Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Member since:11.07.2000
Reviews:625
Members who trust:55
The French Connection is one of those films that you hear is an absolute classic but you never get the chance to see it. Well thanks to a Special Edition DVD release I finally got the chance last night and it was well worth the wait.
Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy 'Cloudy' Russo (Roy Schieder) are two New York cops who like nothing better than cleaning up the city by stamping down on the drug problems in the bleak areas of upper Manhattan. Doyle has an eye for spotting crooks and one night he sees someone familiar dishing out cash like confetti in a club. He has a hunch and drags along Russo on a stakeout. They tail the guy who seems shifty and owns a business that doesn't really bring in the cash. In fact this guy is a go between on a large drugs deal between a dealer from France and a New York crime Barron. But Doyle is on the case and from then on it's hard-nosed detective work and sheer determination to apprehend the 'French Connection'.
This may sound like your basic cop film but it's so much more than that. We have great characters and realism. It's a film with balls that don’t get made anymore. There are some thrilling scenes such as a chase through the subway that leads to a sometimes-amusing game of cat and mouse. But by far the highlight is a car chase where Doyle speeds after an express train overhead at full speed dodging cars, hitting cars and narrowly avoiding mothers and their prams. Its very well stage and some of it is actually claimed to be done for real with some other car smashes authentic. How true this is I don't know.
Hackman won an Oscar for his performance and it's easy to see why. it's the kind of performance that isn't showy but creates a real character and not someone you just look at as an actor going through the motions. Doyle is a real hardass in the film and often apprehends suspects and gets them to confess by asking "do you ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?". The suspect doesn't understand but feels intimidated to say yes.
In equal support is Roy Scheider, another role that is flawless and natural. In a way I was watching this film and wishing that Scheider would still be getting good roles instead of some worthless DTV dross.
William Friedkin also won an Oscar for his direction of this film and it's well deserved. It defines the term 'gritty. There’s no showy lighting here with everything very real and untouched. If it's dark on a stakeout then you can hardly make out the characters. He shoots it in a documentary style and you feel the realism with locations that show the darker side of New York away from the glitz of lower fifth avenue and the lower west side.
It's also intriguing that a lot of the film is played out without any music. it actually adds to the ambience and doesn't detract from what the character is saying at any moment.
In this day and age you could look at the film and say it had a racist view as most of the drug addicts and criminals are black but maybe this was what it was like in the early seventies. I've never heard anyone slate the film for it. The fact that the film is based on a true story just makes it more believable and worth investing your time in.
The French Connection is a classic film in all aspects. You don't see anything like it anymore. It's one of those films's that won Oscars that you might think strange. But then you think about it and really appreciate that it stands up after thirty years.
Normally I watch a film at home and get restless halfway through. Not once did I do it with this film.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: K.C. Bascombe - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jesse James, Rachel Skarsten, Charles Powell, Linda Purl, Kevin Zegars
very helpful by (100%):
