Parents Guide for
A Clockwork Orange (1971) More at IMDbPro »

Note: The number at the beginning of each section refers to how much explicit content of that kind there is in the film on a scale of 1-10. The fraction at the end of the last section is the total sum of the sections over the highest sum possible (50) and is therefore an approximation of about how explicit the film is a whole.

Rated R for strong brutal violence and rape, pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity and some language.

Sex & Nudity: 10

A major theme of the movie is a gang of boys who likes violence, drugs, and sex. Their leader Alex particularly likes violence and sex.

-A young man rapes a woman while he sings "Singing In The Rain," her breasts and vagina/labia are clearly visible before the act. The scene, however, cuts away before the actual rape takes place.

-A young woman is about to be gang-raped, she is fully nude and her vagina is in full view as well as her breasts, however the rape is prevented.

- A man has sex with two women, the scene is fairly graphic, but it's extremely fast forwarded so nothing distinguishable is scene

-A clay model of a phallic object is on a shelf at a woman's house

-Many paintings of a nude women and men in sexual positions.

-A man dreams about being on a bed with 3 women; we see their breasts.

-While stripping in front of a police officer, we see the upper part of young man's pubic area.

-A young man watches a movie where 7 men rape a woman; her breasts are visible as they thrust on top of her (not too graphic).

-A topless woman walks across a stage in front of an audience, the camera zooms in on her breasts, it shows a young man's point of view looking up at them in a prolonged sequence, then the breasts are seen from the woman's view looking down, the young man reaches up to grab them but doesn't.

-A nurse walks out from behind a curtain with her shirt down (visible breasts) and a man buttons up his pants (implying sex).

-At the end a crowd of people watch a man and woman have sex in the snow. We see her thrust on top of him, her breasts are visible but their pubic areas are hidden by the pit they are in.

Violence & Gore: 7

As stated above, the movie is about a gang of teens who all love sex, drugs, and violence. They get their thrills from these activities.

-A young man kills a woman by beating her with the clay object, we see him raise the object and then land it on her face, the camera however cuts away, we hear a scream and it's implied that she died but no blood at all.

-A scene is shown in which a young man thinks about Jesus being beaten by Roman Soldiers and he is one of the soldiers. (The scene is potrayed as a dreamlike state) In the same scene a man's throat is cut; little blood pours out.

-A scene involves two gangs fighting with chains, canes, baseball bats and knives... several characters are brutally beaten and hospitalized. (The hospitalization is talked about on-screen; however, we do not see them in the hospital)

-A young man gets hit in the face with a glass milk bottle, he screams "I'm blind". He is later shown with a nasty cut across his nose but his sight is okay.

-Two men are hit in the groin/torso with a cane and shoved into a lake, one of them's hand is sliced open by a knife, little blood spills out.

-The Droogs beat up a drunk bum under a bridge for kicks

-Several bloody punches to the face in a scene.

-There are quick flashes of a man with fangs and blood coming from them seeping to his chin.

-There are figurines of Jesus Christ that have little spots of painted blood.

-A man is beaten in front of his wife. His wife is raped in front of him.

-When they are "re-conditioning," a young man is forced to watch several violent/bloody acts on a television screen...including some footage of Hitler, we don't see all of it.

-In a later scene, a young man jumps out a window, He is seen later with bandages showing blood stains and bloody stitches.

-Several old men assault a young man, beating him with sticks off-screen.

-Two men beat up a man including holding his head under water and beating him with their sticks

-A man slaps a man several times and forces him to the floor where he tells him to lick his shoe

-Many scenes of rape

Profanity: 5

The f-word is used twice.

The words hell and bastard are used VERY frequently.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: 5

They all drink Milk Plus which is basically milk laced with drugs such as LSD, mescaline, or amphetamines.

When Alex is forced to empty his pockets for the officer, he pulls out a pack of Marlboros. The detective smokes onscreen.

When Alex ends up back at the Authors house, he drinks a glass of wine with his pasta.

Frightening/Intense Scenes: 6

A main theme of the movie is about a gang of boys who are obsessed with drugs, sex, and violence and get their thrills doing all of these...they are all under the age of 18

Alex is a very scary, seducing, creepy, disturbing and sadistic individual and is one of the most vicious characters portrayed on film

The scene with the song "Singing In The Rain" is quite rough and intense and will upset some viewers

Alex's "reconditioning" is extremly rough (not violent per se, but emotional)

An idea of how accurate the TECE (below) is: 5-10 is a little-kid suitable, G-Rated type of film (i.e. Care Bears, Sleeping Beauty); 10-15 is going to be a little harsher, but not by much (i.e. The Incredibles); 15-20 could be pretty high up there (i.e. Indiana Jones), 20-25 is going to pretty darn adult (i.e. The Dark Knight); 25-30 is going to be a film most likely not suitable for anyone under 17 (i.e. Braveheart); 30-40 is going to be an absolutely, positively adults-only film (i.e. THIS) and if a movie has ever gone past 40, then I haven't heard of it.

Total Explicit Content Estimation: 34/50.