155: The French Connection (1971)

The guys review a film Alex has been obsessed with for decades, and Nick just watched for the first time. William Friedkin’s “The French Connection” won Best Picture and helped kickstart American ‘70s cinema. Stray topics include the film’s influence on the art form, picking your feet in Poughkeepsie, Friedkin’s career, the dearly departed Gene Hackman, the most infamous car chase in cinema history, and much more.

Rest in peace, Gene Hackman. We love you, we miss you. 

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I don't have to tell anyone. I don't know. I knew what side of the street he lives on. Hey, shithead. When's the last time you pick your feet? What's he talking about? I got a man in Poughkeepsie who wants to talk to you. You ever been a poker player? Have you ever been. Poughkeepsie. Hey, man. Come on, give me a break here. Me hear you say. Come on. Have you ever been in Poughkeepsie? You better. Poughkeepsie. I'm not here. I want to hear it. Come on. Yes. Yes. You been there, right? Yeah. You sat on the edge of the bed, didn't you? You took off your shoes. Put your finger between your toes and put your feet down. Yep. That's. All right. Tap tap tap. Tap. And. From. Hey, everyone. Welcome to. What are you watching? I'm Alex right there. And I'm joined by my best man, Nick, though. So how are you doing there, Popeye Doyle, wait for Laurel. Take it what you want? Cloudy. Cloudy. He only says that once, though. He only calls day. But it's so much fun. But it is his nickname I. Or maybe he only. I only called it once. He never gets. No. Cause you're going to Poughkeepsie. You're going to see your drink because it was the last time you picked up Poughkeepsie. It wasn't for you. Look at me. And you're like, what does that mean? And I'm like, exactly, exactly. His name is Russo versus characters. Russo? Yes, yes. The cloud has got to be a nickname. Yeah. It is. It's. Yeah. Pretty cloudy. That was the I love that stay here all night. If we have to. Yeah. I love the dynamic of this. Go home. Jesus. Like you get stabbed. He gets, And. Oh, yeah. This is going to be such a fun episode. Obviously, today we are talking about William Friedkin's Best Picture winning masterpiece, American 70s masterpiece, The French Connection. We William Friedkin has been the source of a lot of, consternation on this podcast. You're wearing your Exorcist shirt that I purchased for you, I love it. So we've had this whole evolution with Friedkin and with The Exorcist snafu, it became clear a few years ago that you admitted to me you've been relatively living your entire life in a Friedkin List's universe, including. And you admitted this on the part, including the French Connection. It's just been a gap. So all this to say, after all the episodes we've done, what are you watching? We have never watched an older movie together. And then immediately after recorded Deep Dive, we really haven't. We've seen new movies in the theater and recorded right after, but we've never done that. Some we've watched commentaries together, of course, like as we record. But so this is fresh new. We just finished it. And I want to hear your thoughts as a first time watcher. Dude, this was awesome. Damn. So fucking great. Okay. And to kind of just keep going with that conversation. So not only did I never see The French Connection, I knew nothing about it. That right before we hit play, that's what you told me. And I went, wait like nothing because I was going to set some things up. And then I just stayed silent the whole time. All I knew was Gene Hackman was in it, and I knew William Friedkin directed it. But I did not know that it was a cop movie. I didn't know that it was a chase type thing. Oh my God, I had no idea what this movie was. I, I didn't know that there was some kind of action. Yeah, because it's so popular. Like, just like clips of excitement. But I had no idea in what context it was. So come to fame when we started it. I'm okay. I'm like, all right, we've got this buddy kind of dynamic between these two. But the dialog is so snappy. Oh my God, it's really like I remember I kept asking ago, when was this movie made you, like 1971? Yep. And I was just kind of blown away because it is sort of like, even for that time, a throwback to, that kind of buddy cop dynamic with detectives you might see in like, noir. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. But this is just so pumped, just gritty. Gritty as hell. Yeah. On the street. Yeah. No sets, no backstory and anything. No. They drop you right in the middle of this thing. You don't know who any of these characters are, they? It seems like Hackman and Scheider had been, partners for a while. Yeah, but, like, you just are thrown right into their dynamic, and it's so cool. Like, they have such a cool vibe together. Yeah. The back and forth, the pitter patter, you can tell they don't need to communicate. Like, hey, I'll be bad cop here. Like when they have the guy in the alley, the Poughkeepsie thing, and then, yeah, I was like, just, just take it easy. Just, you know, give him a second, give him a second. So they'd never have to communicate that. It's just, it's this dance, this musical act that they have down so. Well. Yeah. It was a lot of fun watching you watch it, because you were. I mean, I was enthralled. I've seen this movie a bunch, but, like, really sitting down, committing and not it. I've talked about this with network when I did every Lumet movie last year, and then I've seen network a bunch, but then you just put on network and you're like, yeah, there's a reason why people still talk about this. The French Connection is more than 50 years old, and it just hit you harder, probably than most 2024 movies. I mean, it's not. Yeah. So yes, it just it still hits. And that is what is so cool. And that's why I love talking about this, because there's definitely going to be some people listening who haven't seen it or haven't seen it in a while. Rewatch it. It's going to wow the hell out of you. It's it. I mean, outside of just a few elements of how old the movie is out. Like, you know, the cars are definitely of their era, but the filmmaking, yeah, does not feel dated whatsoever. Crisp, crunchy editing, man. You are for like crisp, clean editing. You are going. Going. Don't know why I said crunchy. Their apologies is crazy you. But yeah, because it's not like smooth. But it is like we're talking about how you said at one point, I don't know what they're going to cut to next, but every time they cut, it's the right choice, even if it's just two guys. And that's another thing about the cop dynamic. The way they are can tell, like walking down the street and they have it down about like going this way. Going this way. Yeah. The editing, I mean, this one film editing for a reason. It's not even just like the right cuts, but even just in the cinematography the way when we're not even I mean, every chase had its own kind of feel to it. Yeah. But even in some of like the more all right, we're not actually in a chase or a, like a following, but we're just scouting. The camera would move and pan in a way where the next shot would pick up and maybe would go in the other direction, like a tail would. Yeah, yeah. And you're just catching the next bit and but your eyes are adjusted to it so. Well where it's just, it's so easy to watch and never get lost. You never get lost. And there's like an explorer like you could, especially in the on foot scenes when you are figuring out for yourself what they're doing and how it's going. There's room in the editing to think about it. Oh yeah, like they're not spoon feeding. You follow this and then follow this and follow this like you get an idea. And then you kind of see in it's own like I remember I told you I was like, all right, well, he's been spotted by this guy. Yeah. So they switch. They switch. Yeah. Hackman's like, you take the other guy. Yeah. He spotted me. Yeah, exactly. And sometimes you you do. You put that together for yourself and you're like, oh, this is actually smart. I've never actually thought about this. You've got a three man team and you're chasing these guys. You make just one time. Looks suspicious. Someone else has got to take this guy. Yeah, I know, yeah, you got to pass it off. Yeah. It's so cool. Oh, my God, it was so cool. And then, I mean, I'm sure we should probably start somewhere else, but I cannot wait to talk about the car chase and the train. So that is, one of the most infamous film scenes in the history of cinema. It is it is widely considered the best chase scene ever. There was a chase scene in Bullitt, movie starring Steve McQueen. Steve McQueen is one of Friedkin's favorite actors. He probably would have wanted him for French Connection. We'll get into it. But he did not want Gene Hackman. Didn't think he would have this stuff, so he wanted to one up Bullitt. And then every single car chase you've seen after The French Connection is honoring that in some way. Yeah, the death proof one to me is amazing, but that's a huge set piece. And in eight in a city, it's two cars out in dirt roads, they get on the freeway. Yeah. So that we will talk about it. But that thing was in it was there like on the ground and oh my God, you feel that tension. Here's where like I after getting your general thoughts that I want to start because I haven't mentioned this and I don't know how you feel. How do you feel about the fact that minus some few key liberties, the film you just watch is entirely based on a true story? See, it is real. It did happen. And I'm going to blow your mind even further. But how do you feel about that? That is crazy. And I actually did not know that until you just said it. Well, because Friedkin, even in his non true story movies, loves to end on character credits. Yeah. What happened? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was a little nervous you were going to see those and ask, wait, was this a true fucking story? But we have held off of that conversation until now because I honestly didn't think that. I thought it was literally what you just said. It's like a fictional thing flashing everything. What a way to wrap it up. And because of that ending, I was also a bit in a stupor because, I mean, we can give it no spoilers. Spoilers for the Best Picture winning, very famous film The French Connection. We are now about nine minutes in, so yeah, here we go. It will be ruined. I want everyone to see this movie. Let's do it. So at this point in the movie, there's really not any point. I was not on the edge of my seat or just completely captivated and enthralled and just watching every detail. Yes, like that's the thing. Even in some of the slow parts, they're not slow. They're very, very interesting to watch because it's all processed. Exactly. And they're giving you important pieces of information that never spoon feeding it. Trust me, every rewatch is better. Every. Yeah. And if it's not giving you that kind of process and it's giving you character relationships like I, that one of my absolute favorite scenes was when they were, listening over in the headphones, by eavesdropping when he's arguing with his his wife at the pizza. Where am I going to get a pizza this late? And they're just tossin cards and they're cracking up, and there's no dialog between them. It's just like, this is how these two are, like, they live. Yeah. And there is something. And I've always believed this about movies, and it's a really important thing that I think any movie needs to do when it comes to characters is to at some point you have to showcase what that character's humor is. Oh yeah. It's a weird thing that no one really thinks about, but if you were to watch any movie and talk about the character, not the actor, what was their humor like? If you can actually answer it for yourself, then, then that writing and directing, they actually did a good job because when you think about it, you actually might not be able to answer that question with a lot of movies like I don't really know what the hell. I mean, it's not funny. Or even think of, Heath Ledger's Joker, Anton Chigurh, or these psychos. They still are making little jokes. Daniel Plainview makes a little jokes. They have senses of humor. Hannibal Lecter does, you know. So yeah, it's a great thing. We've also talked about that. Yeah, I totally agree. And that's this is we were laughing out loud, like chuckling at some points. Mostly that just damn dialog that makes up the Poughkeepsie stuff, like whatever they come up with. But my favorite though is Roy Scheider. How old is she now? She isn't young. That 1919 going on 50. Mob wife. Yeah, yeah. But that dialog, that's just like one line. Oh yeah. Just like cooking and cutting and then it like shortly later cuts them kind of flirting with her like. Yeah, yeah. I just love it because I can tell her I was like, I like to see your top. Yeah. Basically you want, you know that for me, baby, my husband wouldn't like it. I don't care about your husband. Yeah. Then he walks out of the room, right? But if he's like, I don't care, sweetheart, I got Roy. I. But he's only. Her name is Angie. She's a fast filling. She was suspended for shoplifting a year ago. She's only a kid. 19, according to the marriage license. 19 going on 15. What else? He's had the store. What are my all time favorite character actors? Always. Seriously, he is so good. He's always good. We did get sidetracked. So let's go back to the two scores. To the ending. Oh yeah. Yeah yeah. Just let me set it up a little bit more. Just a little bit more. You know, the, There's that really funny captain. Like they're busting their balls. Not the mean FBI guy, but their captain. They call him Walt with the hair. And he's like, well, you haven't brought me a good case. Said, you know, they're trying to convince him. Oh, like, oh, let us do let us do that. Yeah, that's the real Popeye Doyle. Oh, no. Show him. Yeah. His real name is Eddie Eagan. That is who Popeye Doyle is based on. He was obviously very closely associated with the movie. Hackman's like, I'm only doing this if you do it. And Roy Scheider, the guy he's based on, is the not the asshole FBI agent, but the other one. He only has one line in real life. He's very he was a shy guy, but he's in it as well. So they were fucking they're making the movie with him. That's fucking awesome. I love that, but really quick to go to that scene. Yes. Like I kept just thinking a few times how excellent this was done in terms of the writing, because like I was saying, you are just dropped into this world with no backstory, but we do start to get it and we get it in the best possible way. And it wasn't until that scene because up until this point, we just know Doyle and Russo, as these detectives are just cops. But we don't know that Doyle has fucked up in the past, and that he has at least, number of times gone on wild goose chases with ideas that lead to either cheap arrest that involves way too much work. Yeah. Or nothing. Or, as a fed guy saying you've killed cop Kildare, you've gotten, oh, you've gotten cops killed. Yeah. So yeah, we're hearing this very, very important exposition, but done in the screenwriting in the middle of an argument of these guys trying to get something from someone that they need to get it from. Yeah. This is the exact way of how you incorporate this type of information in screenwriting to where it matters, because we also don't get more information right. We don't know what, who, who, who is or who he was responsible, quote unquote, for killing. Nope. Yeah. And it's just this one piece of information. But based off of just knowing that even though we've never seen it, we don't know the circumstances now, we do look at these two going forward differently, or at least Gene Hackman character. Now, let me ask you this question just on this idea when it comes to screenwriting. Well, here's another thing of it. We first learned this information when that fed is venting. Oh yeah. Scheider and captain. He's not even saying in front Hackman. He's basically like, I gotta fucking work with this guy that's gotten in while the captain, the real, you know, dude, the real, Popeye is going up to him like, come on, dude, do me a favor. Like, run it through me, run it through me. Like, bring all your concerns to me. Don't just get off him. Get all right, because we heard it one at a time. Yes, the police captain. The real. Yeah. Well, yeah. Well. That's awesome. Yeah. Eddie Egan. Yep. He didn't he didn't bring that up. Correct. Oh yeah. No no no no. Yeah. His whole thing was you guys do this all the time. I'm not going to give it to you. But he does. But then is the next scene. We hear it from the fed. Where is that. Yeah I know Popeye. He's brilliant. Huntress cost the life of a good cop. Hey, look, this is the way you're coming in on this. Why don't you stay home and save us all a lot of grief? Because that's my opinion. Shove it up your ass, whatever you feel like. Please. But do me a favor. Give them a chance. We came here with a little piece of information I know you're working for. You had a little trouble to come up in a moment, but, hey, you have any problems come to me with? I had an off in the wrong foot silence. And just keep cool it with him. I will have any problems. Come to me. I'll handle them. All right. Do me a favor. All right? I'll be happy to work. Okay? He's a good cop, basically a good cop. He's got good hunches. Everyone's all right. Give him a chance. Sign off my back. So my question to you is, when you're writing and you're trying to figure out how to plug in certain exposition you need to do, you never really need to do it more than once. Yeah, I agree you don't really. If you should never be doing it twice from the same character, it shouldn't be communicated that way in a lot of I mean, this goes against everything that the Netflix credo is, which is like you, we make our content for second screens, especially their shows. Like they just assume people are going to be on their phones. Yeah. So they're constantly repeating information. They're constantly verbalizing the action that has is either happening or just happened. Because if you were on your phone and missed it, then, then you're hearing about it so that yes, this is a different the 70s are a different era, which really started with the European film influence. This was there were a few key movies that were huge influences for Friedkin on this. But yeah, you don't like that's the challenge. Come up with your exposition in a different sort of way. Yeah. Even when like there's one quote unquote, like easy exposition in part when after they've been sitting on Sal's restaurant, Sal's and Angie's, and we hear Scheider giving the breakdown like, okay, so this is Sal, this is that. But we don't keep cutting back to them over the table like he's Scheider smoking doing this. Yeah. It's like a documentary. Like we're just watching the footage and hearing their voices. That's a cool way to do it. It's a very cool way to do it. Yeah. So I think yes there's one best screenplay as well for a reason. Oh really? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I'll give it one. I'll just go through right now. It won. It was nominated for eight Oscars. It won a total of five. Picture actor Hackman, best director, best editing, best adapted screenplay because it was based on a book. You know what else won five Oscars? You know what it in the beautiful Nora. Yes. This is the the wood. Afternoon. Technically, after the 97th Annual Academy Awards, my favorite Academy Awards in my lifetime. So, yes, it did. It did well at the Oscars, but it was a, it was really an announcement of, like, we're changing these Oscars a bit. You know, the ratings changed in 68 to 69. You get Midnight Cowboy the next year or something, a very good movie patent. But, you know, it's kind of a traditional biopic, but it's actually patent. No kidding. It's a really, really good movie screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola. And it's a great script. And then, yes, the French Connection, it's like, whoa, we're here, we come. We're not we're we are making room for these nitty gritty things. Midnight cowboy was not a fluke. And it's really crazy too, because I mean, if you think of sometimes the Oscars kind of want to give you, like, that important movie, this isn't that, like, not like In the Air and no, it's like a topical thing of, like, cinema. Holy shit. This is what cinema can do now. Yeah, it's not Fiddler on the roof, which is like a prestige movie the same year. Yeah. So tight, I remember. Yeah. Saying to you a few times cause we didn't talk that much, but, like, just pointing out that editing, I'm like, we were only even, like 10 minutes or 15 minutes, and I go, this editing is out of control. Yeah. Because like, it because they always say good editing is when you don't notice it. I almost kind of disagree sometimes because, like, even with a Nora, like, part of the star of it was the editing. Yeah, but you and I notice it. Yeah. Because we're like, our eyes are trained to it now, but the average person should just feel that they are being taken care of and that things are moving along. And like the pacing. Oh, I get why certain scenes or how long or why certain shots are. Yeah, okay, I get this, I get the tempo of it. But they shouldn't. They are the ones who should not be noticing it. Like if we noticed good editing, we're like, oh shit, okay, that was a good cut. But you know, the average person is not watching a movie judging it by its cuts. It's just freaks like us. It's. But that makes us like the movie more exactly because we're like, Holy shit, this thing is knows exactly what it's doing every step of the way. Yeah, no, that at all. Like our 45 minutes. There's no fat on any shot. Any. It just moves. Boom boom boom. Yeah. Gene Hackman won for this. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So yeah, it was a big deal. Yeah. He was I mean he had been nominated for supporting actor for Bonnie and Clyde a few years earlier. But yeah, it was a big deal that he won. We'll go through all the wins and who else was nominated and stuff. But you know Gene has. We're also recording this in the light of the very sad news of his passing that again, this episode is going to come out, I don't know, in a few weeks maybe. So maybe we will have more information. Things are still little. We don't really know everything, but we're doing this as a way to go because you hadn't seen it and as a way to honor him. So we'll definitely talk a little bit more about Hackman too. But yeah, they didn't really get along making it like Friedkin was a really tough guy to work with. He had a reputation called Hurricane Billy because he, like, got almost fucking killed. People making sorcerer two movies later starring Roy Scheider. Great film. So, yeah, they I think it was very contentious. It didn't sound like Friedkin really wanted Hackman again, as I mentioned, didn't think he would have the stuff. The producer kind of put Hackman on him. Hackman tried to quit in the middle, I think more than once in the middle of filming, and I know that for a fact, because during his Oscar speech, he said, he says, I'd like to thank Billy for not letting me quit now. So I think it was one of those things of like, when it was done, the movie was done, and also no one knew that what they had, you know, the way they were shooting it, very little permits. I mean, if we're talking about Billy freaking one of my all time favorite directors, I've listened to every commentary, read his memoir, I've seen all the movies. I've I love him, I love he was, he started following me on Twitter for it because I wrote about him on my blog. Yeah. So he started following me in 2012. We would tweet occasionally, just all like innocent, cool stuff. He did pass away recently. But he's also he's oh, I love his voice. He's an amazing storyteller, but a notorious bullshit artist and a lot of movies, his movies have this law that now we're never they're just such a part of Hollywood that we're never going to know the full, like how credible his like, how factual they really were. So the way that he tells it, that Chase seemed to jump to that no permits none. None. The car chase. The car chase, nothing was fucking put it on the street. So the cars hitting him were stunt drivers. So some of it were stunt, but the way he tells it, no car was supposed to hit him like that Pepsi truck or whatever that comes. That was an accident. So he had to, like, go around the asshole fed the guy that he hates. Yeah. You know, he was actually stunt driver in real life. So he's doing a lot of driving. Hackman's doing a lot of driving, but they have cameras like, you know, it had seen a camera mounted on the front of the car like that. So when we're boom and they do it to the train to. And yeah, so the way Friedkin tells it, he maybe he's walked back a little bit and they had some. But like they didn't have permits on this at all. This was not a big budget movie at all. So all the shit on the street, no permits like none. Sometimes we could hear their dialog, but then sometimes we wouldn't. And so I'm like, okay, so some of this was looped in, like, you didn't care about looping that. So yeah, I mean, there are 35 real life locations listed on Wikipedia. This is not I mean, free can came from making documentaries. He came from live television. So he's like, give me a few cameras and let's just shoot it all. But he was very. Yeah. Like he had a very specific vision for. He did. But he asked a lot of his actors like driving because it happens doing some of the driving some of the time in that tension, that craziness that you feel in that scene. Again, the the law in the way that Friedkin tells it, he says like, no permits, maybe some. But not like it would be today if they did not have those streets fully blocked off. Could not have all the woman with the carriage. Yes, probably an actress. There's no baby in the carriage. Yes. And even Liberty's like the real cop did not shoot a guy in the back. Like that's a statement of the movie. Like cops or should not be shooting people in the back. Like when they're walking away. Even if they just try to snipe you out and him, you know, accidentally killing the fed in the end, I think is probably a large liberty. That didn't happen, but the guy did get away. You know, the guy, the main dude. So yeah, I went off kind of on a rant, but there's just so much to unpack with this movie. God, I love it. I can only imagine that because there's so many walking scenes. Yeah, yeah, that there's no way that those actors could have known how this was all going to get cut together, right when there's so many of them at night time, daytime, you have to just imagine, is the actor you have an idea in the script of, okay, we're tailing these guys and but we don't really know for how long and we don't even know what for. Like we don't know what we're just watching. So yeah, as the actor, like, that's one of those really weird things where I bet you anything it was like, all right, I don't really know what the motivation is here. I but but look like I'm on the job tailing and then but now. Okay, we're going out this corner now. We're going on this corner. I mean, like, how many times are we going to fucking do this, right? Billy, what's going on? It's fucking ten degrees out here. They weren't filming this in the summer, folks that you mentioned. At one point, you were like, you can tell it's cold. You can tell it's cold. Yep. And I don't and I and I think that like obviously that could have been written in and they wanted to show it. But I think that might have been like a more an on the day thing. Well it's like we, we yeah we this is, this was a $1.8 million movie which, you know, in the 70s. Okay. But that's still not a huge price tag like for a Best picture winning movie. Yeah. And yeah, it's not oh sorry gents, it's cold today. We'll come back tomorrow. No, it's we're filming right now. Filming it right now. We're. Yeah. Because we probably only have this location where they're having the dinner. The two bad guys and Gene Hackman's across the street freezing. Yeah. Watching. And yeah, I just can't imagine, like, you're that actor and like Billy. Seriously, can we stop? Like, have you got what we need to get? Like, how what how much more do you need? But then you see it cut together and you're like, actually. And that's what he was always going for. I don't give a shit what we have to do on the day to get it. We will get it and let me fix it later. And you know, his best movies are some of widely considered to be the best films ever made. This The Exorcist sorcerer is not as well seen, but it's a very well respected movie. But yeah, he was kind of like, I don't care what we have to do to get it, we're going to get it. Yeah. And you, you definitely feel that. But you definitely feel the cold, the location, the the grimy ness of everything, the grittiness, the film stock, like, oh my God, you just feel all of it. It's beautiful. It really is like a beautifully gritty movie. It is, you know? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we haven't even started talking about like what it's about for to. We didn't get to the end. Yeah. Yeah. I mean in like in general the way you're setting it up, it's so funny when you're like, you don't know anything, you're just dropped in. And that's how I describe The Wire, the TV show, like, yeah, this movie is influenced so, so many movies. David Fincher is not big on giving praise for any movie, really. This is one of his five favorite films ever. Huge influence on seven, the cop dynamic. The Chase's a huge, huge influence, Brad Pitt said when I met him and he goes, I want to do a French connection, like a, you know, a grittier one. But that is my template. Pitt was Pitt went, oh, okay, I'm in, let's do it. And that's so crazy because like, I could see it now, like, especially in that chase, because there's even like the one shot where, John Doe is like running on top of the, the, like the cars. Yeah, yeah, not even the cars, but there's like one scene where Pitt's looking at him above as he's chasing it. Yeah, like through the stairs and stuff. Yeah. And that looks like how Hackman is looking in the train. Yeah, yeah. Good call. Yeah, they're very cool. So just all this influence, it is still trickling down. But yeah, we meet these actually we start in Marseilles and we're okay. What's going on? It's just like The Exorcist when you start in Iraq and you're like, what? What? That is like, let's was to Georgetown thing. I took you to the stairs in Georgetown. They were exquisite. So, yeah, we're meeting this, and we're going. All right. We're we're meeting this, French man. I maybe this will be the French connection. And, you know, they're setting it up for us, but then, boom! Now we're in New York, we're in Brooklyn, and we're Gene Hackman's dressed, the Santa Roy Scheider serving hot dogs. And they're just sitting on a guy. And you know, they what we realize, especially after you've seen it a few times, is that sort of chase leads to that's just like a job. We're getting introduced to them. And then Hackman's like, let's go to the Coppola, come on, like the night is done. Scheider has been fucking stabbed. Maybe not stabbed, sliced like cut. They've had to beat this guy. They were running like they were. It's been a it's been a long day. He wants to go home when especially when you rewatch it. One of the things is did Hackman really want to drink or did he want to go to this incredibly popular place? I should say Popeye. Did he just want to drink? Or to go to this incredibly popular place and try to pick up his next job? Because that's what these, like, vice cops have to do? You're going out and looking. They see something at the Copa that he that Hackman does not like. It's like, wait a minute, that mob guys, this table doesn't make sense. So then they that right then they decide to sit on this, you know, low level mobster scheider's. Let's go home and go to bed. Yeah. And that's how the story starts. They follow him. They're getting other breadcrumbs, other stuff. They have to go bust up this, bar that is just full of black men and put on this ruse of, like, you know, destroying other, other drugs, but then getting his one guy, like, his one CEO or, informant, rather every CI, CIA, or maybe he was an undercover cop. It's. Yeah. No wonder who it is. Yeah. And then, you know, just to get that key piece of information like there's no junk on the street, but it is coming. Everyone in, everybody knows it's coming. So that's what it's about. These two street cops who clearly care about their job. Yeah, Doyle is a part of it. Yeah, Popeye Doyle is a fucking mad man. But when the job is done, when his shift is done, he's going to the Copa and then working all damn night just to, like, maybe get this other lead. So he's obsessed. Not unlike McNulty in The Wire. God damn. I never put this stuff together. And the thing I was going to say at some point during it was. And now you're right, though, because you bring up an interesting point as to whether or not that was what he was going to do this entire time. Yeah. Like, did he want to go there because, you know, Copa it's been it's in Goodfellas. It's an Irishman. Like that was a mob hangout. Yeah. But yeah, yeah. But even still the scent that he picked up. Which sounds like when we later found out going back to what were talking about how this is a pattern that leads to nowhere. Yeah. Yeah. He's done this before. Yeah. That he does this before that I remember going you I go the fact that they're even on to this because we as the audience know that this is an actual like bad guy plot. Yeah. Which is awesome because we're actually while we're seeing Hackman and Scheider, we're actually seeing the inner workings of the bad guys creating. They're just they're giving us just enough to know that Hackman is valid. Hackman doesn't know he's valid, but they're giving just enough the audience to know that we're not going to dupe you in like, an hour and a half and go, this was all for nothing. You're giving us just enough to go, all right, we know he's on the right set, so it makes us want him to figure it out more. But either way, there's no way Hackman could have known that this would be this. So, like this is insanely lucky. Yeah, but also good police work just looking at, like, the tables that. What if you listen to his partner? Just wanted to go home. I mean, then you got no movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you. He did not know who would be there, but. Yeah. To pick that bar middle of the night, you know, you could just go to some like cop bar on the other side of town or something. But yeah, it's like he's always working. Yeah. It is always, always working. Yeah. So that's that's it. And then one thread follows, another follows another. We hear this big French shipment. This big shipment of heroin is coming in from France. We don't really. Oh, okay. Maybe it's this guy. I know that guy. We got to convince Walt the captain to let us do this, give us some wiretaps. So, yeah, it's some of it is process. And then they're giving the US these breadcrumbs, like, all right, this dude is definitely, like a low level mobster trying to make a deal. Yeah. This Frenchman is extremely. Or this man from from France because Fernando Rey I believe is Spanish. So I should, you know, qualify that. Let's be careful here. Well, I might have to look that up now to, you know, he's going to come in and then when he does and they're like, oh, there's a car, there's all this. So now we're just split up and we have to follow what? What is this like? We know what it is that, yes, drugs are coming in, but you know that now they're bringing in some like, French TV celebrity who seems like he's being used as the patsy, like driving the car. Just brilliant. Yeah. It's brilliant. I mean, from when, when they get thrown off the case, like when Walt's like, it's done. Like we're thrown, like, this is it. Nothing has happened. And then the next scene is the sniper scene trying to, you know, kill Hackman from an end to the end. That's like a half hour and just flies you because it's like sniper to chase two. Oh my God, it's brilliant. It's so good. And oh, one question that was an interesting thing to talk about is I love that they didn't. But that whole entire scene where he picks up the the girl on the bike. On the bike. Yeah. You just see him staring at her. Yeah. And then the next scene like we get and I love. Oh, like, anytime we can see how a main character lives that that this little scene in his apartment has been discussed by film scholars so much. And I'll tell you why. But you're onto a great thread here, because this does nothing for the movie. Well, that in it's a shithole. It's like shit his life. Yeah, it's his job. Yeah. He wakes up in Never Woke. Yeah. Wakes up in a bar. And then. Have you were woken up in your house and been like, give me my pants. Like I go to, like, the I have a routine. Like, I just want to go, like, pants and my fucking gun right away like that. He's all hungover, but yeah, we actually first see him waking up in a bar. Yeah. And then he picks up the lady on the porch. The first thing he does is he finishes his drink. Oh, that's so gross. Like I ordered beer and final slug. Anytime you you wake up head doesn't mean to be in a bar, but anytime you've had a night of drinking and then you wake up the next morning and the first thing you do is finish the drink you had, that's the yeah, there's no worse feeling. And then you start and then he goes, and then it's cool because you wonder because scheider's when picking him up. Is this every morning. Yeah. Does he, you know he's heading home from the bar. We he's checking out the girl on the bike. And then we just cut to Scheider getting into his apartment. And then we see the bike is blocking the door. Oh get Hackman's hand or. Yeah handcuffed by his leg to the bed. Yeah. Even before that he's like Knox in it. And he's like, he's like, come on, let's go. He's like, can't get. And he's like surveyed. Let yourself in credit card. Give him credit cards. Something they've done this before seven. Oh yeah. Oh it's sort of like us one of these. And he walks and he's not surprised. See the half naked girl. The bad there behind. Yeah yeah yeah. Oh my bad. So I love this because no it's true. Like it's one of those things where I suppose that would probably be the first scene on the cutting room floor. If they made you, if the studio was like, get rid of this and you're like, no, they're like, get rid of it. Okay. But yeah, let let us see a little bit of how there's nothing in this apartment. There's no life in it. Just shit everywhere. Yeah, it's just me. My pants. He's going like on. Yeah. Pull out bed. Yeah. Like couch bed. And. Yeah, it's weird, but I love that though, because that gives you the reality of what this guy's life is like when it's not on the job. Exactly. And that matters because it's, again, it's giving you more character development where you feel a certain kind of way. Maybe it's not as good anymore, right. But that's okay. Yeah, because that's just what humans are like. McNulty living in shitty apartments all throughout the Wire. Can't believe I'm putting this together right now. It's so true. I got to text David Simon, see if it was, a big, if the French connection was a big connection. Oh, I do want to say frog one, as he's credited as it's what they're calling him is Fernando Rey the great actor Fernando Rey. I don't want to get into. It's this whole hilarious casting story of Reed cancel an actor in a movie and told his casting director, get me that person who was in a lot of Louis Bunuel movies and the casting director clearly like misunderstood and and said, cast it. Fernando Rey, who was also in a lot of Louis Bunuel movies a lot and then he shows up on set. He didn't speak English. And, it was there was, he couldn't really communicate with Friedkin. Well, Friedkin's like, what are you doing here? What? They tried to reach out to the original actor. He wanted. He wasn't available, so they just went with Fernando. And he's great. Yeah, it's so good. And he is Spanish, so apologies for referring to him as the Frenchman, you know. Yeah, but I mean, he's in, discreet charm of the bourgeoisie, the object of the obscure object of desire. A lot of others that I can't pronounce. Well, Varane de anyway, all Bunuel movies. Yeah. And he's great. He's great. The way that we saw it, the way that we figure out that he is smarter than Hackman in the tailing stuff that I. You said at one point you were like, oh yeah, don't get spotted. And I think even the whole time they're having that long, like five course meal in the restaurant, I think they know. Oh, I whole time he's out there. Yeah, yeah. I think he took, he's taking him on like especially because when we get to that whole entire chase, first thing he does is he goes to like the, like the engagement ring shot. Yep. And catches him and mirrors him in the mirror. Yeah, but you don't even see him catch him like he's so subtle. Yeah. And then he goes, and then he's in a flower shop. And I'm thinking in my head I go, if this guy knows he's being clocked, but maybe, maybe they've got nothing. Then the only thing that he has is, oh, yeah, I'm gonna go to an engagement shop and then I'm gonna go to a flower shop. So the only thing he could be thinking, if he'd. He's got nothing on me. Is that I think he's shopping for his girlfriend or his wife or whatever it is. So it all makes sense as to where he's going. And he's only going there just to really just, like, lead him on. It's the I mean, again, sorry for bringing up all these influences. Maybe that's part of my value here. Does his heat like they fucking trigger Pacino to go down. What are they looking at? What are they looking at us like that. That's what he they're trying to do. Yeah. He's trying to suss out like And we hear him later say ever wince? Ever since I've been in New York City, I can't go five minutes without a police officer be on me. So he is just aware right away and he's fucking with him and it's fucking these fuckers. See what this cop looks like? And he get this, this silly Popeye hat. Like he he knows he's got his number now and it's a it's a very weird way of thinking, because if you ever do think that you are being like, tailed in that sort of way, you have to now develop a narrative that proves that, like so yeah, for my wife shopping for my wife. Yeah. And you don't know you're going to do that. I mean, it's just so interesting to think of, but then like, we get down to the subway and this was my favorite way. I love it because you still don't see this Fernando guy really tracking. We've never caught that. He has. Yes, yes. Hackman like we've never clocked that he is officially made him. Nope. Yeah. Only time that we know for sure is when they play the subway on. Oh, that's the fucking. It's like a little kid game and Hackman and it's so great. This Hackman is so not subtle. Yeah. Like he's like bumbling. He's like guy that when he pulls the woman oh my God, why? I you know, it's because because Fernando gets off so that he has to get off quick, but that he you just like pulls this poor innocent woman off. And I'm looking at that going is I cannot guarantee that that woman is an actress. She may have been some poor soul on that. She very well might of. Yeah. Like make it up some story in the background. I mean, you don't need the sound because there was no. Exactly. Yep. And and yet it's so true because like, oh my God. Because I just remember she missed the train. Yeah. She missed a train. Yeah. Because look at this asshole water off. Oh my God I love that. And then like they're right next to each other at that little candy shop. Yeah. And that's the only time he actually truly looks at them. Yeah, he looks just like pink eye roll. Looks at them and then right back to it. And Hackman's on the phone. Well, I don't care. He's been a bartender. I'm not taking that job. Taking that job what? Figure it out. I mean, it's such. And he even loses them in that car chase. Even not even a chase. But before, because the fed in the back is like, you're going to miss him. You're. You've gone too far. Yeah, and he's right. And it happens like I fucked up. Fucked up. It's really great seeing these characters fuck up so much. It's always so interesting when it's not perfect like that, because it also makes you think, like when you're now in that big car chase. I was wondering, is he going to fuck this up again? You said when we saw the shot of the woman with the character, like again? Like, are they going to, oh my God, is he going to like what I thought they were going to orphan another know? That's what I'm saying. Like, because the poor woman who was, you know, being pushed, she's the first one to get sniped out. He was going for Hackman, but she's, you know, and then that. Yeah. So you're like again. And then, you know, he misses and boom has the trash. This is an interesting thing though because. Right. I'd say it's a little bit after midway. They do screw up. I think it's right after he loses Fernando. And then now the case is kind of gone cold. They cut to this grisly car crash. Oh, yes. That is just a set piece to be there to. Now let us know, because this is the only communal way that the detectives and the chief could get together was on this crime scene. What was probably on the on this accident scene, they're like, we need to talk to the captain. Oh, fuck. I'm around here. You come to come on. 42nd Street. God damn it. Yeah. Those images, rough, were so grisly and violent that I'm wondering to myself. We have not set up any sort of way of looking at this movie where it's taking that kind of visual tone. And then we started to get to the very next scene where you had the sniper kills the mom, the kids crib just goes everywhere I go. Yeah, mom just died. Yeah. Hello, everyone. There is an infant in a stroller that is, taken care of. Now, I don't think that that has anything to do with anything, really. But all I'm saying is, is I wonder if this was Friedkin's way, at this point in the story, to be, like, stakes are higher now kicking it up. Yeah. Like this. Violent images that we're seeing now, we know that like, this movie could go here because the city can go there. So it's a reminder that, like Walt the captain. Yes, he's dealing with these two cops, but he also has all this other shit. There's dead people on the highway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a very stark reminder of, like, this new. This movie lives in the city. Yep. Bad shit is going bad everywhere because up until that point, we have not felt we've really only had fun, to be honest. Like, it's. We see the, that assassin take out the guy in the beginning in the. Oh, yeah. That's true. Yeah. So we get a quick little burst, which is cool. They didn't have any money. So the way that they did that, Friedkin did not know how to do it. So it's one shot of, you see the guy fire the gun. The villain, and then the next shot, we see the guy. He's like, covered in blood in his face. They just threw red paint on him. Like red looks like it, but it works. But it is so quick in the editing, so sharp. But yeah. Love it. And I and I gasped too. Yeah, yeah. Because you see the gunpoint I go, oh shit. And like little hallway. That's small point blank. You getting out of that one? Nope, nope. This was this movie's huge influence on Spielberg, particularly Munich. And I just kind of I rewatched Munich just by coincidence. And there's a lot of those, like, tight hallways, you know, where they're killing people, the gunshots and stuff. So you can see that influence to, again, an extremely influential movie. But you can tell. Yeah, there's so much like I mean, Ocean's oh yeah, oh yeah. But that really that was the cool part was I was going to say this to you as well, but in Ocean's it's the good guys forming. Well, they're not necessarily good guys really. But there are good guys. Yeah. They're thieves. They're thieves Island. Yeah, yeah. And they're forming the plot and more along the ride with them. But this we're actually with the bad guys forming the plot, and it's really cool. Yeah, yeah. Very, very fun. Let's you want to open up the chase. So. Yeah. So, all of a sudden we're, I mean, yeah, it all starts with the baby. It does. He's just. He's been kicked off. They kicked off the base. It is done. Go home. Yeah. And we see him, you know, walking into his apartment. We also have seen Fernando Rey and his assassin talking like this cop. It's like you know, on me. Let me take care. Yeah. This was, like, set up, but we don't know, you know, what's going on. And he's on his damn rooftop and that's about he wasn't in his doorway. That was a bad hit. You know, at that moment. Yeah. It's bad. I mean, honestly, it really was, you know where he lives. Why go to the roof? Yeah, it's be in the hallway. But you. Then you're not going to have an orphan. No. And you're not going to have one of the best chases in cinematic history. So true. And so, yeah. So, sniper, Mrs. Hackman hits a woman, kills her, leaves a baby, orphaned. Then Hackman goes after him. But he has to go up to the roof. To the roof? Yeah. Finds a rifle down this. And I suppose there's one area where you could say, I don't know if Hackman would have been able to get back down from the building in time to chase him. That's fine. I mean, he, he sees him. It's all. That's the seven thing. Two, when you watch that chase scene when they're at John Doe's apartment. Yeah. Same with the one rule Fincher had for himself. He said, I hate in these foot chase scenes when there's no way you can know which way the person goes. So they always pick the right way. You know, there's like two exits and they always pick that. And he said, I wanted always see like just a little sliver of John Doe running away so that they know he went that way. And you could see that here too, like he would see him and be like already went that way. There's definitely some liberties of could it be right or left? But for the most part, yeah, but it's fine. Yes, yes, exactly, exactly. You're just down there on the ground. So I don't know, maybe there's not as many people around, but he, he tells them to the, the subway. The subway. Yeah. And then Gene Hackman, or Popeye, bad luck with trains. Bad luck. Yeah. I love the trains. That's his. That's his Kryptonite and true trains. He needs a car. Why does it have to be trains? It's so, So. Yeah. So bad guy gets on the other car, on the other subway, takes off. Hackman then, like, commandeers the car. Yeah. Takes off after the guy. That's. It's gotta for these guys. Like, what? Am I going to get it back? And then. Yeah, he drives away and he's like, Jesus Christ. And that car looks like, oh, you're still so much for this guy's car. Oh. This summer I need your car. I gotta go back. To, like, say. And then, So then Hackman takes off, following underneath the bridge. Elevated train. The elevated train. Amazing. And then great idea. Now you've got in the car or in the like in the in the subway cars. Hackman has already announced he's like, hey, that guy's wanted by the police. Security guard is sort of like, ho! I think he's actually a cop. I think me yeah, yeah. So I think he's a cop. A poor black cop. Yeah. Yep. And tailing, the, again, the assassin assassin. Yeah. And assassin takes him out and then takes matters into his own hands. Things have elevated, and it's like, okay, that can't be. I can't be, sneaky. It's not stealth anymore. Subtle. So now he goes into the train car, and I love this because it's such a logical way of thinking where Hackman is, like, in the car, all I have to do is get. I said the beat him or arrive to the next stop. Yes, because then I can board the train. Exactly. I can run up the platform and get and yeah, that's what you think. And as the audience, you're like, yep, that's all the sense in the world. Why that? That's how that would go. And then Hackman gets out of the car, runs up there, gets to the train, but now the assassin has broken in to the conductor and then just tells him to blow past the stop. Don't stop. So Hackman's like, on the fucking platform waiting, and the train just goes Zuma in his face. He's like, it's like, God damn it. And but you get to see him put it together like fuck. And so he runs back down, gets back in the car and boom, he's going. But now he's off. You know that he he's probably thinking when or if. Will this ever stop? When will this what how far is this destruction going to go. And so he kills the bad guy, you know, shoots him in the back, which is a very also infamous scene because, yeah, seeing like a cop shoot a guy in the back that's not allowed in any circumstance, really. I mean, I know it still happens, unfortunately, but. Yeah. What? That's the thing. I'm listening to you like the way he's exhausted and, like, leans on the railing. Yeah, that was the poster of oh, guy like this. And the way he leans, it's just it's all very, very infamous. And then we get you mentioned process before we get one of my favorite things, this ruse of like they figure out that this car is very important. This car with European plates that we've seen be brought in. We've seen the whole ruse of like the cars getting auctioned off. So the assumption is that a shitload of heroin is in this car, and then they think it's, you know, getting broken into. So they impound it and then we get the chop shop scene, which I love, but bring chop shop. Yeah, that's what it's called when you break down a car like that. Oh chop chop chop. Yeah, yeah. Chop chop. I mean the, the illegal ones are called, like, people who steal cars. You take them to a chop shop, they take the parts and, you know, you would get like the thief typically gets a lump sum 2 or 3 K for a car, and then the chop shop people sell the car. So this is the only part of the movie that I have to question, and I haven't brought it up till now. Please raise your concern. I just don't believe with the way that they showed us, the way that they tared this car apart, inside and out, that they could have replaced it in a way that it's like looked enough, like there had been nothing done. Not only did they do that in real life in the same amount of time in the movie, they used the same make and model car, and that dude ripping the car out is the same fucking guy who ripped the real car out. What did you see that to begin with? Because I didn't want to tell you to story. That's why I wanted this moment. I want to tell you. All right. Come on. All right. That was a good hold. No, that's a good one. Because you kept asking me. You're like, no, I don't not bothered anymore. And I exactly. I was trying to be very subtle about it. Like there's no way they could have replaced, like, all the little foam. But the main thing, like the surface level thing and yeah, that where the drugs are, you can re weld that, you can do it. But they did that and they that guy is not an actor. The guy who he's like it's in here. Like you know Hackman's like it's in here, whatever his name is dirty car or something. Yeah, it's dirty. And then Scheider puts it together how much it away. And they realize it weighs 120 pounds difference. It's now 120 pounds more. The drugs have to be in here. Where are they? That's what it was, 4,795 pounds when they came into the shop. Owner's manual says 4675. It's 120 pounds overweight. And when it was booked into Marseilles, it was four, seven, nine, five. It's still 120 pounds overweight. Jimmy's got to be right. Listen, I ripped everything out of there except the rocker panels. Come on, Erb, what the hell is that? Some. They find him, but that was the guy. That was the garage that they did it in. This is the freaking crazy craziness. Like that's where they ripped apart the real car. The real fucking guys did it. Like the real Sonny. You know, Eddie Eagan is right there. The real, Popeye. He was there too, like, so they're all these technical consultants. So how you do that? I don't know, but I know skilled mechanics could do that. You could put it together quickly and. Yeah, I mean, I love that that was the one barrier you had. And I knew I'd be able to squash it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's crazy. The whole thing is crazy. You want a baby? I'll get you a baby. I'll get you, baby. I'll get you up. Want to talk? Get you to. Yeah. You want to tell? I'll get you a deal. Remember Richard Linklater's Hitman? They say hitmen don't exist. We're going to break up. This fucking guy's a hitman. He's an assassin. I could get this French slash Spanish dude. Like, maybe like a fucking candy bar. And you would just. I don't know what he is. I don't know, I didn't look him up. I don't want to be rude. God, I live in sensitive times. I don't want to be rude. I don't know the man's ethnicity. Yeah. Great. I mean, the process of taking out, giving the car back. And then they set up the ruse of now Hackman's waiting in the street. Why can't he be Spanish slash French? Well, I mean, it because I'm using slash as, I don't know, I don't because the way you just said it, he could be both. You know, he's like Spanish, like both heritages in any all situation. I don't understand that reference. I've seen any. Oh. What's no any I'm the don't worry about it okay. Any all I'm looking up Marcel Bosa Luffy BuzzFeed bazooka. Marcel. Bazooka. That sounds, Marcel French. He's a Frenchman. The assassin. Great guy. Could be Italian. Great guy. Well, he was born in France. All right, I'm just looking where he was born. I mean, but what if he was born in France and both his parents were Italian? No. Fuck. Now I got the Italians mad at me. I don't want them mad at me. French slash, Spanish slash Italian. God damn it, they're all coming against me. European. He's European. You're. Oh, that. See there. Thank you for the, frog two as he's credited as well for all goes to show you. And then. Yeah, they set up that ruse and they're trying to catch, you know, the French Connection, that he's obsessed. Popeye is. He's obsessed. We get that. I did not remember. I've seen this movie a bunch. I didn't remember that he took out that fed that he hates. It's accidental. It's friendly. Oh, yeah. I didn't remember that. He blasted him. And, of course, fucking, scheider's like you. You killed him. Like. Yeah, he's dead. You've done it again. Yeah, I mean, exactly, but but it's like he's in here. Frog. Once in here, I'm going to fucking find him and just unloads the gun, loads it back up, walks out, the camera stays here. We hear a gunshot. Like offscreen. We don't see actors. Yep. And then we get our character credits and then it's fucking done. And when it cut to black, you were like, wait, that's it? I was aghast. Yeah, I was like, but they didn't catch him in real life. I it's just such a like you talking just about endings, you know, to give a phantom bullet sound off screen and then to go with that score, which, by the way, we didn't even talk about score is amazing. I did not amazing. That wasn't in the forefront of my brain. They didn't use it a lot, but when they did, it needed it. It oh my God, it felt so much. Yeah. It was it was the right feeling of danger. Cool. But then rhythmic like like it was rhythmic. Yeah. It had these little like beats and tones. It did. It really was so good. But it was very ominous and, and when we get that and then it's followed by the credits, I was because at first I was like, okay, they went to like a still shot of one of the characters, and now we're getting that, that post, story, like, this person ended up in jail or whatnot and suspended. So I was like, are they going to cut back to what happened here? And then they don't. And he got away and you're like, oh, you're like, what the fuck? And that's just how it ends. That ending was phenomenal. Oh, I'm so glad you liked it. It doesn't. It doesn't leave you disappointed even though you know, you're going going. But it's like, oh, so that's it. I mean, the shit can happen. These shifty guys can get away. And because you're left with the, the aftermath, like, I mean, essentially everything that kind of they were working for, didn't work. I mean, they got the drug, they got the drugs, and they got a lot of the other guy. Yeah. There's a there's some people who have been because, you know, throughout that we've seen like the that low level mob guy has the guy who works like on the construction crew. He's the guy who buys the car. So there's all these threads and it seems like that guy ate it with the mob, the blood love mob guy, Sal, he ate it. So, yeah, they're getting some people and they got the drugs. But he did. Popeye did not get his man. No. And that's the thing is, like, he's our main character. He's our hero that we're following. But as we're following throughout the whole entire movie, his flaws end up costing him a lot. And now he's actually done it real, like, no, like, yeah, sir. Friendly fire for sure. But at the same time, doesn't matter now. He's gotten his second cop killed in the story because he said that didn't happen in real life. Yeah. I don't believe the real guy, like, actually killed a fed that he, was known for working with. And they didn't like each other like that. That'd be a tough thing. Yeah. It's crazy. It'd be. It'd be really interesting to know, like, how it all kind of. I don't know, but it. But it was great because that was Roy Scheider in that moment of exactly it, it was when he says you like like you killed him or he's dead. Whatever his line was, it to me was as a friend, you've done this again like you did it again. You can't come back from this. Yeah. This is going to be bad. Like we should probably stop this foot pursuit. Yes, yes, yes. Let's call in this dead fed who you hated you. Hated you. Yeah. And but then you see Hackman, who he gave like an like like you could see for a second. That's not good. It. Well, I mean it's regret. He's definitely like I did not mean to do. Oh yeah. For sure you could tell. Yeah. Totally reads. But then he's sort of like he's in here and I'm like, get him. And then really after that, because he kind of runs off and he's not being stealthy. It's just there's so much emotion behind that exit because he doesn't care. Now at this point, if he dies, he's gone too far. He's crossed a line. And now all that matters is getting him so if I'm just going to be sloppy or I'm going to die trying, and then you get the gunshot, that is just really the stylistic way of putting the exclamation point at the end of your story. Yes. And, and then because we find out that he got away, and it's sort of like, fuck me in that is like ending you can see Michael Mann watching this ending a dozen times and then going, hey, with my film heat, I'm going to add on five more minutes. I'm going to do to where, like, yes, he is going to continue the pursuit out of the lacks, you know, we'll get the finale. Yeah. We'll do the finale like you can. Yes. There's I mean that's why that's why the French connection still lives on so much. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it'd be great to know kind of where things ended up, where Hackman's character, where Ray's character ended up. I mean, it's kind of primed for maybe not necessarily a prime for a sequel, which they made four years later. French Connection two, starring Gene Hackman, Fernando Ray, directed by John Frankenheimer. I'm not going to say what it's about, but it exists. It's a good it's not bad, I'll put it that. Okay. Nowhere near as good as the first one, but you'll watch it and it's like, okay, that wasn't I don't think it necessarily needed to be done. It kind of feels like a cash grab thing. But yeah, it does exist. But just want to put that out there. I don't know how much it's continuing the real story. I think it deviates and I, I believe this is becomes like a fictional account and, fully. So that's why I've never considered it necessary. I actually watch it for the first time. I mean, I saw French Connection for the first time when I was a kid, so it took a long time for me to see it. And I went, all right, that's about what I expected. So that's it. Just putting that out there if you ever like. Oh, all right, maybe I'll, I see that on like prime. Maybe I'll watch it. I don't know but yeah. No no no no no I like being left with this. Exactly, exactly. So I want to go through some Oscar wins real quick. I did win five 1971. So Best Picture. Let's start with that. Here were the nominees French Connection, Fiddler on the roof, The Last Picture Show, oh, Nicholas and Alexandra and a Clockwork Orange, French Connection wins, Clockwork Orange, the nomination was it? I don't think that no women. Probably not that time. Yeah, no, not that time. Like Fiddler on the roof, the Norman Jewison. Like, that was the big prestige studio movie. Last Picture Show was really hot, too at the time, so it could have been those in French Connection. Winning was like, okay, cool. It is again, as I said, Midnight Cowboy was not a fluke. Well, this was, a part of man, I just bought this. Well, not just this is actually a really long time ago, but, it was the around the time of Five Easy Pieces. Yes, the year before 70. Yeah. And then, the Last Picture Show, and then there's a, there's a bunch of movies in this box set, and they all cover this time period of the 70s. French Connection is not included in this, but it's absolutely in the conversation. But this period of time where it was this new transformation of storytelling in cinema, in American cinema. Yeah. And all of what we're talking about here, this could be a cool theme to kind of piggyback off of in the past. It's just kind of like dive into this era of early 70s. I've wanted to do all the 70s, but yeah, yeah. Like, yeah, yeah. And yeah. So this just fits right there. But this is such like in its way, even though it seemed like it wasn't made for that much and because it was so boots on the ground, but it comes off as a big movie, as a polished piece of fucking business that deserves Best Picture. Best director. Yeah. Which where, like Last Picture Show and Five Easy Pieces, that is indie is it gets very true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very true. So even Last Picture Show to be nominated though. You got you Got that and A Clockwork Orange and this all nominated. That in itself is a statement of that time period. This is this is why the 70s have always been regarded as the best decade for film. And it's, it's that's an objective statement. Like it just is because those are three uncontested masterpieces nominated for Best Picture, like, okay, great. And then, best director. He won, William Friedkin won. Kubrick was nominated for A Clockwork Orange, Norman Jewison, Fiddler on the roof, Bogdanovich, Last Picture Show, John Schlesinger, Slutty Blond Study, Bloody Sunday, Bloody Blood, is that what I said? Yeah. Slutty. But, Sunday it was because I did Ginger Sunday, bloody Sunday. Good movie actor. Hackman again. He had been nominated for supporting, but this was a huge announcement. He wins other nominees Peter Finch, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Walter Matthau and touch. Never seen it. George C Scott in the hospital. One of my favorite George C Scott performances. Love it. And then Sham Topol in Fiddler on the roof. I've got that's a movie. I saw it probably like in middle or high school or something. That was just a one off, you know, roof. Okay, good. Good stuff. What else did it win? Screenplay based. Adapted screenplay. It was based on a book Beating a Clockwork Orange, the conformist, a great film. The Garden of Finzi Thomas, no Idea what that is. And The Last Picture Show. So again, like, it's not beating small work was The Conformist. The conformist is the Bertolucci movie. Oh my God, it's an Italian movie. It is so fucking good. The editing of it is astounding. Was he really, The movie was scripted and designed to be told in order, and then in editing, they completely messed with the order. And it is beautiful, I own it. The conformist is a fantastic movie. Absolutely. See that? All right. Oh my God, it's so good, man. I love that film. I do dive on that at any time, any time. Best cinematography was nominated French Connection, Last Picture Show Nicholas and Alexan Dror. Summer of 42. Fiddler on the roof. One kind of a bummer. It won best editing. Yeah, so that's great. I mean, it got five. That's really good. Yeah, good. It was a good night. I want to go through Friedkin's filmography really quick to see how many you've seen. Because you say you've lived in a freed Kansas universe. We got 20 features total here. 20. This was his fifth before smaller movies. Trying to, like, make a name for himself. Not a lot of people have seen these good times. The birthday party, the night they raided Minsky's, the boys in the band, which was a big deal, and then The French Connection in 71, and then he wins huge and then immediately takes the all the goodwill he got from the French Connection and makes The Exorcist. That's his next movie, which was that one that was, a movie about demonic possession takes place in Georgetown. You've seen it, I believe once with me, I can't remember. Sorcerer. Have you seen that? No. Great film, great film. A remake of The Wages of Fear. Oh, it's so good. It's so intense. Yeah. They need. People need. There is a, Like an what is it, an oil thing on fire? Not on, like there will be blood. And they got to stop the fire, like so. They need someone to go take nitroglycerin. They need four volunteers to take nitroglycerin in these shoddy fucking trucks all this way. And you can't bomb. You can't do anything. Because if you do, the fucking car will explode. But if you can make it there and stop this oil fire, whatever it is, and you will pay you large sums of money, so can they make it? It is insane. That sounds awesome. Is insane. They have to go over this like fucking shitty shabby bridge at one point and people almost died. That's where you got the reputation. The name for Hurricane Billy. Oh my god. Yeah. So Scheider coming in for he's the star of it. The big thing. It got fucked because it was I believe it came out. And then a week later a little movie called Star Wars came out. So no one was talking about sorcerer when Star Wars came out. Yeah. It just it completely buried it. Some people, some people consider sorcerer his best film. No bullshit. It is. It's intense. You would love it, I love it, yeah. Then we get the Brinks drop. The Brinks job cruising, which you have seen. Oh, okay. Yes. That's right. Yeah. Cruising. They did not get along making that movie heaven. Pacino deal of the century 1985 to live and die in LA. That's when I really want to see. Yeah. And that movie's so good, Willem Dafoe that I mean, William Petersen. It's great. Like is so hardcore. It's on Prime right now. I always save oh my God. You can see like definitely Michael Mann was already making movies by this point. But you see like, okay, there, I need to use that style. Yeah, Tangerine Dream, all that shit. It's great. It's great. Rampage, the Guardian, blue chips with McNulty, Jade. Jay, Jade direct. Jade. Rules of engagement scene that Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel Jackson, okay, the hunted, Benicio and Tommy Lee Jones. I know of it. I know of it. Movie bug Ashley Judd. Oh, yeah, yeah, I seen that. Michael Shannon yeah. Mike yeah yeah yeah. Harry Connick jr okay. All right. Yeah, we talked about that one in our, best of, place to. Yeah, absolutely. Killer Joe starring Matt. Okay. All right. So I'm not a freaking list, right? And then took a long break and then made his last movie. It was actually released after he had died. The Caine Mutiny court martial decent movie. It's been. It's a story. It's been done a lot. But that was his final. I'm glad he got one more in there after Killer Joe. But yeah, he came back with Bug and Killer Joe, the Tracy Letts movies and, you know, yeah, I'm still here. I can still make it. So yeah, that's freaking okay. All right. Yeah. So you've seen some. Yeah. Yeah, I, I did not realize I had seen actually, I thought when I forgot about cruising, I knew that was a freaking movie. Yeah. But then I thought, oh, that must be it. But then. Yeah, bug and Killer Joe, interesting that he was the birthday party. Was that the Harold Pinter? Yes, actually. So he's directed a few plays to New York. He started, yeah. Like I said, with live television, but. Yeah, yeah. Good call. And then The Boys in the band is a well known play two. Right. Or something. Okay, I thought, not sure if I thought you would know that. Yes, yes. The birthday party. Good Times is actually a Sonny and Cher movie, believe or not. Yeah, it was them doing so. That was his first big thing. Yeah. Boys in the band was an Off-Broadway play. Yeah. So that was well known then. Minsky's the Night They Raided Minsky's is like a fun thing written by Norman Lear. But yeah, you're right, Harold Pinter. Yeah, he wrote the screenplay. He indeed did. I would like to see that. It's a good movie. His second movie. It's a good movie. It's. It's a crazy play. That was one of the first, like, mainstream movies to talk about homosexuality. And so yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was a big it was a big deal at the time. And it's not, it's not like these are bad movies. He was just building up to this. Yeah. Pretty crazy thing. I, the only thing I have left is just an, an open General Hackman conversation because we just lost him. And this is a lot of people say Jimmy possibly Doyle could be the best Hackman role ever. But and I'm so I'm so glad we watch it together. But I just want to go through and call out if you have any at top of mind, do you want to call out just full, you know, Hackman discussion, performances. You liked anything? All of them though. I mean like never you never not yeah, yeah. You go back to, Bonnie and Clyde. Yep. He. That was not him. And I would any hall know another woman? Another woman? Yes. Yep. Another woman. Woman. Yeah. Love to me that he played such a like. It's so funny. He was so he knew because he was he he was cheating on his wife or he was willing to. Yeah. Or there was something where he. Because he was trying to get with generosity. I think they had the affair. They had an affair. And he just kept wanting it. Yeah. And he was just kind of relentless about it. But it was also something kind of charming because he just was like this. He he he wasn't going to refuse. No, like, he was never going to stop trying. Yeah. That was basically. But he's not an asshole. He's an asshole. He's just sort of like so we, we can do this again. It's a really nice, subtle performance from him in a in a Woody Allen movie that not a lot of people have seen. We've talked about it before. I want yeah, go check it out. You know, it's it's 80 minutes long shot by Bergman's DP. You know Sven Nyquist. It's it's a different sort of movie. My favorite Woody Allen by far. Same here. Yeah. And then you have, you know, well, I mean, we did our whole entire the conversation. Yeah. Birdcage is always one of my favorites. That will always go down Royal Tenenbaums. Yeah. You know, and yet we, you know, Bill Murray. I recently heard him talk about this, and, you know, he was saying how on that movie, it's it's no secret, like Gene Hackman and Wes Anderson did not get along. Right. And it but it was that old school mentality of if you're not I'm going to be tough. And if you're not going to be tough back, I'm just going to kind of walk all over you, right? And freaking was like the toughest motherfucker ever. So yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yes. Anderson is not William Friedkin. And if you just sort of kind of cut from that kind of cloth where like, he's a marine. Hackman yeah, yeah, yeah. And and Bill was sort of like. So I had to kind of like the ref. Yeah. I jumped in and helped all that be goes. But like, at the end of the day, he's tough, but he's not unfair. He's. Yeah. And yeah. And he's also he's not going to like screw over. It's not going to sabotage the project because his performance as Royal Tenenbaum is fantastic. Exactly. Yeah. He's he's not going to sabotage the work. He was just opinionated about a lot of stuff. You always what's always was. Yeah. And had the actor thing of self-doubt. Hence wanting to quit The French Connection in the middle because he didn't think he was doing good work. Yeah, I like what I mean, The Unforgiven, I mean, I mean, there really isn't a bad performance that he's ever done. I mean, even if there's been some movies, like, I mean, The Quick and the dead. Yeah. You know. Yeah, I love I loved him in that he's such a smarmy, town asshole. Oh, God, I love. Yeah. I'm going to go through some of the ones I've seen. Do you ever see Scarecrow? Right before the conversation with Nancy? You know, just like, Jerry Schatz. Berg movie. It's. It's good. It's really small. I think you'd like it. Scarecrow night moves in 75. I love this film directed by Arthur Penn. He's so good at one of my. I've only seen it once, and he has a line. He gets into a fight and it looks all messed up. And then he sees a guy later, he's like, what happened to your face? And he goes, I came in second place in a fight. I love that, I love that, I mean, there's so many of the Domino Principle, Bridge Too Far, Lex Luther and Superman, which is great. Read sees great uncommon valor. Valor. I just watched for the first time. I'm. There's this Hoosiers. Of course. Oh, I'm so good. And Hoosiers. No way out. He's. Yeah good asshole in that of course Mississippi burning where he, like is an asshole. But he's the cop doing the investigating and he's so he's so good in that movie Narrow Margin I love. I mean, there's no bad performance in here, Unforgiven, The Firm, Earp, quick and the dead, Crimson Tide, Get Shorty, The Birdcage, this is nuts. Yeah, this is nuts. Absolute power where he plays an asshole president, enemy of the state. He's great. This may be the sequel to The Conversation. Exactly. The replacements. Your favorite, the replacements, TV McGinty. I fucking love them. I love the film heist, written and directed by David Mamet. I thought he did so well with the Mamet dialog. And then, you know, Royal Tenenbaums, Runaway Jury. And his last one was welcome to Mooseport. You know, that's just the way it goes. But here's how it goes. It was. And then he was one of the one of those rare actors who said, I'm actually retiring. Yeah, this is it. I think, you know, the royal I, I, you know, I don't know for sure, but I think with Royal Tenenbaums, I mean, a nomination would have been nice. It was very weird that that got snubbed. And I mean, you know, for a certain generation of film viewers who maybe, maybe they haven't made it back to the French Connection or The Conversation, that's their favorite performance by him. They love him on that I do too. I was going to say, even before he had just passed, the amount of times like if you were to tell anyone, bring up The Royal Tenenbaums who liked it. Yeah, first thing to talk about is Gene Hackman. Yeah. Like there just sort of I remember even in our session pod, we talked about how, because I had forgotten, like, and I'm watching, I go, is it just me or is Gene Hackman amazing? Oh my God, he's so good. I think we did our our like our list of our like favorite lead of a Wes Anderson I think I think that was one for both of us. Yeah I think we might I think so, yeah I mean I, I'm thinking about it now. I love Ray Fine's and Grand Budapest, but yeah, I still think I'd probably give it to Hackman. Yeah. Hackman. Yeah. He's so good at it. He's so such an asshole. Yeah, he's so funny. He, he he has that very rare ability to be a straight up asshole. But at the same time, we almost like champion it. Well, I don't I don't remember the line, but when Ben Stiller sitting there, he's like, he also took $100,000 for my trust or whatever, and that it just pans over and he goes and hagman's like, yeah, yeah. You know, just like, yeah, it is my adopted daughter daughter. He always introduced her as his adopted daughter. Oh, yeah. He's just such an asshole. I love him. Yeah. I mean, rest in peace. You know, it's. Yeah, it was just. It's a terrible thing. So glad we got to watch The French Connection together. Yes. Burn through it. Because, like, we're together, and this wasn't, you know, for deep dives, I'll do, like, a proper outline, scene by scene by scene. But we were. This was just freewheeling off the cuff. Been a ton of fun. Anything else French Connection related? Hackman. Friedkin, anything? Well, as far as The French Connection goes, you recommend it? Obviously see it if you have not seen it. It is just a wild good time. Do you think it deserves its status as one of the best movies, frankly, ever made, and certainly considered one of the best of the 70s? It's very clear when you're watching it. Yeah, it's just that good. It was. I think it was probably around 20 minutes where I just remember thinking, I have no idea where this movie is going to go, but based on just the way it was edited, put together, how I'm feeling when I'm watching it, I was like, I see it, I see how. But I had no idea what was about to happen after that. And it's just like, then you in? Yeah, but no, it's that good. It's really that good. It is. It's a that's a great selling point for it. I, it was not available as of this recording on any major streaming platform in my memory. It usually is but I yeah. So own it. So I'm like, have I just been watching my DVD? If if you do, you or the audience want to buy it? I promise freaking is one of these. What is a top time top five director that did commentaries? Just an amazing speaker to listen to, amazing about his movies. He'll tell you if it was a bad day or if he didn't get along with someone that day. Oh, he'll tell you, he'll tell you. He'll also, I think, spout off a lot of very entertaining bullshit that I just don't think was true. But God, is it fun to listen to. I love him, I didn't even write anything down for what he watching. But let's, you know, get based on what we've talked about. Let's go for it. Let's. Awesome. What are you watching? All right. Yeah. What do you got? Shit, I don't know, I. Okay, what did the French Connection like remind you of? Like, did it remind you of any movie or did you see the influence of it on, like, what we're talking about seven heat or anything like that? I mean, yeah, definitely. I mean, I didn't think about seven, but definitely heat. The Ocean's movies. But I was also thinking of like, of the older stuff that it took its influence from. That's where I'm going. And, and that was really cool too, because it even it to even to watch it in 2025 felt fresh. Yeah. And that's just that that's why this movie doesn't feel dated whatsoever is because it, it does not feel like that. It does not play like that. And even because, yeah, it's like on the old film stock and things like that, but not even the fashion doesn't look anything. No. It's just like normal clothes because you watch like Serpico and you're like, whoa, that's true. Look where we are. Yeah, I would Serpico, released two years later. I would say looks and feels more data than The French Connection. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you could literally throw this on, and I mean, I'm sure someone would be like, oh, this must be an older movie. But like, but you won't care and you won't care. It's over 50. Yep. You know, and then you get to that car chase scene and it's like, man, there is no CGI here. No, these are cars legitimately crashing and hitting each other. Yes. And then going no permits. Oh very little God. And it's you're on the edge of your seat. When we get to that camera shot where it's just the the car's point of view. Oh, my God, you're accidents. It almost gets into I'm like, I can't flinch. Yeah, yeah. It's nuts. It's so cool. It's a 50 year old 50 year plus movie. It's incredible. It's making us like, jump and flinch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, let me tell you some of his biggest influences. Le samurai, one of his biggest influence on totally absolutely with the Alan Dylan performance and really just wanted to his name was Alan, the, the French, Spanish Italian guy. Not an accident. Exactly, exactly. So he, you know, following the process, following people not a lot of exposition. He that that was why the American 70s movies popped. Because all of these directors were influenced by 60 European films. That's what happened. And. Yes, exactly. And Z, which I don't think you've seen Costa-Gavras Z very good movie, won the Oscar for best Foreign Film, and that is shot like a documentary. What you have seen is his film missing with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Basic, which, you know, like, yeah, that's right, 1982. Yeah, yeah, that's a good movie. Z. I think it's his best movie made in 69 again won the Oscar and he loved that. When you watch that, it feels like you're watching a documentary. Like the camera doesn't necessarily know where to go. And you feel that in The French Connection too. Yeah you do. So those are kind of two connected recommendations that we could offer up you. I definitely would recommend Z to you. It's a great, great film okay. Really good movie. Costa-Gavras was a great director. So and you see that in The French Connection then? Yeah, I'm sure if you're listening to this and haven't seen The French Connection, you maybe have seen seven heat, Ocean's 11, whatever. So the influence is there. But, this is just so fun watching it together, watching an absolute objective classic together and then partying about it right after. It's just great. It was awesome. Oh it's great. I'm so glad you liked it, man. I know it's a recommend to watch for, What are you watching? Go, the other movie that won five Academy Awards in honor of gambling on it. God damn right it did. Best Oscars in my life. Not even kidding. We are the last pod we recorded was our Oscar reaction episode. Which, God, I was happy. I'm sure people heard I was happy. Jesus, I just never yeah. I never thought that was going to happen. It's the morning after we we also took care of ourselves. Last night after Oppenheimer, we went out and. Whoa, it was a night this we stayed in, took it easy and rewatch the fucking show. They played it right after and we just put it on and we're rewatching it. Great night. I am being told that Adrien Brody speech is the longest in Oscar history at five minutes, and at 35, it's either 530 or 5 400. It will Smith. I thought he came in at over six minutes. Smith did. So maybe there's not counting. Yeah, well that's true. I never wanted to watch that speech again. But my memories at Smith's was way longer. But Brody's. Yeah. You know, whatever. Sean Baker, it has been confirmed. The first human to win four Oscars in one evening for the same movie. Wow. And the there was just so much humility expressed from him, like dedicating it to the movie theaters, dedicating it to indie films like. Yeah, not directing. It's really hard. It's a tough profession. Like, it's no bad when he wins Best Editing. He's making fun of himself. I would have fired the director. Yeah, It's great. I've really saved this one. Yeah. It was, it was a great night, and I, I, you know, found on Twitter just a 15 second video of it being of Emma Stone announcing Mikey Madison. And I'm just rewatching Mikey's reaction over and over, and her speech was so beautiful. And it was that was my favorite award of the night. I never saw that coming. It's I mean, I did, but not I really did not think it was going to happen. Yeah, I didn't either. Oh, that's so great. Great night. Yeah. Go watch it, Norah. Never a bad time. Never. Assault. What a great film. Unforgiven. Love that movie as well. Don't know why I just said that. I guess Unforgiven is a good movie. Great performance. It is French Connection. Great film. Friedkin, Hackman, rest in peace. You know Scheider, rest in peace. Let us know what you're thinking about these. Do you want us to cover more 70s movies like this? Let us know at Wawa underscore podcast. But as always, thanks for listening and happy watching you guys. As nervous as I and the winner is, the winner is Mr. Gene Hackman. So this is. Thank you very much. I, I just want to start at the beginning, just for a second and say sitting out there next to Barbara Harris reminds me of my first acting scene ever was in New York. And the gentleman sitting in front of us when we were doing that scene was my acting teacher. And I just have to mention his name, George Morris, and I want to thank him. Also, Mr. Billy Friedkin, who has already received his prize tonight, but I have to thank him because he he really brought me through this when I wanted to quit. And. Eddie Egan, you all know Mr. Phil D'Antoni. Roy Scheider, Roy. And last. A young lady who I met in New York many years ago, Miss Filippo Maltese. And she brought me up to thank you. Hey, everyone. Thanks again for listening. Send us mailbag questions at What Are You Watching podcast at gmail.com or find us on Twitter, Instagram and Letterboxd at WDW. Underscore podcast. Jean, we love you. We miss you. An objectively great actor for decades, 78 feature film performances 78 and I have spent the last few weeks watching every single one of them that I had not seen. All of them. It's a sickness, this thing I have. But next time I'm going to remember Gene Hackman in for all the stories, all the performances I was way wrong about. The French connection to Hackman is remarkable in it. So here we go. Stay tuned. To get. That.