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In 1968, director Peter Yates, actor/drivers Steve McQueen and Bill Hickman, several stunt drivers, including the legendary Bud Ekins, and a couple of Dodge Chargers set a new standard for car chase scenes in Bullitt. In 1971, director William Friedkin, actor Gene Hackman, stunt driver Hickman, and a Pontiac Le Mans set another new standard for car chase scenes in The French Connection. In 1973, Philip D’Antoni, who was the producer of the aforementioned films, might well have noticed that directors get all the credit. Or not. Whatever the reason, D’Antoni decided to take the director’s chair on a mission to set yet a higher standard for car chase scenes, this time in a movie called The Seven-Ups (now available to stream on Netflix).
Not to be confused with the fabled journey-through-life real-time series of British documentaries under the umbrella title Seven-Up, The Seven-Ups is a kind of unofficial sequel to The French Connection (see: our previous installment of The Streaming Canon). The storyline came from Sonny Grosso, one of the real-life cops on whose cases Connection had been based. Its music score is by avant-gard jazz man Don Ellis, as Connection’s was. Roy Scheider and Tony LoBianco, who had starred below Hackman in Connection, are the leads here, and once again they and portray a cop and criminal respectively. The movie showcases a bunch of gritty New York locations and chronicles the rough-and-ready busts of Scheider’s squad, called “The Seven-Ups” because their busts lead to jail sentences of seven years or more.
This is one of those movies that mavens like to use for one-upsmanship in shooting the cinematic breeze. I can imagine a Tarantino-wannabe dude saying, in a voice a hair too loud and emphatic, “Now did you see The Seven-Ups? You haven’t? Now THAT is a car chase movie.” Such is the miracle of streaming video that now, thanks to Netflix, you’ll be able to say you HAVE seen it.
It should be said, though: while the nine-minute car chase that’s almost literally the film’s centerpiece (it takes off roughly at the movie’s halfway mark) really is an incredible, all-real driving-and-crashing-and weaving-and-almost-plowing-into-kids-getting-out-of-school armrest-shredded, the material surrounding it is not as good as that of Bullitt and/or French Connection. D’Antoni was by all accounts a terrific producer—Friedkin speaks highly of him in his lively filmmaking memoir The Friedkin Connection—but his direction is logy in spots, particularly the opening scenes. It’s telling that the film’s editor, Gerry Greenberg, gets a special credit upfront.
Still, the actual storyline of the movie is above average, given that the early ‘70s were teeming with cops-and-corruption plotlines: Scheider’s cop, Buddy, gets his data from a childhood pal who’s now on the wrong side of the law, LoBianco’s Vito. Unbeknownst to Buddy, Vito’s playing him, using his informant status to coordinate an abduction-and-ransom scheme. Vito’s two thugs are played by future-B-movie bad-guy legend Richard Lynch (in only his second feature role) and the aforementioned Bill Hickman, who in addition to serious stunt driving skills had a hulking, menacing appearance that made him an exemplary supporting tough guy. The movie’s supporting cast also features bullet-headed gruff person Rex Everhart as an inspector and pockmarked Italian-American sleazoid portrayer Joe Spinnell (he’s the guy shooting through the revolving door in The Godfather, as you may recall) portraying, well, a sleazoid. So the movie’s got that going for it.
But what really makes it is the chase, which piles thrill upon thrill and doesn’t let up until somebody doesn’t have a car roof or windshield anymore. After narrowly missing that group of school kids, criminal and cop get on an off ramp and you’re thinking, “Wait, are they really going to take this chase over the George Washington Bridge?” And by gum, they do.
The directing effort must have taught D’Antoni some kind of lesson, as he never took that role on a film again, and spent the rest of his career producing for television.
[Watch The Seven-Ups on Netflix]
THE DESCENDENTS OF THE SEVEN-UPS
RONIN — Car nut John Frankenheimer, who directed Grand Prix and The French Connection Part II, got his chase freak on but good in this 1998 caper picture, which features pursuer and pursued going backwards, forward, sideways and more through the thoroughfares of Paris. [Where to stream Ronin]
GONE IN 60 SECONDS — Conceived by, directed by, and starring stunt driver H.B. Halicki, this 1974 picture was aimed more for the drive-in crowd than mainstream viewers. Not exactly anyone’s idea of an acting showcase, it’s notable for a 40-minute multi-car chase that ends with a lot of destroyed vehicles. The 2000 remake had a bigger budget and actual trained thespians Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie in the lead roles, and yet, it, too, was no one’s idea of an acting showcase. The original’s still the greatest, like the song says. [Where to stream Gone In 60 Seconds]
TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. — French Connection director William Friedkin tried to top himself in 1985 with a one-way freeway chase that took six weeks to shoot. He came pretty damn close to achieving his aim. [Where to stream To Live And Die In L.A.]
ALL THE FURIOUS MOVIES — No duh.
Veteran (that is, old-ish) critic Glenn Kenny has written for oodles of publications and these days reviews new releases at RogerEbert.com. He blogs at Some Came Running and tweets (mostly in jest) at @glenn__kenny.
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[Photos: Everett Collection]
