MovieChat Forums > The French Connection (1971) Discussion > Oh yeah, this is totally better than Clo...

Oh yeah, this is totally better than Clockwork orange!


the oscars are such a joke. always have been, always will be.

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Oh sorry movie critic. Clockwork Orange...yeah right!

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[deleted]

how is the french connecrion more influential from A clockwork orange??? are you that stupid???

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yeah because watching a woman getting raped and making the writer husband watch is just remarkable and influential

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well actually it is influential.and it probably is the most important part of the story. you can understand this if you watch the whole movie. did you?? and it is incredible that from the whole movie you picked that part to show the influence.
Ok then. i find it very influential that Popeye was found with handcuffs in his bed with the girl in the bicycle. that's how you are thinking.

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sorry but that doesn't even compare. I only picked that scene out because it pretty much sums up an amoral movie and its sick cast of characters. I seem to remember Kubrick saying the rape scene is too cookie cutter, so lets make it even more sick by making Alex de Large sing "Singing in the Rain." A sick play on the fact that the song is about love and then tying it to something as vile as rape. But maybe you and Kubrick get off on that. I'm not saying Kubrick is not one of the best directors to ever direct, but you have to admit looking at some of his body of work that he chose some disturbing things. also learn english grammar, ON the bicycle.

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first i am not english. so why should i learn english grammar??? and also, McDowell sang "I'm singing in the rain" because he didn't know any other songs. search it and come begging for forgiveness.

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That's meant to be the sick irony of it... And Clockwork isn't 'amoral'. It looks at a range of important social issues, like the state's role in modern society (and whether its legitimate to treat even horrible criminals like Alex in such an instrumental, mechanical way), the social nature of crime, the violent tendencies of youth etc etc.

We must not check reason by tradition, but contrawise, must check tradition by reason - Leo Tolstoy

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It's today world!
I like The French Connecion and Clockwork Orange both but if I had to choose I prefer (even if with some difficulties) The French Connection.
They are both influential, they are both classics!

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I don't care that much how influential a movie is as opposed to how entertaining it is. I can watch the French Connection several times over, but cannot say the same for Clockwork Orange.

"Loves turned to lust and bloods turned to dust in my heart"

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You can't compare the two, it's big apples and oranges (get it?) Sorry, couldn't resist. by the way pollesen, if you think about it, what's wrong with closet-homosexual nancy boys? If you were a man with balls they wouldn't threaten you.

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(yawn) You are all morons. Obviosuly The Last Picture Show takes the cake.

_____________________
"It's the frost, it sometimes makes the blade stick."

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I think clockwork is a better movie and had no chance because they weren't ready to give a film like that best picture, be happy it was even nominated for the awards it was and malcom didn't get a best actor nod that year either.Clockwork orange was screwed over in ways, but I love this movie and have no problem with it winning what it did but I will always prefer the brilliant clockwork orange.

Don't ever call me a kubrick hater, or I will have my droogs beat you to death.

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[deleted]

[deleted]

A safer choice would have been that family friendly movie FIDDLER ON THE ROOF which also happened to be the year's biggest hit not a mainstream movie shot like a documentary which made cops look as bad as criminals and with the kind of ending you'd never get in an action movie nowadays.

Both TFC and ACO are daring films that blurred the line between criminality and authority (particularly the irony in the latter film when Alex's droogs become police officers). So the Academy were ready for a film like that to win, it just happenned to be another one.

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The first "New Hollywood" film to win the best picture award was MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969). PATTON, a more mainstream film, won in '70 and in '71, THE FRENCH CONNECTION sealed the deal for young Hollywood filmmakers.

I remember the '72 awards, when they showed the best actor nominees back to back, and seeing Walter Matthau, wearing old-age make-up in KOTCH deliver this plaintive and thoughtful speech, followed by Gene Hackman beating the hell out of Alan Weeks in that alley and thinking, "What the hell is this?"

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[deleted]

Hey guys, lets start comparing two completely unrelated movies because of some stupid awards ceremony! Yeah!

Movies on IMDB are not overrated, you're just of the minority that doesn't bloody LIKE THEM!

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Its quite obvious the academy chose French Connection to win simply becuase they had no balls to pick a film like ACO. French connection beat Kubrick in all 3 categories he was nominated for- Picture, director, screenplay.

Yeah just a stupid awards ceremony. but its regarded as the most respected and well known of all award ceremonies so it does mean a lot.

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You people just don't get how revolutionary French Connection was---don't look at it with experienced eyes--of COURSE it will seem tired and derivative. Imagine this film as THE first of its kind--the gritty realism, the chases, the violence--none of that existed before. Now tell me which one was more influential--the one that was copied a thousand times over or Clockwork---which was not emulated AT ALL. Clockwork is fun--it has a lot of wit and humor but in NO WAY is it as technically successful or as entertaining as French Connection. Friedkin has his crap movies but he's a MASTER at INVENTING sub-genre's (not re-inventing)---Exorcist, French Connection, Killer Joe--all the first of their kind.

-This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

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Yes

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[deleted]

Clockwork Orange is awful.

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[deleted]

A Clockwork Orange is a masterpiece though. Top 15 movie of all time.

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"uh.....the French connection was arguably the academy's bravest choice ever for best picture."

Actually, that would be Midnight Cowboy. French Connection a close second, though.




There, daddy, do I get a gold star?

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>>> uh.....

Excellent point.

>>> the French connection was arguably the academy's bravest choice ever for best picture.

There's nothing brave about choosing best picture. Bravery comes in many shapes and sizes, but this aint one of them.


http://tinyurl.com/cjsy86c

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I think people should examine why they are praising a movie as being influential before they highly rate it.

I too often see people praise certain movies for being the first, but then get confused when I see them insulting anything else in that genre. It's like "Why are you even praising the first of it's kind when you don't even like what it started?"

The French Connection certainly deserved the win over that Torture Porn movie.
---
I know what gold does to men's souls.

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[deleted]

As a "betting matter," The French Connection's main competition for Best Picture was Peter Bogdanovich's "The Last Picture Show."

But there was this irony : Francis Coppola's The Godfather was originally scheduled for Christmas, 1971. Delays forced the film into Easter of 1972(March/April).

I believe that had The Godfather gone out in 1971 as planned, it would have easily defeated The French Connection for 1971 Best Picture, and that Cabaret -- which won many Oscars in 1972 -- would have won for Best Picture of 1972.

Moreover: after all this 1971-1972 Oscar completion, directors William Friedkin(The French Connection), Peter Bogdanovich(The Last Picture Show) and Francis Coppola(The Godfather) formed a three-man mini-movie studio called "The Directors' Company." The directors made a deal to release various of their films under The Directors Company banner, but only one was a hit(Bogdanovich's Paper Moon). Coppola made the low-earning classic "The Conversation," Bogdanovich made the flop "Daisy Miller," and Friedkin made nothing -- the team broke up shortly after they started.



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Yeah, dude. The oscars are really messed up!!! All they care about: POLITICS.
You do realize that Hollywood (the oscars) is connected with the government? That's the only truth you need to know. A Clockwork Orange is one of Kubrick's greatest films. He's been denied several times at the academy (2001, Clockwork, and so much more). He could've earned more oscars than any director (even Steven Spielberg). He's only denied for his work on Clockwork Orange, because the movie characterizes the government as human beings that made a terrible mistake with a criminal's mind. I seriously don't care what movie wins at the oscars, because it's just awards. If that's the oscar's game, then humanity will soon be against them. You'll see. I would give Clockwork Orange the Best Picture. Heck, I'd still be happy if Fiddler on the Roof won instead of that French Connection film.

Hollywood will burn in hell!

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A Clockwork Orange is one of the most overrated movies in the history of cinema. Same with 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you want some award-worthy Kubrick films go watch Dr. Strangelove or Paths of Glory. Far superior films.

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So true! Both great films! Kirk Douglas was a babe and a darn good actor!

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What are you even talking about? If you think this movie deserved to win all of the oscars it DID win, then why are you saying the oscars are a joke. ACO got robbed of a lot of awards there, and while I thought that The French Connection was great, it doesn't match Clockwork Orange in terms of thematic depth and influentiality. The complexity in Malcolm McDowall's character is unbelievable, and he didn't get nominated for an Oscar. I'm of the opinion that French Connection got the Oscars for Gene Hackman's character, being complex and ambiguious for an action movie, and especially the last line. But basically what I'm saying is give everything its due, recognize that the oscars are the awards of that year (ACO was still seen as a cult movie instead of the classic it is now) and don't put into account what movies become in later years.

In reply to the later poster, Clockwork Orange does not show Alex raping the writer's wife. It is suggested that he does and it is disturbing that he strips off her clothes in front of her gagged husband, but you have to realize that without that vile scene, you would never feel the same about Alex and his hopes for reconditioning.

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"Oh yeah, this is totally better than Clockwork orange!"

Its called sarcasm.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFtYpLV4EPo

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I like both movies but without any doubts A Clockwork Orange is the best film.

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