This movie captured that time period perfectly. It's almost like documentary.

@michaelbruns449

Жыл бұрын

Exactly, well said.

I never realized until now how dangerous that seemingly simple stunt-falling down the stairs- actually was. Because he was falling backwards their was huge potential for horrific, even deadly, head and spine trauma. Tanks for mentioning that Tyler.

This is the film that made me fall in love with New York. Glad to see the 'L' still exists. I'd heard the original tracks were no longer in operation.

@CinemaTyler

7 жыл бұрын

It really shows an interesting side of New York that isn't often seen (even now). The L is alive and well. I think it is the only line that isn't currently running on 100 year old technology.

@budinsc1

7 жыл бұрын

Hubert Van Calenbergh Thats the BMT line , B train at that time, Ntrain now. These ELs have been around forever. Almost ALL the ELs in Manhattan is gone. The one in King Kong 76 is a Hollywood prop.

@eumoria

6 жыл бұрын

They're shutting down the L this year to fix the tunnel river crossing but then it'll be back.

@andynixon2820

4 жыл бұрын

Yes there's something about New York at this time that was exceptionally cinematic . They were also filming Shaft at about the same time .

@mukainoda9453

3 жыл бұрын

I love NYC because of TFC !

Since the 1970s the subway has been systematically cleared of all food concessions, barring newsstands. Vending machines went first, then staffed refreshment stands leases expired and were not renewed. The custard stand on the shuttle platform remained shuttered for some years in the 1980s and disappeared soon after. in the 90s the shuttle station was renovated, altered from the 1964 world's fair-era tile and paint scheme seen in the film. The most amazing aspect of the shuttle scene is knowing the actors and camera operator shot among ordinary commuters on an in-service train. An homage of sorts turns up in the action-comedy Loose Cannons, which places Gene Hackman on the same shuttle track at Grand Central. The switch is, this time he ends up stuck on the train to Times Square and commandeers a bus to rush back to Grand Central Station.

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

+speeta Fascinating! You certainly know a lot about this! I'll definitely have to check out Loose Cannons-- sounds hilarious.

So many terrific scenes in this movie. I love how Pop Eye's car spins around and stops right in front of the camera. Fantastic. I hadn't realized that Bozzuffi had done that stairs bit himself. It's so beautiful how, when he's perfectly vertical, the arc of his fall hesitates slightly before falling the rest of the way. The scene when the subway suddenly brakes and he slides down the floor is refreshingly genuine. He really earned his paycheck. I just can't get enough of this movie. Thanks!

one of the greatest films ever, films like The French Connection or the Seven-Ups had a certain 'grittyness' to them that made them so authentic you don't get much of that now

@michaelbruns449

Жыл бұрын

The Friends Of Eddie Coyle, State Of Grace and Laws Of Gravity are three similar feeling and really good movies that come to mind.

Very interesting video. As for the entrances to the Marlboro Houses buildings - what you see now is not the original entrances. They were replaced around 1998. I'm an architect with the New York City Housing Authority, and I worked on that replacement project. They are constructed of 12 gauge stainless steel with 1" thick bullet resistant glass, with the entrance door being secured by an electro-magnetic locking system. The original was aluminum. There were also a few errors in the subway scenes. When the motorman is shot, the dead man's device should have been enabled, as he surely would have let go of the speed controller, which is held down by his left hand. The train would have come to an automatic stop. Also, I recall that every time the train started out of the station, a two-signal buzzer would sound. This is not standard NYCTA practice. You only heard those buzzers given by the motorman at the beginning of every run at the terminal to let the conductor know that he's ready to go. Finally, The R-38 type train may have already been the mainstay of the B line, but what is shown is an R-32 (the train that gets hit). The R-38 served the B for most, if not all, of the 1970s.

@itjustlookslikethis

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the input, Mr. Ornstein, but Hollywood doesn't really care about the Deadman's device, speed controller or the R-38 train. The only people who would have caught those mistakes lived in New York. I lived in Los Angeles when the movie came out, I thought the chase scene was fabulous...

Translation: A bunch of people in New York including Cops got their palms greased to help out with the film in their official capacities. Man, those were the days when you could just get stuff done without the whole world knowing about it. The car chase was pretty ballsy even in 1970 / 1971 involving civilians like that. You'd get strung up and crucified if you tried that today. Great upload, man!

@CinemaTyler

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks! The French Connection is special in that it could really only have been done in the time and place it was. Everything sort of perfectly aligned for it to be the classic it is.

@KutWrite

5 жыл бұрын

I had to wonder was the $40k and one-way ticket to Jamaica for the Bureaucrat himself or was that to rent a subway car? And was it Jamaica the Caribbean island or the city in the NY area?

@scdevon

4 жыл бұрын

@@KutWrite I was thinking the same thing. He meant Jamaica, NY I'm pretty sure where he probably lived. $40k back then would be about $350k to $400k today.

@SAFbikes

4 жыл бұрын

yeah corruption was great!!! people complain about systematic racist police now hahaha light work compared the the cops that let this go on

French Connection embodies what made me become a PI. The thrill, the risk taking. The surprises. No day is like the other. I thank you God for being a PI since 1990. Best and luckiest career decision I ever made.

This is AWESOME!!! I discovered this film in the late 80's doing a paper for high school. It's become one of my favorites. It's such a snapshot of gritty 70's NY. I sometimes watch it & look up some of the locations in the background. There are other places you could show but this is outstanding!! Great job!!

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

+jmarcguy Thanks! I'm really glad you enjoyed it! I was thinking of including the place where the fancy restaurant was, but it is completely unrecognizable now. I spent a while trying to find where they filmed the scene of Popeye busting up the bar, but couldn't find it. Someone in the comments found it and said that the bar is now a Popeye's fast food restaurant. What a weird coincidence!

Thoroughly enjoyed this segment. Very creative interactive shots of Popeye and the lady getting shot at outside of his bldg. Loved the way you shot this from the same perspective as the original shot. Very interesting how they were able to get the chase scene completed without killing anyone.

I saw the French Connection the week it came out and loved it so much that I saw it 3 times in 8 days. Thanks again Tyler for a superb entertaining expose in the making of this film.

@CinemaTyler

7 жыл бұрын

Wow! I can only imagine how great it must have been to see it in the theater. Thanks for watching!

@1223jamez

5 жыл бұрын

I saw it in the theaters also with my dad back in the early 1970's and I have the DVD and have 100 times. One my favs.

@MrPaulDewdney

2 жыл бұрын

@@1223jamez I thought i was being excessive with 40 times, but 100, wow

The French Connection is like one of my 10 favorite color movies ever made, 5th place actually and ive seen thousands of films.

Thanks CinemaTyler, this is fascinating. I've always loved this movie, it's so interesting to see the background stuff.

You weren't joking! This did come one soon after your last. Nice! Again, excellent work. I really enjoy your research and passion about this great movie. I'm so glad someone is taking the time to talk about these classic films. Thank you.

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

+T Gill I actually started shooting this one near the beginning of January. I needed my girlfriend to hold the camera and the only time our schedules matched up was on Saturdays. A big blizzard fell on a Saturday and screwed up our plans one week. So many weird issues happened. One day we recorded a bunch and I didn't realize that the battery had run out of my audio recorder less than half way through our shoot, so we had to redo it the next week. You probably noticed the audio issues in the section at 62nd Street-- the wind screen just fell off of my microphone and I had no idea (and no protection from the wind). Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

It's my favourite movie of all time, you need to look at the film with the director's commentary, such an insight. Have you ever been to Poughkeepsie? 🤣

This is KZread GOLD! Fantastic stuff! One of my favourite movies, of which I have seen 50+ times..

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

+coys77 Thanks! This took forever to film, but it was really cool to see where they filmed some of these iconic scenes.

@roscoejones4515

4 жыл бұрын

GOLD! GOLD I TELL YA'! GOLD!

I cannot stop from being amazed by -how some guys are talented (i mean you Tyler) -how some guys have understood everything about the educational power and enlightning of the net. Huge congrats from a french ciné-lover.. For the anecdote,i am living in Rouen where was filmed "the french detectives" from P.Granier-Deferre in 1975 , and your then/now exercice works well with my city , abundundly filmed in the movie.

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

+MrSebfrench76 Thanks so much! Please let me know if you make a then/now video in Rouen-- I'd love to see it.

I don't usually care too much about looking at locations, but I found this video super interesting. It was really cool that you put in tons of info about how it was filmed as well, instead of just "This is the place where the thing happened." Thanks so much for making this for us.

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

+Israel Storey Thanks! I've found (from doing this video and the location video for Dog Day Afternoon) that it allows for a better perspective on some of the aspects of the production outside of just talking over clips. Like, I could talk about how they used a wheelchair as a dolly, but going there gives such a better sense of how they had to go about accomplishing the shots they needed. There is also something about being in the location and being able to angle the camera at whatever you want. I have also been learning After Effects and got super excited when I figured out how to superimpose Popeye and the woman getting shot into my clip of how the location looks now. I definitely want to try more of that. Thanks for watching and thanks for becoming a patron!

Great job on these segments, the FC is one of the most important films of that time, I saw it when I was in 7th grade, it definitely influenced me in becoming a filmmaker, thanks for your hard work👍

Just rode the D train back from Coney Island tonight. Was describing this legendary car chase to my wife, who hasn’t seen the movie. I was saying the scene must’ve been shot in Brooklyn or Queens, not realising we were actually on the spot! This is a great retracing of the route. Really fascinating.

This is EASILY one of the nicest "Filming Locations" vid I've seen on KZread. I love my City and The French Connection too! Thanks, soo much! 🤗🤗

Really passionate research done on one of my favourite movies. Thank you.

I saw this while at Camp Casey, Korea in 1972 while in the US Army. It was packed. I recently watched it and it has aged well. Nice job by you.

One of the greatest NYC movie! That stuntman also drove in the 7 ups chase and bullit! Also great classics! One of the best stunt drivers ever 🗽💪🏾

Great piece. I especially like that you show us the location on the map of each scene. This is really helpful in orienting oneself while watching. Great job.

That was an awesome video man! Great shot breakdown and background! Well done on the editing too! 🤜🏼🤛🏼

Great work Cinema Tyler. When I was growing up in Detroit back in the day; a little kid we thought movies were all shot in the real places. As I learned more about movies and stories, a couple of things became important. Movies weren't usually shot in real places, but they were shot somewhere, so sound stages and back lots also gained some historical importance. The French Connection was really a French New Wave film but shot by Americans. It would make a seamless double bill with The 400 Blows or Bob Le Flambeau. Your work finding these sites is really impressive. I've tried doing this numerous times for various narratives: real history, movies, novels, doubled film locations (like the Vasquez Rocks near Los Angeles being used in Star Trek episodes, as other planets). I've found it a lot easier to be completely wrong than to find actual locations. I live in Los Angeles. I remember one night while watching Fight Club on DVD I paused it to go downtown to photograph an old movie theater on Spring St. I was right across the street from what I'd just seen in Fight Club, and a block away from Blade Runner.... (It's good the way you cut back and forth between the movie and your being there. Maybe the oddest coincidences was when my neighbor Allesandro dropped by to say hi, my son and I offered him a slice of pizza. Then he left, we turned on the TV, Laurel Canyon was on one of the movie channels...and there was Allesandro eating a slice of pizza. I guess for you to have had this happen to you in this video, you would've been shot at or in a car chase.

Retired Ex-NYPD Homicide Detective Randy Jurgensen drove the car as well, per my interviews with him on my Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers Podcast. He tells some the elements to your story that you miss here and alt of people arent aware of- and he's now the only surviving cop left who worked on the Patsy Fucca case. He tells of Hackman wrecking the first car in the first take and Randy's wife having to accompany him to the hospital when he went to go get checked out. And he has a notorious story of the sniper being shot in the back, and the huge fight he got into with Friedkin about it, and got a lesson in real vs reel. Go research him. ALOT of people sleep on his massive and influential career.

Great video, thanks so much for creating it! Inserting selected bits of the the film action behind you in your visit to one of the locations was a great idea. It must have been amusing, lining up the shot and trying to get the lens choice close (not to mention the rotoscoping you must have slogged through), but whatever pains you endured, the result is well worth it. On a related topic, it's also interesting to see the inserted bits of film action set against/upon the "ordinary," "real-life" look of the locations shot in a more straightforward way. As filmmakers of whatever stripe, it's this distance between the banal, quotidian, "real-life" look and the look of a finished film that's always of concern. Cheers, and thanks again for your work here.

Wonderful video, great idea, fantastic work and insights delivered in a lovely way.x

As a fan of The French Connection and a native New Yorker this was fascinating! Good work!

Another great video TYLER!!!!!! FC in my top 5 ever!!

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Such a great film!

Great work. Many thanks for this. Probably my alltime favourite film. 🙏

I’m from Bensonhurst BK many movies were filmed in my neighborhood great memories

Great upload. One of my favorite films. The first film my dad took me to when I was 10. Awesome film making from the days gone by. Now we have tons of digital crap made.

Fun piece. Loved your take on Charnier with that coy wave to Popeye as Shuttle train departs ;-) Actually, I subscribed to your channel after viewing the "Network" two-parter with the fascinating insights into Sidney Lumet's process of film-making. Love pieces on locations, especially those in NYC Subway! Keep them coming!

Really enjoyed this and learned a fair amount too. Great work, well done.

Thank you so much Tyler! Loved your video.

As always, very well curated and executed. A reference for aficionados!

So freakin cool that you did this!

Just Picked up the bluray. The chase scene was incredible. I like seeing NYC for what it looked like in 1970/71.

Thank you, for this classic !!

suuuuuuuuoer fantastic video. i was raised in brooklyn. i loved how you explained the shots. i went and watched the chase with black magic woman. perfectly timed. and then it ends and theres that little bit more to the scene of the shooting of the sniper in silence. brilliant. ty !

Great video but you missed one important point. When you were in the Transit Museum you had the actual married pair of cars that were used in the movie. The two cars numbered 457-4572 are right there in that museum. Also, the car used on the Times Square Shuttle, number 6671 is also preserved there.

Excellent. Hard to believe I saw this great film when it came out fifty years ago!

I've always found it interesting to see where a movie, particularly one about a real-life event, and real-life people. Although I was too young to have been around when *"The French Connection"* was released, I got to see the movie decades later on DVD. I thought it was an awesome movie!

Fascinating stuff, thanks!!

Wow! look at the size of the Panavision camera's on the train. The big old R200 models. Those things were huge.

OH MAN!!!!!!! Love this video!!!!!!!!!!

Great research!! On one of my favorite films too. Tyler these are really well done videos keep it up. Bill Hickman (who played Mulderig in the French Connection, the agent who is at odds with Popeye during the film) was the one driving the car during the high speed sections of the chase. Great driver. Hickman drove in the chase scenes for Bullitt and The Seven Ups as well. In the Bullitt chase he's the one in the glasses driving the Charger.

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

+Studio 73 Productions I'm absolutely astonished that Hickman was able to do the stunt driving he did for The French Connection without anyone getting injured. I walk up and down that street every day and it is always crazy to think of a car speeding through at 90mph. Scary stuff, but an incredibly unforgettable scene.

@diegornr3312

2 жыл бұрын

Bill Hickman was also the one driving the Ford station wagon that was supposed to be towing James Dean’s Porsche Spyder that fateful September 30, 1955. Instead Dean decided to drive the Spyder and put some mileage on it, as Bill followed a ways back. He was the first one on the scene. Crazy stuff.

@katiegrundle9900

Жыл бұрын

@@diegornr3312 no way. just scary that he died so young, what he could have done. i never get sick if rebel, and giant

Awesome video. Thank you.

Great job!!!

The 62nd Street station sign is not the only thing completely different about the subway steps: the staircase and canopy looks to have been completely demolished and replaced with an entirely new construction, done sometime since the 1990s I think. I've seen this done elsewhere in the elevated system. There isn't an original stick of wood or steel in it other than the chunky el pillar beneath it. But it all occupies the exact same space.

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

+speeta I can see why they replaced them. They're all pretty much completely metal now (which would have made the stunt even harder!)

FANTASTIC

I'm so sad I've just found your channel. Your content is fantastic.

That is fantastic! Thank you.

GREAT INFORMATION.

AS A 30 YEAR SAG/AFTRA MEMBER AND A BROOKLYN NATIVE... I CONGRATULATE YOU ON YOUR SUBWAY " CLASSROOM" SEMINAR FROM THE FRENCH CONNECTION... I ALSO GREW UP IN RIDGEWOOD/ BROOKLYN...WHERE GENE CRASHED INTO THE GARAGE (ORIGINALLY) BRUNO'S VOLKSWAGEN AUTO SHOP! LOVE YOUR WORK...ESPECIALLY YOUR PRESENTATION! (NEED A ASST DIRECTOR?)

It’s amazing how much New York has changed since this film. A lot of the younger generations and tourists don’t really know just how bad New York was in those days. Me being in my 20s, this film provides a level of shock to me to see just how dirty and boarder-line apocalyptic NYC was. You look back then when there was rubble everywhere from projects being burnt down for insurance money and people being mugged in broad daylight in Central Park, It provides me with sheer appreciation for New York today despite being a little rough around the edges still compared to other bigger cities like Los Angeles and Chicago, which are significantly cleaner. Love this film and love seeing it being shot on-location in a place close to me.

@SAFbikes

4 жыл бұрын

Ya and its wild how the corruption is almost gloried in the cops that let this chase scene go on.. imagine the other corrupt and dangerous things those officers were doing putting citizens lives at risk

amazing video bro .. the movie is a master piece

Awesome video

Excellent!

Very well done.

awesome man, thanks for making this video, now do filming locations of French connection 2 :P

Loved it

Love your channel, Tyler. A couple of points: 1. The guy driving the L is not the conductor. He rides in back. The driver's called a motorman, as movie guy's cap boldly states. 2. Bill Hickman, the stunt driver, also drove the bad guys' Challenger in "Bullitt." He also had a speaking role in another NY thriller, "The Seven-Ups" with Roy Scheider.

This is amazing! After I watched it, wondering what it looks like today..

great stuff - thank you!!!!

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

EXCELLENT!

I wish I had money, pal, since I really enjoyed your video. Keep up the great work.

Really, really - WELL DONE!!!

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

+Checker222 Thank you!

None of those old trains are still in operation. They have all been replaced with new ones. However, sometimes old trains (even older than the one you show in the video) come out of the museum and run on special occasions; for example around Christmas. The B train used to run on the chase scene tracks, now the D train runs in that area. The N train has never ran on that line, but it connects with the B/D line at 62st below ground level. 🚂Lenny's Pizza is one of the few old-school pizzerias in that area. 🍕

Awesome.

14:47 Thanks for mentioning Saturday Night Fever street scenes, as I was wondering if this 86th street was the same location.

Great job amazing

The Warriors is my request and one you MUST do! People would love to see it

@CinemaTyler

7 жыл бұрын

Definitely! The original cast members did a cool video a couple years ago where they revisited a lot of the locations.

really cool stuff

I imagine someone has already mentioned the handles on the subway train are called straps as in strap hanger. Someone that holds onto the strap. Great videos, I've watched a few of your videos today and they are very well done and interesting.

I love this movie so much. So gritty

Fantastic piece of work. I used the book Manhattan on Film by Chuck Katz, which had a great French Connection mini walk, Roosevelt Hotel, Grand Central etc, please do some more greetings from the UK

Very well done. Looks like the subway shots were shot in handheld 16mm.

I love the jacket you are wearing. It looks like something Doyle or Russo would wear in the movie.

Brilliant

Thank you.

Very interesting 👍

I suspect that the main reason they used R-42 type subway cars in the chase scene was because they were the newest cars in the system in 1970. The conductor does not operate the train. The motorman operated the train. The conductor operates the doors. In the film, the conductor is the poor schlump that gets shot.

Cool video. I love seeing filming locations and learning about film production. Just one correction: there is no such thing as "Grand Central Station." It's "Grand Central Terminal."

Thanks Tyler, French Connection, 2001, Dog Day are my favorites. you have to do 1972 The Hot Rock. seen it with my brothers in the Cort Theater Somerville NJ.

@CinemaTyler

8 жыл бұрын

+marty one Thanks for watching! I've been meaning to see that one. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll make sure to put it on my watchlist.

@jmarcguy

8 жыл бұрын

I LOVE Dog Day Afternoon!! I watched it in the 80's around the same time I saw French Connection. I've only seen the trailer for Hot Rock but I'd love to see it. I'm a big 70's movie fan. Serpico, Three Days of the Condor, Marathon Man, Taxi Driver, ....So many great films!

I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THIS

Brilliant. Love a good location visit. I've always wondered if it's my imagination or whether when they are disassembling the car to search it one of the machines they use sounds exactly like the main theme to the film? Can't find a clip of it on here to illustrate.

I remember as a kid Back in the 70s you could get a hotdog with the works and a fabulous grape drink down in the hole.

The trains are still in operation on the J/Z and the A/C/E lines. No joke, they refurbushed them in the 80s and they're STILL running. Silverbirds They're called the R32 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R32/A_(New_York_City_Subway_car) Also greetings from Brooklyn. EDIT: LOL you said this exact thing at the end. Anyway awesome videos :P

The chase was shot mostly on Saturday and Sunday mornings to avoid traffic problems. 62nd St. staircase was completely rebuilt well after 2000. Sonny objected to an NYPD officer shooting the unarmed perp in the back, after it was in the can Billy's version won out.

@katiegrundle9900

Жыл бұрын

i heard they didnt have city permits to film the chase. i would have loved to see it in the theatre back in the day

Great video. Excellent film. Just a few things, you refer to the operator of the train as a conductor. He is actually the motorman or now known as train operator. The the other guy that walks in with the uniform is the conductor. The subway car in the museum is NOT the same car that was used in the museum. Actually the two cars that were used were preserved and can be seen once a year during Parade of Trains hosted by the Transit Museum.

The train that you are riding on the D train is actually the R68 type model train. The train that was filled in the 1970s was actually the 1969 to 2020 R42 train that was filled on the N line during the french connection filming

the train used in the movie was an R42-type car in it’s pre-GOH phase, now retired by R179’s - the D train you where on was an R68 or R68/A, the only type of car that runs on the B and D now

7:18 | That isn't the conductor's room, though | The conductor doesn't drive the train. The motorman drives the train. That's why he wears the hat with the word | 7:25 | 'Motorman' on it. The conductor is the guy halfway down the train who operates the doors. Carry on.

"You're a wise and considerate young man." --Hyman Roth, The Godfather Pt. II

I know it’s been several years, but there are a few errors I feel should be mentioned. 1: the person driving the train is not the Conductor. I would know, I am one. That’s the Motorman or today, Train operator. 2: the later half of the chase wasn’t filmed in Brooklyn at all, but in Queens. Popeye crashing into the fence, the train filmed out the side and him cutting across afterwards, was in the Ridgewood section of Queens.