Episode 18 September 27th. 2011

Here's another episode of Highbrow! Lowbrow? the movie review retrospective, taking a look at the Top Box Office Earner and the Best Picture Academy Award Winner of the same year. With each episode, we seek to figure out who was right that year: the masses or the critics. This time we're hitting the Lowbrow pretty hard with Billy Jack up against the Highbrow but gritty crime thriller The French Connection, both from 1971.

The French Connection, directed by William Friedkin, stars Gene Hackman as rough cop Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle together with Roy Schneider as Det. Buddy Russo on the chase of drug czars with a french connection. This film was expertly directed by Friedkin as he brought a real rawness keeping the camera handheld throughout and shooting guerilla style (without permits). It really adds to the intensity of the most memorable scene of the movie the car-train chase, in which Hackman barrels through New York chasing a subway train through traffic. Hackman as Doyle is fantastic, a true badass, but really calls into question the idea of bad cop. The French Connection is a great action thriller that can be enjoyed viscerally but has enough layers to be stimulate intellectually.

Billy Jack, directed by and starring Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack, a half Indian, hapkido expert and Green Beret who roams the land protecting the local school for outcast children from the evil backward ways of the townspeople. This movie is the definition of a so bad it's good film, with unintentional comedy abound. Tom Laughlin is on a quest to spew his message of peace and love while also getting to kick butt in this film. From the hippie school doing improv acts to the redneck bad guys, it's all just a train-wreck of free love and people power. If your a fan of films such as The Room or Plan 9 From Outer Space, be sure to check out Billy Jack.

So what film ultimately won our hearts in the end? The bounty of treasures that is Billy Jack or the no nonsense gruffness of The French Connection? Check out the latest Highbrow! Lowbrow? to find out!