Product: French Connection [VHS] (1971)
Rating: 4.0
Excellent DVD of a great film
No need to say much about this film, it is a classic with superb performances and an excellent script. The cast are all spot-on, with Gene Hackman (one of my favourite actors) fully deserving his Best Actor Oscar.The 2 DVD set includes 2 documentaries, one 'The Poughkeepsie Shuffle' made by the BBC, and the other I think specially for the DVD release. Both occasionally overlap in content of course, but are definitely worth watching. They include interviews with Hackman , Roy Scheider and William Friedkin, and with the two NYPD cops on whose exploits the film is based.The DVD transfer is very fine for a 30 year old film. Don't worry about the atrocious grain (which almost amounts to pixellation) in the opening shot of Marseille's skyline. The rest of the film enjoys an excellent anamorphic transfer, with only slight grain visible in a few night scenes. This transfer is well up to the standard of the best DVDs of similar period films. The soundtrack is also excellent.