Just watched it for the first time. I don't know much about movies, but I've always been a fan of the classic 40's noir films. That leap you talk about is super evident. Definitely see postmodernism's influence in the arts. It's outstanding, edge of your seat, deserves the accolades, but no question it's a black pill haha. Hopefully we see a return of hopeful and constructive art forms making a comeback.
I've watched this movie countless times. All of the acting is phenomenal. The segment that features the car in "hot pursuit" of the train is famously intense and impressive. Friedkin has a style that creates a drab atmosphere, and the soundtrack adds a creepy and unnerving quality. The "French Connection" certainly offers a memorable impact. I also believe ( as you indicated in another video) that it is Friedkin's masterpiece. I sincerely enjoyed your analysis. Great job!
You really nailed it. That opening score is truly something else, the way the wind section appears to be playing Morse code always triggered a vague connection in my mind to the state and could be tied into the international theme of the film as well. I'm really glad you brought up the almost dystopian depiction of New York, too. Many film makers at this time seemed to be taking notice of this, films like Midnight Cowboy, Panic in Needle Park, Klute, there's really too many to list, but The French Connection is on a whole 'nother level.
Hackman and Scheider have an amazing connection Both fabulous actors in their own films Doyle and Russo are tough, sinister and extremely clever cops working in the grit of Brooklyn 🥰
I've seen this movie many times. I wouldn't say I liked it the first time, but the more I saw it, the more exciting it was and a true art form. You have to watch part 2 two or three times also. It is great.
With the recent passing of Wm. Friedkin, I revisited this film. Liked it so much that I watched it a second time the following day (but this time with Friedkin's commentary). He intentionally had it shot like a documentary, such that the cameramen weren't directed where to shoot. They just shot the activity as it occurred and as they discovered it. Also, the real Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso played small parts in the film.
Great comment Josh. Agree on all points - especially with changing my estimation of a film after an interval of years. Gene Hackman always wants a fight, when he comes on the screen something is going to get broken or there is confrontation. Have you seen Penn's 'Night Moves' made a few years later? Hackman is a fit for the character in that noir movie also.
Thank you. Yes, I recommend Night Moves even though it bothers me for a lot of reasons. As a detective movie, it's really intriguing, and probably should be part of some kind of class on the development of the genre over time.
I make my best friend watch this. He’s like “no not the French Connection again.” But the last time I talked him into it he said afterwards “You know I like this movie more every time I see it.”
For me the energy and the rhythm of the is what makes it great. The plot is set out within 10/15 minutes and then then a pulsating pursuit begins, the realistic style just adds to that and the movie passes by in a whirl. The ultimate thriller
You mention the documentary feeling of this film twice. There is a reason for that; Billy was a documentarian and he called this “induced documentary.”
Great episode, I accidentally watched The French Connection 2 instead of The French connection and didn't get the hype but watched the first movie and was blown away. It's actually insane that they filmed the chase scene without any permits and with random pedestrians in NYC lmao.
@@LearningaboutMovies The sequel has some merit, playing with a fish out of water premise, finding Popeye in France. And a divisive second act, that I always thought was a bizarre but interesting idea. I recall some of the action scenes being the parts that dragged the most for me, apart from a sequence near the end. Been years since I've watched it, so need a refresh really.
Gene Hackman always make great movies. Although I've never seen The French Connection, I know from Josh's review it's a fantastic one. It makes me want to see this movie. 🎞🎥
I saw this new when I was 21. I was blown away by the cinematography, editing and use of music. In some places it seemed to be filmed in a cinema verite style using only hand held cameras and available lighting to follow the characters around giving the illusion that there was a documentary crew filming them as events occurred in real time. The long sequence in the middle of the film where Hackman and Scheider follow Fernando Rey is shot without dialog and the story is told just thru the use of images and editing. It reminded me of the long wordless sequence in Hitchcock’s VERTIGO where the Jimmy Stewart character follows Kim Novak around town by car trying to determine who she really is and where does she really go during the day.
I first watched this in my mid to late teens and thought it was really boring though at that age I was more into the big brainless action flicks. I watched it again 25 years later with a more mature mindset and really enjoyed it and does deserve the praise it was given.
As far as the music, those are cellos and the person that scored the music played an electric trumpet and lead a band that played on Melrose as a house band. He stylized the music after the sound that he heard when the mechanic was taking the car a part.
70s crime thrillers are some of my favorites and some of the 80s too. Check out klute, three days of the condor, parallax view, all the presidents men, and still of the night for a cool hitchcockian thriller if anyone hasn’t already
This is a great film. I just revisited this one after about 5 years or so. Absolutely dynamite! French Connection II (directed by John Frankenheimer) is not bad either, but it doesn't hold a candle to this movie. I can see why Hackman won the Oscar here because his performance is so damn good. The supporting cast is great as well. Anybody who likes crime dramas, you gotta watch this one, if you haven't. This also set the stage for other gritty crime movies, set in the streets of New York. Famous movies like Death Wish, Taxi Driver and The Warriors, to name just a couple.
John Williams may have seen this movie but his score for Jaws is most definitely inspired from a certain section of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. I don't really remember much music in this movie besides the great opening credit music and the eerie nightmarish final scene and epilogue text. This movie is ahead of its time in the way it was shot and edited. The PC crowd hates the way Popeye talks and acts but they don't know that he's based of a real detective that was there on set and actually took Gene Hackman on real police cruises and busts before the start of filming
I was a teen, when I watched this film and I was totally impressed. Before this film I thought that being a cop is so rewarding, but just this one scene, when Gene Hackman poured out his cheap and bad takeaway coffee, taught me that the life of a cop could be so much worse.
🎥This movie literally made Gene Hackman my favorite actor to this day! I was born, raised and still live in New York. Just to keep things in there proper context; the dirt, the grit, the garbage, the trains, the buildings and every significant textural detail necessary to create this movie was such an accurate depiction of NYC. In fact, pretty much throughout the 70's. We were ...ahem ...quite dirty and seedy to say the least.🤭😏 🎥It is why the movie made such an powerful impression on my brother and I at the time. I mean, no knock against Friedkin, but all he did was just take advantage of New York's "very natural" landscape. Especially the scenes in Brooklyn. And did so with absolute brilliance, I might add. 🎥Still one my favorite movies to date!🍿
I saw this in the theater at age 7 with my mom. She also took me to see the 7ups. I love my mom! Anyway i understood less than you, but i laughed at most of the right parts, loved the car chase, the gun fights and didnt get the ending... but its a classic. Its gritty shitty NY @ its best. Great locations, many of which are gone and ill watch it any time! Look @ those square big ass cars!
One of the best thrillers…… the best chase scene ever and it has a unique atmosphere over the whole movie. I also like how the bad guys are smart, urbane and sophisticated whilst the main good guy is the opposite
The lady with the baby/pram who gets sniped always disturbed me. I mean the movie is done so well that the fact Hackman is possessed with catching the sniper leaves the lady behind…we never really know what happens to her..and leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. I think it’s a scene Tarrintino has emulated quite well in his films - the element of shock.
A neglected 70s film directed by Peter Yates, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, starring Robert Mitchum, deals with the same atmosphere of big city despair. However, Friends is situated in Boston, and it is one of the great 70s films.
Not sure if my comment was deleted or not posted because of my internet connection. But in my original comment I mentioned that this film is getting a lot of backlash from generation Z, which I find surprising. I’ve argued that just because a movie features a racist character, doesn’t mean the movie itself is condoning racism. Even Gene Hackman said the he was highly uncomfortable playing this sort of role. I don’t think this kind of movie could ever be made today.
Funny because "Dragged Across Concrete" is pretty close to this, made just a few years ago. See the Mel Gibson character. The younger generation is bizarre to me. They are as essentialist as ever, adhering to herd moralities that have zero transcendental foundation. Both traditional religions and Nietzsche would balk at them. A basic premise of movie criticism is that art is supposed to be *descriptive*, meaning it can, as one of its leading aspects, describe some parts of reality as is. Any movie viewer ought to be generous enough to concede that might be the case for a movie like this. The modern critics tend to see films as only *prescriptive*, and thus they are more religious in their narrow and reductive viewings of artwork as any Puritan ever was. If artwork doesn't conform to a narrow ideology and encourage its moral system, it must be condemned, according to them. If this movie were somehow signalling that jerk, racist cops are good guys and we ought to produce more of them, I could see the outrage. Given all that happens in this film, that is not a robust reading that takes into account a great number of key details that offer strong counterpoints.
I was so happy to hear you didn't like this movie when you first saw it and now do. I just watched this for the first time and I just couldn't get into it. Whenever this happens with any "best of all time" movies I always assume there's something that I didn't get that I was supposed to. I liked certain scenes of this movie (especially the chase scene), but overall it just didn't click for me. I'm hoping that might change in the future for me as well.
yes, as always, our negative view of a movie could be our delusion, or the delusions of others. It's hard to tell. So-called great movies are worth revisiting.
Also. In the 70s. Movies made you pay attention. They didn't explain everything like a narrator. You learned through the dialogue. Today a lot of people talk over the sound track, then not know who anybody is or what they're doing.
For one, most people actually read more back then. The quality equaled profit in the 70's. Filmmaking is a business above all else, which means nowadays they have to unfortunately condescend to the attention span of their audience in order to make a profit.🥹🤬
Thank you Josh ! Great comment for a great movie. The car chase, after all these years, I think is the one the best. (I'm doing an analysis of this car chase on my YT channel) It tells so many things about the main character Popeye, that it far more than a simple car chase. We can feel his obsession becoming dangerous to his environement (the citizens of NY). And god ! The long POV shots from the Pontiac under the railway ! They are truly hypnotic ! And that comes also by the fact that they are nothing in front of the car to pursuit (the train being above). We have a strange feeling that is pursuit nothing, a ghost... And of course the end of the film is the resonance of this.
you're welcome. The crazy idea I have been kicking around is some kind of donation to the funding of specific videos. Given all of the requests I get, I wonder if people would donate $5 or $1 or 50 cents towards the making of some video that they want. Not sure exactly how to set this up yet, as it's only an idea in my mind at this point.
@@LearningaboutMovies I didn't even notice the similarities with the jaws score , so cool. I think it would be amazing to have a video on a list of scores you admire. I like birdman (I'm a drummer myself), apu trilogy, punch drunk love, and I also own this greatest hits of akira kurosawa . Vangelis Bladerunner and recently I watched theif because you did a video on it, tangerine dream I think did score.. great stuff
Great idea. This would just be a "my opinion" video as music is just a hobby for me, and I have not formally studied it. Birdman is an amazing score. I love great druimmers, and am a jazz, jazz fusion, and prog rock lover.
I have just watched the French Connection again - for possibly the tenth time. One of the best films of all time! I still find things I missed. However, there are things I cannot understand still. 1. Why did Sal Boca drive Charnier's car from the underground garage to a place where it could be stolen? 2. Why did Joel Weinstein go ahead with funding the deal when it was clear that the police were all over them - and he knew that Sal Boca's telephone was bugged? 3. I can't remember the third point now. I will no doubt remember it later! For me the attempt on the life of Popeye is ridiculous. The attempt to shoot him from the building is absurd, if he knew where he lived, he could have just gone up to his front door. But more ridiculous is that Popeye almost catches him up despite what must be a 500 metre head start. A pity that that could not have been done better. They find a 120lb difference in the weight but that is really nothing. That is approximately 50 litres of fuel, the weight could be due to anything. I appreciate that maybe I am trying to read to much into it. I have never been to New York but I get the impression that it is very accurate of it for the time.
thank you. Watched it as a descent into hell. The setting is garbage-filled, ugly, and unclean, the action of Doyle is traitorous (though accidental, when he shoots the other cop). I wonder if Friedkin is using ideas from Catholic theology here, and I say that because of what his subject matter is in his next two films. I am sure the final scene could be looked at in a lot of ways though.
I've long studied this film for all NYC filming locations that can be identified. Haven't tried that specific one yet! I can say that the scene in the basement where they are listening to Sal's phone calls is extremely likely to have been filmed in the basement of the same building, 2271 Stillwell Ave.
Well, this movie teaches civilian not to hand over your car to a PO coz your insurance won't cover the damages and the PO cannot be sued due to sovereign immunity. Popeye Doyle violates a lot of civil rights in this movie. Do you have a review for law abiding citizen and dirty harry?
Love the film...BUT, there are so many mistakes....1- During the chase scene, they pass Lafeyette High School 3 times, that would be impossible...2- The assassin where he fired from the roof of the building a housing project building in the Marlboro Projects, How do I know this, I watched them film this...I lived in a building right by it...Anyway, The building has 1 staircase...How did the Assassin pass Gene Hackman without running into each other in the stairwell. 3- A acting flaw by Hackman, Right before the lady was shot at the Projects by the assassin, WATCH HACKMAN, he anticipates the shooting before it happens by slightly starting to turn as to help her....Another huge flaw...As the assassin boards the train with Hackman watching from the opposite train station, The doors start to close But Hackman yells out Stop that man, hes wanted by the police to the cop on the train...problem is, Hackman was yelling it at a completely closed train...the door closed on the opposite side of where the cop was standing on the train..Hackman yelled it to a sealed off train...How did the cop even hear Hackman...I rode those trains, with the doors closing and the noise on the train. no way can you hear Hackman, Also, why would the cop look out of the train to the opposite side of the tracks..wouldn't he be watching everyone the train and watching who is getting on and off...I can go on and on and on, BUT this is a Very exciting film....one last thing...The Mechanic who took apart the entire Drug Car, took everything out EXCEPT the rocker panels...come on....
Just watched this tonight. Blown away. They don't make movies like this anymore. Real gritty hard hitting. Gripping movie.
The opening credits alone are amazing. Don Elias, the composer.
This movie is so dark and gritty and man it’s a ride! The editing in this movie is is 12/10
Just watched it for the first time. I don't know much about movies, but I've always been a fan of the classic 40's noir films. That leap you talk about is super evident. Definitely see postmodernism's influence in the arts. It's outstanding, edge of your seat, deserves the accolades, but no question it's a black pill haha. Hopefully we see a return of hopeful and constructive art forms making a comeback.
It's the first American film in finale no one win the battle, meaning of life for everyone is equal
“The French Connection” is a true classic. Gene Hackman plays the greatest anti-hero ever. I’ve seen this movie many times. It never gets old.
I've watched this movie countless times. All of the acting is phenomenal. The segment that features the car in "hot pursuit" of the train is famously intense and impressive. Friedkin has a style that creates a drab atmosphere, and the soundtrack adds a creepy and unnerving quality. The "French Connection" certainly offers a memorable impact. I also believe ( as you indicated in another video) that it is Friedkin's masterpiece. I sincerely enjoyed your analysis. Great job!
You really nailed it. That opening score is truly something else, the way the wind section appears to be playing Morse code always triggered a vague connection in my mind to the state and could be tied into the international theme of the film as well. I'm really glad you brought up the almost dystopian depiction of New York, too. Many film makers at this time seemed to be taking notice of this, films like Midnight Cowboy, Panic in Needle Park, Klute, there's really too many to list, but The French Connection is on a whole 'nother level.
Right. Gordon Parks Jr's 'Superfly' very much so - but with a nasty drug obsessed undertone - and Curtis Mayfield's score.
NYC lost 10% of its population between 1970-1980. Friedkin said the film was a Valentine to the run down side of the city.
Hackman and Scheider have an amazing connection Both fabulous actors in their own films Doyle and Russo are tough, sinister and extremely clever cops working in the grit of Brooklyn 🥰
I've seen this movie many times. I wouldn't say I liked it the first time, but the more I saw it, the more exciting it was and a true art form. You have to watch part 2 two or three times also. It is great.
With the recent passing of Wm. Friedkin, I revisited this film. Liked it so much that I watched it a second time the following day (but this time with Friedkin's commentary).
He intentionally had it shot like a documentary, such that the cameramen weren't directed where to shoot. They just shot the activity as it occurred and as they discovered it.
Also, the real Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso played small parts in the film.
Great comment Josh. Agree on all points - especially with changing my estimation of a film after an interval of years. Gene Hackman always wants a fight, when he comes on the screen something is going to get broken or there is confrontation. Have you seen Penn's 'Night Moves' made a few years later? Hackman is a fit for the character in that noir movie also.
Thank you. Yes, I recommend Night Moves even though it bothers me for a lot of reasons. As a detective movie, it's really intriguing, and probably should be part of some kind of class on the development of the genre over time.
I watched this movie for Gene Hackman's performance but I was blown away by everything about this movie
I make my best friend watch this. He’s like “no not the French Connection again.” But the last time I talked him into it he said afterwards “You know I like this movie more every time I see it.”
Hackman I think gives the perfect acting performance, it is a masterpiece of a movie.
For me the energy and the rhythm of the is what makes it great. The plot is set out within 10/15 minutes and then then a pulsating pursuit begins, the realistic style just adds to that and the movie passes by in a whirl. The ultimate thriller
NEver seen it, I’m going to watch it this weekend. Thank you.
You mention the documentary feeling of this film twice. There is a reason for that; Billy was a documentarian and he called this “induced documentary.”
I assume you knew him if you call him "Billy."
@@LearningaboutMovies I did and I have many stories. He was great and he is dearly missed. The greatest story teller I’ve ever met. And all true.
Enjoyed your take on the film. My favorite part starts with the nightclub scene and ends in Brooklyn outside Sal and Angie's. I agree about the music.
thank you.
Great episode, I accidentally watched The French Connection 2 instead of The French connection and didn't get the hype but watched the first movie and was blown away. It's actually insane that they filmed the chase scene without any permits and with random pedestrians in NYC lmao.
thank you. Is the sequel worth trying, just for the sake of it? I never saw it.
@@LearningaboutMovies I think it is worth watching since Gene Hackman has a fun performance in it but it definitely drags a bit
@@LearningaboutMovies Made by Frankenheimer.
@@LearningaboutMovies The sequel has some merit, playing with a fish out of water premise, finding Popeye in France. And a divisive second act, that I always thought was a bizarre but interesting idea. I recall some of the action scenes being the parts that dragged the most for me, apart from a sequence near the end. Been years since I've watched it, so need a refresh really.
@@LearningaboutMoviessequel is superb. Hackman's performance is exceptional
I would say that Friedkin's lesser known film, Cruising, also contains depictions of Hell on Earth.
Gene Hackman always make great movies. Although I've never seen The French Connection, I know from Josh's review it's a fantastic one. It makes me want to see this movie. 🎞🎥
I saw this new when I was 21. I was blown away by the cinematography, editing and use of music. In some places it seemed to be filmed in a cinema verite style using only hand held cameras and available lighting to follow the characters around giving the illusion that there was a documentary crew filming them as events occurred in real time. The long sequence in the middle of the film where Hackman and Scheider follow Fernando Rey is shot without dialog and the story is told just thru the use of images and editing. It reminded me of the long wordless sequence in Hitchcock’s VERTIGO where the Jimmy Stewart character follows Kim Novak around town by car trying to determine who she really is and where does she really go during the day.
great comment, thank you.
I just watched this movie again today. Totally fantastic, gritty, exciting, intense, intriguing, and an amazing score. 👏
I first watched this in my mid to late teens and thought it was really boring though at that age I was more into the big brainless action flicks. I watched it again 25 years later with a more mature mindset and really enjoyed it and does deserve the praise it was given.
As far as the music, those are cellos and the person that scored the music played an electric trumpet and lead a band that played on Melrose as a house band. He stylized the music after the sound that he heard when the mechanic was taking the car a part.
thank you.
70s crime thrillers are some of my favorites and some of the 80s too.
Check out klute, three days of the condor, parallax view, all the presidents men, and still of the night for a cool hitchcockian thriller if anyone hasn’t already
This is a great film. I just revisited this one after about 5 years or so. Absolutely dynamite! French Connection II (directed by John Frankenheimer) is not bad either, but it doesn't hold a candle to this movie. I can see why Hackman won the Oscar here because his performance is so damn good. The supporting cast is great as well. Anybody who likes crime dramas, you gotta watch this one, if you haven't.
This also set the stage for other gritty crime movies, set in the streets of New York. Famous movies like Death Wish, Taxi Driver and The Warriors, to name just a couple.
John Williams may have seen this movie but his score for Jaws is most definitely inspired from a certain section of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.
I don't really remember much music in this movie besides the great opening credit music and the eerie nightmarish final scene and epilogue text.
This movie is ahead of its time in the way it was shot and edited. The PC crowd hates the way Popeye talks and acts but they don't know that he's based of a real detective that was there on set and actually took Gene Hackman on real police cruises and busts before the start of filming
It's not ESP so much as it is pure detective instinct. He's been around these folks for decades; he recognizes the signs.
I was a teen, when I watched this film and I was totally impressed. Before this film I thought that being a cop is so rewarding, but just this one scene, when Gene Hackman poured out his cheap and bad takeaway coffee, taught me that the life of a cop could be so much worse.
thank you.
🎥This movie literally made Gene Hackman my favorite actor to this day! I was born, raised and still live in New York. Just to keep things in there proper context; the dirt, the grit, the garbage, the trains, the buildings and every significant textural detail necessary to create this movie was such an accurate depiction of NYC. In fact, pretty much throughout the 70's. We were ...ahem ...quite dirty and seedy to say the least.🤭😏
🎥It is why the movie made such an powerful impression on my brother and I at the time. I mean, no knock against Friedkin, but all he did was just take advantage of New York's "very natural" landscape. Especially the scenes in Brooklyn. And did so with absolute brilliance, I might add.
🎥Still one my favorite movies to date!🍿
I saw this in the theater at age 7 with my mom. She also took me to see the 7ups. I love my mom! Anyway i understood less than you, but i laughed at most of the right parts, loved the car chase, the gun fights and didnt get the ending... but its a classic. Its gritty shitty NY @ its best. Great locations, many of which are gone and ill watch it any time! Look @ those square big ass cars!
One of the best thrillers…… the best chase scene ever and it has a unique atmosphere over the whole movie. I also like how the bad guys are smart, urbane and sophisticated whilst the main good guy is the opposite
The lady with the baby/pram who gets sniped always disturbed me. I mean the movie is done so well that the fact Hackman is possessed with catching the sniper leaves the lady behind…we never really know what happens to her..and leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. I think it’s a scene Tarrintino has emulated quite well in his films - the element of shock.
They are censoring the dialogue in the Disney version... fight this Woke nightmare!
A neglected 70s film directed by Peter Yates, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, starring Robert Mitchum, deals with the same atmosphere of big city despair. However, Friends is situated in Boston, and it is one of the great 70s films.
Not sure if my comment was deleted or not posted because of my internet connection. But in my original comment I mentioned that this film is getting a lot of backlash from generation Z, which I find surprising. I’ve argued that just because a movie features a racist character, doesn’t mean the movie itself is condoning racism. Even Gene Hackman said the he was highly uncomfortable playing this sort of role. I don’t think this kind of movie could ever be made today.
Funny because "Dragged Across Concrete" is pretty close to this, made just a few years ago. See the Mel Gibson character.
The younger generation is bizarre to me. They are as essentialist as ever, adhering to herd moralities that have zero transcendental foundation. Both traditional religions and Nietzsche would balk at them. A basic premise of movie criticism is that art is supposed to be *descriptive*, meaning it can, as one of its leading aspects, describe some parts of reality as is. Any movie viewer ought to be generous enough to concede that might be the case for a movie like this. The modern critics tend to see films as only *prescriptive*, and thus they are more religious in their narrow and reductive viewings of artwork as any Puritan ever was. If artwork doesn't conform to a narrow ideology and encourage its moral system, it must be condemned, according to them.
If this movie were somehow signalling that jerk, racist cops are good guys and we ought to produce more of them, I could see the outrage. Given all that happens in this film, that is not a robust reading that takes into account a great number of key details that offer strong counterpoints.
I was so happy to hear you didn't like this movie when you first saw it and now do. I just watched this for the first time and I just couldn't get into it. Whenever this happens with any "best of all time" movies I always assume there's something that I didn't get that I was supposed to. I liked certain scenes of this movie (especially the chase scene), but overall it just didn't click for me. I'm hoping that might change in the future for me as well.
yes, as always, our negative view of a movie could be our delusion, or the delusions of others. It's hard to tell. So-called great movies are worth revisiting.
Also. In the 70s. Movies made you pay attention.
They didn't explain everything like a narrator. You learned through the dialogue. Today a lot of people talk over the sound track, then not know who anybody is or what they're doing.
For one, most people actually read more back then. The quality equaled profit in the 70's. Filmmaking is a business above all else, which means nowadays they have to unfortunately condescend to the attention span of their audience in order to make a profit.🥹🤬
It's in my personal top 5, maybe even top three. And Don Ellis' music is more than an added bonus, it breathes fire. Check him out!
Love to see it get as criterion release.
French Connection 2 ist even better from my point of view
Thank you Josh ! Great comment for a great movie. The car chase, after all these years, I think is the one the best. (I'm doing an analysis of this car chase on my YT channel) It tells so many things about the main character Popeye, that it far more than a simple car chase. We can feel his obsession becoming dangerous to his environement (the citizens of NY). And god ! The long POV shots from the Pontiac under the railway ! They are truly hypnotic ! And that comes also by the fact that they are nothing in front of the car to pursuit (the train being above). We have a strange feeling that is pursuit nothing, a ghost... And of course the end of the film is the resonance of this.
According to Friedkin it is the first buddy cop movie. He practically invented a genre
Kurosawas Stray Dog is an older example.
just watched this movie and came on this video
welcome
I like this movie because it was just trying to be a good movie. And it succeeded. It wasn’t Oscar bait. Just a solid crime movie.
I'll have to give this another viewing after seeing your video. Thank you. You should make a shirt or coffee mug. Help support your channel lol
you're welcome. The crazy idea I have been kicking around is some kind of donation to the funding of specific videos. Given all of the requests I get, I wonder if people would donate $5 or $1 or 50 cents towards the making of some video that they want. Not sure exactly how to set this up yet, as it's only an idea in my mind at this point.
@@LearningaboutMovies definitely ! I'm sure it's a passion but hard work deserves rewards. You seem like a smart guy, you'll figure it out
@@LearningaboutMovies I didn't even notice the similarities with the jaws score , so cool. I think it would be amazing to have a video on a list of scores you admire. I like birdman (I'm a drummer myself), apu trilogy, punch drunk love, and I also own this greatest hits of akira kurosawa . Vangelis Bladerunner and recently I watched theif because you did a video on it, tangerine dream I think did score.. great stuff
Great idea. This would just be a "my opinion" video as music is just a hobby for me, and I have not formally studied it. Birdman is an amazing score. I love great druimmers, and am a jazz, jazz fusion, and prog rock lover.
I have just watched the French Connection again - for possibly the tenth time. One of the best films of all time! I still find things I missed. However, there are things I cannot understand still.
1. Why did Sal Boca drive Charnier's car from the underground garage to a place where it could be stolen?
2. Why did Joel Weinstein go ahead with funding the deal when it was clear that the police were all over them - and he knew that Sal Boca's telephone was bugged?
3. I can't remember the third point now. I will no doubt remember it later!
For me the attempt on the life of Popeye is ridiculous. The attempt to shoot him from the building is absurd, if he knew where he lived, he could have just gone up to his front door. But more ridiculous is that Popeye almost catches him up despite what must be a 500 metre head start. A pity that that could not have been done better.
They find a 120lb difference in the weight but that is really nothing. That is approximately 50 litres of fuel, the weight could be due to anything. I appreciate that maybe I am trying to read to much into it.
I have never been to New York but I get the impression that it is very accurate of it for the time.
I visited NYC in 1978, having already seen this movie and she was true to the build up.
the golden triangle
?
@@LearningaboutMovies Vietnam
curious of your opinion of the final scene of the movie (spoilers!). Great video as always!
thank you. Watched it as a descent into hell. The setting is garbage-filled, ugly, and unclean, the action of Doyle is traitorous (though accidental, when he shoots the other cop). I wonder if Friedkin is using ideas from Catholic theology here, and I say that because of what his subject matter is in his next two films. I am sure the final scene could be looked at in a lot of ways though.
I think FC 2 is a very good movie. Hard to watch....in a good way.
Best movie of the 70s. Way better than the overrated godfather in my opinion!
Fernando Rey 🫶
Who knows Popeye Dolye's Marlborough apartments actual room number ?
I've long studied this film for all NYC filming locations that can be identified. Haven't tried that specific one yet!
I can say that the scene in the basement where they are listening to Sal's phone calls is extremely likely to have been filmed in the basement of the same building, 2271 Stillwell Ave.
That ending sucked
Well, this movie teaches civilian not to hand over your car to a PO coz your insurance won't cover the damages and the PO cannot be sued due to sovereign immunity.
Popeye Doyle violates a lot of civil rights in this movie.
Do you have a review for law abiding citizen and dirty harry?
I don't get the hype. Maybe it's because I'm not American. It's a okay movie but the plot is just...there.
And instead of there... It should be somewhere else?
Love the film...BUT, there are so many mistakes....1- During the chase scene, they pass Lafeyette High School 3 times, that would be impossible...2- The assassin where he fired from the roof of the building a housing project building in the Marlboro Projects, How do I know this, I watched them film this...I lived in a building right by it...Anyway, The building has 1 staircase...How did the Assassin pass Gene Hackman without running into each other in the stairwell. 3- A acting flaw by Hackman, Right before the lady was shot at the Projects by the assassin, WATCH HACKMAN, he anticipates the shooting before it happens by slightly starting to turn as to help her....Another huge flaw...As the assassin boards the train with Hackman watching from the opposite train station, The doors start to close But Hackman yells out Stop that man, hes wanted by the police to the cop on the train...problem is, Hackman was yelling it at a completely closed train...the door closed on the opposite side of where the cop was standing on the train..Hackman yelled it to a sealed off train...How did the cop even hear Hackman...I rode those trains, with the doors closing and the noise on the train. no way can you hear Hackman, Also, why would the cop look out of the train to the opposite side of the tracks..wouldn't he be watching everyone the train and watching who is getting on and off...I can go on and on and on, BUT this is a Very exciting film....one last thing...The Mechanic who took apart the entire Drug Car, took everything out EXCEPT the rocker panels...come on....
thanks. I think Cinema Sins could profit from this critique.
RIP Friedkin & Scheider
Roy S is great in this movie, I kinda miss that he’s not in it more…but glad he survives in the script!
Hence The 7UPs.
Nah, don’t think the Jaws reference is right. More so Bernard Hermmann in Psycho shower scene. Good video though.😊
thank you.
I don't get the hype. Maybe it's because I'm not American. It's a okay movie but the plot is just...there.
It's based on real events. The story is told in a "no style" way, which doesn't work every time.