The persons who wish to sanitize everything to the point that nothing hurts anybody are the same as the persons who consider the statue of David as pornography.
I watched The French Connection for the first time a couple of years ago, so I probably saw the edited version. I really dislike sanitized movies. Give me what was normal for the time! I can take it! And I too remember the Mad Magazine French Connection spoof. I was a little kid, so I’m sure I missed most of the blue humor.
Since Disney is involved, it has to be mentioned they have been in the business of "cleaning up" old movies since the 1950s in order to maintain their "family friendly" image. That's their brand. They remove all the hard edges so parents can "feel safe" when buying one of their movies. If a company Disney acquires has released an explicit version and a safety version of a movie, expect Disney to only release the safety version after the acquisition. That's what Disney is, that's what it's always been. Complaining about Disney changing movies to suit its brand is like complaining about Turner colorizing B&W movies -- they are who they are and they're not going to change.
I really appreciated the conversation about the French Connection. Let me point out the biggest problem with editing movies, Agatha Christie novels, etc. In order to understand societal progress, you have to have baselines of behavior. If you don't see Popeye use the N word, you don't fully understand the world of the early 1970s. I remember reading every Hercule Poirot novel in 2018 (I had never read her novels) and being a bit aghast when she refers to a woman's "Jew nose/Jew features," etc. but it also told me a lot about the times. Clearly, there was zero pushback at the time for such descriptions. It is important to have an understanding of that period's cultural milieu for, I don't know, maybe understanding immigration policy toward Jewish people in the UK pre-WWII. Understanding the culture of 100 years ago or 50 years ago also puts current debates in a larger context.
I remember a similar experience. After the movie Sahara came out I went and read some of the Dirk Pitt novels by Clive Clusser and wow several of the main character's interactions bordered on rape and as the series continued much of that was cleaned up.
Censorship won't stop there. With resale to media, every great thing to come out of Hollywood in the last 100 years will be under the puritan cleaver. Hollywood need to look no farther than itself for this inquisitional massacre of the ART of cinema. Descending from the great. films of the 70's now to movies with talking toys, maudlin sterile romance, jingo military and political pimpery, most in fact to sitcom punctuated conversational content, we are left with the resulting, insulting blandness that is the only thing left to the religious Right's stampeding moral goose-stepping. Hollywood could have stood up to all this, but the money, always the sacrosanct bottom line, prevailed over saving it's true artform.
it was nice that you admitted this might not be the best show in my podcast feed, but I sure get a kick out of you guys. you are all so different and obviously good friends. I loved The French Connection. Saw it in the old fashioned theatres of its time. The Transformer movies have never appealed to me, but I confess I have never seen one. It saddens me that people of today think they are authorities and judges of the artistic expressions of the past, be it books or movies. I wish they would put their energy into what is happening today. It is not good.
Aside from being the uncle of chase scenes (Bullit is the father of ALL car chase scenes) it's a tedious movie through most of its run time.
wow wrong
Not on my side of the screen. :o)
The persons who wish to sanitize everything to the point that nothing hurts anybody are the same as the persons who consider the statue of David as pornography.
Just leave Mark Twain alone
Might this be think you speak of for Revenge of the Fallen?
https://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/06/tr_review_transformers_revenge_of_the_fallen.php
"There's a bluebird on my shoulder.."
It's the truth, it's factual, you must be new here.
I watched The French Connection for the first time a couple of years ago, so I probably saw the edited version. I really dislike sanitized movies. Give me what was normal for the time! I can take it! And I too remember the Mad Magazine French Connection spoof. I was a little kid, so I’m sure I missed most of the blue humor.
Since Disney is involved, it has to be mentioned they have been in the business of "cleaning up" old movies since the 1950s in order to maintain their "family friendly" image. That's their brand. They remove all the hard edges so parents can "feel safe" when buying one of their movies. If a company Disney acquires has released an explicit version and a safety version of a movie, expect Disney to only release the safety version after the acquisition. That's what Disney is, that's what it's always been. Complaining about Disney changing movies to suit its brand is like complaining about Turner colorizing B&W movies -- they are who they are and they're not going to change.
I really appreciated the conversation about the French Connection. Let me point out the biggest problem with editing movies, Agatha Christie novels, etc. In order to understand societal progress, you have to have baselines of behavior. If you don't see Popeye use the N word, you don't fully understand the world of the early 1970s. I remember reading every Hercule Poirot novel in 2018 (I had never read her novels) and being a bit aghast when she refers to a woman's "Jew nose/Jew features," etc. but it also told me a lot about the times. Clearly, there was zero pushback at the time for such descriptions. It is important to have an understanding of that period's cultural milieu for, I don't know, maybe understanding immigration policy toward Jewish people in the UK pre-WWII. Understanding the culture of 100 years ago or 50 years ago also puts current debates in a larger context.
I remember a similar experience. After the movie Sahara came out I went and read some of the Dirk Pitt novels by Clive Clusser and wow several of the main character's interactions bordered on rape and as the series continued much of that was cleaned up.
Censorship won't stop there. With resale to media, every great thing to come out of Hollywood in the last 100 years will be under the puritan cleaver. Hollywood need to look no farther than itself for this inquisitional massacre of the ART of cinema. Descending from the great. films of the 70's now to movies with talking toys, maudlin sterile romance, jingo military and political pimpery, most in fact to sitcom punctuated conversational content, we are left with the resulting, insulting blandness that is the only thing left to the religious Right's stampeding moral goose-stepping. Hollywood could have stood up to all this, but the money, always the sacrosanct bottom line, prevailed over saving it's true artform.
it was nice that you admitted this might not be the best show in my podcast feed, but I sure get a kick out of you guys. you are all so different and obviously good friends. I loved The French Connection. Saw it in the old fashioned theatres of its time. The Transformer movies have never appealed to me, but I confess I have never seen one. It saddens me that people of today think they are authorities and judges of the artistic expressions of the past, be it books or movies. I wish they would put their energy into what is happening today. It is not good.
It amazes me. This is art. Creativity that has some quality of journalism too. It smacks (no pun intended) of Ron DuhSantis and redefining classics.