#93 on 2007 AFI 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
#70 on 1998 AFI 100 Greatest
Movies of All Time
So... The French Connection. It's not a movie that I would have chosen to watch, which, as I think I've said before, is part of why we are watching the AFI list... but having watched it, I can't say that I would choose to watch it again. It's not that it was a bad movie, because it's not bad... it's just that I don't know that it really stands the test of time. I think the first clue of that is that in 1998, this was #70, and ten years later, it had fallen to #93. I'm interested to see what happens when they do another version of this list a few years from now.
What about The French Connection seems so dated? The music, mostly. But the other thing that makes it so dated, is exactly the reason that it is so important. And that is because it created the gritty cop drama. Which is now on television 7 days a week. There were many moments in the film that felt like a Law and Order episode, especially the end, where they tell you what happened to all the characters. It also occasionally felt like other procedurals or buddy cop movies. But this was really one of the first. And it won some major awards, and probably deserved them. But now, after seeing this same thing so many times, and often done better (since techniques have certainly improved since 1971), it just wasn't that interesting. And that's kind of all we talked about while watching this movie... Except for this:
[Credits are rolling at the beginning of the film]
Mike: Hey, Roy Scheider. This must be his other film.
Me: You mean besides All That Jazz?
Mike: Oh... no. I meant besides Jaws.
Me: I'm sure that there are many more.
Mike: I'm going to check IMDB....
[Watching the movie]
Mike: 92.
Me: 92 what?
Mike: That's how many things Roy Scheider was in.
So, not that exciting. But it's all I've got. This movie just wasn't that thought-provoking or exciting to us. I will add that it was apparently based on a true story. We each put it below Blade Runner on our lists, leading to a discussion of the similarities between this movie and Blade Runner. But, ultimately, Blade Runner is a more interesting movie. Man, I hope the next movie is more interesting...
