A One Mann’s Movies review of “The French Connection” (1971).
The most recent “Throwback” from “Everyman” cinemas, “The French Connection” is widely regarded as a classic of the genre. It led the Oscar nominations in 1992 (with 8, shared with “Fiddler on the Roof” and “The Last Picture Show”) and went home with five: “Best Picture”, “Best Director” for William Friedkin, “Best Actor” for Gene Hackman, “Best Adapted Screenplay” for Ernest Tidyman and “Best Film Editing” for Gerald B. Greenberg. It was also nominated for “Best Supporting Actor” for Roy Scheider; “Best Sound” for Christopher Newman and Theodore Soderberg; and “Best Cinematography” for Owen Roizman.
Today, it feels slightly dated, with its blaring ’70s style title music. And, of course, we have been numbed by the fact that this was a template for countless buddy-cop movies that were to follow (especially in the 1980’s with films like “48 Hours” and “Lethal Weapon”). I can only imagine how special and different this would have been back in 1971. But it still manages to impress even today with some extraordinarily clever and evocative sequences.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“The French Connection” Plot:
Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his partner Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) are two detectives working the streets of New York in the fight against drugs. They become suspicious of a wide-boy candy-shop owner, Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco), which puts them on the trail of a huge shipment of drugs being imported into the US from Marseille by Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey).
Certification:
UK: 18; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Contains strong violence and language”. This is a great example of how censorship re violence has changed in 50 years… I think this would be an easy ’15’ if released today.)
Talent:
Starring: Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi, Bill Hickman, Arlene Farber, Ann Rebbot, Frédéric de Pasquale, Harold Gary, Eddie Egan.
Directed by: William Friedkin.
Written by: Ernest Tidyman & William Friedkin (uncredited). (Based on the book by Robin Moore.)
Running Time: 1h 44m.
“The French Connection” Summary:
Positives:
- Brilliant directorial flourishes: iconic sequences that really make you go “wow”.
- Great cinematography and editing.
- A genre-defining look into cop-work.
Negatives:
- A car crash scene is rather confusing.
- By today’s standards of sound, some of the dialogue is difficult to decipher.
Review of “The French Connection”:
One for Film Studies students to savour.
I’m sure this is a classic film that is a staple of film study courses around the world. If not, it should be. William Friedkin, two years before he was set to shock the world with “The Exorcist”, delivers a film with so many amazing directorial flourishes. Some of the scenes are undeniably iconic: the scene where Doyle (Gene Hackman) plays cat and mouse with subway doors with Charnier (Fernando Rey); and the even more famous scene that starts with the shocking shooting of an innocent pram-pushing mother through a world-famous subway-car-chase and ends with another iconic shooting on the subway station steps.
Brilliant direction.
Throughout the film, Friedkin makes clever use of almost subliminal shots, perfectly timed in the deservedly Oscar-winning editing: the initial shooting by Charnier’s hit-man Nicoli (Marcel Bozzuffi); Doyle’s kinky naked lady friend… “Bicycle Girl” (Maureen Mooney); the lady pushing the pram in the subway car chase.
In other scenes, the script plays with your expectations: when Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) comes literally face to face with Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco) in an underground car park, I thought “oh no, he’s a dirty cop and he is in on it”. But no, it is a genuine accident and (although busted for further undercover work) Buddy plays it off perfectly (a brilliant bit of acting by Scheider).
Well cast.
Gene Hackman has never been better, establishing Doyle as an unpredictable maverick with a short fuse, well known in the force for his quirks: he is always wanting to arrest people for “picking their feet in Poughkeepsie”. Roy Scheider is almost as good, in a far less flashy and understated role. If he hadn’t hit a home run with Chief Brody four years later, this would probably have been the role that he was most famous for.
In an interesting bit of trivia, the guy that plays Walt Simonson, Popeye and Buddy’s boss, is Eddie Egan, the real-life inspiration for Popeye Doyle’s character.
We also, by the way, get to see The Three Degrees to a number!
New York at its grubbiest.
You sometimes forget what a hive of scum and villainy New York used to be before Rudy Giuliani’s controversial “civic cleanup” from 1994 to 2001. But this film really manages to paint its seedier side in the worse possible light, thanks to the wonderful cinematography by Owen Roizman (who I think was robbed for the Oscar: it went to Oswald Morris for “Fiddler on the Roof”). Some of the angles and lenses used make the architecture another character in the film.
Some of the misdirections (if intended) just confuse.
It’s difficult to tell sometimes whether some of the script’s misdirections are deliberate or accidental: I guess that’s one of the things that made it an Oscar-winning screenplay. Some are obvious: the closing titles that describe what happened to the participants (sentences handed down, etc) when the work is a work of fiction. However, one particular scene had me very confused.
Before the attempted ‘hit’ on Doyle, we see the duo butting heads with the Feds at the scene of a car accident which gives Friedkin more opportunity to use more from his bottle of rather over-bright-red make-up blood! But (and I had to dive into the internet to confirm this) the couple in the car crash are just random people we haven’t met before and the scene is added to emphasise (as the daily work of cops hadn’t been seen like this before) that sometimes they have to interrupt what they are doing to undertake some pretty unpleasant assignments, including checking out MVA’s. The problem for me is that the couple in the car looked very much like Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco) and his wife Angie (Arlene Farber). Add into that that in this scene his boss tells Doyle and Russo that they are “off the case” (what? because the two main suspects are now both dead?) and Friedkin injected a whole heap of unhelpful misdirection into my mind.
Dodgy dialogue.
Cinema sound has come a long way in 50 years (Dolby was in its infancy in 1971). This is notable as you start to watch the film and try to decipher what the characters are saying. It’s all very muffled and indistinct and I for one (and the illustrious Mrs Movie Man beside me) didn’t pick up a lot of it. As is the way of things, our ears did get tuned to the accents and it became easier later on.
Summary Thoughts on “The French Connection”
It’s certainly a film of its time but “The French Connection” is deservedly tagged as a “classic” for good reason. I’m sure I have seen it before but it must be over 30 years ago and then not on the big screen. It certainly holds up well and puts many modern day cookie-cutter action films (e.g. “A Working Man” which I saw the previous night) to shame.
It’s only showing on a few days this week, but if you are in the UK and have an “Everyman” cinema near you, this is well worth checking out.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “The French Connection”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T76K3RxJY0A.
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