These Director's Cuts Suck!

5. The French Connection

So I think, without question, The French Connection is one of the best crime capers going. It's gritty, it's incredibly harsh with its tones and messages and it absolutely delivers when it comes to the chase sequences (which when coupled with the knowledge that these were shot without permission on public roads, creates a true sense of danger that is almost uncomfortable to watch.)

It's one of those films that is both the product of its time and yet has in many ways stood the test of it, therefore it was actually quite crazy to see that it was getting a director's cut release in 2009 decades after the film hit the cinema. Touting a new and supposedly "colder" look that was achieved through intensive color grade, fans were excited to see what director William Friedkin would deliver.

However, this was less of a wild ride and more of a screeching halt courtesy of a dumpster, as this edition was... ugly. The color grade that the director has insisted on was an utter mess, producing high contrast and almost pastel-like smeared visuals. Fans and critics were reviled at how distracting this color grade was and for many, this was completely unwatchable.

It was bad enough that cinematographer Owen Roizman spoke out about the project with disgust calling the 2009 release "atrocious" and it's hard to argue with him. Well, it was unless you were Friedkin who actively spoke out that he'd done nothing wrong on his end, and that it was the fault of the disc the edition was recorded to.

Claiming that the master was perfect but the transition to disc messed the whole thing up, Friedkin seemed to put out post after post about how it was quite simply, not his problem. Except it was in a way because it had his name on it, plus would have been signed off by him, PLUS should have been quality tested before shipping.

Things got so bad with the response to the 2009 wreck fest that a second Director's Cut that contained the tag that it came from both Friedkin and Roizman had to be released in order to appease the torched fanbase.