Movies - TV
Why Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange Has A Different Ending From The Book
By JOE ROBERTS
Although he’s well-known for his filmmaking style and infamous stare, Stanley Kubrick has always been chiefly focused on good stories, adapting many novels and other works to film. While many authors were often disappointed with Kubrick’s adaptations, the filmmaker stayed remarkably close to the source material for “A Clockwork Orange,” save for one major difference.
Both Anthony Burgess’ novel and the film depict a violent, dystopian future and explore serious issues, with Kubrick surmising the story’s central theme to be free will. At the end of the movie, Alex DeLarge’s violent urges return after he attempts suicide following his aversion therapy to “cure” him, but the book’s final chapter has Alex reject these vicious impulses and choose conformity.
That final chapter was dropped for the book’s U.S. publication, as W. W. Norton decided it wasn't necessary and convinced Burgess to allow them to publish a version without it — the version Kubrick read and adapted. The filmmaker was resolute in his belief that the story was better without it, commenting about the final chapter, “I certainly never gave any serious consideration to using it.