The French Connection Wins Best Picture | 44th Oscars (1972) 

RIP Philip D'Antoni (February 19, 1929 - April 15, 2018), aged 89 And RIP William Friedkin (August 29, 1935 - August 7, 2023), aged 87 You both will be remembered as legends.

And then Nicholson would go on to work with the great Stanley Kubrick!

Nicholson presented Best Picture because nobody wanted to do it cause of the possibility that A Clockwork Orange could win and were afraid it would ruin their reputation. Jack being a new star and also Jack didn't worry given his image as a rebel.

I loveeeeeeee Jack's speaking voice

Jack Nicholson used to be so hot, and that voice is lovely!😍

The ultimate height of Hollywood artistry was in early to mid seventies. Thanks for the memories (and the torrents).

Clockwork Orange was ROBBED also Stanley Kubrick for directing

This was the first of a record 17 Oscar telecasts that the late Marty Pasetta would direct, taking over for Richard Dunlap, who directed 11.

Look at the Attitude and Charisma of "Mr. Jack Nicholson"

When best picture award actually meant something.

That scream at 1:13 has to be Roy Scheider 😅

need to see Clockwork Orange. Love every other Kubrick film I've seen. I would have given it to Last Picture Show. Great movie.

The gritty realism of The French Connection came from real locations and people. It’s like a time capsule of 1970s NYC! 🗽📸

A Clockwork Orange should have won. Hands down.

It was great to see "The French Connection" win the Best Picture Academy Award in 1971. Everyone who was associated with that picture (including its director William Friedkin), was convinced that it wasn't going to be a commercial and critical success. On how wrong he was. Friedkin himself had won for Best Director.

You never hear about Nicholas & Alexandra anymore.

The Oscars were much biased in favour of all things Hollywood and American actors in general in those days . A Clockwork Orange , Kubrick and Malcolm McDowell should all have won their individual categories .

Jack Nicholson spent too much time "in the nest", if you know what I mean.

Nicholson mispronounces the name " Philip D'Antoni" adding an extra "o" at the end : "Philip D'Antonio"

The French Connection has great producing.

i wasnt born yet i cant believe Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory wasnt nominated for Best Picture at the 44th Annual Academy Awards honoring the best in movies made in 1971 they could nominated it like they did with 1965's The Sound Of Music ( another musical film which won best picture) at the 38th Academy Awards in 1966 honoring the best movies made in 1965 BTW RIP Gene Wilder who played Willy Wonka in the film 1933-2016

The French Connection didn't deserved best picture. The plot of the film doesn,t even end at the film, you have to watch The French Connection 2, to get the ending. A Clockwork Orange is seen as one of the biggest classic in movie history, and it is produce by the best film director in the world Stanley Kubrick. The only reason why there is haters, is because it is a British film, and not an american one.

wow, no one applauds when they mentions the clockwork orange

BEST Actor BEST Soundtrack BEST Film ''TRIFECTA!!!''

French Connection > Clockwork

The Producers and such Should never be Seen on Camera

You still picking your feet in Poughkeepsie?

The guy who one the Oscar kinda looks and sounds like the bad guy from The Crow.

The French Connection is very good, but A Clockwork Orange is a classic Dude :D

dislikes are picking there feet .

That black dude is hilarious haha

Cheese when you wine

i prefer a clockwork orange or the last picture show....

GREG BECK...HOW WOULD MERELY PRESENTING THE BEST PICTURE AWARD FOR A CLOCKWORK ORANGE..HURT THEIR REPUTATION?..LIZA WOULD HAVE REALLLLYYYY BEEN ENTHUSIASTIC FOR THAT ONE...!!! 0:27

Tax these rich people

Jack's loaded on premium blow, tree, and wine.

One of the worst Best Picture winners I've seen. How A Clockwork Orange didnt win I will never know?

'the french conmection' is a great film, but I cant help but think that 'a clockwork orange' is the superior film.

The 5 Dislikes are A Clockwork Orange Fanboys!!!!!!!!!!

its cos its british

Fairy tales don't come true.

Jjjjjjjjjaaaaaaaaaaaccccckkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!! :)

A Clockwork Orange was awful. The best picture of the year was certainly FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and Topol should have won instead of Gene Hackman's French Connection.

The French Connection still holds up nearly fifty years later. It rewrote the rulebook on cop movies and action films in general. Every cop show made since owes it a great debt of gratitude

I loved A Clockwork Orange, but French Connection was a real tour de force and still a masterpiece to this day.

Fun Fact: The reason Jack Nicholson (relatively unknown at that time) presented the Best Picture Oscar is because "A Clockwork Orange" was so controversial that no A-list actor at the time wanted their named tied to it, if it did happen to win Best Picture.

no one applaud for a clockwork orange WTF?

Just saw THE FRENCH CONNECTION in a revival house in downtown Manhattan last week. Seeing it with an enthusiastic foot-stomping New York crowd, there's nothing like it.

Jack was stoned.

One must see "The French Connection" on the big screen to appreciate it. Seeing it the way it was meant to be seen, on a big movie theater screen, is a totally different experience. The car chasing the train is out of this world. See it on the big screen.

'The French Connection' was not only a universal critical success and box office hit (and commercial success is and always has been a key requisite for Oscar success), it was recognised at the time by both critics and fellow filmmakers as one of the best action pictures ever made and one of the best genre movies ever made. Like 'Godfather', it rewrote the book in its particular genre and most cop and urban contemporary action movies following it owe it some kind of debt. 'Clockwork Orange' was a commercial success and is still hugely influential in terms of its visuals. No one doubted that this was the work of a master filmmaker. But it also divided critics and audiences and was hit by censorship both at the hands of British censors and by Kubrick himself. It was not a universal critical success - the storytelling was attacked as incoherent and the scenes of sexual assault were rightly criticised for being gloatingly exploitative. The Academy doesn't give Oscars to X-rated movies and Clockwork Orange was very much an X-rated movie. Malcolm McDowell should have been nominated and deserves at least an Honorary Oscar for his body of work, but when you work with certain 'above the title' directors you always run the risk of being seen as just a talking dummy and not as an artist in your own right. The exception to that rule is of course Woody Allen. When you work with an 'above the title' director it's the director who gets all the attention and all the credit for the film's success, not the actors, writers, photographers or art directors. Don't forget also that he was playing a villan (Kubrick doesn't have heroes in his movies) and villans dont get nominations either.

Why no one applauds when Jack mentions A Clockwork orange?

A clockwork orange shouldn't have won, however, I agree that Malcom Mcdowell should've at least recieved a nomination for his brillian performance.

NOW CLOCKWORK ORANGE IS WIDELY CONSIDERED AS ONE OF THE GREATEST MASTERPIECE EVER!!!!

I love "The French Connection," but it should've been "A Clockwork Orange" to take home Best Picture.

A clockwork orange should have one.

Jack Nicholson first time presenting the Best Picture award. One of eight times, I believe that he has presented the award. Hope he does it again at the 85th Oscars!!!!!

Imagine having a year with that many classics! Hard to pick. 😳

The Last Picture Show and A Clockwork Orange are brilliant but The French Connection was the best directed film that year. Friedkin was at the pinnacle of his career - The Exorcist was one helluva follow-up.

I'm so glad that The French Connection won Best Picture... My favorite movie of all time

Why nobody talks about the great Peter Bogdanovich's Last Picture Show? That movie is absolutely amazing!

Jack Nicholson was good looking back then

I suppose that for teenagers, Clockwork Orange is a better film. Wait a few years till you grow up, Boyzos, you'll finally realize that French Connection is the superior film.

Nicholson should have been nominated for the kitchy 70's-style shirt !

This was back when they actually awarded Best Picture to what was actually the best film.

A Clockwork Orange is more remembered then the French Connection!

This movie totally deserved it amazing film.. I am totally in love with the direction and acting... the sequel was really good to.. I can't wait to get them both on Blu Ray..

Although it came out in 1971 it's awards were in 1972 just in case you people get confused..

The beginning of gene hackman fame!!!!

Wow, Jack, greatest actor ever, Gene Hackman is also great, but Jack could've starred in French Connection, too,

I saw most of these 1971 classics (and many more) at my local movie theater in NY. It was a mostly Black crowd. I remember the various audience reactions. Shaft, The French Connection, Billy Jack and Dirty Harry got the biggest responses. A great year for films.

jack nicolson in the young version face look alike leonardo di caprio! They both like father and son!!!

How long will it be until an actual French language movie wins Best Picture. Amour could have won and La Vie En Rose should have won instead of No Country For Old Men that year.

I really enjoy The French Connection so I'm happy the film won Best Picture and I said "In The Memory of Roy Scheider (from Jaws) and to real life police mans that was in the film and really life story Eddie Egan & Sonny Grosso.

He look alike Leonardo di Caprio!

AFI's Top 100 Films 70th: A Clockwork Orange 93th: The French Connection So...

I had no ideia French Connection beated Clockwork Orange

All of the Best Picture Nominees of 1971 except for Nicholas and Alexandra have appeared at least one AFI's 100 Years...list except for AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs, AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions, AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes, AFI's 25 Greatest Film Scores, and AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies: A Clockwork Orange #46 The French Connection #70 AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills: The French Connection #8 A Clockwork Orange #21 AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains: A Clockwork Orange: Alex De Large #12 Villain The French Connection: Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle #44 Hero AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers: Fiddler on the Roof #82 AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies 10th Anniversary Edition: A Clockwork Orange #70 The French Connection #93 The Last Picture Show #95 AFI's 10 Top 10: Science Fiction: A Clockwork Orange #4

God this movie is amazing.. I really wish I had the blu ray..

Gosh 1:13 that scream. LMAO Someone just died of victory.

You know that the film didn’t deserve the award when Jack Nicholson doesn’t smile or gives a very forced and shallow smile, clockwork Orange

young jack nicholson

'Last Picture Show.' And Jack is obviously not stoned, as he said in Easy Rider,' it leads to harder stuff.

That shirt is crazy. I knew the 80s was an embarrassment for fashion, but what the hell with the 70s?

The exorcist should've won the best picture too

Still immently watchable..a masterpiece! Joe Carnahan who directed a great movie Called 'Narc' in 2002 said he fashioned his style for the movie after William Freidkin's 'french connection'...connection 2 was 'disappointing'

Nine people pick their feet in Poughkeepsie.

French Connection is good, but Clockwork Orange is a MASTERPIECE, one of the Academys Top 5 worst fails!

A Clockwork Orange should have won :D

This is a time when the Academy got it correct! Overall, good films.

Why did D'Antoni stop producing films not long after this? He had a pretty good career, it seems to me.

A clockwork orange was voted by the academy in order to become a nominee but wasn’t applauded for? I don’t get that, yeah it was a highly controversial film at the time but how come it got all these Oscar nominations but no one seemed to give it the respect it deserves??

High as a kite, oh jack

you guys think Clockwork Orange should have won, but my guess is that that is probably the only film you saw and recognize from the nominations.

"A Clockwork Orange," "Fiddler On The Roof," "The French Connection," "The Last Picture Show," and "Nicholas and Alexandra"

Got that one right great Movie

A Clockwork Orange, for the many nominations it got, didn't even win at least one award! The film is a piece of Crime Drama Sci-Fi Art people from 1972, it's the Mona Lisa of Film (in a way) but still should've at least win one award! (No hate to The French Connection, also a good film)

This film wouldn't even be nominated after the latest inclusion requirements for best picture nominees.

I haven't seen the other films nominated for Best Picture, I have only seen A Clockwork Orange. Malcolm McDowell should have at least gotten a nomination for Best Actor. He was phenomenal as Alex Delarge.

Um filme que mostra realmente a realidade da limitada força policial ante a péssima burocracia governamental.