Back in 1971, two cop movies were released in the last quarter of the year.
One was The French Connection, starring Gene Hackman and directed by William Friedkin. The other was Dirty Harry, starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Don Siegel.
One of them won Academy Awards for best picture, best actor and best director while the other didn't get any nomination. One is still often talked about among movie fans and the other is rarely mentioned. Gene Hackman is better known as Lex Luthor in the Christopher Reeve Superman movies than as Popeye Doyle of The French Connection. Eastwood is still strongly associated as Harry Callahan.
The one that won the Academy Awards is the one rarely mentioned and the other that didn't hasn't lost its popularity.
I saw both movies back when they were released and of the two, I found Dirty Harry a much more enjoyable movie. I don't even remember much of The French Connection. I still feel that Dirty Harry is the more fun and thought-provoking movie of the two.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of both Dirty Harry and The French Connection. I was in my senior year in high school when they were released.
Interestingly, the two main actors of those movies, Gene Hackman and Clint Eastwood co-starred in The Unforgiven (1992), the movie that garnered Eastwood and Hackman Academy Awards. It won Best Picture and Best Director for Clint Eastwood, Best Supporting Actor for Gene Hackman, and Best Film Editing for editor Joel Cox.
1 comment:
As usual the "critics" are full of crap.
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