There are films that look reminiscent of a particular time period, and films that look as though they were actually shot in the time period in which they are set.Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970; available on DVD from Paramount Home Video) takes place in the 1930’s and early 1940’s, yet cinematographer Vittorio Storaro managed to make this film look as though it could have been filmed during these respective decades.Likewise, Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven, filmed in 1976 and released in 1978, takes place circa 1916 and the resulting imagery is like stepping back in time.
Bill, played by a 27 year-old Richard Gere, is a day laborer in a Chicago steel mill (filmed in Los Angeles) who has an argument with one of the bosses and inadvertently kills him, causing him to flee to the wheat fields of the Texas Panhandle (Alberta, Canada doubling as Texas) with his out-of-wedlock lover Abby (Brooke Adams) and his younger sister Linda (Linda Manz).With Linda’s help, Bill and Abby present themselves as brother and sister and are hired as seasonal workers on a farm owned by a wealthy farmer (playwright Sam Shepard) who is ill and who may or may not live much longer.Since Bill has been poor his whole life and has never known an existence that was not arduous, he encourages Abby to respond to the farmer’s affections and marry him in the hopes of inheriting his farm and money when he dies.Abby agrees, and initially the plan works as Bill, Abby and Linda enjoy life as they have never known it, experiencing the film’s title by relaxing and playing games, and living a life free of toil, worry and physical labor.At some point, however, their masquerade becomes apparent and things take a turn for the worse when several tragedies transpire and their lives are forever altered.
The French Connection was screened Friday evening at the Walter Reade Theater in New York in a beautiful 35mm print.Part of a series of films that won Oscars and were filmed in the Big Apple, the series continues on Saturday with screenings of Klute, The Subject Was Roses (Ulu Grosbard in person), Kramer Vs. Kramer (Stanley Jaffe in person), and Raging Bull.Sunday will see screenings of The Godfather and Annie Hall.
Film director William Friedkin was on hand following the screening of his 1971 film to entertain the audience with anecdotes and answer questions about what went on behind the scenes.Joining the Oscar-winning director onstage was former New York City Police Detective Salvatore “Sonny†Grosso who, with his former partner Eddie Egan, helped break the actual 1961 French Connection case upon which the film is based, and who played the role of Klein in the film.Film director Stanley Donen was also there to see the film, and made some eloquent comments about how much he loved it.
Mr. Friedkin discussed how he met the film’s producer, Philip D’Antoni, in a steam room on the Paramount lot and, encouraged to read the Robin Moore book that became the basis for the film, remarked how he did not like how the book read.However, when he met Egan and Grosso in real life, he decided to base the film around them, their partnership, and their police work which managed to break what was the largest heroin smuggling operation up to that point.He also went on to say that the film was made for $1.8M, and laughed about how he tried to get Jimmy Breslin and Peter Boyle to play the character forever immortalized by Gene Hackman.When asked about the film’s signature car chase, Mr. Friedkin wowed the audience by revealing that none of it was storyboarded.
The French Connection is now available on Blu-ray.When I asked Mr. Friedkin about the Blu-ray releases of The Exorcist and Sorcerer, he replied that the former is due in October, and the latter is currently in the works.
(Photos: Cinema Retro's Todd Garbarini with William Friedkin and Sonny Grosso)