William Friedkin becoming George Lucas: color-altered Blu-Ray DVDs of THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THE EXORCIST.

Thanks to Jeffrey Wells of HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE for his coverage of William Friedkin's soon-to-be-released altered-color version of THE FRENCH CONNECTION on Blu-Ray DVD next Tuesday: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/harris_on_re-vi.php and
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/wank.php

For the most part, I was okay with George Lucas' 1997 revised versions of the original STAR WARS trilogy because Lucas had the chance to make alterations to include digital effects/enhancements unavailable to him when the original films were released. And, to his credit, Lucas has included the original release prints alongside the revised ones on recent DVD issues.

Unfortunately, it looks as if Friedkin and/or 20th Century Fox won't give the home viewer a chance to compare the original FRENCH CONNECTION and the revision. Only the "new" version will be available on Blu-Ray.

And it appears that Friedkin will try the same apporach with THE EXORCIST (due for Blu-Ray release late this year). Rumor has it that the "version you've never seen" which was released theatrically almost a decade ago will receive the recolorization treatment.

[UPDATE 2/18/09: Critic Glenn Kenny, best known for his stint at PREMIERE magazine, offers his opinion on the revised FRENCH CONNECTION on his SOME CAME RUNNING blog: http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2009/02/what-hath-friedkin-wrought.html]

[UPDATE 2/25/09: Owen Roizman, the cinematographer of THE FRENCH CONNECTION, is upset over Friedkin's visual alterations for the Blu-Ray disc: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/atrocioushorrif.php]

[UPDATE 3/3/09: Friedkin rebuts Roizman's negative opinion: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/03/full_of_it.php]