Gritty reality cinema treatment of the (sort of) true story of the biggest drug bust in U.S. history, The French Connection swept the 1971 Academy Awards taking five including Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Film.

Directed by William "Billy" Friedkin, who was new to feature motion pictures at the time, The French Connection was a low bucks documentary style treatment of police work in the dingy underbelly of New York City.

Friedkin, who had cut his directorial teeth making documentaries, was perfect for the project. He used actual locations in NYC rather than sets and created an unparalleled vision of the world of the undercover narcotics cop in the big city.

The location work meant that the film crew's job was a lot harder than in the controlled environment of a sound stage as they had to bring everything with them, set up in limited space, collect sound while filtering ambient noise, provide lighting, and fight interruptions from the passersby who inevitably happened to be in the area.

Due to the challenges of location shooting, (often without permits) the film crew was unable to use the familiar camera techniques usually seen in film, substituting long shots with zooms for close-ups, quick pans for cuts, and hand-held cameras pushed in a wheelchair in place of tracking shots, for example. Friedkin's innovations resulted in a fresh appearing film whose style has become all too common in its wake with reality TV shows such as Hill Street Blues and the like.

The cast employed relatively unknown actors, including Gene Hackman who snagged the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, based on real life NY detective Eddie Egan, the architect of the big drug bust that netted 60 kilos of uncut heroin with a street value estimated at 32 million bucks - big dollars in 1962.

Doyle's partner Buddy "Cloudy" Russo was played with equal aplomb by Roy Scheider. The real life model for Russo was Det. Sonny Grosso, Eddie Egan's partner. Egan and Grosso played supporting parts in The French Connection as well as serving as technical advisers on the project. Although the credits listed the book by Robin Moore and screenplay by Ernest Tidyman, according to Friedkin nearly every bit of dialog was authentic street talk provided by Egan and Grosso.

Fernando Rey as the chief thug, supported by Tony Lo Bianco and Marcel Bozzuffi, were the criminals. Friedkin had a good time emphasizing the sophistication of the hoodlums compared to the low-life detectives.

The French Connection, is a film you have to pay attention to or you'll get lost as it is "an impression" (Friedkin's word) of the case that actually took about two years to play out. Friedkin did not spoon feed the viewer the story but allowed it to unravel in all the ambiguity found in real life. The clues are all there but you may have to see it a number of times to get them all. The final enigmatic gunshot as the screen fades to black is just one example of the elements that have sparked discussion for over thirty years since the film first played.

Industrial strength score by jazz musician Don Ellis with plenty of metallic screeching, honks, and thumps sets the pace for the bumpy thrill ride.

The French Connection is a landmark film in that it won the Oscar for Best Film of 1971, in a genre which had formerly been relegated mainly to "B" movie status.

The Fox DVD treatment is 1.85: 1 widescreen and appears as fresh as it did when it was on the big screen. Some grainy scenes are evident but they were part of the original film that was recorded with as close to ambient lighting as possible in keeping with the reality style sought by Friedkin.

The Fox Five Star Edition DVD contains an extra disk and many worthwhile features including two hour-long documentaries, and two full length commentaries by William Friedkin, Detective Sonny Grosso, and the others involved in the filmmaking.

Fans of detective stories will also want to see French Connection II, Sharky's Machine, Dirty Harry and Brannigan.


Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening