'A Clockwork Orange' theatrical poster ©1971 Warner Bros.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will celebrate the life and career of Malcolm McDowell with an onstage discussion and a 40th anniversary screening of a new digital restoration of A Clockwork Orange on September 16.
The pre-screening discussion with McDowell will be led by Los Angeles Times writer Geoff Boucher.
After appearing on television and in bit parts with the Royal Shakespeare Company, McDowell burst onto the big screen in If…, Lindsay Anderson’s savage 1968 satire of British boarding school life. That performance caught the attention of Stanley Kubrick, who then chose McDowell to portray Alex DeLarge, the leader of a merry band of thugs who relish a bit of “ultra-violence,” in his adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s controversial novel A Clockwork Orange.
Kubrick’s film, which was rated X when it was released in 1971 (now rated R), features a striking juxtaposition of classical music (including that of Alex’s cherished ‘Ludwig van’) with violent imagery, and hinges upon McDowell’s riveting performance as the hoodlum who is subjected to an experimental behavior modification program.
A Clockwork Orange garnered four Academy Award® nominations and solidified McDowell’s status as one of the most versatile young actors of the 1970s.
Malcolm McDowell going through a Ludovico technique scene in 'A Clockwork Orange' ©1971 Warner Bros.
McDowell has gone on to enjoy a dynamic and busy career in film, television and theater, and has played a wide range of characters in such films as O Lucky Man! Time after Time, Cat People, Star Trek Generations and Easy A. McDowell also appeared in a 2001 documentary profiling Kubrick’s extraordinary career.
Tickets to An Academy Salute to Malcolm McDowell are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID, and will be available for purchase starting Thursday, September 1 online at www.oscars.org and by mail. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.