French Connection II (1975)

Pop quiz hot shot, what blank connects these 4 Action Boyz movies: French Blank Miami Blank Delta Force 2: The Colombian Blank French Blank II

This Black History Month programming is whack.

Great episode. I think I agree with Gabrus though - for me it was good, not great. Love Hackman and Frankenheimer but the middle half really dragged in my opinion. Awesome conclusion though

Stangers laugh at the Maybelline joke 37:02 is magic 🎩 ✨️

A little baseball history: The Colt 45s were the original name of the Astros. They played at Colt stadium for their first three years, an open air stadium that was notorious for rattlesnakes taking up residence on field. In 1965 the Astrodome finally opened and they changed their name to the Astros.

I think Ronin punches above its weight because it feels like the last analog movie. Real guns firing blanks, tons of aggressively huge squibs, metal cars getting in real crashes, weird looking people with bad teeth, the femme fatale is beautiful but also looks like she could possibly be your mom's friend.

My mind is reeling with the thought of Billy Bob Thorton trying to explain to Billy Wilder what "Cosmic Psychobilly" is.

For a moment while Rodgers is recalling Matt Roger’s press conference, he says “Speak On” and then pivots to “Speak About”. I was on pins and needles hoping one of the boyz agrees that the prevalence of “speak on” is some sort of weird recent indicator of just how dumb the world has gotten. When did people start saying “speak on”!?! Let alone professional journalists. And now it’s everywhere. Unbelievable. Am I nuts!?

when I think of Ronin I think of Robert DeNiro all comfy in a sleeping bag wearing a full suit while Jean Reno watches him sleep all cozy… it’s so cute!

I know that this film isn't as good as the first French Connection. But it's so entertaining and Hackman is so good, that I couldn't give a damn. The detox scene has fantastic acting from Hackman, and the scene where he returns to the hotel and burns it to the ground is exhilarating. I love Hackman's (literal) burning rage in that scene. I've never seen an actor play anger onscreen as convincingly as Gene Hackman, I would not have wanted to piss that dude off back in the day.

I kind of think of the Seven-Ups as a spiritual sequel to the French Connection -- it's not directed by Friedkin, but Philip D'Antoni who produced French Connection produced AND directed 7-Ups, it has lots of the same cast including Scheider, same awesome 70s NYC setting, same oblique story telling that's kind of hard to follow first viewing but vibes super hard, and MOST importantly Bill Hickman who drove all the crazy car stunts in French Connection (and Bullitt!) does an even crazier car chase here -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven-Ups

Frankenheimer's due a critical reappraisal

Billy Bob shows up on a Zappa documentary that didn’t change my mind about not being a Zappa fan.

Never did heroin, but I heard that it takes about two years of recovery for an addict to acquire their brain back to enjoying things they loved before the addiction. The example I read a while back was that a guy who loved math got into heroin and he could no longer find any enjoyment in it once he was addicted. Even a year into recovery, no real interest, but around the second year mark, his talent, ability, and interest in math came back. It entirely rewires your brain - your body puts heroin/whatever substance you’re addicted to above all other basic needs and interests.

I had a 1995 Audi S6. Car was badass. It would also randomly shut off on the highway, sunroof would randomly open during snowstorms. Pants shittingly terrifying. I still regret selling it.

I saw this one after I saw Ronin and a few years after seeing the original. Was super excited for a Frankenheimer car chase in France. I was sure they would want to one up the original. I was not a happy boy.

https://shop.twahotel.com/products/vintage-flight-bag TWA sells the bags

Enjoyed the Sabres logo digression. The Buffaslug. 🫣

What halftime show did Popeye Doyle watch?

Not quite “vintage” Taco Bell, but that reminded me of when I lived in the dorms during my late ‘90s Air Force days, and my primary booze cup was my Taco Bell Batman & Robin collectible cup featuring Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. It was a prized possession that somehow went missing by the time I separated in 2000.

Gun nut talk: The bore size for 357magnum/38sp is the same for 9mm since the size of the projectile is similar down to the 1/1000th of an inch, even if the casing/weight is different. It is interesting because you can chart it by what you see in movies, especially movies covered by this podcast, but police/govt agencies start to switch over replacing service revolvers to 'Wonder Nines' double stack DA/SA steel frame semiautomatic pistol largely chambered in 9mm beginning in the mid 70's. Further the Beretta M9 in the 80's replaces the 1911 which was chambered in .45ACP which is the most common 'large' bore handgun cartridge (there are others like .454 Casull/.45LC/.500 S&W/.50AE/etc but they range from novelty to hunting to basically wildcat cartridges). Since then 9mm has far and above been the most common cartridge by a significant margin. However there is a brief minor diversion where right in the middle between .45 and 9mm both 10mm and .40s&w emerges as the FBI adopts the rounds in light of the 1986 Miami shootout. Sonny Crocket has an especially cool Bren Ten in 10mm in s1 of Miami Vice. Eventually the feebs angle back to 9mm starting around a decade ago and a the bloom comes off the rose for .40 for bunch of other departments around the same time, now surplus/LEO trade ins of Glock 22s and p229s are super cheap and readily available. 10mm had a big surge in popularity and was the hot cartridge a couple years ago, people love to cite it's insane ballistics stats and status as a backwoods carry.

I think this movie sucked ass. I’m sorry.

If you weren't blessed enough to go see the live show in person its absolutely worth it to buy it now! I was legitimately moved seeing the video of Big John doing his kata.

Love the logo talk and no, it doesn’t make yall sound old or whatever. I’m a decade younger than you and also think everything looks like bland shit nowadays. And the sabres logo was always the coolest

I’ve been painting my piggies and with some colours you look down and immediately think my feet are sick I’m unwell

In Ronin, Di Niro asks Bean what is the color of the boathouse at “Hereford”, the regimental headquarters of 22 SAS in England. Accusing Bean’s character of “stolen valor” because he insinuated he is former SAS. Great callback.

Speaking on the term boy for H. I was addicted for way too long and the only time I heard boy used was in the mid 90s when dealers used pagers. You would press 1 for boy and 2 for girl. Thankfully I have been out of that scene for over a decade now but I can’t imagine it’s the most common slang.

Big Jesus was a really good band.

.38 used to be standard police issue now most agencies use the Glock 17 in .40 cal. I’m not a gun expert but I have lived in Texas my whole life. Sorry for commenting. I love you guys and shit

"Boy" as a term for heroin is in the movie Ray. Never heard it anywhere else.

Oh sweet! I’ve always been curious about this movie. Gotta watch before I listen. Nice choice Boyz.

One thing I’d add to the black jersey conversation is late ’80s - early ’90s gangster rap culture especially N.W.A. helped make LA Raiders gear iconic, which I think played a role in teams across the country later adopting black alternates

French Connection II probably the best out of 2010 and Psycho II as part of the collection of Great Iconic Films With Surprising Sequels That Are Better Than You Would Think

I lost it when Gabrus mentioned the boathouse. I re listened to the Firewalker episode yesterday where Ben as Malick asks Max what color is the boathouse? ABZ rules.

Cool to hear you guys are doing 52 Pick-Up soon. It’s probably my personal favorite Leonard adaptation, and one of John Glover’s best performances of an underrated career.

In the 2000s, the Toronto Blue Jays somehow made both of the mistakes teams make: they went cartoony & stupid to get kids' attention, then they adopted black and went Very Serious, and both sucked. When they went back to the OG look, everyone suddenly realized oh yeah this a modern classic, why would we ever mess with that? They should never change it again.

Not a lot of people know this but Frankenheimer got financing for this movie by going into a room full of studio execs and writing "Fren¢h ¢onne¢tion" on a whiteboard

Gene Hackman is in the Top 3 Greatest Actors ever.