For a while now, many have deemed RoboCop to be popular culture’s most recognisable crime-fighting characters of all time. In line with its Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook, Blu-ray and DVD release on 9th June 2014 from StudioCanal, we count down – not only the 10 most recognisable crime-fighters – but best ten the entertainment world has had to offer…
Dirty Harry
Appearances: Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), The Dead Pool (1988)
Played by: Clint Eastwood
It’s quite impressive that Clint Eastwood has played Harry Callahan, his defining cop not afraid to cross ethical boundaries to serve justice, a total of five times over his illustrious career. An Inspector with the San Francisco police department, his primary concern is to protect and avenge the victims of violent crime by any means necessary.
Popeye Doyle
Appearances: The French Connection (1971), French Connection II (1975)
Played by:Gene Hackman
Based on real-life New York City police detective Eddie Egan,...
Dirty Harry
Appearances: Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), The Dead Pool (1988)
Played by: Clint Eastwood
It’s quite impressive that Clint Eastwood has played Harry Callahan, his defining cop not afraid to cross ethical boundaries to serve justice, a total of five times over his illustrious career. An Inspector with the San Francisco police department, his primary concern is to protect and avenge the victims of violent crime by any means necessary.
Popeye Doyle
Appearances: The French Connection (1971), French Connection II (1975)
Played by:Gene Hackman
Based on real-life New York City police detective Eddie Egan,...
- 5/26/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
William Friedkin hasn’t always made odd films about strange characters who end up doing horrible things. He used to direct movies about little girls getting taken over by the Devil and edgy cops who crack down on drug rings. That latter part, The French Connection, is what we’re looking at this week, as it’s time to go back and listen to what the Killer Joe director had to say over one of his greatest films, a true classic with one of the greatest actors ever giving what is arguably – not very arguably, though – his finest performance. But we’re more interested in what the director of that film has to say about that actor, that greatest performance, and that damn car chase. Friedkin is known for giving great commentary, able to hold his own on a track with ample amounts of information, personal insight, and views on the art of filmmaking and the business...
- 8/10/2012
- by Jeremy Kirk
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
by Vadim Rizov
Upon release, The French Connection was advertised as "an out and out thriller" just right for its time. "I guess that you are supposed to think that a good old kind of movie has none too soon come around again," wrote Roger Greenspun in The New York Times before concluding it was "in fact a very good new kind of movie." That "new kind of movie" being an action movie rather than a thriller: the difference between the two is valuing motion for its own sake, rather than as part of a dramatic plot that has to stop for dialogue breathers and human emotions. The film's most often reduced to its precedent-setting, breakneck car chase, but director William Friedkin's innovation is in making the whole film just as kinetic.
The first and last action flick to win the Best Picture Oscar (war film The Hurt Locker...
Upon release, The French Connection was advertised as "an out and out thriller" just right for its time. "I guess that you are supposed to think that a good old kind of movie has none too soon come around again," wrote Roger Greenspun in The New York Times before concluding it was "in fact a very good new kind of movie." That "new kind of movie" being an action movie rather than a thriller: the difference between the two is valuing motion for its own sake, rather than as part of a dramatic plot that has to stop for dialogue breathers and human emotions. The film's most often reduced to its precedent-setting, breakneck car chase, but director William Friedkin's innovation is in making the whole film just as kinetic.
The first and last action flick to win the Best Picture Oscar (war film The Hurt Locker...
- 9/13/2011
- GreenCine Daily
(Celebrating award week with a look at one of Oscar’s most notable champions: The French Connection. Thirty-nine years ago, Connection – besides being one of the biggest hits of the 1970s – was the top winner at the Academy Awards walking away with gold for Best Picture [collected by producer Phil D’Antoni], Director [William Friedkin], Actor [Gene Hackman], Adapted Screenplay [by Ernest Tidyman], and Editing [Gerald Greenburg].)
“I grew up in a world where Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney …these were the heroes. Not the cops. Cops were the bad guys. Or they were stumbling around, couldn’t find their asses with both hands.”
So says Sonny Grosso, and it is a screen icongraphy he has worked hard to change. Grosso-Jacobson Communications has produced over 750 hours of programming for network and premium and basic cable television in its thirty-odd years. Though its output has run from Pee Wee’s Playhouse to adventure fare like Counterstrike, the most acclaimed of the company’s offerings...
“I grew up in a world where Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney …these were the heroes. Not the cops. Cops were the bad guys. Or they were stumbling around, couldn’t find their asses with both hands.”
So says Sonny Grosso, and it is a screen icongraphy he has worked hard to change. Grosso-Jacobson Communications has produced over 750 hours of programming for network and premium and basic cable television in its thirty-odd years. Though its output has run from Pee Wee’s Playhouse to adventure fare like Counterstrike, the most acclaimed of the company’s offerings...
- 2/20/2011
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Oscar-winning director William Friedkin.
In July of 1997, I conducted the first of two lengthy interviews with director William Friedkin, regarded by many as the "enfant terrible" of the so-called "Easy Riders and Raging Bulls" generation of filmmakers who, for one brief, shining moment, seemed to reinvent American cinema in the late '60s thru the late '70s. Meeting Friedkin was something of a milestone for me at the time: I was still in my 20s, had been writing for Venice Magazine less than a year, and "Billy," as he likes people to call him, was the first person I interviewed who was one of my childhood heroes--a filmmaker whose one-sheets hung on my bedroom walls when I was growing up.
Below are the two interviews, conducted a decade apart from one another, and posted in reverse chronology. In both, Billy reveals a cunning intellect, a sometimes abrasive personal style,...
In July of 1997, I conducted the first of two lengthy interviews with director William Friedkin, regarded by many as the "enfant terrible" of the so-called "Easy Riders and Raging Bulls" generation of filmmakers who, for one brief, shining moment, seemed to reinvent American cinema in the late '60s thru the late '70s. Meeting Friedkin was something of a milestone for me at the time: I was still in my 20s, had been writing for Venice Magazine less than a year, and "Billy," as he likes people to call him, was the first person I interviewed who was one of my childhood heroes--a filmmaker whose one-sheets hung on my bedroom walls when I was growing up.
Below are the two interviews, conducted a decade apart from one another, and posted in reverse chronology. In both, Billy reveals a cunning intellect, a sometimes abrasive personal style,...
- 2/24/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
The Bon Jovi Wig is back! This has been a week of TV memories for me. First, I enjoyed Andre Braugher's psychiatrist on House, and last night, Ed O'Neill made a welcome return to the sitcom world. O'Neill hasn't been gone completely, of course. He has bounced around a bit, most recently appearing as a regular on John from Cincinnati. But he hasn't had a character as fun as Jay from Modern Family since his days as Al Bundy on Married... with Children.
I've always liked O'Neill (even watched a bit of Popeye Doyle, but not too much - no one is that big a fan). As a kid, I watched Married... with Children every week with my family. We were never quite touchy-feely enough for the standard sitcom family. And there was a small running gag in Modern Family that brought back memories of another gag from Married... with Children.
I've always liked O'Neill (even watched a bit of Popeye Doyle, but not too much - no one is that big a fan). As a kid, I watched Married... with Children every week with my family. We were never quite touchy-feely enough for the standard sitcom family. And there was a small running gag in Modern Family that brought back memories of another gag from Married... with Children.
- 9/24/2009
- by Nick Zaino
- Aol TV.
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