DVD Spotlight

Combining noir sensibilities with intriguing realities, The French Connection has hauntingly captivated audience for decades. At this juncture, there’s little I can give in the way of new perspective, as its popularity is far-reaching and long lasting. That being said, I don’t love it as some, but find its strengths are worth notation. Its use of New York City is particularly inspired, providing an atmosphere fitting of our characters’ large personas. Gene Hackman plays Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle as an impulsive and reactionary man who exhibits little care for the thoughts of others. Despite this, he’s hung up on the way other people perceive him - fitting, as the story’s themes are largely concerned with ideologies of heroism and duty. Still, it’s the visceral elements that attract most, particularly the trademarked chase scene that interweaves through city traffic. Connection elevates itself above other genre outputs in this regard, combining iconic action sequences with notions that remain in some ways relevant. It’s not hard to see why it’s become a classic, even if I don’t share a love for it.

Transfer

In a word, I’d say the transfer is poor. This modern presentation, or rather, interpretation by director William Friedkin and 20th Century Fox features a subpar image quality. It’s certainly different from its original release, evident by cinematographer Owen Roizman’s damnation of the print. For its Blu-ray release, Friedkin wanted to manipulate the film’s look, especially its utilization of color. By way of a new color-timing process he achieved this, but with very mixed results. Purported to having a more “pastel” look, the color was highly saturated and blurred before being bled in to a black and white master print. The effect greatly mutes much of the color and contrast of the image, as was Friedkin’s intent, but it fails to translate adequately to 1080p resolution. The picture looks overtly cool, bleached, and inconsistently grainy. While grain was purported in the film’s original look, it does nothing to heighten mood or detail here. It’s heavy at times, as if sharpness of entire frames were heightened artificially. Flaws in the image are also present and my impression is that the entire process was rushed. Its sequel (also available through 20th Century Fox) looks better - less digital noise, more color - but is still not indicative of the format’s capabilities.

Special Features

When a BD release contains a second disc I tend to take notice, as it affords an enormous amount of space for extra material. While I don’t feel they make the most of it here, the features are adequate, slanting more towards recollecting facts than explaining details. Friedkin appears in many featurettes but offers little insight beyond light anecdotes. Much of the time the features compare the film to its true-life basis, something of greater interest to historians more so than film buffs. Of course, understanding the origins of story and its translation to film is important though the features are largely passive. The exception is a short entitled “Rogue Cop: The Noir Connection,” which compares/contrasts the film to those of the noir genre. I found that the extras I most looked forward to, “Anatomy of a Chase” and “Color Timing The French Connection” to be lackluster - somewhat informative but hardly compelling. Nonetheless, the additional content should please special feature junkies and it's presented in HD.