great conversation of a movie that should be remembered for its unique style and early Dafoe acting plus Peterson , yes Miami Vice had styled itself on this one ..
Was already a big fan of Friedkin when this came out, so I hurried to go see it. While not a masterpiece I'd put alongside with The French Connection, The Exorcist and Sorcerer, it remains a fascinating entry in Friedkin's opus. A number of striking elements that stood out in that first viewing: William Petersen's performance; the killing of the FBI agent and the absolutely OUTRAGEOUS car chase; Petersen's character being unexpectedly killed near the end. There is only one thing about the film that I've never completely come around on: John Pankow feels very miscast. I love him in other roles, but he didn't click for me here. That ending, where he goes to visit Petersen's "girl" and we see that he has lost his soul and effectively become what his partner was, didn't have the same impact it could have had.
I also initially thought Pankow was miscast, but after seeing it again recently, I felt the contrast between his personality and Petersen's to be perfect in bringing out the good cop/ bad cop dynamic.
@@RobertBellissimoAtTheMovies Maybe I'll re-evaluate upon seeing it again. As far as "good cop/bad cop" goes, I keep coming back to the pairing of Sean Penn and Robert Duvall in Colors, which is fantastic.
great conversation of a movie that should be remembered for its unique style and early Dafoe acting plus Peterson , yes Miami Vice had styled itself on this one ..
Thanks so much
Was already a big fan of Friedkin when this came out, so I hurried to go see it. While not a masterpiece I'd put alongside with The French Connection, The Exorcist and Sorcerer, it remains a fascinating entry in Friedkin's opus. A number of striking elements that stood out in that first viewing: William Petersen's performance; the killing of the FBI agent and the absolutely OUTRAGEOUS car chase; Petersen's character being unexpectedly killed near the end. There is only one thing about the film that I've never completely come around on: John Pankow feels very miscast. I love him in other roles, but he didn't click for me here. That ending, where he goes to visit Petersen's "girl" and we see that he has lost his soul and effectively become what his partner was, didn't have the same impact it could have had.
I also initially thought Pankow was miscast, but after seeing it again recently, I felt the contrast between his personality and Petersen's to be perfect in bringing out the good cop/ bad cop dynamic.
@@RobertBellissimoAtTheMovies Maybe I'll re-evaluate upon seeing it again. As far as "good cop/bad cop" goes, I keep coming back to the pairing of Sean Penn and Robert Duvall in Colors, which is fantastic.
@@cdallapiccola that's a good one, too!