The French Connection (1971)
Directed by William Friedkin
Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.
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What critics compared The French Connection to
Phillips’ Joker is brazen in its open homage to Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and The King Of Comedy but it also has certain moments which echo visual cues from William Friedkin’s 1970s masterworks, The French Connection and The Exorcist .
There are also two extended subway sequences: one in which Arthur uses his gun for the first time, and another in which, pursued by police, he ducks in and out of the carriages, as if in homage to “The French Connection” (1971).
Even the first violent scene in the subway harkens back memory of The French Connection.
It might still be called Gotham, but the reference isn't even thinly veiled: This is early '70s New York during a garbage strike, as depressing, foul and pitiless as anything from Midnight Cowboy or The French Connection.
Set in the late-1970s/early-80s hinterland, Phillips pays obvious tribute to Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy , as well as including notes from The French Connection and Serpico .
Example: the opening in which Fleck chases thugs down the city blocks in full clown costume recalls Popeye Doyle giving chase in a Santa outfit in The French Connection .
American Gangster reminds one of The French Connection, The Godfather, Scarface; some have called it Super Fly vs. Serpico -- the list could go on and on, really.
This aspect of American Gangster , plus its 70s New York and New Jersey urban settings, make it evoke The French Connection and Serpico more than The Godfather or Goodfellas .
Actually, I'm not at all sure how anyone can watch this film and not recall The Godfather films, Friedkin's The French Connection , De Palma's Scarface , Leone's Once Upon a Time in America , Scorsese's GoodFellas , Joel Coen's Miller's Crossing , "The Sopranos," or even Cronenberg's current Eastern Promises .
Scott also makes atmospheric use of the rainy, grayish blues we associate with the ’70s, or rather that we associate with ’70s movies such as “The French Connection.”
The movie is a descendant not just of “The French Connection” but of the raucous blaxploitation romps of the early seventies.
Much like this year’s “The Drop,” Chandor’s character-driven drama owes a lot to the work of Sidney Lumet, although it’s an entirely different 1970s classic (“The French Connection”) that no doubt inspired the excellent chase sequence in the final act, which takes place just as the mounting tension comes to a boil, nearly ruining everything Abel stands for in the process.
A tense freeway shootout and car/foot/rail chase sequence aside (the latter plays like a sombre variation on a theme from The French Connection ), A Most Violent Year keeps its action tinder largely dry, the fireworks generated instead by tense conversations between husbands and wives, lawyers and district attorneys, police and putative thieves.
It invokes “The Godfather Part II” (when Abel protests an attack on the family home) and even “The French Connection” (although this time the chase is on foot).
There’s none of the dynamism present in Joaquin Phoenix’s transformation from a wayward sensualist to an anguished hero cop in the similarly eighties-set We Own the Night, and the foot-chase set-piece lacks the choking terror of the car chase in Gray’s film—the gap between the two is the difference between saluting The French Connection and subsuming it into something distinctive and visionary.
While this film is based on the video game franchise of the same name, “Need for Speed” is much more an homage to the macho car-culture flicks of the ’60s and ’70s like “Bullitt,” “Vanishing Point,” “Grand Prix” or even “The French Connection.”
Think back to the films of the 60s and 70s when we had some of the most breathtaking chases ever put to film in movies like “Bullitt” and “The French Connection.”
Need for Speed is Waugh’s homage to gritty car-oriented classics and there are obvious visual references to Bullitt and The French Connection, among others, splattered throughout his film.
Waugh has dutifully cited the CGI-free chases in ’60s and ’70s films like The French Connection and Bullitt as key reference points; he even puts the Bullitt chase sequence up on a drive-in screen early in the film.
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The car chases seen here are some of the best seen on film, harkening back to the great car chases of film yore such as Bullitt, The French Connection and The Blues Brothers, and resulting in a ballet of burnt rubber and screeching tyres.
The concept of the car chase suffered in limbo for too long with inexperienced directors too often cutting corners instead of respecting why films like “The French Connection,” “Bullitt” and “Ronin” are still held in high regard today.
While these evoke any number of previous films, “Bullitt” and “The French Connection” spring most immediately to mind, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie (“The Usual Suspects”) stages them all in an exciting and fresh manner.
Another action sequence that delivers the goods and doesn’t cheat is an extended nocturnal car chase through Pittsburgh streets that harks back to the propulsive realism of Bullitt and The French Connection days; it’s no coincidence that the car Reacher drives is a 1970 Chevy Chevelle.
This mismatched crew embarks on a long car ride through the streets of New York City, giving Baker an opportunity to reference other cinematic tours through the gritty, '70s-era NYC of The French Connection (1971) and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), with the nod to '70s cinema further underscored by his choice of 35mm film and use of vintage camera filters.
…as vibrant and in step with the beat of the city as perennial favorites like The French Connection and modern classics like Uncut Gems.
William Friedkin’s The French Connection…
…a speeding car under some elevated subway tracks recalls The French Connection…
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There are a few highlights along the way, including a chase scene that pays homage to The French Connection…
…a chase beneath an elevated urban railway tips a hat to The French Connection…
References to Gladiator, The French Connection, 30s gangster movies, and Apocalypse Now intersect with space battles and a talking alligator man.
Speaking of the Batmobile, when it finally gets to shine, it’s with an almost fifteen minute car chase that reminded me of both The French Connection and Bullitt !
Given the more than obvious nods to the neo noir mood and mise-en-scene of films such as The French Connection and Se7en , Reeves is pushing the realism here, though because this is Batman, there will always be a fantastical element that no one can escape from.
Reeves’ film influences for “The Batman” include “Chinatown,” “The French Connection” and “Taxi Driver.”