Movieline Online

THE FRENCH CONNECTION: Is there any more iconic city in the history of cinema than New York during the 1970s? The urine-soaked streets, oppressive grey architecture and flashy hoodlums combine to create a unique stage for the typical cops ‘n robbers story to play out. And director William Friedkin’s The French Connection is the best at capturing the city at its worst, shot with an “induced documentary” style that pre-dates Paul Greengrass’ Bourne films by three decades. A bookend to producer Philip D’Antoni’s previous hit, Bullitt, which shares its raw, unglamorous approach to the cop genre, Friedkin’s film swept the ’71 Oscars with a bullheaded performance from Gene Hackman as “Popeye” Doyle, a racist, womanizing, single-minded thug who just happens to wear a badge. Roy Scheider is his long-suffering partner who goes along for the ride in their pursuit of an international drug smuggling conspiracy. It’s difficult to comprehend how radically different Friedkin’s approach was at the tim...

SEX DRIVE: Like Paris Hilton jokes and the last five U2 albums, the teen sex comedy is essentially played out. After five American Pie sequels and dozens of National Lampoon knock-offs, the traditional coming of age story is about as welcome as a case of crabs. Which makes the expectations for Sex Drive - the story of one virgin’s interstate quest to lose it with his online hook-up - lower than...well, the next American Pie installment. So perhaps that explains why writer/director Sean Anders film is, if not a total success, at least surprisingly amusing in a “been-there-done-that” kind of way. The cast falls into comfortable stereotypes: the aforementioned virgin, his ridiculously hot but unfortunately platonic BFF, and the requisite “Stifler” character (this time played against type by Clark Duke). But what really gives Sex Drive a fatty are cameos by Seth Green and James Marsden, the latter reaching heights of obnoxious onscreen a**hole brother greatness previously held by Bill Paxt...

SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS: A giallo without sex and violence is like a Big Mac without the “special sauce.” Why bother? And this made-for-TV miniseries adapted into a theatrical feature just doesn’t generate the explicit thrills fans have come to expect from the genre. The involvement of director Sergio Martino (Torso) and writer Ernesto Gastaldi (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh) only adds to the disappointment, since both men are responsible for some of the most memorable entries in the Italian industry. The story sends our potentially psychic protagonist from New York to Italy after her husband (John Saxon in a very brief role) is murdered upon discovering an ancient Etruscan tomb. From there Gastaldi’s script splits into a smuggling sub-plot, murder-mystery and supernatural thriller, with none of the elements ever really gelling coherently. No one says a giallo has to make sense – in fact, some of the best ones are a confusing mess – but Scorpion with Two Tails falls short in two many ...

FRENCH CONNECTION 2: Pity poor John Frankenheimer. Four years after the original French Connection earned scads of money and worldwide acclaim, the journeyman director was chosen to stage the sequel on the streets of Marseilles as “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) continues his pursuit of escaped heroin smuggler Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). While the docudrama style is carried over with no trouble, the script by Alexander Jacobs (Point Blank) is a stop-and-start affair that keeps our protagonist prisoner for nearly half the film. Kidnapped and fed a daily diet of heroine, Doyle is turned into a passive junkie then released to suffer the agony of withdrawal. This gives Hackman plenty of rich acting material to work with, but cheats the audience out of the expected car chases and masterful cat-and-mouse scenarios of Friedkin’s original. As a form of closure, French Connection 2 fits the bill just fine, but as a well-rounded follow-up it can’t help but suffer by comparison. Fox’s Blu-ray tr...