Product: French Connection [VHS] (1971)
Rating: 3.0
Good but didn't blow me away.
So having seen all the reviews and heard the hype I was a little dissapointed. My biggest problem with the movie is this: I grew up watching all the police story/action movies that have been trying to take what the French Connection did and do it bigger and better. And in almost any category you can name there are other movies that do a better job than the french connection. This isn't to say that the French Connection doesn't do a good job in many categories, it does. But while intellectually I can appreciate the genius of the movie for the time it came out (30+ years ago), I can't get really excited about it in my heart (having seen better chase scenes, plots, grittyness, unlikable/likeable characters, etc)I am going to go out on a limb here, but I would guess many of the people who are responsable for all the 5 star reviews saw the movie on the big screen (or are far better than I at turning intellectual knowledge into heartfelt excitement) And for them I think it makes sense, it probably blew away a whole generation of people when it came out, and the nostalga of flick and the fact that after 30 years it is still a pretty good movie must make them love it. I'm not of that generation of people though and it doesn't blow me away. :/So if you didn't catch this one back in the day, you probably won't be quite as excited about it as some of the reviewers you see shouting it's praises above all action movies of the last 30 years. Still it is pretty decent flick to rent if you haven't seen it.