The French Connection is streaming on Disney+
William Friedkin passed away yesterday at the age of 87.
Best known for The Exorcist and The French Connection (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director) his career actually went back to the early 60s as a documentarian and his last film, a remake of the The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial starring Kiefer Sutherland, won’t be seen until it premieres in Venice later this year.
I remember seeing a late night screening of Killer Joe at the Paramount during the 2012 film festival and being blown away at how adventurous it was.
There are plenty of Friedkin highlights but very few available from Aotearoa streaming services. The Exorcist, Cruising, Killer Joe, Bug, Jade and The Boys in the Band are rentals from Apple but To Live and Die in LA and Sorcerer (his remake of The Wages of Fear) are currently unavailable online.
Only The French Connection is available on a streamer – Disney+ of all places. It’s only of the least Disney-type films I can imagine. But then there is a lot of the old Fox content lurking below the surface on Disney+ if you manage to steer yourself away from the big brand names at the top of the page.
The French Connection has had a troubled history on home video. The first Blu-ray edition in 2009 was ultimately disowned by Friedkin despite it having his signature on the box.
And some versions of the film that are online have had an unfortunate edit in an early scene between “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his partner Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) where Doyle uses an offensive racial epithet. The word is beyond the pale nowadays but tells you a lot about the character – he isn’t just a bigot, he hates everyone. One of those ‘asshole who is right in the end’ characters, except in The French Connection he isn’t. Right, that is.
I’ve just had a rewatch and the version that is playing on Disney+ – perhaps surprisingly – hasn’t been butchered.
Disney being Disney, I shouldn’t be surprised at the recommendation offered at the conclusion of The French Connection. “If you liked that, you’ll love this,” indeed.
