Product: French Connection [VHS] (1971)
Rating: 4.0
Essential Viewing
This excellent film was released in the autumn of 1971; Pauline Kael writes about theater audiences being "almost sick with excitement" - this was something new in the genre of the police drama, much grittier and rawer, more real, more explosive.I love the 1970s for movies, specifically the first half of the decade, roughly from "Easy Rider" through "Jaws" - it's my favorite period for American films (it's the favorite of plenty of people, of course), when genres were getting redefined (the Mafia picture with "The Godfather," the Western with "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," the war picture with "MASH," etc.). This movie is an essential part of the period. (Yeah, I realize "Easy Rider" is '69.) My understanding is, Hollywood took a little while to catch up to the social/cultural revolution of the '60s. I want to read that book about the period, "Easy Riders/Raging Bulls."A few more random thoughts:- I was taking an urban studies class in high school in St. Paul at the time; we attended this film on a cold day in January, 1972, as a lesson in the decay of the American city. My teacher said that New York City was "not governable, and here's your proof." Not governable! I believed that for years! I didn't move to NYC after college in 1977 because of what the guy said! This "not governable" nonsense was a widespread feeling at the time; it intensified during the fiscal crisis circa 1975. I guess this is a lesson to me, not what the teacher said, but that teachers are often wrong, that the year 2010 does not have a unique purchase on American pessimism, and that a huge democracy always has big problems.- Francis Coppola watched this movie and felt despair in his heart; he convinced himself that the dark, slow movie he was about to release, "The Godfather," would not grab audiences nearly as well as this flashy, fast creation. This reminds me of Paul McCartney just before the release of "Revolver" suddenly deciding the whole project wasn't good enough, it was out of tune, etc. Sometimes artists can get too close to their work.- I've seen William Friedkin in several significant interviews. He comes across, to me, as very smart and very shrewd, just the sort of person I'd hire to helm a big project, and, for some reason, the last person on God's green Earth that I want to have a beer with. I haven't quite figured this out yet.Spoiler alert! My next two items concern a key sequence in the movie.- Regarding the car-in-the-garage sequence (cinematic genius, of course): Irv's tool for ripping apart the car makes a noise that's a nice little take-off on some of the soundtrack music. As Cloudy Russo might say, "Cute."- At the climax of the car-in-the-garage sequence, Irv says, "I ripped everything out of there except the rocker panels." Popeye bellows, "C'mon, Irv, what are the rocker panels?" To which the best reply is, "Well, Popeye, the rocker panels are strips of metal that cover cavernous spaces in the car that are perfect for storing 120 pounds of heroin. That I forgot about until just now."