Quote:
Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs  The French Connection (1971)
I've never found William Friedkin's seminal crime thriller the easiest film to like. It's probably the documentary style of movie making, it doesn't really feel like a typical thriller. Here instead of a story developing we are pretty much thrust into a case that's already going on as we follow cops Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider in their pursuit (literally) of a French drug smuggler (Fernando Rey) on the verge of a multi million heroin deal in Brooklyn.
Hackman's 'Popeye' Doyle is very much the anti-hero of the film, ruthless in the extreme although pretty cool. " All right, Popeye's here! Get your hands on your heads, get off the bar, and get on the wall!" he announces as he barges into a Brooklyn bar whose clients all seem to be black drug users. The film is largely shot on location in Brooklyn's seedier areas which help add to the dark tone of the piece with Friedkin's urban location work some of the finest and memorable in cinema history
The nine minute chase during the final third is rightly celebrated as Doyle in a car frantically attempts to keep up with a hitman on board an elevated train. Much of it is shot in first person from the drivers seat of the car and it''s genuinely thrilling to this day. As with Bullitt (1968) no modern CGI FX fest can match it for realism.
So whilst i still don't find the film the easiest to love it's one i certainly admire and am finding it growing on me more and more. |
I remember watching some of it way back in the 80s and it was the subway scene. That one scene peaked my interest enough to want to watch the full film. I hear what you are saying about the almost documentary style of it being an acquired taste but for me i really like that aspect and love the film in general.