The French Connection + French Connection II (1971 & 1975/Fox
Blu-ray)
Picture: B/B-
Sound: B- Extras: B/B- Films: B/B-
Though playing the real-life detective Popeye Doyle put
him on the map and won him a Best Actor Academy Award, Gene Hackman had trouble
pulling off the role for William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971) and actually walked out on the film
before legal contractual action brought him back. The landmark crime drama was a huge critical
and commercial success for 20th Century Fox, also winning Oscars for
Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay and (classic) Editing.
The true-life tale of how Doyle and his partner (Roy
Scheider, who would repeat his character in The Seven-Ups) landed up exposing drug distribution that reached
all the way to… France! At a time when
the Vietnam fiasco was known to be taken over by the U.S. form France, you can
see where one particular international conflict was perpetuated, but this is
not a political film. It is a true
police thriller classic.
Besides being quite politically incorrect when that that
kind of label did not exist and negated too many cases where “realism” would be
the proper word, it was an impressive breakthrough at a time when so many great
TV crime dramas were being made and TV news was becoming more realistic before
their infotainment slide into gaudiness a few decades later. The screenplay by Ernest Tidyman (a detective
fiction writer himself adapting from Robin Moore’s book) blew the lid off of
everything from police crossing the line to criminals crossing the line to a
new view of how tough the streets could be in a way Hollywood had not shown
before. It is also way interesting to me
that this film this just as the urban Blaxploitation cycle beings, both
defining the urban 1970s.
Hackman really shines, though Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco and
Fernando Rey also have very memorable turns here and the combination of action
and suspense is almost unseen today and is still highly influential to the few
director’s today who can actually direct.
At the time, the film followed Bullitt
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) in this trend and holds up very well
today. A classic of the genre, Friedkin
suddenly found himself on the Hollywood A-list and for good reason. The film was tight and exciting at 104
minutes and will surprise first-time viewers who are not use to such intensity.
Though they were less common at the time as Hollywood of
then in its last Golden Age believed in risks and originality, Fox decided to
do a sequel and with Friedkin having an even bigger hit with The Exorcist (1973) and more interested
in his big production of Sorcerer
(1977), the equally capable John Frankenheimer was hired to helm French Connection II (1975) and did an
interesting job. Instead of trying to
duplicate and offer more of the same as the first film, the new picture has
Hackman back as Doyle, kidnapped and brought to Marseilles as an act of
revenge. Rey is also back and it is an
interesting film, but it never gains the traction of the first, despite its
ambitions. Still, it is seriously done
and Frankenheimer makes the material work as well as it can. You should see the first film first, but it
is not a bad sequel.
Both discs at this time are sold separately.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 AVC (@ 34.5 MBPS on the first film, 26 on the second) digital High
Definition image are not bad for their age and the type of shoots they
are. The first film was shot by Owen
Roizman, who also lensed The
Exorcist, the original Stepford
Wives, Network and original Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3 pushed the film
stocks as far as he could to show the urban area, even when the dark shots were
grainy. This was not an easy shoot and
is a one-of-a-kind looking film as a result.
Except for some detail-weak shots here and there, this is an impressive
transfer. The sequel was lensed by
Claude Renoir of the famous art family of Renoirs (starting with legendary
painter Auguste and moving on to director Jean) has been a cameraman since the
mid 1930s and at this point, was shooting the occasional Hollywood project (Barbarella, The Adventurers, The
Horsemen and later, the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me) in what is his grittiest work outside of his
French Cinema filmography. This print
looks a little softer and more faded than the first, four-years-older film, but
has some good shots here and there just the same. Both have color by DeLuxe that can fade, but there are good
color moments in both, especially the first film.
The DTS HD
Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 mixes on both films can only spread around and
redirectionalize the original monophonic sound from both films, but they also
both sport music scores by Don Ellis and those tracks are the sonic highlight
of both Blu-rays. Those with D-BOX
capacities will enjoy a much-needed further soundtrack boost and
enhancement. The music (save a few
tracks from the first film) is actually in stereo, which helps the mix out and
the music tracks are also available in isolated form as one of the soundtrack
options.
Luckily,
we were able to review the soundtracks when they were produced as a limited
edition CD soundtrack from the FSM label of Film Score Monthly Magazine. You can read more about that release and the
music at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1193/French+Connection+1+&+2+(Limited
Beside
the isolated scores that are on par with the CD, other extras include Hackman
interviews on both films, director audio commentary on both films, the first
has a second audio commentary by Hackman and Scheider and both also have the
already noted D-BOX enhancement. The
first film (on two Blu-rays!) adds an introduction by Friedkin, trivia track,
deleted scenes, Anatomy Of A Chase
featurette, Friedkin and advisor/former police detective/actor Sonny Grosso
discussing the film, Scene OF the Crime
featurette, Color Timing featurette about fixing the film, Cop Jazz: The Music Of Don Ellis featurette, Rogue Cop: The Noir Connection featurette, the BBC Documentary The Poughkeepsie Shuffle and featurette
Making The Connection: The Untold Stories Of…
The sequel also adds a stills gallery.
- Nicholas Sheffo
