Alex (A Clockwork Orange) Alex (A Clockwork Orange) Alex is a fictional character in Anthony Burgess' novel "A Clockwork Orange" and Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of the same name, in which he is played by Malcolm McDowell. In the film, his surname is DeLarge, a reference to Alex calling himself The Large in the novel. In the film, however, two newspaper articles print his name as "Alex Burgess". In addition to the book and film, Alex was portrayed by Vanessa Claire Smith in the ARK Theatre Company's multi-media adaptation of "A Clockwork Orange", directed by Brad Mays. Alex is the narrator, protagonist and antihero
A Clockwork Orange (novel) However, each of these instances came after the release of Stanley Kubrick's popular 1971 film adaptation of "A Clockwork Orange", itself the subject of much controversy. "The Sunday Telegraph" review was positive, and described the book as "entertaining ... even profound". "The Sunday Times" review was negative, and described the book as "a very ordinary, brutal and psychologically shallow story". "The Times" also reviewed the book negatively, describing it as "a somewhat clumsy experiment with science fiction [with] clumsy cliches about juvenile delinquency". The violence was criticised as "unconvincing in detail". Burgess dismissed "A Clockwork Orange" as "too didactic to