(0034) The French Connection

October 10, 1971 | 3 weeks at #1

Seen by Martin before? Yes

What did I expect? The hard-boiledest police drama ever.

What did I get? The French Connection is an incredibly effective movie, a feat of sheer direction. It’s the quintessential gritty 1970s NYC movie, of course — I can’t think of a superior or more canonical one, anyway. It presents a remarkably convincing picture of undercover cops working drug cases at the moment when the very concept of the drug problem was entering the public’s consciousness. However, the skillful, pleasurable manipulations of The French Connection serve to smooth over a number of narrative and thematic flaws, and the movie is good enough — that is, asks to be taken “seriously” enough — that we can’t simply brush them aside.

(0004) The Boys in the Band

March 22, 1970 | 1 week at #1

Seen by Martin before? No

What did I expect? A perky and/or gritty drama about homosexuals.

What did I get? The Boys in the Band has an unusual status. It’s universally regarded as an essential touchstone in the acceptance and treatment of homosexuality in American movies, and there’s an awkward flavor to the praise it gets — or does not get. The truth is that The Boys in the Band is an intelligent, courageous, and important movie that is also stiff, stagy, and not much fun to watch. Adapted from a very successful play by Mart Crowley, it’s about a birthday party attended by several gay men and an apparently innocuous interloper who may or may not be gay.