Product: French Connection [VHS] (1971)
Rating: 5.0
Brutal as Brooklyn Winter
"The French Connection," (1971) opens: we quickly see Brooklyn, New York, a few days before Christmas. It's brutal: we see a sidewalk Santa shivering at his Salvation Army bucket; a man freezing his touchas off as he works a hot dog cart. Suddenly we realize they're cops surveilling a dive of a bar, as they tear their costumes off and rush inside. So begins a nonstop action thriller, one of the greatest crime dramas/police procedurals of the 1970's; one of Hollywood's most celebrated golden eras.In 1971, "Connection" won five Oscars: Best Picture; Best Actor for Gene Hackman; Best Director for William Friedkin (it now appears this movie will be the crowning achievement of his career). Best Writing for Ernest Tidyman, noted author of Shaft, (Shaft) who wrote "Connection's" witty screenplay (Howard Hawks contributed uncredited polish). (According to Tidyman's niece, Kathryn Tidyman, Ernest, although white, "received an award from the NAACP for his depiction of the character of John Shaft, a black detective. Many people who saw the Shaft films presumed he was black-had to be. He was just a brilliant writer who soaked up everything about the people and culture in the big cities in which he lived during his relatively short life.")The film received its final Oscar for Best Editing. The excellent cinematography was by the talented Owen Roizman. Add to that the fact that it was based on a crackerjack novel by well-known thriller writer Robin Moore. And the odd fact that G. David Schine, a New York boy if ever there was one, and a central figure during the 1950's Army-McCarthy hearings, gets a credit as Executive Producer, and you have one flavorful film.The plot is, of course, pretty well-known; based on a true story of a major 1970's drug bust. New York was then in big trouble, reeling from drug use, an overburdened welfare system, graffiti, crime, and near bankruptcy. Hackman plays the always in overdrive New York City Police Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle; Roy Scheider plays Det. Buddy "Cloudy" Russo, his partner. Both stars of the true life drama, Eddie Egan and Sonny Grasso, play minor characters in the film; each advised on the picture, and would go on to successful careers, post Police Department, as advisers to the entertainment trade on police matters. We see a Bunuel favorite, Fernando Rey as their chief antagonist, smooth Frenchman Alain Charnier; and a Costa-Gravas favorite, Marcel Bozzuffi as Pierre Nicoli, his henchman. And we get the under appreciated Tony Lo Bianco as Sal Boca, hard luck fall guy. For an added fillip, we get a couple of scenes of Philadelphia girl group - always loved them-- the Three Degrees. Plus, of course, we get two of the screen's most memorable sequences: the (elevated) subway/automobile chase, and Nocoli's concluding death on the subway steps.Most of all, we get what was at the time an absolutely fresh, genuine picture of New York as it then was, as real as a blast of Arctic winter air. We see a lot of its subways; there's even a poster somewhere in a subway car dated "1971." We see the Empire State Building on the horizon a couple of times, and the World Trade Center going up. Lower East Side landmark restaurant Ratner's; Ward's Island; The Westbury, and other luxury hotels and restaurants: Charnier sends a cup of coffee out to Hackman, shivering as he surveills him. Brooklyn has never been better served: Doyle is shown as living in a project there. My neighborhoods, the places I knew best: the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges,the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and its exit ramps, Hicks Street and Court Street,the Brooklyn Heights Promenade with its heart-stopping views of Manhattan as Xanadu, right there on the screen. The classic chase sequence begins at Bay 50th Street, in Bensonhurst. Hackman had a real-life car crash filming the chase, at Stillwell Avenue and 86th Street; it was left in. Friedkin, who was only 32 when he won his Oscar for this movie, has said he utilized documentary techniques to get its edginess; he cut that celebrated car chase to Carlos Santana's hit "Black Magic Woman."Listen, they just don't make them like this anymore....