The French Connection | Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey

The French Connection | Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey | Great service

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The French Connection

	The French Connection Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey 20th Century Fox, 2005 average customer review:based on 114 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Two narcotics detectives, "Popeye" Doyle and his partner Buddy Russo (Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider), start to close in on a vast international narcotics ring when the smugglers unexpectedly strike back. Following an attempt on his life by one of the smuggl

Brutal as Brooklyn Winter

"The French Connection," (1971) opens: we quickly see Brooklyn, New York, a few days before Christmas. It's brutal: we see a sidewalk Santa shivering at his Salvation Army bucket; a man freezing his touchas off as he works a hot dog cart. Suddenly we realize they're cops surveilling a dive of a bar, as they tear their costumes off and rush inside. So begins a nonstop action thriller, one of the greatest crime dramas/police procedurals of the 1970's; one of Hollywood's most celebrated golden eras. In 1971, it won five Oscars: Best Picture; Best Actor for Gene Hackman; Best Director for William Friedkin (it now appears this movie will be the crowning achievement of his career); Best Writing for Ernest Tidyman, noted black author ("Shaft") who wrote the witty screenplay (Howard Hawks contributed uncredited polish), and Best Editing. The excellent cinematography was by the talented Owen Roizman. Add to that the fact that it was based on a crackerjack novel by well-known thriller writer Robin Moore. And the odd fact that G. David Schine, a New York boy if ever there was one, and a central figure during the 1950's Army-McCarthy hearings, gets a credit as Executive Producer, and you have one flavorful film.

The plot is, of course, pretty well-known; based on a true story of a major 1970's drug bust. New York was then in big trouble, reeling from drug use, an overburdened welfare system, graffiti, crime, and near bankruptcy. Hackman plays the always in overdrive New York City Police Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle; Roy Scheider plays Det. Buddy "Cloudy" Russo, his partner. Both stars of the true life drama, Eddie Egan and Sonny Grasso, play minor characters in the film; each advised on the picture, and would go on to successful careers, post P.D., as advisers to the entertainment trade on police matters. We see a Bunuel favorite, Fernando Rey as their chief antagonist, smooth Frenchman Alain Charnier; and a Costa-Gravas favorite, Marcel Bozzuffi as Pierre Nicoli, his henchman. And we get the under appreciated Tony Lo Bianco as Sal Boca, hard luck fall guy. For an added fillip, we get a couple of scenes of Philadelphia girl group - always loved them-- the Three Degrees. Plus, of course, we get two of the screen's most memorable sequences: the (elevated) subway/automobile chase, and Nocoli's concluding death on the subway steps.

Most of all, we get what was at the time an absolutely fresh, genuine picture of New York as it then was, as real as a blast of Arctic winter air. We see a lot of its subways; there's even a poster somewhere in a subway car dated "1971." We see the Empire State Building on the horizon a couple of times, and the World Trade Center going up. Lower East Side landmark restaurant Ratner's; Ward's Island; The Westbury, and other luxury hotels and restaurants: Charnier sends a cup of coffee out to Hackman, shivering as he surveills him. Brooklyn has never been better served: Doyle is shown as living in a project there. My neighborhoods, the places I knew best: the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges,the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and its exit ramps, Hicks Street and Court Street,the Brooklyn Heights Promenade with its heart-stopping views of Manhattan as Xanadu, right there on the screen. The classic chase sequence begins at Bay 50th Street, in Bensonhurst. Hackman had a real-life car crash filming the chase, at Stillwell Avenue and 86th Street; it was left in. Friedkin, who was only 32 when he won his Oscar for this movie, has said he utilized documentary techniques to get its edginess; he cut that celebrated car chase to Carlos Santana's hit "Black Magic Woman."

Listen, they just don't make them like this anymore....

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Great service

I received this product sooner than promised. It was in great condition.
The movie was everything it was advertised to be. I would buy more products like this one anyday.

Oldie but goodie.

The French connection is a superbly cast and directed film from the early 1970s. A hard as nails Gene Hackman cuts his way through all of the back alley dirt, and the facade of a police force gone dirtier on his way to busting one of the biggest heroin rings of all time. The film includes a gut wrenching car chase that rivals Steve McQueen's "Bullet". A must see film, I give it a solid two thumbs up!

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Interesting Pseudo-Documentary That Doesn't Age Very Well!

First the good news: Fox has done a great job mastering this dvd as both the picture and sound quality are very good having been given the THX Dolby Digital 5.1 treatment. The second disc also has very interesting true documentaries about the original Doyle and Grasso, the former actually having a role in the movie. I thought the camerawork was very, very good though with excellent play with lighting especially in the late night stake out scenes. The car chase scene was also very good too. This next point can also be construed as a negative but the film tried very hard to stay true to the events as they actually happened.

Now the not so good news: this film doesn't age very well as is typical with movies from the 70s the story takes a while to develop and in this case, the movie is shot like a documentary too. This means that for young movie-goers of today, this film will very likely bore you for the most part. In keeping as close to actual events as possible, the ending had to be lame with the criminal actually getting away. Overall, this is a good police movie if you have the patience to sit through the slow unfolding of it and quite frankly I cannot understand how this film won the Oscar for the Best Picture, Actor and Director when clearly another film that actually has aged a whole lot better and is certainly much more interesting that year should have won those three categories: "A Clockwork Orange." Now that was truly film that was ahead of its time and Stanley Kubrick is on another planet when it comes to directing as compared to Friedkin. Another negative point is the fact that Fox has done it yet again in trying to get you to pay more than is necessary for this by putting on two discs when they could have put on one just to get you to pay more. They did the same thing with "M*A*S*H.

Entertaining? Yes, if you have the patience. Best Film of the year? Certainly not. Ages well for today's audience? Nope. Good quality sound and picture? Definitely. Now you decide if you still wanna get this.

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