French Connection Questions

I just finished watching a favorite of mine, "The French Connection". In it, Gene Hackman chases a suspect onto the Grand Central Shuttle. Has anybody seen this movie, and if so, how accurate was the scene under Grand Central?

Also, a friend told me yesterday that MTA wouldn't do the car-L chase without an exorbitant fee. Instead, the studio paid a motorman quite handsomely (2 year salary) to drive like a nut and let them film on board. Any truth to this one?

Finally, an interesting note: NYC is so darn decrepit and gritty in this movie. I recently read an article that said this: An out-of-towner asked a local friend to show him the darkest side of NYC. The local found the area with the highest crime rate and drove there. The out-of-towner was not impressed and thought it just looked crummy, not downright scary. Point being, the entire city has cleaned up so much since 1971 it's unrecognizable.

Tadman wrote:Also, a friend told me yesterday that MTA wouldn't do the car-L chase without an exorbitant fee. Instead, the studio paid a motorman quite handsomely (2 year salary) to drive like a nut and let them film on board. Any truth to this one?

About as much truth as the baggage car parked on GCT track 61 belonged to FDR.

The chase from the ground perspective was filmed guerrilla style, but there is no way they would have gotten away with bribing a train operator. The MTA's only fee issue I can recall was demanding the film crew of Pelham 123 pay anti-hi jacking insurance.

They had to have some official co-operation given some of these angles would be almost impossible otherwise. Such as from the outside of the cab looking inward of a moving train.

Finally, an interesting note: NYC is so darn decrepit and gritty in this movie. I recently read an article that said this: An out-of-towner asked a local friend to show him the darkest side of NYC. The local found the area with the highest crime rate and drove there. The out-of-towner was not impressed and thought it just looked crummy, not downright scary. Point being, the entire city has cleaned up so much since 1971 it's unrecognizable.

New York in the 70s was broke and the city decayed because of it. But that was 40 years ago.

I was recently watching some RFW videos on youtube, and someone remarked as to how run-down East New York looked two stories above street level. No such comment on Jackson Heights. To me ENY looks vastly improved from the 70s. It's all in the eye of the beholder...

Having worked in Manhattan and spent a lot of time in all the boroughs 40 years ago, I agree that NYC today looks much better and is a generally improved city from back in those years.

Many a time I had a grape drink and a donut at the counter shown in the movie. Sad when it was removed. Also IIRC, the train being chased on the West End el displayed "N" signs when it should have been a "B" during that time.

It had no B sign, so they just set it to N. We just assume it was a B when it could have been a lost N. Then again it keeps jumping between the express and local tracks.

Kamen Rider wrote:It had no B sign, so they just set it to N. We just assume it was a B when it could have been a lost N. Then again it keeps jumping between the express and local tracks.

The producers wanted clean cars for the shoot, and the only extra ones available were R42s based on the N (no one bothered to change the signs).