee and shall give delight to thy soul.
PRIEST
Amen.
They
cross themselves.
EXT.
PRISON YARD DAY
Prisoners
walking in circles.
INT.
PRISON CORRIDOR
Guards
stand either side of cell doors.
Chief
Guard with Governor, Minister and entourage.
CHIEF
GUARD
Mister.
GUARD
All
present and correct, sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Right.
All present and correct, sir.
GOVERNOR
Very
good, Chief.
They
inspect cells.
CHIEF
GUARD
Leave
to carry on, sir, please?
GOVERNOR
Carry
on, Chief.
CHIEF
GUARD
Sir.
EXT.
PRISON YARD
Chief
Guard comes out of door.
CHIEF
GUARD
Right,
pay attention. I want you in two lines. Up against that wall facing this way.
Go on move! Hurry up about it and stop talking.
The
men line up. Chief Guard moves back to door and comes to attention.
CHIEF
GUARD
Ready
for inspection, sir.
He
stands back and salutes as Governor, Minister and entourage enter and walk
along line of men.
MINISTER
How
many to a cell?
GOVERNOR
Four
in this block, sir.
MINISTER
Cram
criminals together and what do you get concentrated criminality... crime in
the midst of punishment.
GOVERNOR
I
agree, sir. What we need are larger prisons. More money.
MINISTER
Not
a chance, my dear fellow. The Ggovernment can't be concerned any longer with
outmoded penological theories. Soon we may be needing all of out prison space
for political offenders. Common criminals like these are best dealt with on a
purely curative basis. Kill the criminal reflex that's all. Full implementation
in a year's time. Punishment means nothing to them, you can see that... they
enjoy their so-called punishment.
Alex
seizes his chance as they pass by.
ALEX
You're
absolutely right, sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
Shut
your bleedin' hole!!!
MINISTER
Who
said that?
ALEX
I
did, sir.
MINISTER
What
crime did you commit.
ALEX
The
accidental killing of a person, sir.
CHIEF
GUARD
He
brutally murdered a woman, sir, in furtherence of theft. 14 years... sir!
MINISTER
Excellent.
He's enterprising, aggressive, outgoing. Young. Bold. Viscous. He'll do.
GOVERNOR
Well,
fine... we could still look at C-Block.
MINISTER
No,
no, no. That's enough. He's perfect. I want his records sent to me. This
vicious young hoodlum will be transformed out of all recognition.
ALEX
Thank
you very much for this chance, sir.
MINISTER
Let's
hope you make the most of it, my boy.
GOVERNOR
Shall
we go to my office?
MINISTER
Thank
you.
INT.
GOVERNOR'S OFFICE DAY
Governor
seated at his desk. There is a knock on the door.
GOVERNOR
Come
in.
Door
opens. Chief Guard enters with Alex.
CHIEF
GUARD
Sir,
655321, sir.
GOVERNOR
Very
good, Chief.
Chief
Guard turns to Alex.
CHIEF
GUARD
Forward
to the white line, toes behind it. Full name and number to the Governor.
Chief
Guard closes door.
ALEX
Alexander
de Large, sir. 655321, sir.
The
Governor takes off his glasses.
GOVERNOR
I
don't suppose you know who that was this morning, do you? That was no less a
personage than the Minister of the Interior and what they call a very new
broom. Well, these new ridiculous ideas have come at last, and orders are
orders, though I may say to you in confidence that I do not approve. An eye for
an eye, I say, if someone hits you, you hit back, do you not? Why then should
not the State very severely hit by you brutal offenders not hit back also? But
the new view is to say no. The new view is that we turn the bad into good. All
of which seems to be grossly unjust. Hmmmmmm.
ALEX
Sir...
CHIEF
GUARD
Shut
your filthy hole, you scum!!!
GOVERNOR
You
are to be reformed. Tomorrow you go to this man, Brodsky. You will be leaving
here. You will be transferred to the Ludovico Medical Facility. It is believed
that you will be able to leave State custody in a little over a fortnight. I
suppose that prospect pleases you?
CHIEF
GUARD
Answer
when the Governor asks you a question you filthy young swine!
ALEX
Oh
yes, sir. Thank you very much, sir. I've done my best here I really have, sir.
I'm very grateful to all concerned.
GOVERNOR
Sign
this where it's marked.
Alex
turns the paper to read it.
CHIEF
GUARD
Don't
read it sign it!
GOVERNOR
It
says that you are willing to have the residue of your sentence commuted to the
Ludovico treatment.
Alex
signs. Governor gathers up papers.
Alex
dots the last "i" and smiles.
INT.
LUDOVICO CENTRE RECEPTION DESK DAY
ALEX
(V.O.)
The
next morning I was taken to the Ludovico Medical Facility, outside the town
centre, and I felt a malenky bit sad having to say goodbye to the old Staja, as
you always will when you leave a place you've like gotten used to.
Chief
Guard briskly leads the way for Alex and escort. They move into reception hall
where the Doctor stands.
CHIEF
GUARD
(shouting
like an RSM)
Right.
Halt the prisoner. Good morning, sir, I'm Chief Officer Barnes. I've got 655321
on a transfer from Parkmoor to the Ludovico Centre, sir!
DOCTOR
Good
morning, we've been expecting you. I'm Dr. Alcott.
Chief
Guard checks the name from his clipboard.
CHIEF
GUARD
Yes,
Dr. Alcott. Are you prepared to accept the prisoner, sir?
DOCTOR
Yes,
of course.
CHIEF
GUARD
Well,
I wonder if you'd mind signing these transfer documents, sir.
Doctor
signs.
CHIEF
GUARD
Thank
you, sir. There, sir... there, and there, sir... and there. Thank you, sir.
Prison escort move forward. Halt. Excuse me, sir. Is that the officer that is
to take charge of the prisoner, sir?
Doctor
nods. Officer steps forward.
CHIEF
GUARD
If
I might offer a word of advice, Doc. You'll have to watch this one. A right
brutal bastard he has been, and will be again. In spite all his sucking up to
the prison Chaplain and reading the Bible.
DOCTOR
Oh,
I think we can manage things. Charlie, will you show the young man to his room
now.
CHARLIE
Right,
sir. Come this way, please.
Alex
exits with Officer.
INT.
ALEX'S ROOM LUDOVICO CENTRE DAY
Alex
finishing breakfast tray in bed.
Room
bright and cheery.
Dr.
Branom, a tall woman in her fifties, enters with nurse carrying a sterile tray.
DR.
BRANOM
(very
briskly)
Good
morning, Alex, my name is Dr. Branom. I'm Doctor Brodsky's assistant.
ALEX
Good
Morning, Missus. Lovely day, isn't it?
DR.
BRANOM
Indeed
it is. May I take this
She
removes his tray.
DR.
BRANOM
How're
you feeling this morning?
ALEX
Fine...
fine.
DR.
BRANOM
Good.
In a few minutes, you'll meeting Dr. Brodsky and we'll begin your treatment.
You're a very lucky boy to have been chosen.
ALEX
I
realise all that, Missus, and I'm very grateful to all concerned.
DR.
BRANOM
We're
going to friends now, sir.
ALEX
I
hope so, Missus.
She
inserts a needle into the medicine vial.
ALEX
(CONT'D)
What's
the hypo for then? Going to send me to sleep?
DR.
BRANOM
Oh
no, nothing of the sort.
ALEX
Vitamins
will it be then?
DR.
BRANOM
Something
like that. You are a little undernourished, so after each meal were going to
give you a shot. Roll over on your right side please, loosen your pajama pants
and pull them half-way down.
He
does, somewhat reluctanly. She gives him a shot in the bum.
ALEX
What
exactly is the treatment here going to be then?
DR.
BRANOM
It's
quite simple really. Were just going to show you some films.
ALEX
You
mean like going to the pictures?
DR.
BRANOM
Something
like that.
ALEX
Well,
that's good. I like to viddy the old films now and again.
INT.
AUDIO VISUAL LUDOVICO CENTRE DAY
Auditorium
setting. Alex is bound in a examination chair in front of a large video screen.
A white-coated Technician is strapping Alex's head to a medical device.
He
then carefully attaches the eyelid locking to Alex's eyes.
ALEX
(V.O.)
And
viddy films I would. Where I was taken to, brothers, was like no cine I'd been
in before. I was bound up in a straight-jacket and my guliver was strapped to a
headrest with like wires running away from it. Then they clamped like lidlocks
on my eyes so I could not shut them no matter how hard I tried. It seemed a bit
crazy to me, but I let them get on with what they wanted to get on with. If I
was to be a free young malchick in a fortnight's time, I would put up with much
in the meantime, my brothers.
At
the back of the auditorium are ten or fifteen solemn medical Professionals in
white coats watching the proceedings and occasionally taking notes. A film
begins showing on the screen.
The
Technician drops eyedrops into Alex's eyes.
VIOLENCE
FILM
Man
being beaten by four toughs wearing white.
Punches,
kicks, grunts, blood.
ALEX
(V.O.)
So
far the first film was a very good professional piece of cine, looked like it
was done in Hollywood.
Screams,
moans, kicks, punches.
ALEX
(V.O.)
The
sounds were real horroshow. You could slooshy the screams and moans very
realistic and you could even get the heavy breathing and panting of the
tolchocking malchicks at the same time. And then, what do you know, soon our
dear old friend, the red, red vino on tap. The same in all places like it's put
out by the same big firm, began to flow. It was beautiful. It's funny how the
colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on a screen.
More
kicks, punches, groans, thumps.
Girl
being beaten, raped by six toughs.
Screams,
music, laughing, grunts, heavy breathing.
ALEX
(V.O.)
Now
all the time I was watching this, I was beginning to get very aware of like not
feeling all that well, but I tried to forget this, concentrating on the next
film, which jumped right away on a young devotchka, who was being given the old
in-out, in-out, first by one malchick, then another, then another. This seemed
real, very real, though if you thought about it properly you couldn't imagine
lewdies actually agreeing to having all this done to them in a film, and if
these films were made by the good, or the State, you couldn't imagine them being
allowed to take these films, without like interfering with what was going on.
Girl
being raped.
ALEX
(V.O.)
When
it came to the sixth or seventh malchick, leering and smecking and then going
into it, I began to feel really sick. But I could not shut my glazzies and even
if I tried to move my glazballs about I still not get out of the line of fire
of this picture.
Alex
squirming and retching.
Dr.
Brodsky clears his throat and quietly addresses his collegues seated in the
back of the room.
DR.
BRODSKY
Very
soon now the drug will cause the subject to experience a death-like paralysis
together with deep feelings of terror and helplessness. One of our earlier test
subjects described it as being like death, a sense of stifling and drowning,
and it is during this period we have found the subject will make his most
rewarding associations between his catastrophic experience and environment and
the violence he sees.
Alex
retching violently and struggling against his strait jacket.
ALEX
Let
me be sick... I want to get up. Get me something to be sick in... Stop the
film... Please stop it... I can't stand it any more. Stop it please... please.
INT.
ALEX'S ROOM LUDOVICO DAY
DR.
BRANOM
Well,
that was a very promising start. By my calculations, you should be starting to
feel alright again. Yes? Dr. Brodsky's pleased with you. Now tomorrow there'll
be two sessions, of course, morning and afternoon.
ALEX
You
mean, I have to viddy two sessions in one day?
DR.
BRANOM
I
imagine you'll be feeling a little bit limp by the end of the day. But we have
to be hard on you. You have to be cured.
ALEX
But
it was horrible.
DR.
BRANOM
Well,
of course, it was horrible. Violence is a very horrible thing. That's what
you're learning now. Your body is learning it.
ALEX
I
just don't understand about feeling sick the way I did. I never used to feel
sick before. I used to feel like the very opposite. I mean, doing it or
watching it, I used to feel real horrorshow. I just don't understand why, how
or what.
DR.
BRANOM
You
felt ill this afternoon because you're getting better. You see, when we're
healthy we respond to the presence of the hateful with fear and nausea. You're
becoming healthy that's all. By this time tomorrow you'll be healthier still.
INT.
AUDIO VISUAL LUDOVICO CENTRE DAY
Alex
retching and screaming restrained again by a straight-jacket.
ALEX
(V.O.)
It
was the next day, brothers, and I had truly done my best, morning and
afternoon, to play it their way and sit like a horrorshow co-operative malchick
in the chair of torture, while they flashed nasty bits of ultra-violence on the
screen.; though not on the soundtrack, my brothers. The only sound being music.
Then I noticed in all my pain and sickness what music it was that like cracked
and boomed. It was Ludwig van 9th symphony, 4th movement.
ALEX
Stop
it... stop it, please!!! I beg of you!!! It's a sin!!! It's a sin!!! It's a
sin, please!!!
Brodsky
leans forward and turns down the sound.
DR.
BRODSKY
What's
all this about sin?
ALEX
That!...
Using Ludwig van like that! He did no harm to anyone. Beethoven just wrote
music.
DR.
BRANOM
Are
you referring to the background score?
ALEX
Yes!!!
DR.
BRANOM
You've
heard Beethoven before?
ALEX
Yes!!!
DR.
BRODSKY
You're
keen on music?
ALEX
Yes!!!
DR.
BRANOM
(quietly)
What
do you think about that, Dr. Brodsky?
DR.
BRODSKY
(softly)
It
can't be helped. Here's your punishment element perhaps. The Governor ought to
be pleased... I'm sorry, Alex, this is for your own good, you'll have to bear
with us for a while.
ALEX
You
needn't take it any further, sir. You've proved to me that all this
ultra-violence and killing is wrong and terribly wrong. I've learned my lesson,
sir. I see now what I've never seen before I'm cured, praise Bog!
DR.
BRODSKY
You're
not cured yet, my boy.
DR.
BRODSKY
You
must take your chance boy. The choice has been all yours.
ALEX
But,
Sir... Missus... I see that it's wrong! It's wrong because it's like against
like society. It's wrong because everybody has the right to live and be happy
without being tolchocked and knifed.
DR.
BRODSKY
No,
no, boy. You really must leave it to us, but be cheerful about it. In less than
a fortnight now, you'll be a free man.
INT.
AUDITORIUM DAY
VIP
audience including Minister, Junior Minister, Prison Governor, Priest, Dr.
Branom, Dr. Brodsky.
Dressed
in street clothes Alex enters led by a white-coated Technician.
He
is led onto stage and left standing there, blinking into lights.
The
Minister rises and walks to the front of the auditorium.
MINISTER
Ladies
and Gentlemen, at this point, we introduce the subject himself. He is, as you
will perceive, fit and well nourished. He comes straight from as night's sleep
and a good breakfast, undrugged, unhypnotized. Tomorrow, we send him with
confidence out into the world again, as decent a lad as you would meet on a May
morning. What a change is here, Ladies and Gentlemen, from the wretched hoodlum
the state committed to unprofitable punishment some two years ago, unchanged
after two years. Unchanged, do I say - not quite. Prison taught him a false
smile, the rubbed hands of hypocrisy, the fawning, greased, obsequious leer.
Other vices prison taught him as well as confirming him in those he had long
practiced before. Our party promised to restore law and order and to make the
streets safe for the ordinary peace loving citizen. This pledge is now about to
become a reality. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is an historic moment. The problem
of criminal violence is soon to be a thing of the past. But enough of words
actions speak louder than. Action now. Observe all.
He
returns to his seat and leans close to his Junior Minister.
JUNIOR
MINISTER
Our
necks are out a long way on this, Minister.
MINISTER
I
have complete faith in Brodsky. If the polls are right, we have nothing to lose.
Lights
are dimmed. Enter Lardface, an elegantly dressed fag.
LARDFACE
Hello,
heap of dirt. Pooh, you don't wash much do you, judging by the horrible smell.
ALEX
Why
do you say that, brother? I had a shower this morning.
LARDFACE
Oh,
he had a shower this morning. You trying to call me a liar?
ALEX
No,
brother. What d'you want?
LARDFACE
What
do I want?
ALEX
Sorry,
brother. I didn't mean any offence.
LARDFACE
Oh.
Oh, you're sorry are you, well you must think I'm awfully stupid.
He
slaps Alex in the face.
ALEX
Why
did you do that, brither? I've never done wrong to you.
LARDFACE
You
want to know why I did that, well you see I do that...
He
stamps on Alex's foot.
LARDFACE
...
and this...
He
pulls Alex's nose.
LARDFACE
...
and that...
He
pulls Alex's ear, pushes him off balance and plants his foot on his chest.
LARDFACE
...
because I don't like you horrible type, do I, and if you want to start
something... if you want to start... go on... well, you just start. Please do.
Alex
retching.
ALEX
I'm
gonna be sick.
LARDFACE
You're
gonna be sick are you?
ALEX
I
wanna be sick.
LARDFACE
You
wanna be sick?
ALEX
Let
me get up.
LARDFACE
You
wanna get up? Well, you've gotta you see... well I want you to lick it. Go
on... Lick it.
Alex,
gagging and coughing, licks the sole of his shoe.
LARDFACE
...
And again... Go on!!! Again! There's a good boy.
ALEX
(V.O.)
And,
O my brothers, would you believe your faithful friend and long suffering
narrator pushed out his red yahzik a mile and a half to lick the grahzny, vonny
boots. The horrible killing sickness had wooshed up and turned the like joy of
battle into a feeling I was going to snuff it.
Minister
rises.
MINISTER
Enough!
That will do very well. Thank you.
Lardface
does leading-man-bows. A smattering of applause.
LARDFACE
Thank
you very much, Ladies and Gentlemen... Thank you.
Alex
on floor still retching.
A
beautiful nude Girl enters.
Alex
looks up slowly.
ALEX
(V.O.)
She
came towards me with the light like it was the like light of heavenly grace,
and the first thing that flashed into my gulliver was that I would like to have
her right down there on the floor with the old in-out, real savage. But quick
as a shot came the sickness, like a detective that had been watching around the
corner and now followed to make his arrest.
Alex
retching. Minister rises.
MINISTER
Thank
you very much. Thank you my dear.
Girl
bows and exits to loud applause.
MINISTER
Not
feeling too bad now are you?
ALEX
(pullimg
himself together)
No,
sir, I feel really great.
MINISTER
Good.
ALEX
Was
I alright, sir? Did I do well, sir?
MINISTER
Fine.
Absolutely fine. You see, Ladies and Gentlemen our subject is, you see,
impelled towards good by paradoxically being impelled toward evil. The
intention to act violently is accompanied by strong feelings of physical
distress. To counter these, the subject has to switch to a diametrically
opposed attitude. Any questions?
Priest
rises and moves to Alex.
PRIEST
Choice!
The boy has no real choice, has he? Self interest, fear of physical pain drove
him to that grotesque act of self abasement. Its insincerity was clearly to be
seen. He ceases also to be a creature capable of moral choice.
MINISTER
Padre,
these are subtleties. We are not concerned with motive, with the higher ethics;
we are concerned only with cutting down crime. And with relieving the ghastly
congestion in our prisons... He will be your true Christian, ready to turn the
other cheek. Ready to be crucified rather than crucify, sick to the very heart
at the thought even of killing a fly. Reclamation, joy before the angels of
God. The point is that it works!
Applause.
EXT.
FLATBLOCK
Alex
walking carrying his prison parcel wrapped in brown paper.
INT.
ALEX'S FLAT
Ma,
Pa and Joe the Lodger reading newspapers. Headlines all Alex.
Alex
enters quietly. Loud radio music from sitting room prevents anyone from hearing
him. He enters his won room which is the first off the hall.
ALEX
Hi.
Hi. Hi, there my Pee and Em.
All
three look up startled.
EM
Alex.
ALEX
(to
his mother)
Hullo
love, how are you?
(kisses
her)
Nice
to see you, Dad.
PEE
Hullo
lad. What a surprise, good to see you.
ALEX
Keeping
fit then?
PEE
(very
ill at ease)
Fine,
fine.
ALEX
Well,
how are you then?
PEE
Oh
fine, fine. Keeping out of trouble, you know.
ALEX
Well
I'm back.
PEE
(with
feigned enthusiasm)
Aye.
Glad to see you back, lad.
EM
Why
didn't you let us know what was happening, son?
ALEX
Sorry,
Em, I wanted it to be like... a big surprise for you and pee.
PEE
Well,
it's a surprise all right, a bit bewildering too.
EM
We've
only just read about it in the morning papers.
PEE
Aye.
You should have let us know, lad, not that we're not very pleased to see you
again. All cured too, eh?
ALEX
That's
right, Dad they did a great job on my gulliver, I'm completely reformed.
PEE
Aye.
ALEX
(looks
in the kitchen)
Well,
still the same old place then, eh?
PEE
Oh,
aye, aye.
ALEX
(fake
whisper)
Hey,
Dad, there's a strange fella sitting on the sofa there munchy-wunching lomticks
of toast.
PEE
Aye,
that's Joe. He... ummmm, lives here now. The lodger. That's what he is... he...
he rents your room.
Alex
confronts Joe.
ALEX
How
do you do, Joe? Find the room comfortable, do you? No complaints?
JOE
I've
heard about you. I know what you've done. Breaking the hearts of your poor
grieving parents. So you're back? You're back to make a life of misery for your
lovely parents, is that it? Well, over my dead corpse you will, because you
see, they've let me be more like a son to them than like a lodger.
Alex
cocks his fist and starts to retch violently, almost at the same moment Joe
drops back on the couch next to Em.
EM
Joe!
Joe! Don't fight here boys!
Alex
burps and retches.
JOE
Oh,
please. Do put your hand over your mouth, it's bloody revolting.
Alex
violently ill.
PEE
Well,
what's the matter lad, are you feeling alright?
EM
Dad...
It's the treatment.
More
retching.
JOE
Well,
it's disgusting. It puts you off your food.
EM
Leave
him be, Joe. It's the treatment.
PEE
D'you
think we should do something?
EM
Would
you like me to make you a nice cup of tea, son?
ALEX
No
thanks, Mum. It'll pass in a minute...
(after
a pause)
...
What have you done with all my own personal things?
PEE
Well.
That was all took away, son, by the Police. New regulation about compensation
for the victim.
ALEX
What
about Basil? Where's my snake?
PEE
Oh
well, he met with like an accident. He passed away.
Alex
becomes a bit weepy.
ALEX
What's
gonna happen to me then? I mean that's my room he's in there's no denying
that. This is my home also. What suggestions have you, my Pee and Em, to make?
PEE
Well,
all this needs thinking about, son. I mean we can't very well just kick Joe
out... Not just like that, can we? I mean Joe is here doing a job. A contract
it is, two years. Well, we made like an arrangement, didn't we Joe? You see,
son, Joe's paid next month's rent already so, well, whatever we do in the
future, we cant just say to Joe to get out, now can we?
JOE
No,
there's much more than that, though. I mean I've got you two to think of. I
mean you're more like a mother and father to me. Well, it wouldn't be fair now,
would it, for me to go off and leave you two to the tender mercies of this
young monster who's been like no real son at all. Look, let him go off and find
a room somewhere. Let him learn the errors of his way, and that a bad boy like
he's been don't deserve such a good mum and dad as he's had.
ALEX
Alright.
I see how things are now. I've suffered and I've suffered, and I've suffered
and everybody wants me to go on suffering.
JOE
You've
made others suffer. It's only fair that you should suffer proper. You know I've
been told everything you've done, sitting here at night round the family table,
pretty shocking it was to listen to. It made me real sick, a lot of it did. Now
look what you've gone and done to your mother.
Em
bursts into tears.
ALEX
So
that's the way it is then, eh? That's the way it is. Right, I'm leaving now,
you won't ever viddy me no more. I'll make my own way. Thank you very much. Let
it lie heavy on your consciences.
Alex
exits.
PEE
(shouting
after him)
Now
don't take it like that son.
Em
boohoohoos, Joe comforts her.
EXT.
AMBANKMENT DAY
Alex
walks along the Thames embankment still holding his paper parcel.
Tramp
enters. The same man beaten by Alex and his gang earlier in the film.
TRAMP
Can
you spare me some cutter, me brother? Can you spare some cutter, me brother?
Alex,
without looking at him, reaches in his pocket and gives him some money.
TRAMP
Oh,
thankyou, your honour.
The
Tramp takes a second look at Alex.
TRAMP
Jamey
Mack! Be the hokey fly! Holy Mother of God! All the Holy Angels and blessed
saints in Heaven preserve us.
Alex
breaks away but the Tramp toddles alongside him.
TRAMP
I
never forget a face! I never forget any face, be God!
ALEX
Leave
me alone, brother. I've never seen you before.
Tramp
shouts to other Meths drinkers and Tramps.
TRAMP
This
is the poisonous young swine that near done me in. Him and his friends beat me
and kicked me and thumped me.
Alex
breaks away again.
TRAMP
Stop
him! Stop him!
A
leg is stuck out and Alex goes down. The tramp swarm all over him.
TRAMP
They
laughed at me blood and me moans. This murderous young pig is a prize specimen
of the cowardly brutal young. He is in our midst and at our mercy. Give it to
him. That's it.
Old
Tramps begin to beat at Alex.
ALEX
(V.O.)
Then
there was like a sea of dirty, smelly old men trying to get at your humble
Narrator, with their feeble rookers and horny old claws. It was Old Age having
a go at Youth and I daren't do a single solitary thing, O my brothers, it being
better to be hit at like that, than want to be sick and feel that horrible
pain.
The
Tramp crowd round Alex, shouting.
TRAMPS
Young
hooligan... Vagabound... Kill him... Villain... Toad... Bastard... Kick his
teeth in... Near killed poor old Jack, he did.
Police
move in and push off crowd.
FIRST
POLICEMAN
Alright,
stop it now.
SECOND
POLICEMAN
Alright,
stop it now. Alright! Come on. Stop breaking the State peace. You naughty boys.
Alright, that's enough.
Alex
looks up.
ALEX
Oh,
no.
DIM
Well,
well, well, well, well, well, well, if it isn't little Alex. Long time no
viddy, droog. How goes? Surprised are you?
ALEX
Impossible...
I don't believe it.
GEORGIE
Evidence
of the old glazzies. Nothing up our sleeves. No magic, little Alex? A job for
two, who are now of job age. The police.
EXT.
COUNTRY ROAD DAY
Police
Landrover drives up.
Alex
is pulled out by Georgie and Dim and hustled up a deserted lane.
DIM
Come
on, Alex. Come for walkies. Hahahahaha.
ALEX
Come,
come, my little droogies. I just don't get this at all. The old days are dead
and gone. For what I did in the past I've been punished.
DIM
Been
punished, yeah?
ALEX
I've
been cured.
DIM
Been
cured, yeah, that was read out to us. The Inspector read all that out to us. He
said it was a very good way.
ALEX
I
just don't get this all. It was them that went for me, brothers. You're not on
their side and can't be. You can't be Dim. It was someone we fillied with back
in the old days... Trying to get his own malenky bit of revenge after all this
time. You remember, Dim?
DIM
Long
time, is right. I don't remember them days too horrorshow. Don't call me Dim no
more, either. Officer, call me.
GEORGIE
Enough
is remembered though, little Alex.
Dim
and Georgie laugh.
They
drag Alex to a low water through.
DIM
This
is to make sure you stay cured.
Georgie
hits Alex in the stomach with his blackjack. Then, they push his head under the
water and methodically start to beat him with their blackjacks.
After
a full minute of this, they drag him out, halt-drowned,
DIM
(laughing)
Be
viddying you some more, some time Alex.
EXT.
"HOME" NIGHT HEAVY RAIN
Alex
stumbles up the road to the entrance gate.
ALEX
(V.O.)
Where
was I to go, who had no home and no money. I cried for meself, Home, Home,
Home. It was Home I was wanting and it was Home I came to, brothers, not
realising in the state I was in, where I was and had been before.
Alex
stumbles and crawls to the door.
INT.
"HOME" NIGHT
Mr.
Alexander at his typewriter.
Julian
a 6'4" heavyweight weight-lifter lies across an exercise bench working
with bar-bells.
The
door bell rings.
MR.
ALEXANDER
Who
on earth could that be?
JULIAN
I'll
see who it is.
He
goes to the door.
JULIAN
Yes,
what is it?
No
reply. He opens the door. Alex falls into the hall.
ALEX
(barely
audible)
Help.
Help me... Help me... Police.
Julian
picks him up like a child and carries him into the living room.
INT.
"HOME" LIVING ROOM NIGHT
ALEX
(V.O.)
And
would you believe it, O my brothers and only friends, there was your faithful
Narrator being held helpless, like a babe in arms, and suddenly realising where
I was and why HOME on the gate had looked so familiar. But I knew I was safe. I
knew he would not rememeber me for, in those carefree days, I and my so-called
droogs wore our maskies which were like real horrorshow disguises.
JULIAN
Frank,
I think this young man needs help.
MR.
ALEXANDER
Dear,
dear, dear. Whatever happened to you, my boy?
Mr.
Alexander, now confined to a wheelchair, pushes himself away from his desk, and
rolls up to Julian. The water drips off Alex's clothes. They look at each
other.
ALEX
The
police... The horrible ghastly Police. They beat me up, sir. The Police beat me
up, sir.
Mr.
Alexander stares at him. It becomes aparent he is insane.
MR.
ALEXANDER
I
know who you are! Isn't it your picture in the newspapers? Didn't I see you
this morning on the video? Are you not the poor victim of this horrible new
technique?
ALEX
Yes,
sir, that's exactly who I am, sir... and what I am... a victim, sir.
Mr.
Alexander becomes frenzied as the speech progresses.
MR.
ALEXANDER
Then,
by God, you have been sent here by providence. Tortured in prison, then thrown
out to be tortured by the Police. My heart goes out to you, poor, poor boy. Oh,
you are not the first to come here in distress. The Police are fond of bringing
their victims to the outskirts of this village. But it is providential that
you, who are also another kind of victim, should come here. But you're cold and
shivering. Julian, draw a bath for this young man.
JULIAN
Certainly,
Frank.
He
carries Alex off.
ALEX
Thank
you very much, sir. God bless you, sir.
Alexander
bites his hand.
INT.
"HOME" BATHROOM
Alex
soaks, eyes closed, in a hot tub.
After
a while he begins softly singing to himself: "Singin' in the Rain".
INT.
"HOME" LIVING ROOM DAY
Mr.
Alexander is hunched over the phone, talking in hoarse whipsers. The door to
the bathroom is right behind him. While he speaks Mr. Alexander throws nervous
glances over his shoulder.
MR.
ALEXANDER
I
tell you, sir, they have turned this young man into something other than a
human being. He has no power of choice any more. He's committed to socially
acceptable acts, a little machine capable only of good... He can be the most
potent weapon imaginable to ensure that the Government is not returned at the
next election. The Government's great boast, as you know sir, is the way they
have dealt with crime in the last few months. Recruiting brutal young roughs
into the police, proposing debilitation and will-sapping techniques of
conditioning. Oh, we've seen it all before in other countries The thin end of
the wedge. Before we know where we are we shall have the full apparatus of
totalitarianism. This young boy is a living witness to these diabolical
proposals. The people the common people must know... must see! There are
rare traditions of liberty to defend. The tradition of liberty means all. The
common people will let it go! Oh, yes they will sell liberty for a quieter
life. That is why they must be led, sir, driven... pushed!!! Thank you very
much, sir. He'll be here.
Trembling
with excitement and madness, Mr. Alexander hangs up the phone. His eyes, shiny
with anticipation. Then, suddenly, he becomes aware of Alex's voice coming from
the other side of the door.
INT.
"HOME" BATHROOM
Alex
in bath, singing.
ALEX
I'm
singing in the rain,
Just
singing in the rain...
MR.
ALEXANDER
His
face horribly distorted in a Homeric rage.
INT.
"HOME" NIGHT
Alex,
alone, in complete silence. Eating a large plate of spaghetti. The giant,
Julian, appears, carrying Mr. Alexander in his wheelchair. He deposits him at
the table.
ALEX
Good
evening, sir.
MR.
ALEXANDER
(very
weird)
Good
evening.
ALEX
It
was very kind of you to leave this out for me, sir. There was no-one around
when I finished my bath, so I started. I hope that's alright, sir.
MR.
ALEXANDER
(too
loud voice out of control)
Of
course. Food alright?
ALEX
Great,
sir. Great.
MR.
ALEXANDER
Try
the wine!
ALEX
Thank
you very much, sir. Cheers
Suddenly
the thought occurs to Alex that the wine may be drugged or poisoned.
ALEX
Won't
you join me, sir?
MR.
ALEXANDER
No,
my health doesn't allow it.
ALEX
(to
Julian)
And
you, sir?
JULIAN
No
thank you.
Alex,
stalling for time, reaches for bottle and reads the label.
ALEX
1960,
Chateau, Saint Estephe, Medoc, very good brand, sir.
He
doesn't get a penny's change for his remarks from Alexander and Julian.
He
holds the glass up to the light.
ALEX
Very
good colour, sir. Smells mice, too.Very good number, sir. Very good. Here's to
it.
He
downs the glass.
ALEX
Very
refreshing, sir, very refreshing.
MR.
ALEXANDER
(very
arch)
I'm
so pleased you appreciate good wine. Have another glass!
ALEX
Thank
you, sir.
MR.
ALEXANDER
My
wife...
Alex
freezes.
MR.
ALEXANDER
...
used to do everything for me and leave me to my writing.
ALEX
Your
wife, sir? Has she gone away?
MR.
ALEXANDER
No.
She's dead!
ALEX
I'm
sorry to hear about that, sir.
His
face contorted in rage.
MR.
ALEXANDER
She
was very badly raped, you see. We were assaulted by a gang of vicious young
hooligans in this house, in this very room you're sitting in now. I was left a
helpless cripple. The doctors said it was Pneumonia, because it happened some
months later during the 'flu epidemic. The doctors told me it was Pneumonia,
but I knew what it was. A victim of the modern age, poor, poor girl.
Suddenly
his mood changes. He wheels right up to Alex.
MR.
ALEXANDER
And
now you, another victim of the modern age. But you can be helped. I phoned some
friends while you were having a bath.
ALEX
Phoned
some friends, sir?
MR.
ALEXANDER
Yes.
They want to help.
ALEX
Help
me, sir?
MR.
ALEXANDER
Help
you.
ALEX
Who
are they, sir?
MR.
ALEXANDER
They're
very, very important people and they're interested in you.
Bell
rings. Julian rises,
MR.
ALEXANDER
Julian.
This will be these people now.
Alex
gets up.
ALEX
Look,
sir. I'm sorry to have troubled you. I think I ought to be going, sir.
Julian
bars the way.
MR.
ALEXANDER
No,
no my boy. No trouble at all.
Alex
slowly sits.
MR.
ALEXANDER
Have
another glass of wine.
He
pours. Alex picks up glass and takes a drink.
INT.
"HOME" NIGHT
Dolin
and Rubinstein enter with Julian.
DOLIN
(genial)
Hullo,
Frank.
MR.
ALEXANDER
Good
evening, sir.
RUBINSTEIN
Frank.
DOLIN
So
this is the young man?
ALEX
How
do you do, sir?
DOLIN
Hullo.
ALEX
Missus.
Very pleased to meet you.
RUBINSTEIN
Hullo.
DOLIN
I
hope you forgive us for coming over at this ungodly hour, but we heard from
Frank that you were in some trouble so we came over to see if we could be of
any help.
ALEX
Very
kind of you, sir. Thank you very much.
DOLIN
I
understand that you had a rather unfortunate encounter with the Police tonight.
ALEX
Yes,
sir. I suppose you might call it that, sir.
DOLIN
Hahaha,
and how are you feeling now?
ALEX
Much
better, thank you, sir.
DOLIN
Feel
like talking to us. Answering a few questions?
ALEX
Fine,
sir, fine.
DOLIN
Well,
as I've said, we've heard about you. We are interested in your case. We want to
help you.
ALEX
Thank
you very much, sir.
DOLIN
But
first we'd like to find out a few things about you.
ALEX
What
would you like to know, sir?
DOLIN
Well,
shall we get down to it?
ALEX
Yes,
sir.
Rubinstein
takes out a notebook.
RUBINSTEIN
The
newspapers mentioned that in addition to your being conditioned against acts of
sex and violence, you've inadvertently been conditioned against music.
ALEX
Well,
er, I think that was something that they hadn't planned for, you see, Missus,
I'm very fond of music and always have been, especially Beethoven, Ludwig
van... Beethoven. B... E... E...
He
leans over and looks at her writing in notebook.
RUBINSTEIN
It's
alright, thank you.
ALEX
And
it just so happened that while they were showing me a particularly bad film, of
like a concentration camp, the background music was playing Beethoven.
RUBINSTEIN
So
now you have the same reaction to music as you do to sex and violence?
ALEX
Oh
well, it's... it's not all music you see, Missus. It's just the 9th.
RUBINSTEIN
You
mean Beethoven's 9th Symphony?
ALEX
That's
right. Er... I can't listen to the 9th any more at all. When I hear the 9th, I
get like this funny feeling.
RUBINSTEIN
When
you say this funny feeling, you mean the state of mind brought on by the
treatment they gave you?
ALEX
That
is correct, sir. And then all I can think about is like trying to snuff it.
RUBINSTEIN
I
beg your pardon?
ALEX
Snuff
it, sir... um... death, I mean, missus... Er... I just want to die peacefully
like with no... pain.
RUBINSTEIN
Do
you feel that way now?
ALEX
Um...
oh no, sir, not exactly, I still feel very miserable, very much down in
spirits.
RUBINSTEIN
Do
you still feel suicidal?
ALEX
Um...
well, put it this way... I feel very low in myself. I can't see much in the
future, and I feel that any second something terrible is going to happen to me.
He
pitches forward, face into the plate of spaghetti.
RUBINSTEIN
Well
done, Frank. Julian, get the car, will you please?
INT.
HI-FI ROOM DAWN
Alexander
sits looking up. Rubinstein, Julian and Dolin also listening to Beethoven
played loudly on tape recorder.
INT.
DOLIN'S HOUSE PRISONER BEDROOM DAY
The
9th Symphony booming up through the floor.
Alex
slowly regains consciousness.
ALEX
(V.O.)
I
woke up. The pain and sickness all over me like an animal. Then I realised what
it was. The music coming up from the floor was our old friend, Ludwig van and
the dreaded 9th Symphony.
He
staggers to the door. It is locked. He kicks and tugs the door.
ALEX
Open
the door... turn it off... turn it off.
CUT
TO:
THE
BILLIARD ROOM BELOW
Hi-Fi
gear laid out on the table. Large speakers facing upwards. Mr. Alexander
trembles and twitches. He is now completely mad. The others merely wait,
coolly.
INT.
DOLIN'S HOUSE PRISONER BEDROOM DAY
Alex
on his knees. His hands cupped over his ears, banging his head on the floor.
Then
he stops and slowly straightens up, staring at the window.
ALEX
(V.O.)
Suddenly
I viddied what I had to do, and what I had wanted to do and that was to do
myself in, to snuff it, to blast off forever out of this wicked cruel world.
One moment of pain perhaps and then sleep forever and ever and ever.
EXT.
WINDOW DAWC
Alex
leaps out of the window.
INT.
HOSPITAL WARD
Alex
in bed. Camera slowly tracks along length of his body. Everything is bandages
and plaster splints, wire cages, blood drips.
ALEX
(V.O.)
I
jumped, O my brothers, and I fell hard but I did not snuff it, oh no. if I had
snuffed it, I would not be here to tell what I have told. I came back to life,
after a long, black, black gap of what might have been a million years.
We
hear Alex moan, and then another moan. Alex and the other a few times.
Suddenly,
some curtains which have been drawn around another bed in the ward are parted,
and a nurse hurries to Alex, hastily buttoning up her uniform. She is trailed
by a young Intern fumbling with his trousers.
NURSE
Oh,
he's recovered conscienceness, Doctor.
INT.
HOSPITAL DAY
Em
and Pee sitting around the bed.
PEE
Hullo,
lad.
EM
Hullo,
son, how are you?
PEE
Are
you feeling better?
ALEX
What
gives, O myee P and Em, what makes you think you are welcome?
Em
sobs. Pee comforts her.
PEE
There,
there mother, it's alright. He doesn't mean it. You were in the papers again,
son. It said they had done great wrong to you. It said how the Government drove
you to try and do yourself in... and when you think about it, son... maybe it
was our fault too in a way... your home's your home when it's all said and
done, son.
Em
sobs.
INT.
HOSPITAL
Psychiatrist
wheels trolley to Alex's bed. He is sitting up.
ALEX
Good
morning, Missus.
DR.
TAYLOR
How
are you feeling today?
ALEX
Fine.
Fine.
DR.
TAYLOR
Good.
I'm doctor Taylor.
ALEX
I
haven't seen you before.
DR.
TAYLOR
I'm
your Psychiatrist.
ALEX
Psychiatrist?
Huh, do I need one?
DR.
TAYLOR
Just
part of hospital routine.
ALEX
What
are we going to do? Talk about me sex life?
DR.
TAYLOR
No...
I'm going to show you some slides and you are going to tell me what you think
about them Alright?
ALEX
Ohhh...
jolly good. Perhaps you can explain me something to me first.
DR.
TAYLOR
Yes?
ALEX
Well,
when I was all like ashamed up and half awake and unconscious like, I kept
having this dream like all these doctors were playing around with me gulliver.
You know... like the inside of me brain. I seemed to have this dream over and
over again. D'you think it means anything?
DR.
TAYLOR
Patients
who've sustained the kind of injuries you have often have dreams of this sort.
It's all part of the recovery process.
ALEX
Oh.
DR.
TAYLOR
Now
then, each of these slides needs a reply from one of the people in the picture.
You'll tell me what you think the person would say. Alright?
ALEX
Righty,
right.
The
doctor reads aloud the dialogue printed in the cartoon balloon a peacock.
DR.
TAYLOR
Isn't
the plumage beautiful?
ALEX
I
just say what the other person would say?
DR.
TAYLOR
Yes.
Yes, well don't think about it too long, just say the first thing that pops
into your mind.
ALEX
Right...
Knickers... Cabbages... It doesn't have a beak.
Alex
laughs. Slide of woman speaking to boy.
DR.
TAYLOR
Good.
The boy you alway quarrelled with is seriously ill.
ALEX
That's
right and I'll smash your face for you, yarblockos.
Slide
of watch shop.
DR.
TAYLOR
Good.
It wa your fault... you sold me a crummy watch. I want my money back.
ALEX
Bollocks.
You know what you can do with that watch? You can stick it up your arse.
Slide
of nude woman in bed, a man at the window.
DR.
TAYLOR
Good.
What do you want?
ALEX
Excuse
me, missus. No time for the old in-out, I've just come to read the meter.
Slide
of bird's nest with eggs.
DR.
TAYLOR
Good.
You can do whatever you like with these.
ALEX
Eggiwegs.
I would like to smash 'em. Pick up th elot and f... owww...
He
slams his hand down and cries out with pain.
ALEX
Fucking
hell...
DR.
TAYLOR
Fine.
Well, that's all there is to it. Are you alright?
ALEX
I
hope so. Is that the end then?
DR.
TAYLOR
Yes.
ALEX
I
was quite enjoying that.
DR.
TAYLOR
Good.
I'm glad
ALEX
How
many did I get right?
DR.
TAYLOR
It's
not that kind of a test. But you seem well on the way to a complete recovery.
ALEX
And
when do I get out of here then?
DR.
TAYLOR
I'm
sure it won't be long now.
INT.
HOSPITAL DAY
Alex
sitting up, being fed by Nurse.
ALEX
(V.O.)
So
I waited and, O my brothers, I got a lot better munching away at eggiwegs, and
lomticks of toast and lovely steakiweaks and then, one day, they said I was
going to have a very special visitor.
Doctor
enters followed by Minister and Matron.
MINISTER
Good
evening, my boy.
ALEX
Hi,
hi, hi there, my little droogies.
DOCTOR
Well,
how are you getting on today, young man?
ALEX
Great,
sir. Great.
DOCTOR
Can
I do anything more for you , Minister?
MINISTER
I
don't think so, Sir Leslie. Thank you very much.
DR.
TAYLOR
Then
I'll leave you to it. Nurse.
They
exit. Minister moves to Alex.
MINISTER
You
seem to have a whole ward to yourself, my boy.
ALEX
Yes,
sir, and a very lovely place it is too, sir, when I wake up in the middle of
the night with my pain.
MINISTER
Yes...
well good to see you on the mend. I've kept in constant touch with the
hospital, of course, and now I've come to see you personally to see how you're
getting along.
ALEX
I've
suffered the tortures of the damned. The tortures of the damned, sir.
MINISTER
Yes
I can... Oh look, let me do that for you, shall I?
ALEX
Thank
you, sir.
MINISTER
I
can tell you that I... and the Government of which I am a member are deeply
sorry about this, my boy. Deeply sorry. We tried to help you. We followed
recommendations had been made to us that turned out to be wrong. An enquiry
will place the responsibility where it belongs. We want you to regard us as
friends. We've put you right, you're getting the best of treatments. We never
wished you harm, but there are some that did and do, and I think you know who
those are. There are certain people who wanted to use you for political ends.
People who would have been glad to have you dead because then they would have
been able to blame it all on the Governement. I think you know who those are.
There is also a certain man a writer of subversive literature who has been
howling for your blood. He's been mad with desire to stick a knife into you,
but you're safe from him now, we've put him away. He found out that you had
done wrong to him at least he believed you had done wrong. He had formed this
idea in his head that you had been responsible for the death of someone near
and dear to him. We put him away for his own protection... I'm sorry, I thought
you were ready.
ALEX
Where
is he now, sir?
MINISTER
We
put him away where he can do you no harm. You see we are looking after your
interests. We are interested in you, and when you leave here you will have no
further worries. We shall see to everything... a good job on a good salary.
ALEX
What
job and how much?
MINISTER
You
must have an interesting job at a salary which you would regard as adequate.
Not only for the job which you are going to do and in compensation for what you
believe you have suffered, but also because you are helping us.
ALEX
Helping
you, sir?
MINISTER
We
always help our friends, don't we?
(smiles)
It
is no secret that the Government has lost a lot of popularity because of you,
my boy. There are some that think that at the next election we shall be out.
The press has chosen to take a very unfavorable view
of
what we tried to do.
ALEX
Well,
who can bame them, sir?
MINISTER
Mmmm,
possibly. Yes. But public opinion has a way of changing and you, Alex, if I may
call you, Alex?
ALEX
Certainly,
sir. What do they call you at home?
MINISTER
My
name is Frederick. As I was saying, Alex, you can be instrumental in changing
the public verdict. Do you understand, Alex? Have I made myself clear?
ALEX
As
an unmuddied lake, Fred. As clear as an azurw sky of deepest summer. You can
rely on me, Fred.
MINISTER
Good...
good boy. Oh yes, I understand you're fond of music. I have arranged a little
surprise for you.
ALEX
Surprise?
MINISTER
One
I think you will like... as a, how shall I put it, as a symbol of our new
understanding. An understanding between two friends.
ALEX
Thank
you, Fred. Thank you.
Minister
turns and signals.
Door
opens and a crowd of cameramen and reporters rush in.
Aides
push two 6-foot loudspeakers and a Hi-Fi on a trolley.
ALEX
(V.O.)
And
what do you know, my brothers and only friends, it was the 9th, the glorious
9th of Ludwig van. Oh, it was gorgeosity and yummy yum yum. I was cured.
CLOSE
SHOT ALEX
ALEX
(V.O.)
As
the music came to ist climax, I could viddy myself very clear, running and
running on like very light and mysterious feet, carving the whole face of the
creeching world with my cut throat britva. I was cured all right.
THE
END
*NOTE from shaft.tripod.com: I have no idea where this came from but just so you know I
didnt type it myself and it seems
professional. I skimmed over it a few
and havent found anything completely off.
So I give it my reccomendation.
And dont forget to go to my CLOCKWORK ORANGE MEGASITE for all your ACO desires.