Openings evolve and new ideas continually come to the forefront. Very few 50 year old opening books continue to be published or reproduced without updates. I am an aficionado of the Alekhine's Defence and have books that go back 20 years, but lean towards more recent analysis in preparing for events in the limited time possible. There is a place in the adoption of a new opening repertoire for classic games, but should they be really relevant to the contemporary study then they are usually quoted in modern tomes. Unlike most, I have a job that takes up 12 hours of each week-day and some time on weekends, add in family responsibilities, a wife suffering a chronic condition, etc. To take an historical trip through the games of the older players is a luxury I can't afford. I am looking for some hard sharp, forcing lines I can learn, play, and then build on, while adopting a greater understanding of the opening over the next few years as I dabble in other variations. Classical games have there place, and I have and will continue to look at them. But, in preparing to play it otb, I must budget my time accordingly. Despite the words to the old song, time is NOT on my side!   

Thanks for The Flexible French suggestion. John Watson also speaks highly of it! I looked for it at 44 Baker Street on my recent trip through London, but as they were moving stock around due to the closing of their flagship store, there were temporarily out of stock. I did grab a copy of Neil McDonald's latest though.

Playing through games of Uhlmann really is a must, I think. And yes ideas have changed in the French sincce him, but he often was the one with the new idea in the first place. More modern is Morozevich (in particular games where he goes g5).
I would also have a look at games where these players have the white pieces: Anand for the 3.Nc3 lines, Adams for 3.Nd2 and Sveshnikov for 3.e5. They show a lot of the dangers for black.

There is a wide choice: Uhlmann, Botvinnik and Petrosian are just three names. Reason why? Because they were extraordinary strong players who thus understood a couple of things.
I sincerely think you should narrow your search field.

While I'm looking tho, you could try the games of: Petrosian, Botvinnik, Uhlmann, Korchnoi, Bareev, Shirov, Morozevich, Short, Ulibin, and Volkov.  (Just to name a very few.)

OK, I'm trying to familiarize myself with the French Defence opening. Which French Defence player should I study the games of? Watson? Korchnoi?

All suggestions, and the reasons why, would be greatly appreciated.