The Connection

After having seen this movie in its initial theatrical release back in 1961, I have always wanted my personal 16mm copy long before videotape hit the home market. From a private collector, I was able to buy a bootleg VHS copy several years ago ( in very nice picture quality ). Now at last, Shirley Clarke's magnificent screenplay work-of-art is getting its over-due recognition. It just doesn't get any better than this expose', "THE CONNECTION" re: the daily existence of musicians who happen to be heroin users..The music of the Freddie Redd Group featuring my favorite alto sax player, Jackie McLean is absolutely Superb. This film can very easily give the viewer an idea of the drug turmoil the great Charlie 'yardbird' Parker experienced. Also featured are two additional favorites, Roscoe Lee Browne and Carl Lee ( son of late actor, Canada Lee ). This digital DVD release with bonus extras is more than I could have hoped for. For the honest-to-goodness Jazz fan, this movie, with the actors and the hard bop rendtions can really capture you. I Cannot Recommend it Enough. Definitely 5 Stars!!

This is definitely not a documentary. The vast majority of the actors who talk the most are white. It is an interesting, experimental jazzy faux-documentary set in a heroin shooting gallery. Occasionally they will accuse each other of being gay, but what I'm trying to say is that the description -"Seminal Shirley Clarke documentary about Jason Holliday aka Aaron Payne - house boy, would be cabaret performer, & self proclaimed hustler giving one man's gin-soaked pill-popping view of what it was like to be black & gay in 1960s America." - is all wrong

Great movie!

Very cool movie from a historical viewpoint of the scene back then. Also like that is had a look and feel like a small theatrical production not a film. Enjoying it a lot.

Orderea 3 or 4 times. Each time received DVD instead of BliRay. Finally gave up. It was a gift too so finally gave up and got something else

I'm not going to lie. My 5 start rating isn't to suggest this is one of the greatest films ever made. It actually does have its flaws. (The acting can be intense at times, but there are those "ugh" moments.) And a few awkward scene transitions where the film suddenly goes from art to fake-documentary a bit too roughly. That said, the movie, based on a stage play is engaging, and a portrait of an era of personal value to me... the late 50's/early 1960's hard bop movement. In some ways it is a bit like ROPE -- where you're stuck in a somewhat narrow space with the ensemble, the camera is following the actors, and you lurk without the option of being carried to any world outside the door. And what an apartment it is: gritty, dirty, full of junkies -- and complete with reel to reel tape records, hanging light bulbs and its own Jazz ensemble fronted from the LEGENDARY Jackie McLean. These guys, like the other guys are waiting for their fix, and the tension builds as they wait and wait and NEED THEIR STUFF MAN. Each member of the ensemble has his (and in one case her) moment, and it is so cool just watching those musicians Jamming, listening to each other, and at times being annoyed. Art film? Yes, but full of realism. Dramatic, yes, but tension doesn't come so much from plot development as it does from the tension of watching those hipsters interact, and alternately support, turn on one another, even clown around. Oh, and the cinematography. Wow.As for Leach, he looks enough like Steve Busceme that he deserves a reward on that too. The visiting filmmaker; however, kind of reminds me of Ed Wood at times. He's sleazy, light, pure and idealistic at the same time. The ending of the film is interesting. The plot doesn't resolve so much as things unfold, and you're left having breathed in the gem of an era. You hung out... got your fix, and if you're a Jazz fan, finally got to see the film behind the classic Blue Note recording. In the end, like a great Jazz album , it has a taste, and leaves you with a "sense" or "feel" and to that extent, I call it a masterpiece and definitely welcome the issue to my collection.

The description is describing another Shirley Clarke film, "Portrait of Jason"."The Connection" is actually a film about eight drug addicts are waiting for their connection in a New York apartment belonging to Leach. Jim Dunn, a budding filmmaker, has agreed to pay for the fix if the addicts will allow him to film the connection scene. After the men get their shots, they talk Dunn into trying heroin in order to understand the subject "first hand." He becomes ill and while sleeping, Leach takes an overdose that puts him into a coma. Dunn recovers, with the aid of the connection, and writes off the film as a failure.

Un film abouti, tiré d'une pièce du Living Theater , qui rejoint les recherches formelles de John Cassavettes , et reste un des plus beaux films de Jazz, ou du moins évoquant son esprit, avec "Bird" de Clint Eastwood, "Mo better blues"de Spike Lee, "Let's get lost' de Bruce Weber et "Shadows" et "Too late blues" de justement John Cassavetes.

実物はリージョン・オールです。映像は白黒でかつ粗く、音声はモノラルで音質も劣悪。意図的なのか、いかにも“アングラ”の雰囲気です。麻薬問題を扱った映画としての作品価値は私にはよくわかりませんが、60年代の若かりしマクリーンと、おそらく本作以外にはないであろうフレディ・レッドが演奏する映像が見られるだけで、ハード・バップ好きにはたまらない感激です。中断する曲もありますが、ブルーノート盤に収録された全ての曲を演奏しています。