By Charly SHELTON

“The French Connection” is regularly listed on top movie lists as one of the finest films ever made. It was ranked the eighth most thrilling American film by the American Film Institute, right behind “The Birds” and “Alien.” And when the Alex Film Society decided to screen a 35mm print of the classic crime drama, it was done with all the respect and reverence this film deserves.

Cinematographer and six-time past president of the American Society of Cinematographers Richard Crudo was on hand to introduce the film. Being close friends with Owen Roizman, cinematographer of “The French Connection,” Crudo had some special insight into the making of the film and why it was so special. Overall, Crudo said, it is the realistic portrayal of life in New York in the early 1970s.

“[The lighting is] really a great aspect that sets this movie apart. There’s no vanity lighting in this movie. No lighting here is meant to look good, which was the main tenet of motion picture photography from day one until practically this moment. Nobody is lit to look good; this is lit for maximum realism. It looks unlit. This is the flipside of not doing vanity lighting; the movie doesn’t look like it was lit. However, to make something look not lit is not simple. Especially back in those times.

“There’s a great scene where they go into a bar and roust the patrons of the bar … The scene looks so natural, it looks so real and according to Owen [Roizman]’s description, there’s so much lighting going on in that scene, very small units hidden just out of frame, that we could spend an evening just analyzing that scene alone. But, as with so much of this film, it looks unlit.”

The Alex Film Society’s next film will be “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” that will be screened on Thursday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m.

  Charly Shelton