French Connection, directed by William Friedkin: Subway-Car Chase Scene
Gene Hackman gets behind the wheel for the 1971 Oscar winner, The French Connection‘s famous car chase.
Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive
The villain’s on the elevated subway. Will he be able to get away? A person on foot can’t keep up with the subway… But Gene Hackman jumps in a car and starts chasing the subway, riding underneath it, going at 80mph, swerving in and out of traffic.
When The French Connection was made, there were no special effects. What you saw was usually really happening in front of the lens.
There was no security blocking off other traffic, just Hackman in a car with a camera mounted on the front.
It was the kind of thing that you just would never get away with these days.
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