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)