the oscars are such a joke. always have been, always will be.
shareUgh, I really dislike self-entitled hipsters with those horned-rimmed, hindsight 20/20 glasses they all wear.
Screws fall out all of the time. The world's an imperfect place.
Sure it is.
And people complaining about Oscars and "politics" should understand that these awards are voted by thousands of people, the same people that make (Hollywood) films.
Why is it surprising that industry insiders have a different perspective of what is good than critics or audiences?
The French Connection: 7/10
A Clockwork Orange: 9/10
Same for me gblorenzi. A Clockwork Orange is a better film but it isn't the sort of movie the Academy likes.
shareYou're right. The Academy hates polemic, controversial, innovative movies. I read some time ago an article saying the Academy gives Best Picture to movies that appeal mostly to families. There are many examples where controversial, innovative movies lost to more family-friendly movies.
shareAre you saying that THE FRENCH CONNECTION is a family-friendly film, ala THE SOUND OF MUSIC and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS?
shareNo, of course it's not, but The French Connection is a more family-friendly, less controversial, oriented to the masses movie than A Clockwork Orange.
shareFrench Connection isn't exactly your typical Oscar winner. Clockwork Orange may be more shocking, but FC plenty of attributes that make it as good as Clockwork
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.
but The French Connection is a more family-friendly, less controversial, oriented to the masses movie than A Clockwork Orange.The real family-friendly choice that year would have been Fiddler On The Roof. But even that film is not all sweetness and light. Actually all the nominated films in 1971 were varying shades of dark. share
Clockwork was an exploitation movie designed to shock people. When it came out, people were lined up around the block to see it because it was super risqué and controversial.
But that doesn't mean French Connection was undeserving. I'd argue that it was even better due to its creepy ending, and one of the better best picture winners.
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.
To OP. "The Oscars are such a joke, always have, always will be."
No people like you dismissing the Academy 100% as a fixed absolute are ironically always a joke, always were, always will be.
I don't know why something which happened 45 years ago makes you lose your composure as if your life depended on it. It's also strange you complain when BOTH are highly regarded classics. Why does it have to be so extreme for the likes of you??
Listen: A Clockwork Orange looks awfully dated today and not even Anthony Burgess who wrote the novel was happy with the movie adaption. It's Kubrick's most overrated movie and Malcolm McDowell never was a very good actor - sorry. The French Connection is a time machine to early 70's New York and such captures both the era and New Hollywood perfectly.
Bet you didn't complain when the Academy picked the "right winner" most other years.
Totally disagree about McDowell's acting---he's always been a good and charismatic actor--always like seeing him in anything. Both films have disturbing protagonists though, and CO was pretty ground breaking for its time (I've always had problems with Kubrick's depiction of women in his films, which was usually sexist and stereotypical--if he had them in there at all,that is---most of his films pretty much concentrated on men more than anything else.) I also don't know why either one of these films are being compared to one another---they have virtually nothing in common with each other besides having borderline psychos as their main characters.
share1971 was full of really confronting, radical films, not just ACO: The Devils, Carnal Knowledge, Wake in Fright, Straw Dogs, Get Carter, MacCabe & Mrs Miller, Panic in Needle Park, Little Murders, A New Leaf, Harold & Maude, not to mention true avant garde stuff like Rivette's Out 1. A lot of these films did need time to sink in, be rewatched, to create their own audiences.
From *our* perspective it can seem a little odd that The French Connection really jumped out for the Academy (along with Last Picture Show) over all these other patent barnburners. But the simple answer is that, just as today, the Academy operates in its own close to real time, with no time to let anything sink in. A handful of titles get the lion's share of middlebrow attention in the time available and those quickly become the contenders & you just have to hope that a few of posterity's favorites make it in there. The French Connection is no embarrassment to the Academy - it's no King's Speech or Driving Miss Daisy - rather it's one of the top 15 or so most important films of 1971. It's a solid pick for the Academy just not a radical or inspired one the way ACO or Straw Dogs or The Devils or Harold and Maude would have been.
At least Clockwork Orange was nominated for best picture which is kind of a victory in itself imo.
shareI don't like the Oscars at all and agree they're a joke (and always have been, even when they first started in the 1920s). I also like ACO more than THE FRENCH CONNECTION.
That being said, I don't understand getting upset over the Oscars. I see them as a joke, so they could nominate something like NORM OF THE NORTH or TWILIGHT over genuinely good fare and I wouldn't care.
Just appreciate and enjoy what you love. The hell what the Academy or the critics think.