While The French Connection certainly deserves to be described as tough, edgy, profane and explosive, somewhat slow should be added as well. Te action doesn’t start right away; instead; director William Friedkin (The Exorcist) and screenwriter Ernest Tidyman (High Plains Drifter), crafted a story in which the tension slowly increases. The two men created enough excitement to keep viewers on the edge of their seats until the final shoot out. The French Connection became the first R-rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It also won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Gene Hackman), Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Ernest Tidyman).
The film is a fictionalized account of the book by Robin Moore. The movie tells the story of how two New York City narcotics cops, Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, in the early sixties made the biggest drug bust in U.S. history at that time. They recovered over sixty-four pounds of heroin, which had a street value well into the millions. The operation had been a huge success for at least twenty years.
The characters´ names for the film were changed to James”Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy “Cloudy” Russo (Roy Scheider), while the real Egan and Grosso stood by during production acting as technical consultants. Peter Boyle (Everybody Loves Raymond) was originally cast to play the role of “Popeye” Doyle but later turned down the role because his agent thought the movie was going to be a failure. One wonders if Bole ever regretted that decision.
The film opens on the waterfront in Marseilles, where we first meet the French drug kingpin, Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey).The kingpin is arranging his latest drug deal and his gunman (Pierre Nicoli (Marcel Bozzuffi), is dispatching a investigator on his trail. The film then cuts to Brooklyn, where Doyle and Russo are roughing up small-time dealers and users in the local bars. In that process the twosome stumble upon the Frenchman’s operation, start tailing some local hoods, put some wiretaps in place which eventually leads them to Charnier. As it turns out, Charnier has come to the United States with his drugs hidden in an automobile belonging to a well-known French television star that Charnier had tricked into assisting in the crime.
Much of the first half works at a slower pace, building up the dramatic tension. The film shows the surveillance work of the two cops as they follow several shady characters around, including the Frenchman.
The action picks up at around the 45-minute mark; Charnier outfoxes Doyle in an excellent subway scene and the real chase begins. Doyle and Russo are briefly pulled off the case for lack of evidence but after Charnier orders Doyle killed and the plot fails, the cops are back on the case. After commandeering a civilian’s car, Doyle sets out after Nicoli in one of the best car chases on film. Many of the shots in the scene were “real”, in that legendary stunt driver Bill Hickman, who also had a small role in the film as FBI agent Mulderig, actually drove the car at high speeds through uncontrolled traffic and red lights, with Friedkin running a camera from the backseat while wrapped in a mattress for protection.
Often, at least one of the lead characters in a cop drama is sympathetic. However, in the case of The French Connection neither Doyle nor Russo is very likable. Doyle is a total slob, a racist and a ruthless cop; a bachelor, his idea of fun is loose women, booze and work all the time. As for Russo, he’s such a straight arrow he’s as dull as white bread. He does his best to keep Doyle out of trouble though and I guess that counts for something.
The thing that makes The French Connection so good is its sense of realism. Almost all of the action was filmed on location, both in New York and in France; the scenes in New York really allow viewers to see the grittier side of life on the city streets. According to Friedkin, the actors were encouraged to improvise whenever possible, which only adds to the realism of the film.
The visual transfer effectively reproduces the grainy and gritty look of the film, with plenty of detail revealed, but compared to the original DVD transfer (which seems to have had some noise reduction), there seems to be a bit of a “colder” feel to the color timing, with an almost surreal quality. It looks good, but feels a little ‘off’. All of this is intentional, as Friedkin explains in one of the extra features.
The audio is presented in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, as well as French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. Purists will be pleased to find that they also included an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track, as well as the original English Mono track. Due to the films age, the soundtrack doesn’t sound as full as one might have liked but there isd a subtle use of surrounds that’s rather pleasing.
Most of the extras from the 2001 DVD release are included here. First up is an excellent commentary track by director William Friedkin, in which he talks about all of the various aspects of the production. A secondary “commentary” track is really two different audio talks with actors Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider (recorded separately), and each actor discusses their personal experiences with the film. New for the Blu-ray is a highly informative “Trivia Track” which talks about the production challenges, as well as the differences between the film version and the real “French Connection” smuggling case. The music score by Don Ellis is given the isolated score treatment. Finally, there is a new “William Friedkin Introduction to The French Connection” (HD, 1:15) in which Friedkin welcomes you to the “best version” of the film, stating that this Blu-ray version is the definitive version of the film. I guess that explains his color changes.
The second disc contains seven deleted scenes (HD, 10-minutes), with another new introduction by Friedkin, and optional commentary. Although in HD, the quality varies from terrible to decent and the scenes are interesting. Also carried over are two documentaries. The 2000 BBC Documentary “The Poughkeepsie Shuffle” (SD 16×9, 54-minutes) is an excellent and comprehensive look at the film and the original story that inspired it. As if that weren’t enough, there’s a second documentary, Fox Movie Channel’s “Making the Connection: The Untold Stories of The French Connection” (SD 4×3, 56-minutes).
“Anatomy of a Chase” (HD, 20-minutes) is a great featurette hosted by Friedkin that takes us through the process of shooting the entire chase scene, with producer Philip D’Antoni and former NYPD detective Randy Jurgensen at the real locations. “Hackman on Doyle” (HD, 11-minutes) is a new interview with Gene Hackman, talking about the character and challenges with the film. “Friedkin and Grosso Remember the Real French Connection” (HD, 19-minutes) has Friedkin with real detective Sonny Grosso discussing the actual case that inspired the book and the film. “Scene of the Crime” (HD, 5-minutes) has Friedkin discussing the assistance that Jurgensen was able to provide with getting some of the key locations in the film, including closing the Brooklyn Bridge for filming.
“Color Timing The French Connection” (HD, 13-minutes) is a look at the new color-timing with Post Logic that was done for this Blu-ray release. Friedkin explains that this new Blu-ray version is what he had wanted all along, with a simulated 3-strip color + black & white layered process. They walk us through the process, showing how they did the color timing. Fascinating stuff, even if you disagree with what Friedkin did. “Cop Jazz: The Music of Don Ellis” (HD, 10-minutes) features film music historian Jon Burlingame discussing Ellis’ dark and jazzy score. “Rogue Cop: The Noir Connection” (HD, 14-minutes) talks about the impact that The French Connection had on modern crime films, and its evolution from older classic noir films. Missing from the Blu-ray are the still galleries and theatrical trailers that had originally appeared on the DVD.
Check out the trailer for The French Connection:
