There was a movie theater in Prague I used to go to a lot. Every week the theater would have a new slate of films. A few of these films would be new releases but mostly the Lucerna movie theater would play a wide array of all-time classics; Clockwork Orange, Fargo, Goodfellas, Casablanca. All of these movies I had seen before but I went to the screenings anyway. I wanted to know what it was like to see these movies when they were first released and would try to convince myself that this was just what it must have been like. Unfortunately Lucerna wasn't showing film prints of the old movies but were merely showing a DVD using a DVD projector, making it difficult to suspend my disbelief (It was especially hard during Goodfellas because half-way through they would have to flip the DVD to watch the second half. It was like Quixote realizing he was fighting a windmill.) But in New York there are more than a few movie theaters that show 35 millimeter prints of classic movies, including Film Forum, perhaps the greatest art movie house in the world. This past month Film Forum had a retrospective called NYC Noir which concluded with a week long showing of The French Connection, one of my favorite films and one of the greatest police detective thrillers ever made.
In an era of personal filmmaking, highlighted by a number of character driven films, The French Connection is a fairly straightforward crime story; two New York City narcotics police detectives, acting on a hunch, bust up a drug ring involving a mysterious dock owner from Marseilles. Prior to directing The French Connection, William Friedkin had an unremarkable resume and was known as an art film director who couldn't make a profitable movie. Inspired by a new outlook to make movies for his uncle in Chicago who worked in a deli, Friedkin was determined to make a movie with a clear story line and dynamic characters, cutting scenes which did not advance the action and the plot. After a few quick character introductions, it quickly boils down to being little more than a how to guide for conducting a police investigation and smuggling drugs. Although my description of The French Connection is underwhelming, what sets it apart from other crime thrillers is that this film has texture (for example the film's anti-hero is named Popeye Doyle) The film is gritty and has these ambient swells of sound playing throughout. It creates a haunting and frightening feeling and New York never looked so dirty. The film has two amazing chase scenes; one a seminal chase scene involving an elevated subway train and a Lincoln Towncar and one where Popeye, dressed as Santa Claus, chases a low-level thug on foot which ends with Popeye humorously asking the thug if he has ever "picked his feet in Poughkeepsie." Since this film was made in the 70s, the ending is definitely a downer but it would feel forced if a movie this rough and unflinching would be able to resolve itself neatly.
The movie ends, the credits start to roll and these ambient swells are playing again. We are packed into the theater like sardines but nobody is moving. Maybe we don't want to leave because we don't get to watch movies this good in theaters that often and we don't want this experience to end. After a few moments of silence about twenty people start to clap and I think to myself that this is what it might have been like in 1971.
