Malcolm McDowell

Last year spring semester I took the class history of film with professor Billhymer. I took the class because I love movies and it would count as a cross cultural class that I needed. During the class we watched several very interesting and very different movies. One of the movies we watched toward the end of the semester was A Clockwork Orange. Professor Billhymer had warned us before hand that there was nudity and violence and we had the option to not watch it and do an alternative assignment.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the film but I didn’t know when I would have time to watch a different movie out of class and do an alternative assignment so I decided I would just watch the film. I am very glad I made that decision.
A Clockwork Orange was a movie I found fascinating because it told a different story but also because it told a challenging story. The movie included scenes that were previously obscene in movies and were out of line for the time. I felt like the movie was really honest because it truly told the story of Alex.


Last week I had the opportunity to watch A Clockwork Orange again and meet the actor who played Alex, Malcolm McDowell. I have to admit this was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. Malcolm greeted everyone before the showing of the film and talked a bit about his life and the director of the film Stanley Kurbick. I personally felt like I was getting to hear these stories that were a part of movie making history right from the person that experienced them which was awesome.


After the film was shown in the theater (which by the way was like being in a movie theater it was incredibly nice) Malcolm did a question and answer period. Several people brought up the comparison to the film and the book and asked him his thoughts. One question I thought was really interesting was that it was mentioned that the book had an end chapter that was not used in the film. The book ended with the main character Alex learning to do what is “right.” In the movie however, Alex is able to have his own free will again and at the end the audience is given the clue that he is back to his old ways. Malcolm was asked why this was different. He let us know that the author of the novel Anthony Burgess was forced by American print companies to give the book a “happy” ending. It was not at all how he had planned to end the book.





I thought this was a really cool piece of information to learn. It certainly made me realize even more how controversial this movie was for its time. After the question and answer period I had the opportunity to meet Malcolm at his meet and greet table. He was extremely polite and seemed very sincere. He greeted everyone and the line to meet him was about an hour to an hour and a half long. He patiently met everyone signed autographs, and took pictures. He was incredibly graceful. I was so honored that he came to Lindenwood it was such a cool experience for our campus community and the St. Charles/St. Louis community as well.