Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Daffy Duck Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1967 Quacker Tracker, {co-starring Speedy Gonzales,) directed by Rudy Larriva.
One of three Daffy/Speedy shorts outsourced to Format Films, as opposed to DePatie-Freleng Enterprises as usual.
Before the start of our feature presentation, the staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour wants you to hear from our old pal, Uncle Lou about undecided voters-
What a brilliant idea Uncle Lou - if you don't kmow who to vote for, Just don't vote.
We've picked another entry from the excellent reference book, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die by Steven Jay Schneider. Today's film is the 1971 police drama, The French Connection, directed by William Friedkin , and starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, and Fernando Rey. The film was very well received when released and the film did very well financially. The film has a fantastic gritty New York City feel, which still has a bite more than 50 years later. So push away from the table, get comfortable and join us in watching The French Connection.
The car chase was filmed without obtaining the proper permits from the city. Members of the NYPD's tactical force helped control traffic. But most of the control was achieved by the assistant directors with the help of off-duty NYPD officers, many of whom had been involved in the actual case. The assistant directors, under the supervision of Terence A. Donnelly, cleared traffic for approximately five blocks in each direction. Permission was given to literally control the traffic signals on those streets where they ran the chase car. Even so, in many instances, they illegally continued the chase into sections with no traffic control, where they actually had to evade real traffic and pedestrians. Many of the (near) collisions in the movie were therefore real and not planned (with the exception of the near-miss of the lady with the baby carriage, which was carefully rehearsed). A flashing police light was placed on top of the car to warn bystanders. A camera was mounted on the car's bumper for the shots from the car's point-of-view. Hackman did some of the driving but the extremely dangerous stunts were performed by Bill Hickman, with Friedkin filming from the backseat. Friedkin operated the camera himself because the other camera operators were married with children and he was not.
Demand Euphoria!
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