The French Connection, William Friedkin (U.S., 1971)

When
Sat Sep 14, 2013
Where
Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
Time
8:30 PM
Cost
$5.50 - $9.50
Tags
Movies, Film Screenings

Description

Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor

Chasing down punks on the streets of New York is what Detective Popeye Doyle does. Surrounded by director Friedkin’s grim metro realism, Popeye (played with buggy passion by Gene Hackman) is in his element grabbing gutter-level lunks, until he comes upon “Frog #1,” a coolly corporate kingpin who’s smuggling H into the U.S. Obsessed by this unflinching Frenchman (Fernando Rey), Doyle soon realizes that evil pursued can be elusive—it’s easier to find it in yourself. Propelled by a nervy street-smart camera, one of cinema’s greatest car chases, and adrenalin-injected editing, The French Connection is better than a mainline rush.

—Steve Seid

• Written by Ernest Tidyman, based on the book by Robin Moore. Photographed by Owen Roizman. With Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco. (104 mins, Color, 35mm, From Criterion/20th Century Fox)

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