Best Movie Ever: A Clockwork Orange

Always remember: this controversial, visionary treatise on social control that has left an indelible mark on film, music and design was brought to you by parking lots.

Portrait of a young man, drinking moloko plus, readying for a night of ultraviolence.

The man behind the image that would decorate dorm rooms and T-shirts is Malcolm McDowell. His further career highlights include killing Captain Kirk, rebooting Dr. Sam Loomis and doing filthy things in Caligula.  He also loves video game threequels, providing voices in Fallout 3, Killzone 3 and God of War III.

In real life, he's Alexander Siddig's uncle.

While Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess' satirical dystopian novel was made (we're hoping) with the purest of intentions, there were many who claimed it glorified violence.

Indeed, there were documented cases of copycat crimes during the 1970s in Britian, leading to the film's longtime ban in that country.

And now you wonder why the BBC played nothing but Benny Hill for fifteen years?

In the days before the IMDB, when some joker swore that rival gang-leader Billy Boy was actually played by Jimmy Page, there was no way to know for certain.  (After all, it wound up being true that George Harrison financed Monty Python's Life of Brian.)  It turns out that the would-be rapist in the derelict casino whose only line is "let's get 'em boys!" is actually a man named Richard Connaught.  His other acting job was as "Second Removal Man" in the anthology horror film Tales That Witness Madness.

A Clockwork Orange's use of light classical hits against striking, dark images was absolutely revolutionary in 1971.  The conclusion to Giochino Rossini's The Thieving Magpie Overture is an agreeable, dainty little ditty meant to ensure that all society folk who wandered into this movie would drop their monocles in shock.