Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The French Connection (1971) - Hackman and Friedkin burst forth with propulsive NY-set drug thriller

1/20/2019

The French Connection (1971) - Hackman and Friedkin burst forth with propulsive NY-set drug thriller

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Gene Hackman's hero Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle shoots a fleeing guy in the back on this great poster for William Friedkin's The French Connection

NYPD drug-assigned detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle works largely on the basis of "hunches", - and he is often right. Tired of catching the little fish, he now gets a whiff of something much larger ...

The French Connection is written by Ernest Tidyman (Shaft (1973-74)), based on the same-titled 1969 non-fiction book by Robin Moore (Pitchman (1966)), (which details the uncovering of the large-scale heroin-smuggling from France to the US), and is directed by Chicagoan master filmmaker William Friedkin (Rampage (1984)). It is his 5th theatrical feature.
Gene Hackman (Welcome to Mooseport (2004)) has an authenticity, a masculinity and a fallible quality to him as 'Popeye' Doyle, which makes him outstanding in this film, and Roy Scheider (Executive Target (1997)) is good (as usual) as his partner. The city is used with great care, insight and effort, and in a sense New York's criminal underworld becomes the film's lead character.
Very little happens in the first hour, while nothing seems to corroborate Doyle's hunch, but somehow this wildly macho, realistic mammoth work remains effectively compelling despite this. The central car/train chase scene is intense, (cinematography by Owen Roizman (Straight Time (1978))), and Don Ellis' (The Seven-Ups (1973)) score is often fantastic.
The French Connection is always a great watch and a brilliant thriller.

Related posts:

William Friedkin: Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Killer Joe (2011) - Friedkin's dark, intense maybe last cinematic package
The Exorcist (1973) - Friedkin and Blatty's masterpiece, one of the scariest pictures of all time
The Boys in the Band (1970) - Friedkin and Crowley's groundbreaking gay birthday party movie

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2.2 mil. $
Box office: Reportedly 75 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 34.09 times its cost)
[The French Connection premiered 7 October (Los Angeles, California and New York) and runs 104 minutes. The film's realism was inspired by Costa-Gavras' Z (1969). Many other famous actors and NY columnist Jimmy Breslin were considered for (and some were offered) the Doyle part, before Friedkin settled on Hackman, who got his major breakthrough with the film. Shooting took place in New York and Washington DC and in Rhône, France from November 1970 - March 1971. The film made 51.7 mil. $ (68.9 % of the total gross) in North America. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. The film was nominated for 8 Oscars: It won 5; for Best Picture, Actor (Hackman), Director, Adapted Screenplay and Editing. It lost Supporting Actor (Scheider) to Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show, Cinematography to Oswald Morris for Fiddler on the Roof and Sound also to Fiddler on the Roof. It won 3/4 Golden Globe nominations, 2/5 BAFTA noms, a David di Donatello award, 1/2 Grammy noms, 2 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. John Frankenheimer directed the successful sequel French Connection II (1975) with returning stars Hackman and Fernando Rey (1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)). Friedkin returned with The Exorcist (1973)). Hackman returned in Cisco Pike (1972). The French Connection is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

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1/20/2019

The French Connection (1971) - Hackman and Friedkin burst forth with propulsive NY-set drug thriller

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