534. The French Connection (1971)

Running Time: 104 minutes
Directed By: William Friedkin
Written By: Ernest Tidyman, from novel by Robin Moore
Main Cast: Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi
Click here to view the trailer

Note: So here's how it's going to work for these final two hundred films. Basically what I've done is taken the films that remain and divided them in two. In each pile, I tried to put an equal number of mainstream and rarities, as well as divvying up the decades; ie. making sure each pile had an equal number of films from the 50s, 60s and 70s (which is really all that's left, besides a handful of 80s and about six from the 90s). With that being said, I pretty much know what I'll be watching during this season, so expect me to jump around quite heavily between the decades. I think that's all that need be said...now then...

A DOUBLE SHOT OF HACKMAN: 1 of 2

I hope everyone who read it, enjoyed the latest TOP 20. I put a lot of hard work into it, as always and there were some tough choices that I had to make, but ultimately, I was pleased with the finished product. Anyway, it's time to make my way toward "901 watched" and that starts with Gene Hackman and "The French Connection".

The film's plot is pretty much your standard good guys vs. bad guys, as two NYC detectives take on a band of drug dealers. The detectives in question are Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Hackman) and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Scheider). One evening, when they get off duty, Popeye convinces Cloudy to accompany him to the local watering hole, where he doesn't hesitate in pointing out a shady character and noting that he has a hunch the guy is into some drug deals. The shady character is Sal Boca (Lo Bianco), a store owner, who indeed IS involved in a drug deal with a group of Frenchmen and a local tycoon. Although, Popeye and Cloudy don't have any proof of this yet, they go on Popeye's hunch and tail Sal for days, even managing to get a wire tap on his phone, in hopes that they'll catch him with his hands in the cookie jar. Enter Alain Charnier (Rey), the Frenchman and the man with the heroin who plans to bring into the States and make a killing. He relies on the assistance of French actor Henri Devereaux, a French actor who won't be questioned as much due to his stature in the entertainment community. Eventually, Popeye and Cloudy are assigned a couple of feds, to help them, which doesn't make Popeye very happy - especially considering he knows one of the feds and is at odds with him.

I mean, that's it really and even that's probably too much information. All you really need to know is that it's a 70s cop flick about a few drug smugglers and a kick ass car chase. I suppose we could talk about that car chase, since I just brought it up. Well...it was amazing, was it not? The beauty part is that it's not technically even a car chase (which I'd define by one car chasing another), but rather it's one car chasing an elevated train. If you've ever read the particulars on it, it gets even more amazing as you realize that Friedkin and crew didn't even have the proper permits to shoot, thus there were times during the chase where actual, civilian cars were involved. In fact, there's a certain story about a guy getting sideswiped by the stunt driver and later having his car repair bills paid by the production. It's really something else and if you've never seen the scene, you really owe it to yourself to check it out. In fact, let's forget the car chase for a second, as there are dozens of other memorable, well filmed scenes filling up "The French Connection", including the scene with Hackman and Rey where Charnier tries to outsmart Popeye and lose the tail.

Seriously people, what's not to like? Seriously!? Because I couldn't find anything that I didn't like and all in all, I had an amazing time watching this last night. In fact, after getting up at 6:30am yesterday morning and not popping this in the DVD player until somewhere around 10pm, I didn't even begin to doze off and even when I laid down (which was past midnight), I just laid there for about ten minutes, thinking about what I just watched. What a great movie and I know I've said it before, but dammit, they just don't make them anymore, like they did in the 70s. Imagine a picture like this even getting nominated for a Best Picture Oscar nowadays, let alone winning! It would never happen. The 70s had a certain grit, a certain independence and filmmakers who knew what they wanted and would do anything to get it, like William Friedkin sitting in the backseat of the car, during the chase scene, to film it himself. Great, great stuff here people and this should've been at the top of your Netflix queue yesterday, so that you could have spent your Valentine's Day today with Popeye!

RATING: 9/10  I really wanted to go '10', but I just didn't get that '10' feeling when I was watching and that's something I require when giving out a '10'. Oh well, a '9' is still great and there's always a chance for an upgrade.

MOVIES WATCHED: 802
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 199

February 14, 2014  8:10pm

571. The Exorcist (1973)

Running Time: 122 minutes
Directed By: William Friedkin
Written By: William Peter Blatty, from his novel
Main Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Lee J. Cobb
Click here to view the trailer

FRIGHTFEST 2011: 5 of 5

Well it's officially Halloween and with this review we'll cap off the past few weeks, which have been filled with thrills and chills, with "The Exorcist". Before I get into the review, I just want to make it clear that in viewing "The Exorcist" I DID watch the original cut of the film and not "The Version You've Never Seen". Now then...

Chris MacNeil (Brustyn) and her daughter Regan (Blair) have taken residence in Georgetown, while Chris, an actress, films a movie. The characters are established early, as is the relationship between the mother and daughter - a tight knit one. It isn't long, however, before the shit really hits the fan and Regan begins to appear to be sick. At first, she just develops odd behavior, being very free with her curse words and peeing on the dining room floor, during one of her mother's swanky dinner parties. Regan is put through a battery of tests, when the doctors suspect that she has some type of rare liaison on her brain. When all the tests come back negative, the doctors are baffled, and so is Chris, whom has now witnessed even stranger behavior, such as violent convulsions from Regan and an occasion where her entire bed physically shook. Meanwhile, Father Damien Karras is questioning his faith to the Catholic church and his mother's death doesn't help matters. When Regan's doctors tell Chris that her daughter may be possessed, Chris MacNeil turns to Father Karras.

I had only ever seen "The Exorcist" on one other occasion, prior to my viewing last night. I can remember being in middle school and hearing some of my fellow classmates talking about "The Exorcist" and saying how great it was. When I was a kid, I was always a little leery of horror pictures, because when I was an even younger kid, I watched things like "Child's Play" and certain Stephen King films and had a hard time sleeping for a few nights. I had always opted to steer clear of "The Exorcist" when I was a kid and even when I became a teenager and outgrew my fear of horror pictures, the desire to finally see it, simply never came. When I got married, my wife finally convinced me to sit down and watch it and I was surprised at how out of proportion I blew things in my own mind. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had heard or maybe I was just an adult now and fearing more real life things, like if me and my wife would make the next month's rent.

However, I'll admit it - last night the movie did get to me...just a little. It's not really that it scared me or anything, it was more disturbing than anything. And even to say that it disturbed me is a little too much, but there was just something there that was too unappealing for my tastes. The film itself is actually quite good. It gives us a fairly basic story and gives it time to unfold. "The Exorcist" doesn't use a lot of gore to get it's points across, but rather, uses interesting situations, strong language and when gore is used, it's used to it's fullest potential. The audience is shown things, that up until that point it had never seen and it's shown things probably far worse than any audience could even begin to conjure up in their imaginations. It takes a setting, as innocent as an obedient, little girl's room and turns it into a living hell on Earth. It treats everything as if it were 100% real and nothing that is ever happening in this film, is (even in the slightest) made to look like a phony situation. Another thing, in my opinion, that makes "The Exorcist" even more powerful, is it's inclusion of some superstar actors. You have Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb and Ellen Burstyn, three caliber actors whom you wouldn't and still today don't, normally see in horror pictures. Those, in my opinion, are the reasons why "The Exorcist" works.

I love how so many aspects of "The Exorcist" feel like a battle. You have the obvious battle between good and evil. You have, at one point, a sort of battle between science and religion. You have Father Karras battling his own, personal demons and trying to cope with his mother's death and his lost faith. There are so many scenes and situations of conflict that, when coupled with the extreme scenes of grotesqueness, it's not difficult for the film to put you into a state of unease. The scene where Father Karras and Father Merrin enter Regan's room and come face to face with Regan, is probably the closest we've ever seen, in film, to a battle between God and the Devil (unless I'm forgetting something, which is quite likely). The whole scene seemed to echo a battle scene to me. It was a fight for a soul, in my eyes. It was these two men of God taking on this demon and this demon is personified by a twelve year old girl. When the two men are stating over and over, "The power of Christ compels you!", it's like the scene in the battle where the swords are clanging and the score is raging and it just overpowers you with intensity.

Now, back to why it disturbed me. Honestly, it's hard for me to put that into words. The film put me in such a state of uneasiness (as far as watching films goes), that it almost began to turn me off, at times. In the end, I'm still able to admit all the positives about "The Exorcist", but no matter what the rating it gets, it's probably not something that I'd ever include on a TOP 20 list or anything. It's just not something that I could ever even consider a favorite, because it's not something that I'd want to watch that often.

The only bad thing that I feel I should mention is the opening. After watching the film and thinking back over it, I thought of the boring opening scene (set in Iraq) and wondered why it was necessary. THE BOOK makes note that the scene is baffling for those who haven't read the book and that really got me to wondering why they'd even include it in the first place. There were probably a thousand better ways to introduce and establish the character of Father Merrin and exclude that opening. Especially when you have a film that has garnered such a reputation as being so SCARY, you know your audience isn't going to want to waste any time getting into the meat and potatoes of the whole affair, so it made it doubly boring.

The bottom line is that "The Exorcist" will more than likely give you, at least, a little bit of a fright. I know you'll get the macho film-goer who will never admit to it, but I'm sure that everyone who sees this movie will be thinking about it well after they've left their seat. It's technically great, but in the end I can't say that it's a favorite of mine or that it ever will be. It's something that I wouldn't want to watch again for quite a while, despite the fact that it is really good, has great characters, situations, scenes and acting.

RATING: 7.5/10 That's a rating that mixes my hesitations about the film, with the technical brilliance. I hope I hit all the points I wanted to hit - I know, it was a long review.

MOVIES WATCHED: 342
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 659

October 31, 2011 5:48pm
HAPPY HALLOWEEN