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Chinatown - The French Connection (1 Viewer)

Jeff Gatie

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See, that is the opposite of timeless. Does that make it a lesser movie? No. But timeless it ain't
That's like saying the Beatles are not timeless because Weezer and Oasis were influenced by them in the 90's. I don't know. If it is still influencing dramas that are created 20-30 years after it's premier, I'd call that the definition of timeless. YMMV!
 

Fred Bang

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May 7, 2000
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Chinatown does get better and better with each viewing. The first time I saw it I was bored out of my mind. Now I can't wait for some Special Edition to buy it!
 

Seth Paxton

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Yes, the subway scene is priceless. I was cracking up when "frog one" kept going in and out of the subway car and Popeye Doyle trying to do the same without looking too obvious. Great, great scene.
Totally agree. THAT is the best scene/sequence of the film. Great tension.

I think the problem with the car chase (I had a friend who was also unimpressed) is that people expect this huge action, when in fact its really more the realism of the thing that sells it. It's more like another version of that subway tailing than a car chase in action film terms.

Of course I think Friedkin outdid this chase with a true action-style chase classic in To Live and Die in L.A. That film also has the grit of French Connection and is quite similar, yet it is even more dated since some of the scoring and styles are strongly tied to the 80's era (not unlike Manhunter).

But to me both films (Manhunter and LA) still work despite the dating because of the solid foundation of characters and story. Same with French Connection. I think that is why people view them as timeless. The times have changed but the characters and problems really haven't.

Chinatown - not dated at all to me. It's an incredible script, both story and dialog.
 

Haggai

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It might be of interest to note that the great subway cat-and-mouse sequence in The French Connection has some similarities with one in Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai, which came a few years earlier. Alain Delon plays a hit man who is being followed by the police, and they employ multiple undercover cops to track him on the Metro. There are some differences with the one in French Connection, so it's not a rip-off, but there definitely seems to have been an influence. William Friedkin doesn't mention it in his commentary on the DVD--he acknowledges Breathless and Z as major influences on his movie--but he probably did have it in mind for that sequence.
EDIT: I was just listening to Feidkin's commentary again, where he says that the scene was based on Eddie Egan's re-collection of how it happened. Egan was the real-life basis for Popeye Doyle (and Egan appears in the film, as Simonson, Doyle and Russo's boss--"hey, Popeye. Still picking your feet in Poughkeepsie?") Still, I have to think that Friedkin, a major fan of French cinema, was also influenced by that scene in Le Samourai.
 

Neil S. Bulk

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One question I have is about the music that plays over the main menu of Disc One of the Fox Five Star Collection DVD. It kind of sounds like it's from the movie, but it isn't! Some of the music that plays when you go from the main menu to one of the sub-menus, like the special features, does come from the movie, but not the music that plays on the main menu. Anybody know where it's from?
Probably from here. :)
Neil
 

Haggai

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Neil, thanks for the link, I might just have to order that one. The three sample tracks they have available online are straight from the movie, but it does say that there are some themes on the disc that didn't end up in the film, so maybe the music I'm looking for is indeed on there somewhere.
 

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