Saturday, June 8, 2013

The French Connection (1971)

Director: William Friedkin
Writers:   Ernest Tidyman, Robin Moore
Cast:       Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider

A pair of NYC cops in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a drug smuggling job with a French connection.

Film is made in documentary style with minimal dialog. Friedkin was influenced by the film 'Z' for this style. It is essentially a police procedural film and the first R rated film to win best picture at the academy awards. The film was adapted and fictionalized from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore with the same name. The real life counterpart of the French guy was later caught in France but not extradited.

Film was made based on a discussion with Howard Hawks whose daughter was living with Friedkin during that time. When asked about how he thought about Friedkin films, Hawks replied they were lousy and asked him to make the best chase of all time. That is how that chase came about.

Rating: 4/5

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