Product: French Connection [VHS] (1971)
Rating: 5.0
Like A Fine Wine...
Like a fine wine this movie has aged masterfully. If anything it is a classic example of how the 70's were a golden period of filmaking. All the adjectives about The French Connection have been used...gritty, tough, violent etc. Watching it again I was impressed on so many levels, particularly the way Friedkin develops the characters and tells the tale.What can you say about Gene Hackman's Popey Doyle? Yes, he's a brutal racist without any redeeming qualities. Yet why do we want him to catch the suave debonair Fernando Rey so badly? It is a testament to both Hackman's brilliant,explosive performance and Friedkin's masterful direction that we are left rooting for someone we really shouldn't be.The car-subway chase is still exhilirating, but for my money there are two scenes that truelly stand out.First watching Hackman stakeout Rey outside the posh French Restaurant in the bitter cold New York winter. No words are spoken but you can feel the bite of the cold air and the unforgiving chill that grips the city.The second is the cat and mouse game that is played out between the two at Grand Central Station, culminating in the little wave goodbye that Rey gives.Why don't we see this sort of filmaking anymore?The bottom line...an ugly cop, doing an ugly job in an ugly city (no Disneyfied Times Square here!) makes for a great film.