![]() ![]() “Filmmaking has always been risky - both physically and emotionally - but I do choose to consider that film a moment in a checkered career of hits and misses,” the reclusive Hackman, 91, who retired from the screen in 2004, told The Post in a rare interview - his first in a decade. However, with the 50th anniversary of “The French Connection” revving up this week, legendary actor Gene Hackman is blunt about the genuinely death-defying scene - and the lasting impact of the gritty cop drama that won him the first of his two Oscars. FRENCH CONNECTION MOVIE MOVIEThat five-minute sequence - a crash course in ‘70s guerrilla filmmaking - is now regarded by many to be the best movie car chase of all time. It’s the heart-stopping moment when a bashed-in Pontiac LeMans hurtles beneath NYC’s elevated subway at 90 miles an hour, dodging traffic and pedestrians in a wild race to keep up with a hijacked N train rumbling overhead. This is the Harrison Ford scene you didn’t see in ‘E.T.’ ‘E.T.’ at 40: Secrets of the Spielberg classic revealed Even here, Friedkin refuses to provide much clarity: we're told that "Alain Charnier was never caught," and Popeye and Cloudy were "transferred out of the Narcotics Bureau and reassigned." The combined gritty, in-your-face drama of the film's events with this distant and chilly conclusion is the emotional equivalent of being drenched in ice cold water, a wake-up call that feels only too close to the inconclusiveness and unfairness of reality.How Susan Sarandon changed the ending of ‘Thelma & Louise’ at the last minuteĬan you spot the human legend behind E.T.’s iconic alien eyes? FRENCH CONNECTION MOVIE SERIESThe only conclusion Friedkin allows his audience is a series of curt, cold on-screen postscripts giving a few scant details on where some of the characters ended up after the events of the film. That veracity is increased by the distinct lack of typical Hollywood elements in "The French Connection": characters don't talk about themselves but instead simply behave in front of the camera, Don Ellis' score doesn't tell the audience what to feel when it's present (which is sparingly) but instead evokes a mood, and the ending isn't wrapped in a neat bow. ![]() Trapped, Charnier, Boca, and the rest of the criminals attempt to flee or fight, as Grosso, Doyle and the rest of the force close in for the capture. The exchange goes smoothly, but as Charnier is leaving with his money and Boca's gang are preparing to leave with their heroin, Charnier's car is blocked by a phalanx of NYPD vehicles fronted by Doyle himself, who gives a knowing wave to his quarry that echoes one given to him by Charnier when the Frenchman eluded him earlier. Charnier himself travels with the car to the meet, which is held on the deserted Ward's Island. They then reassemble and return the car to Devereaux, who hands it over to Charnier, refusing to carry on with their prior plan to unload the car and its merchandise. After literally tearing the car apart in the NYPD garage, the detectives find 120 pounds of heroin hidden in the rocker panels. FRENCH CONNECTION MOVIE TVThe big break in Popeye and Cloudy's pursuit of Charnier comes when they stakeout a car seemingly owned by one of the Frenchman's associates, a TV host named Devereaux (Frédéric de Pasquale). ![]()
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