Catching the Classics: Jaws

Since 1998, I have been maintaining a list of movies that I wanted to see. Sometimes these are all-time classics that passed me by, sometimes they’re genre classics that interest me. The list grows regularly and is currently more than 1800 movies long. Fogs has gone through and hand-picked several classic films for me to “fast-track” and review here. This is one of those films.

If this were an audio review, I might simply start playing the Jaws theme here; as it is, I’ll spare you my text rendition of the classic sound. It’s such an iconic piece of film music that it was even used, semi-jokingly, as the “you’re talking too much” music at the 85th Academy Awards. Everybody knows the sound. Kids whose parents weren’t even born in 1975 know the sound. And lines from the movie show up in pop culture all the time as well, from “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” to “That’s some bad hat, Harry”, which inspired the name of a production company. To a certain extent, it feels as though I’ve known all there was to know about Jaws for most of my life… I just needed to see the film.

Catching the Classics: The French Connection

Since 1998, I have been maintaining a list of movies that I wanted to see. Sometimes these are all-time classics that passed me by, sometimes they’re genre classics that interest me. The list grows regularly and is currently more than 1300 movies long. Fogs has gone through and hand-picked several classic films for me to “fast-track” and review here. This is one of those films.

The French Connection first came to my attention when I was watching the AFI’s “100 Years, 100 Movies” program, which inspired my watch list; they had it ranked at #77. It was therefore one of the very first items to make it onto the list. It was also the Best Picture winner at the Oscars for 1971. As such, it seemed like a perfect choice for the inaugural entry in “Catching the Classics”.

Movies That Everyone Should See: “Jaws”

In 1975, a film was released that would change the business of Hollywood, launch the career of one of the most beloved directors of all time, and become one of the most famous movies ever made. It created a worldwide phenomenon, gave us an unforgettable theme, and made countless people afraid to swim in the ocean.

That film, of course, was “Jaws”.

Movies That Everyone Should See: “The French Connection”

In 1971, Director William Friedkin brought to the screen one of the grittiest, most intense crime thrillers ever – based on the true story of how two New York City police detectives made one of the largest drug busts in U.S. history.

“The French Connection”