French Connection

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Product Description

En la ciudad de Nueva York, los detectives "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) y Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) tienen una misión muy concreta: desarticular una red de tráfico de narc ticos y descubrir quien se esconde tras el pseud nimo de "French Connection".

French Connection Review

(NOTE: For updated info on the new 2012 blu-ray release, check out the second half of this review below)

"The French Connection" is a fantastic time capsule of a film; a solid crime drama enhanced tremendously by great performances, crackling dialogue, terrific stunt work and wonderful location shooting in and around NYC that captures The Big Apple during its 1970's heyday as a scummy, gritty cesspool of a town. It's a fine example of 1970's American cinema, a classic of its type and a must-see, if not a must-own, for fans of crime dramas and police procedurals. Without question, a five star film (out of five).

Regarding specifically the 2009 2-disc blu-ray release, Director William Friedkin has apparently decided that the gritty, documentary-like feel to the original cinematography of his film was not gritty and documentary-like enough; instead of taking advantage of the latest technological advances to clean up or restore an original master of this classic film, director Friedkin decided that he would revisit his 39-year-old masterpiece so as to make it look decidedly worse. Using various digital filters, he has amped up the noise and graininess, distorted and smeared the color scheme with a bizarre "pastel" look, and blown out the contrast, all to give "The French Connection" an (intentionally) worn-out, distorted look that really does change the visuals of the film.

Unfortunately, rather than giving the film a more "cin ma v�rit�;" feel (as was the director's intention), this inexplicable digital makeover adds absolutely nothing to the film's impact save for scads of fake film grain, alternately faded and dull hues and crappier contrast. I am by no means a film purist, but the fact is this visual overhaul is pointless, gimmicky and (most problematic) extremely distracting. The added grain will astonish you during certain parts of the film... and not in a good way. People with large televisions especially be warned.

"The French Connection" was originally shot by legendary film cinematographer Owen Roizman (whose cinematography resume includes such film greats like "Network", "The Taking of Pelham 123" and "The Exorcist"). The following comment is what Mr. Roizman had to say on the matter of the film's "new" look after viewing it:

"Billy (director William Friedkin) for some reason decided to do this on his own. I wasn't consulted. I was appalled by it. I don't know what Billy (director William Friedkin) was thinking. It's not the film that I shot, and I certainly want to wash my hands of having had anything to do with this transfer, which I feel is atrocious."

I sympathize with you, Mr. Roizman.

As a side note, I personally think this trend of technologically "fixing" older films is crap, directors cut or no director's cut. Imagine if Stanley Kubrick revisited Dr. Strangelove in order to add improved nuclear missile effects via CGI; or if Kubrick digitally altered "2001: A Space Odyssey" in order to digitally "improve" Dr. David Bowman's trip through time and space; or if Martin Scorsese added new CGI blood effects to "Mean Streets" and "Taxi Driver"? What if an elderly Picasso decided to round up his earlier cubist paintings and touch them up, in order to "correct" the technical imperfections of his youth? Where does it end?

Perhaps Mr. Friedkin's decision to experiment with the film's original cinematography wouldn't be much of an issue if the original version of the film was included alongside the digitally-altered version, but alas, that is not the case with this blu-ray release. Unfortunately, Mr. Friedkin has stated that this new, digitally-altered version of "The French Connection" is how he hopes this classic film will be presented in all future home video releases from here on end (we'll see about that). My belief is that if this trend must continue, then I do think that there is an obligation for the original, unaltered film to be available to the public as well, for reasons of both history and personal aesthetics.

Admittedly, the special features of the Blu-Ray release are impressive (although most are recycled from the earlier 5-Star Collection DVD), but when the main film is presented as such, what does it matter? I infinitely prefer the 2001 Five-Star Collection 2-disc DVD set, and wholeheartedly recommend it over this Blu-Ray. The remastering on the THX-approved 2001 DVD is terrific (looking especially good upconverted via 1080p), the original cinematography is preserved, the 5.1 Dolby Digital sounds great, and its got hours of extras (as mentioned earlier, its got virtually all of the extras found on the Blu-Ray incarnation). As another alternative, if you can live without most of the extras, the 2005 single-disc DVD release has the same mastering as the 2001 Five-Star Collection 2-disc DVD set, is currently still in circulation, and can be bought brand new for around $7.00.

In all, the 2009 Blu-Ray release is a two-star (**) affair at best; if you must check out this Blu-Ray, rent before you buy.

Perhaps its time for Mr. Friedkin to make a new film rather than waste time tinkering on his old ones (or, judging by his last film "Bug", maybe not).

8/8/12 UPDATE: Predictably, 20th Century Fox went back to the drawing board and whipped up a new transfer for an all-new blu-ray release that was originally a Best Buy exclusive, but is finally available for purchase on Amazon.com. It is being hailed as a director-approved cut (just as the last blu-ray release was), but this time it was remastered under both Freidkin and Roizman's supervision (who have apparently have made up with each other since the last Blu-Ray release).

So, how does this blu-ray stack up with the earlier release? Overall, this new transfer is mostly terrific, and completely blows the old blu-ray release out of the water. Colors look natural again (if a little over-saturated at times). Contrast is great, although blacks can be a bit crushing at times. Grain and noise is present, but far less so than the previous release. Sharpness has been increased. Overall, the film looks great, especially when compared to the last release. As far as audio is concerned, it is the same as the earlier disc.

There are a couple caveats, however. First, the film has been given a blue/teal tint that is fairly noticeable in some scenes, but not in all. While this has bothered some critics, when I compared this disc to the Five-Star DVD release, it really isn't as bad as some have made it out to be, and is nowhere near as distracting as other teal-ified blu-ray releases, such as "Aliens" or the 2012 blu-ray release of "Total Recall". In fact, the Five Star 2-disc DVD set (which still looks great, I must say) exhibits a fairly blue color scheme for much of the film, although it is not as pronounced as the "Signature Series" blu-ray release. Why they won't simply release the film as it looked in theaters, with its original color timing, is beyond me.

Second, there are less extras on this disc, the most egregious omission being the removal of the excellent one-hour BBC documentary "Poughkeepsie Shuffle", so as to consolidate the film and remaining extras on to one Blu-Ray disc. It is a great documentary that is totally worth owning for fans, and is a real shame that it's been left behind. Fans will want to hang onto their old 2-disc Blu-Ray or Five Star 2-disc DVD set for that neat extra. Fortunately, the "Signature Series" blu-ray release does retain many of the great extras found on the earlier releases, and overall should satisfy most fans.

Final Note: For super-fans, none of the blu-ray releases come with the original theatrical trailer for The French Connection (although The French Connection II blu-ray release did include its original theatrical trailer...go figure); however, the Five Star DVD set does indeed include the theatrical trailer.

So there you have it, folks. The new blu-ray release, while not perfect, is totally worth the upgrade for the improved picture quality, and is a four-star (****) release.
For casual fans, the 2012 "Signature Series" blu-ray release is far and away the preferred release to own. In the end, it is hardcore fans who get the shortest end of the stick (as per usual); if one wishes to have the most complete "French Collection" experience, one must invest in both blu-ray sets and the Five Star DVD. Adieu, friends!

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