Opening scene in Marseilleses. France, I presume. Pretty sure it’s not that one in Illinois. That would make no sense given the visuals presented. French Interloper doin what he do. But eatin a donut? Merci Fah-Kew! Who doesn’t eat a crow-sant in France? Dude deserved his fate. But he did buy a long loaf of French Bread before meeting his demise. Do French people call French Bread “French Bread?” Or is it just “bread?” And if so, what do they call regular bread? The mind boggles. This has little to do with the plot. I just ponder these intricacies from time to time.
Cut to Brooklyn. Santa Claus and a hot dog vendor runnin down punks at a bar. What’s the world come to? Turns out they are NYPD detective types, just lookin to bust some heads. But a potential Clue turns up, and ‘Popeye’ Doyle is on the case! Thin lead? Yes. Out of his league of pinchin the local hoods for dime-bags? Sure. But he’s got a hunch on this one. And he ain’t lettin it go. Or pickin his feet in Poughkeepsie, whatever the fuck that means.
This movie won like five oscars that year, apparently, including Best Actor for Hackman who does a great job as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, and Roy Scheider does a decent supporting role as his partner “Cloudy.” Movies seemed to be taking a different turn around this time from the big studio productions, and the overall grittiness of the film helped to lend it some credence in that manner. This was director William Friedkin’s breakout film, and he followed it with another Classic with The Exorcist. Sorcerer followed that, great performance by Scheider, but basically got cocked because it came out a week before a little movie called Star Wars hit the scene in 1977. Bummer. It’s a pretty decent film. So is this. Friedkin did a decent 80s variation with To Live and Die in L.A. as well.
