The French Connection (1971) First Time Watching! Full Movie Reaction!!
Added 2024-07-30 01:12:19 +0000 UTC
Comments
RIP Gene Hackman
Reed James
2025-03-04 00:41:56 +0000 UTCHoosiers is a fantastic Gene Hackman movie
James
2024-08-02 16:08:17 +0000 UTCYes, kids. This is what surveillance looked like before cell phones and GPS.
James Rogers
2024-07-31 21:33:04 +0000 UTCOops. I meant 1974 obviously.
Samolina Pilchard
2024-07-31 17:53:33 +0000 UTCWow, you can see pretty far into the future! ;)
Tyler Foster
2024-07-31 16:27:48 +0000 UTCGreat reaction. I’m glad you noted the use of music , and non-use of music to build tension. Nowadays that whole chase sequence would be filmed with wall-to-wall thundering music and music stings - there wasn’t any in it and it’s all the better for it. The suprise of the sniper shot and all that followed would’ve been ruined by soundtrack music. I heartily recommend what others have said here for other movies by Friedkin/Hackman/Schieder (The Conversation, Sorcerer, To Live and Die In L.A., All That Jazz among others). Another gritty 70s crime flick (not with any of them) is The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (2974 I believe. There were a couple of crummy remakes).
Samolina Pilchard
2024-07-31 04:23:11 +0000 UTCDefinitely recommend Sorcerer. Roy Scheider is also in it.
Samolina Pilchard
2024-07-31 04:12:37 +0000 UTCGreat Reaction
christopher brown
2024-07-30 23:08:21 +0000 UTCGreat reaction. The man who played hackman's boss was Eddie Egan he was a real police officer and also the technical adviser for the movie. The film was loosely based on him as a cop his nickname was popeye.
Darnell Sowell
2024-07-30 20:07:11 +0000 UTCYou guys should definitely check out The Conversation. It’s one of Gene Hackman’s best movies.
Ed R
2024-07-30 19:42:56 +0000 UTCGreat reaction. So far as your Gene Hackman journey, as others have mentioned, ‘The Conversation’ is excellent. I think of it as a minor classic from Coppola. Hackman plays one of the country’s top wire tappers and surveillance experts, and several of Coppola’s regulars are in the cast. Another great but less mentioned Hackman movie is ‘Mississippi Burning’, another history based film with a great cast that includes Willem Dafoe and Frances McDormand.
David Wilkins
2024-07-30 17:25:52 +0000 UTCThere's a terrific BTS video about the chase which starts at the apartment complex when the mom in front gets shot. Here are some quick notes from the video about the car chase under the train: * 26 blocks * 90 mph (I don't know if I believe this, but that's what he said) * uncontrolled street (no police) * real cars and pedestrians (except for the woman with the carriage) * The only thing they had was a "gumball" police light on top of the car. * All crashes were accidental. * Director (William Friedkin) was in the back seat with a camera. * There was one camera on the front bumper and on out side looking in on the driver. * It was completely illegal. * Thank God no one was hurt. * Would never do it again. ----- William Friedkin on directing the chase scene in THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) Cinematographers on cinematography https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhiQKt6R-TE ---- In addition to some of the other Gene Hackman films that have been recommended, I'd like to also recommend some Roy Scheider films that you might like: * Blue Thunder (1983) * All That Jazz (1979) (I'd also recommend 2010, but you guys already reacted to it a few years ago.)
Ron
2024-07-30 07:43:51 +0000 UTCThis was a true story. The French Connection heroin network was a very real thing back in the 1960s. The pick your feet in Poughkeepsie stuff was a tactic to confuse a suspect you are questioning. The 1975 sequel French Connection II is fictional and has Gene Hackman chase the bearded French criminal Chenier in France! I actually liked the sequel more than this one. A classic film, and I hope you guys do the sequel soon and continue more Gene Hackman movies! Mike
Mike the Ginger
2024-07-30 06:36:39 +0000 UTCYou want a car chase scene you need to watch Bullit.
Shepherd Kelley
2024-07-30 05:02:38 +0000 UTCThanks, Sam! Early in his career, William Friedkin was a documentary filmmaker. This was why there was so much shaking handheld camera shots and no music during the most intense scenes. He wanted to create documentary feel-- a sense of realism. And yes, this was based on a real police case.
Mr. Writhms
2024-07-30 04:46:01 +0000 UTCFriedkin was a ridiculous guy. Could be tough, talked some tall tales -- a real character. When The French Connection originally came out on Blu-ray, he supervised the transfer, and he made up a completely nonsense new technique, where he turned the film black and white and then bled the color back into it, which would cause it to smear and tint strangely. It was certainly a look, seeing Popeye's Santa suit "glowing" a pinkish hue. When it was released, people were pretty annoyed...including Best Cinematography winner Owen Roizman, who was not consulted on the new look. A few years later, The French Connection got an updated Blu-ray, supervised by Roizman, which looks faithful to the original and is quite pleasing (and seems to be the one on HBO Max). However, Friedkin, unwilling to take credit for his own behavior made up a funny story. Back in the early days of Blu-ray, they included a note in the cases that told you that you might need to update your player's firmware via the internet to use new features. He saw that but didn't understand it, and claimed that "firmware" was somehow the culprit for the way the previous disc looked (even though there was a whole documentary on the disc with him, detailing how he'd changed it on purpose). He actually told me the firmware story personally when I interviewed him in 2010. Still, even though he was a firebrand and while I don't condone being abusive to anyone (and I have myself heard rumors that he could be brutal), when I met him in his old age, he just came off like a larger-than-life personality more than anything.
Tyler Foster
2024-07-30 03:43:24 +0000 UTCThe French Connection scored five Oscar wins from eight nominations (wins which include Best Picture, Best Director for William Friedkin, and Best Actor for Gene Hackman). "You pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?" is intentional nonsense that Doyle is yelling at his perp to confuse him. That's why you can see Cloudy turning away and laughing when he does it, because it is part of the "good cop/bad cop" routine and just meant to rattle the suspect. The movie is based on a true story, but I also think the abrupt and bleak ending is very much in keeping with 1970s filmmaking, which have a dark and downer mood that many have connected to the trajectory of the Vietnam war. Now that you've finally watched it, going to repeat some stuff I said before. First of all, French Connection II is great. However, the important thing to know going in now that you've seen this is that French Connection II is *not* based on a true story, and so the tone of it is a little different. The real reason it's great is not the story, but another incredible performance by Gene Hackman, who gets things to do I am sure you would never be able to predict. The sequel is directed by John Frankenheimer, and he stages another chase scene that is both an inspired hat-tip to the first film, but also fits alongside the chases you've seen him execute decades later as the director of Ronin. Some other related movies: I said these first two the other day, but another classic Frankenheimer film I'd love to see your reaction to is The Manchurian Candidate (1963), and there is also a very good 2004 Denzel Washington remake of Manchurian by Jonathan Demme, director of Silence of the Lambs. Also, with The Conversation and this (with French Connection II being an honorable mention), Hackman did a third of his all-time greatest thrillers in the 1970s with Night Moves (1975), a neo-noir where he plays an L.A. private investigator. I would also recommend jumping forward a few decades, where you can see him in another Western that is nothing like Unforgiven, the 1995 Sam Raimi movie The Quick and the Dead, also starring Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe, and a pre-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio, alongside about 15 character actors you'll recognize from one place or another. An absolute over-the-top blast. Also, I will agree with everyone who mentions Friedkin's later cop thriller with an all-timer car chase, To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), starring William Petersen from Manhunter and Willem Dafoe as an incredible villain.
Tyler Foster
2024-07-30 03:37:17 +0000 UTCWhile it's been fictionalized, this is based on a true case that happened in 1961. Both of the real life cops who were in charge of the case appear in the film. Eddie "Popeye" Egan played Simonson, Doyle and Russo's police captain, and Sonny "Cloudy" Grosso played the FBI agent Klein. Mulderig, Popeye's FBI nemesis, was played by Bill Hickman. Hickman was a famous stunt driver and coordinated the film's classic chase sequence. A lot of the chase was filmed without permits with Hickman racing the car through real traffic. According to William Friedkin, the car that slams into the side of Popeye's car was just a passerby who accidentally drove into the filming. Hickman also coordinated two of the other greatest car chases of all time, Bullitt and The Seven-Ups. In both of those films, he also plays the bad guy getting chased.
Brad P
2024-07-30 03:03:32 +0000 UTCOh wow! I hadn’t heard that! -Sam
TBR Schmitt
2024-07-30 02:40:23 +0000 UTCIt’s definitely on our list! -Sam
TBR Schmitt
2024-07-30 02:40:11 +0000 UTCYes !!! Can't Wait !!! Gene Hackman in his Breakout Role !! Well Deserved First Oscar for him, you Saw the Other One on the Channel in Clint Eastwoods "Unforgiven" !!! Such a great Actor!! I recommend "French Connection 2" from 1975 (Great Sequel), "Bonnie & Clyde" from 1967, "Missisippi Burning" from 1988, "No Way Out" from 1987 and "The Firm" from 1993 !!! All great Gene Hackman Classics
Florian Meier
2024-07-30 02:33:50 +0000 UTCDirector William Friedkin tried to top the car chase in this movie in his police drama “To Live and Die in L.A.” (1985). That movie is also excellent. Please put it on your list? 😁👍
Mr. Writhms
2024-07-30 02:13:46 +0000 UTCI've heard some of the stuff about Friedkin, but I also know a bunch of the actors he worked with really valued the experience. I guess it depends on each person's perception of what went down. Also, I think a lot of the stuff that colored people's perception of Kubrick was how he reportedly treated Shelley Duvall on The Shining, rumors she herself contradicted several times. I'm sure he was no walk in the park, but he didn't ruin her life like everyone chooses to believe he did. Anyway, another Friedkin film I'd highly recommend is Sorcerer. You thought French Connection was stressful? Oh buddy! (And if you watch Sorcerer, it would be cool to pair it with The Wages of Fear. Sorcerer isn't technically a remake. They're just two interpretations of the same source material.)
Paul Cox
2024-07-30 02:13:01 +0000 UTC"You put a shiv in my partner. You know what that means? Goddammit! All winter long I got to listen to him gripe about his bowling scores." Love this movie. That said, William Friedkin, the director...was a notorious asshole. You guys should look up some of the shit he puts his actors through. And the thing is, he made some good movies: this, The Exorcist, Killer Joe, and Bug, are all--in my not so humble opinion--fanstastic. But he's also made a lot of shit. Stanley Kubrick, one of my favorite directors, was also known for being an asshole. Sometimes, I guess, one has to separate that shit from the art to enjoy it. Anyway...not really sure where I'm going with this. People shouldn't be assholes.
Steve Mercier
2024-07-30 02:02:46 +0000 UTCYes, if you actually do go on a Hackman journey, The Conversation has to be next. 1) It's fantastic. 2) You can wrap up your John Cazale journey.
Paul Cox
2024-07-30 01:23:38 +0000 UTCThe movie Daniel is talking about in the intro is Enemy of the State. Hackman's character in that movie is an obvious homage to one of his greatest roles, one of the films I'd most love to see on the channel, Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation. The film was made in 1974, which is notable 1) because this year is the film's 50th anniversary, and 2) because Coppola made it right in between The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), and it's as memorable and important as those two movies, yet it is comparatively obscure. Highly, highly recommend checking it out sometime this year for the anniversary, as it is a masterpiece, and it would perfectly cue up watching Enemy of the State as well.
Tyler Foster
2024-07-30 01:22:20 +0000 UTCfinally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tyler Foster
2024-07-30 01:16:14 +0000 UTCAlright! Let's go! Eager to see your reactions to the chase. And to the ending too.
Jay Davis
2024-07-30 01:14:07 +0000 UTC
