FOR ALL MY DROOGS: A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION WILL HIT ON MY TWITTER AT 3PM PDT (6PM EDT) THIS FRIDAY 17 JUNE.

I am the possessor of decidedly less time for "things" these days, so this entry is going to be short.  Not that I think anyone is clamoring for more or even reads this blog, really, but...you know.

According to the terminally awesome Flickchart (WARNING: sign up for that site at your own peril, as you will absolutely toss away dozens of hours on it in the first week), A CLOCKWORK ORANGE is my fifth favorite movie of all time (just behind SHAWSHANK, TOP GUN, THE PRINCESS BRIDE and FIGHT CLUB and just ahead of LOVE ACTUALLY, BOOGIE NIGHTS, SE7EN and THE USUAL SUSPECTS).  That's a relatively accurate Top Ten and a damn accurate Top Five.  And if you'll notice, ORANGE is the oldest movie of the bunch by 15 years.

And here's where I'm going to grind some people and lose others: I just don't care about most of the "classics".  My parents weren't movie buffs by any stretch of the imagination, and I didn't have any older siblings, so there were few people around to expose me to the wonders of pre-1979 cinema.  Thus, I had to seek out my own interests, and those interests usually fell within whatever I could rent at the video store that didn't look like a crappy black and white love story.  I wanted color, I wanted action, I wanted laughs...and when I DID get the chance to see a classic, I generally wasn't impressed.  Though I will admit a certain fondness for THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS.  It's stuck with me to this day.  For every movie like CITIZEN KANE that I eventually saw and loved, there are ten GONE WITH THE WINDs that I can only barely tolerate.

In a couple weeks we'll have a conversation akin to this about "classic" horror films, which I think is the most forgiven genre for shitty films.  For every unbelievably awesome movie like HALLOWEEN or PSYCHO that's actually scary and entertaining the whole way through, you have stuff like TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET that have some really terrifying elements but are overall crap movies.  And that's where I'm going to lose most of you.

Back to the point: it was rare in my preteen/teenage years when an older movie stuck with me, and boy, if there ever was one, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE was it.  I wasn't too much of an angsty kid, but I had my periods of complete loathing assholery, and I very much connected with Alex because he was out doing all the things I could never do but sometimes, in the darkest parts of my mind, really wanted to think about doing.  Thankfully, the closest I ever got to that was hitting lightning bugs with a wiffleball bat, something I still feel guilty about 18 years later.  Anyway, I can credit A CLOCKWORK ORANGE with opening up my mind to "old" films, finally realizing that there were people out there who had been pushing the envelope and weren't just making what amounted to horribly expensive and overacted stage plays.  And it made me explore the catalogue of Stanley Kubrick.  And also, the film just turned 40 years old.  So this week I'm giving away three of these:

From what I understand, if you already have the CLOCKWORK ORANGE Blu-ray(s), there's not a whole lot of new stuff on here.  But it does come with a copy of STANLEY KUBRICK: A LIFE IN PICTURES.  Which is motherfucking awesome, especially if you're a Kubrick fan.  And the steelbook or whatever the hell it's called that encases the discs themselves rocks.

Now I sort of teased that next week I'll be giving away something undeniably wicked, and you'll want to tune in for that.  Trust me.  But have no fear: anyone who wins any of the CLOCKWORK ORANGE discs this week will still be eligible for next week's giveaway.  So make sure to take a shot this week.  If you don't, you might be totally "lost" next week.

Wow, that was just as long as all the other posts.  I'm crap at not being long-winded.