“The French Connection” (1971) won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (Gene Hackman) and Best Director (William Friedkin.) It was a property of 20th Century-Fox until the studio was sold to Disney in 2020. In 2023, the Criterion Collection would release the film edited. Some blame Disney, some blame Criterion.
The scene in question. “Popeye” Doyle’s partner, Russo (Roy Schieder) is stabbed while trying to arrest a black suspect. Russo asks, “How’d I know he had a knife?” “Popeye” (based on NYPD Det. Eddie Egan) calls him a “dumb guinea”, then says “Never trust a nigger.” He continues on by saying, “Never trust anybody.”
“The French Connection” is based on the true crime novel written by Robin Moore.
This is censorship of the new woke Hollywood. What has shocked film fans is how a major film like this is being changed for Gen. Z. (God forbid they should be made aware there’s an unpleasant world out there.)
I don’t expect this will be the last time a movie is cut so as not to offend the white liberal. (Blacks don’t give a damn. They call themselves nigger all the time.) What is concerning is how this will affect films of the future.
The Oscars (the Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences) recently adopted a new rule wherein a film cannot be nominated for a Best Picture award unless they hire minorities and formerly disenfranchised members of society. Tell me, have these snobs ever read the First Amendment? If filmmakers are forced to hire people based on their proclivities, instead of their expertise, it changes the work itself. The creation of the film is altered by hiring those who may not be qualified. All they need is to be on the woke list.
Text © 2023 – ERN
