William Friedkin (In Person!) Double Feature: THE FRENCH CONNECTION & TO LIVE & DIE IN L.A January 22, 2011

Double Feature: 40th Anniversary! THE FRENCH CONNECTION, 1971, 20th Century Fox, 104 min. Arguably the greatest American crime film ever made. Gene Hackman stars as Detective Popeye Doyle, who’s muscling minor hoods in NYC (the "You ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?" scene is still a classic) when he catches the trail of a huge shipment of French heroin. With partner Roy Scheider, Hackman dogs drug-kingpin Fernando Rey through the concrete jungle - highlighted by a brain-jangling car chase that still hasn’t been topped (except perhaps in Friedkin’s own TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.). [35mm]
Trailer

TO LIVE & DIE IN L.A., 1985, MGM Repertory, 116 min. Director William Friedkin's startling, exhilarating thriller stars William Petersen as a hot-shot Federal agent out to bust ruthless counterfeiter Willem Dafoe (in a revelatory, tour-de-force performance). Along the way, they collide with John Turturro as a drug mule addicted to Pepto Bismol and Dean Stockwell as Dafoe's morally ambivalent mouthpiece. As dynamic and unnerving as THE FRENCH CONNECTION a decade earlier, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. is Friedkin at his very best - a turbo-charged ride through an imploding, morally-corrupt American landscape. [35mm]

Discussion between films with director William Friedkin.
Trailer

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