This came up more than once in youtube suggested videos for me, so I finally took a look. If you've seen The French Connection and you're interested in the craft of film making, this is well worth your time

One of the truly great American crime films and certainly one of the best of the early 1970s gritty police and crime dramas.

Lately, FX has been airing The French Connection II a film I had never seen but finally got around to watching. It's not as good as the original, but then, few sequels are. Still, TFC II, although slower paced than the original, is an entertaining film, but seeing the original before TFC II would be required.

Did you know that the garage mechanic who disassembled the car in the film is the very same guy who did it in real life for Egan and Grosso? And did you know that all the guys in the bar bust scene were actually active-duty NYPD officers? Neither did I, but I know now.

Here's the Oscar wins for the film.

Best Picture - Philip D'Antoni

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Gene Hackman

Best Director - William Friedkin

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium - Ernest Tidyman

Best Film Editing - Gerald B. Greenberg

Popeye's hat was a star.

Great film and great story.

FC II wasn't as good as it wasn't based on actual events. I think it lost something by that.

It also lost something by taking Doyle out of his element. NYC was a character in the first film. Marseilles? What the heck?

TFC II was ok. Not the best. But I enjoyed hearing some of the facts you mentioned that I didn't know.

check out The Seven-Ups...more of the same

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0...ivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv

Bill

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
It also lost something by taking Doyle out of his element. NYC was a character in the first film. Marseilles? What the heck?

Marseilles was a rough and tumble port city, with a notorious black market. When Doyle gets shot-up with heroin, it slowed the story down and took away from showing the city's underbelly and work-a-day scenes like the first movie did with NYC.

Yes, good point. I like the way they handled his recovery in the aftermath, and the party he throws for the patrons of the Heroin Hotel...

The Filming Locations of The French Connection, Then and Now ("now" being 2014)

Eating a NY slice at 11:26!

Was the old lady that took his watch a junkie too? Or just a thief?

I liked the first one better of course but those tidbit facts about the cast etc are really neat! I love movies like this and generally have a dislike of anything new that comes out. The creativity, use of actual film, and a good story seems to be lacking in our modern Wick era.

Thanks for sharing! I’ve always enjoyed Gene Hackman.

She was a junkie. You could briefly see the needle tracks in one of her forearms.

quote:

Originally posted by pbramlett:
I liked the first one better of course but those tidbit facts about the cast etc are really neat! I love movies like this and generally have a dislike of anything new that comes out. The creativity, use of actual film, and a good story seems to be lacking in our modern Wick era.

The period from 1967 (Bonnie and Clyde) to 1974 (Chinatown) was marked by some fantastic films which, I'm sorry to say, will never be equaled. The PC popcorn salesmen in Hollywoood have seen to that. Dead and gone. They're making CGI films for the international ADHD market. Pure garbage, and a parody of the craft of film-making.

It's funny- the first time I saw The French Connection was on late night TV, edited for time and content and chopped to pieces by commercials. Must have been around 1978 or so. I thought to myself "This was the Best Picture winner for 1971?? This thing sucks!"

I'm gonna open a bird store and call it The Finch Connection.