French Connection

French Connection II

Music by Don Ellis

 

 

 

 

Classic of police cinema and one that stablished a new aesthetic to the genre French Connection (1971) was the consecration for director William Friedkin after The Night They Raided Minskins (1969) and the polemic The Boys in the Band (1970).

For the soundtrack of French Connection, Friedkin had the innovative talent of trumpeter Don Ellis creating an unclassifiable work. The music is one of the most daring and radical soundtracks ever created for a movie. Built over jazz language (highlighting metals and rhythm) the music is unparalleled in their dissonant and modern expression. However, the minucious concept of director William Friedkin trimmed the musical comment to a minimum in order to emphasize the realism of the film.

 

"There is little music in The French Connection and it is never used in the most important scenes. These scenes would have to stand on its own. If I expected the music to be saving the important scenes, I think they would never have worked at all" - William Friedkin.

 

Being so, many moments of musical excellence were reduced on the screen. The eccentricities as the muted trumpet solos followed by their own delays in Copstail, or the "drunken atmosphere" of Popeye Blues, simply have no similar in cinema. Examples of originality accumulate infinitely and even lines of more conventional composition as the reference to soul music in Hotel Chase and jazz in Subway, are shining examples of Elli´s styling. Recognizable of the movie are the intrusive opening (Main Title), The Car (the car with drugs being unloaded at the harbor), Subway (Gene Hackman follows Fernando Rey in the subway), This is It (the car used as bait on the alley) and End Titles (in the abandoned gallery). The originality of Ellis and its intricate language – very close to Jerry Fielding – created a dead-end musical, not followed just because there were no capable continuists.

The special edition CD, released by Film Score Monthly, also includes the soundtrack of French Connection 2 (1975). This time Ellis had better luck and the most part of his composition is heard on the movie´s final cut. The music follows the same line as the previous one, but moves to a more melodic and tonal approach as can be heard right on the Main Title. The very sound concept of the film, directed by John Frankenheimer, opted for a more conventional result and so, suspenseful moments like Popeye Montage (conducted by bongos), Rehabilitation ("street wise" swing), or the rhythms big-band of Big Chase, naturally end up sounding more traditional. But the work of Don Ellis will forever be above average. One of the most creative talents ever to appear in film music or jazz.