The French Connection (1971) - Great movie with a great cast but the real star is that car chase scene which felt so real......because it partially was due to them filming without proper permits and having to avoid hitting real pedestrians.
I loved the scene where the French connection is eating a lavish multi-course meal with his henchman, while Poppy Doyle and his partner are standing out in the rain, watching him and eating soggy pizza and cold coffee. Remember, kids, crime doesn't pay.
It was a good car chase for the reason you gave. There was nothing spectacular about it. The tension derived naturally from the story and the character, rather than because of stunts and crashes and whatnot. Friedken actually did a better one years later in To Live and Die in LA. He told his second unit director that the only way there could be a car chase in the movie was if it was better than TFC. It succeeds for much the same reason, though it's also a bit more spectacular. The situation that led up to the chase in TLaDiLA built up for a while to the point that by the time they had to run for it the amount of stress on these guys was just staggering. It's one where if you just watch the chase itself on YT it's good, but certainly not Bullet tremendous. If you watch it in the context of the movie, understanding what's going wrong for these two guys, it might be the best car chase ever. Easily my favorite.
The Thing from Another World (1951) - Fun watch but it's pretty much what you'd expect from a 50's monster movie. Has one hell of a fire stunt though.
Keep watching the skies! A guilty pleasure of mine. Very good movie for what it is. Does a good job of maintaining the tension, and making you relate to the isolation and the claustrophobia. It's the cynical reporter that makes it, really. Every movie needs one of those guys.
The Driver (1978)
Haven't seen it, but Bruce Dern and Walter Hill put it on my short list.
Topic: Last movie you saw? v2.0 (Read 51202 times)
