Director William Friedkin reinvented and invigorated the gritty crime drama with The French Connection (1971); a taut and dynamic film about a real life international heroin smuggling cartel. Based on case files of New York City police detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso and a book by Robin Moore, the screenplay by Ernest Tidyman is a gripping revision of the truth. In the film, Bud Russo (Roy Scheider) and Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle (Gene Hackman) set out to apprehend French businessman, Alan Charnier (Fernando Rey) whom they suspect is a front man for international narcotics trafficking.
Charnier has smuggled his latest drug shipment into the U.S. via the snazzy automobile of a legitimate French film star in America to do a movie. Charnier’s American contact is a two bit hustler from the Bronx, Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco) who first catches Doyle’s attention at an ‘after hours’ watering hole, spending far too much money for the proprietor of a greasy spoon that he pretends to be by day. Doyle becomes obsessed with nabbing Boca and Charnier; an obsession that frequently lands him in hot water with his superior officer, Simonson (actually, the real Eddie Egan).
But cracking the case isn't going to be that easy. Nothing ever is. And Charnier is a pro who quickly catches on to his tails. After eluding Jimmy one time too many, he hires a hitman La Valle (Andre Ernotte) to take him out. Instead, a harrowing showdown ensues, starting on foot, migrating to car and finally ending up on an L-train with a mano a mano showdown.
Jimmy and Bud set up a sting operation during an exchange of the drugs. And although they are successful at apprehending Sal and his cohorts, Charnier eludes capture once again. The film ends on this ambiguous note.
Viewed today, The French Connection has perhaps dated moreso than some other films from the 1970s. Director Friedkin cast Fernando Rey on the assumption that he was the actor he had earlier seen in the foreign film, Belle de Jour (1967). Unfortunately, Friedkin had the wrong man. However, with shooting about to commence and the studio pressing the production forward it was too late to do anything but accept Rey in the role.Throughout the production, accidental verisimilitude remained the order of the day. From the crash and bang-up that takes place during the penultimate car chase (not originally intended but left in the film for its heightened realism), to having actual motor men and conductors operate the subway trains (city authorities would not give the crew permission to use an actor), the movie leaps across the screen with a genuine excitement.
A stickler for realism, Friedkin reportedly did not rehearse Hackman’s car chase with a double. Nor did he get permission from the proper city authorities to clear several blocks of pedestrian traffic before he yelled ‘action!’ Instead, with a hand held camera in the backseat, Friedkin instructed his star to drive at top speeds under the elevated train. The resulting footage is so viscerally alarming that one can almost feel the hairs begin to stand up on the back of Hackman’s neck. On Oscar night, Friedkin, Hackman and the film were all honored with statuettes, if for nothing else, their insane courage exercised during this trend-setting action sequence.
Fox Home Video’s previously issued Five Star Collector’s Edition provided us with a fairly impressive DVD transfer of this Oscar winner. The new Blu-Ray should therefore be a quantum leap forward from that - right? Wrong!
For starters, Friedkin has decided to go the route of George Lucas herein, excessively tampering with the film's original dye transfer and altering the colour dramatically throughout the film. He claims this is how The French Connection ought to have looked all along. If that's his vision, I'm happy for him. But that isn't the way the rest of us remember the film from its theatrical engagement - if we remember it at all.
On the Blu-ray film grain that was moderate on the DVD has been bumped up to very distracting levels. I am a proponent of film grain. I don't want my movies scrubbed with excessive DNR to look like waxen video game images. But I also don't want so much grain shimmering about that I can't even make out what's going on during night scenes. But that's exactly what I get on this minting of The French Connection. Watch, for example, the sequence where Doyle attempts to court a prostitute while staking out the restaurant where Sal is entertaining prospective clientele. It is awash in grain and video noise - the two indistinguishable from one another.
Because of Friedkin's excessive tampering with the colour scheme, the Blu-ray image is also a lot 'cooler' and with severely desaturated colors. I mean, at times the image doesn't look so much different as it just takes on the appearance of being very badly faded.
As if to justify the reason for his alterations, one of the Blu-Ray’s extras is an extensive featurette on color timing. But the Blu-ray rendering is disappointing to say the least. Instead of improving the visual presentation, The French Connection now looks like its in desperate need of a complete 'ground up' restoration.
The audio has been remixed to 5.1 lossless audio but exhibits a dated characteristic. Featurettes on the making of the film, reminiscences from the stars and cast, the original BBC documentary and Don Ellis’ score round out the extensive extra features. An isolated score track containing the complete musical tracks (not how they appear edited into the film’s final cut) are also a welcome edition.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4
VIDEO/AUDIO
2.5
EXTRAS
4.5
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