The French Connection

I don't think it was totally unplanned, but it wasn't in the script and they sort of made it up as they went along. I seem to recall the director getting interviewed saying it was originally going to just be a regular car chase but those had been done to death and they wanted to out-do all the other chase scenes.

heh

You can't fucking get Scarface anywhere though.

You ever pick yr feet in Poughkeepsie?

Commentary is GREAT on FC but nothing beats John Milius & Arnold back+forthing over Conan The Barb

The editing is something I noticed throughout the film as well, very disorienting without losing the thread of the story (and I thoroughly appreciated how many details weren't spelled out but were left for an aware audience to deduce or create). Pity about the blood when it appeared, though, it all looked fake.

Fave realization via the BBC documentary -- he, that was Eddie Egan, the prototype for Popeye Doyle, actually playing Popeye's boss! Did a pretty job too, I had thought it was just a random character actor.

Friedkin on wanting Jackie Gleason for Doyle, and shooting the chase with no warning or closings of NY streets:

I wanted Gleason because the real cop was a heavy set Irish guy that you’d call Black Irish, dark and moody. That was the real guy, Eddie Egan. Gleason was closest to that, but the studio would have none of it. We went through many other stars until we finally reluctantly agreed to Gene Hackman when we were out of time and Zanuck kept calling the producer and me saying you better set this picture now because I’ll be fired before you start shooting. So reluctantly we went with Gene. One of the great actors in the history of American film, who was not my first, second or tenth choice for that part. So I guess the other thing about the 70s was, there was just a ton of pure luck.

http://deadline.com/2015/08/william-friedkin-q-and-a-70s-moviemaking-tales-of-glory-and-reckless-abandon-1201491441/

How high did this finish in the action-film poll? Not my genre.

Saw it for the third or fourth time tonight. Great look, at least three or four famous moments, performances are fine, or they at least don't get in the way. But I like Marathon Man and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three a lot more. If I'd had an Academy Award ballot, I would have voted for The Last Picture Show. Still need to see the sequel.

Disagree with the original post about the footnotes at the end being a mistake. They seem crucial to the film's point.

"Hey! HAIRCUT!" still one of my all-time faves.

strap in for this excellent feature on the Blu-Rays that have been released. i had no idea there's actually now a pretty decent one, the original BR having been kicked to death by all and sundry, including seemingly Freidkin himself despite it being (mostly) his fault!

http://www.highdefdigest.com/blog/french-connection-bluray-controversy/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRr2R9LVyng

Superb theme.

I realise there isn't the mainstream attention span out there for some of the scenes in this movie these days but I found myself loving the slow brew and the score keeps it ticking along just right (a few incidental vamps aside).

Highlights: the car stripping scene, the stakeout scene outside the restaurant in the New York cold, the step in-out-in-out of the train.

Hackman obv kills it, but I really think Scheider shines here too. I'd be inclined to say he deserved a best supporting Oscar too but I haven't seen 'The Last Picture Show'.

And yeah the "where are they now" synopsis at the end is the only real disappointment here. Need to find a copy of the sequel (which I have no expectations for).

the sequel is

******incredible*******

but eh maybe not the movie you would expect

also catch the seven ups while you're at it, the movie everyone not invited to the sequel went and made instead

Downloading both now on your strong recommendation!

when you finish the car chase in the latter pause and report back pls

Deems, I see what you mean about the sequel - great but there's not much comic relief!

Has anyone seen the 80s TV movie?

I didn't know anything about it but I've found a download link if you're interested.

J.K. Simmons makes an appearance ha

I’ll uh wait for others to report back I think

I only learned of its existence the other day. Apparently it was meant as a pilot but never got picked up

i love the first FC flick, it's basically got all of Friedkin's often awe-inspiring bleakness wrapped up in an Oscar bait cop film.

FC2 is a really strange one, I need to see it again. When I first viewed it, it completely threw me off. I didn't like it, but maybe i could like it more now years later.

I really do love Don Ellis' music in this. The sound of rotten trash cans in pollution-misted streets.

Don Ellis' music is spine-chilling, never more so than in the closing credits. It evokes a bleak feeling and a rage that no doubt consumes Popeye until the end of the sequel. I watch this and Mean Streets and feel cheated that I was born to late experience the "real" New York - whilst admitting to myself that I'd be scared as hell.

Holy smokes Deems. The Seven-Ups car chase has ended(!), I have paused, and I am here to say goddarn it that might be my favourite car chase ever (though the cops did demonstrate how not to set up a roadblock 101).

yep yep

You-guessed-who is upset that a racial slur has been removed from the dialogue: https://hollywood-elsewhere.com/french-connection-refresher/

Weird. Popeye is not meant to be an admirable character in my view. He is, ironically due to the fact that he is a narcotics officer, an addict—addicted to the chase. His life is an absolute mess.

holy hell is that comments section malignant

What website is this? I have never seen it before.

You-guessed-who

What does armond white think about this movie?

The proper question is, how has armond white's opinion of this movie changed now that the discourse involves this?

Life Is Beautiful was garbage. Il Conformista was never nominated Best Picture of the Year but it was easily superior to either Patton or The French Connection.

— Armond White (@3xchair) February 12, 2020

Wow. Off the money armond

Nope. Armond otm.

Madonna!

The Conformist easily my film of 1971. Madonna's too.

I once gave Madonna recommendations for things to do in Lisbon. Call me a name dropper, it is true, but

I will watch if that’s the case. I believe I watched it in the distant past but don’t remember specifics.

I have it on authority her favorite movie of 1971 is The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes.

Remind me of the time I looked into the heart of an artichoke.

Oops, I was mistaken, it's an seven-way tie between:

The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes
Beware of a Holy Whore
Critical Mass
(nostalgia)
La Région Centrale
S:TREAM:S:S:ECTION:S:ECTION:S:S:ECTIONED
WR: Mysteries of the Organism

Santa Cleopatra!