text:
French Connection II (1975) August 29, 2009Posted by Dragan Antulov in Film Reviews.
Tags: Fernando Rey, Gene Hackman, John Frankenheimer
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2009
Sequels in Hollywood are often nothing more than opportunity to exploit familiar plots, situations and themes. Hollywood filmmakers rarely use sequels as opportunity to approach those plots, situations and themes differently. One of such rare examples happened in 1975 when John Frankenheimer with his action thriller FRENCH CONNECTION II tried to make a very different film from Oscar-winning FRENCH CONNECTION.
There are two things those two FRENCH CONNECTIONS have in common – the protagonist and the villain. James "Popeye" Doyle (played by Gene Hackman) is a New York City narcotics detective who managed to bring down international drug smugling ring. His triumph was, however, spoiled by accidental shooting of federal agent and successful escape of Alain Charnier (played by Fernando Rey), ring's suave French leader. Determined to finish the job, Doyle takes the opportunity to travel to Marseilles and challenge his nemesis on native soil. This challenge looks pathetic, because Doyle, otherwise formidable street-smart investigator, can't speak any French and has to rely on local police, led by Inspector Barthelemy (played by Bernard Fresson), whose members are increasingly frusrated by his antics. Doyle's presence on the steets of Marseilles, however, upsets Charnier enough to make him plot terrible vengeance on his American nemesis.
Apart from being sequel of immensely successful and influential film, FRENCH CONNECTION II is additionally burdened with age. Unlike Friedkin's film, whose nitty-gritty realism gives reliable glimpse of early 1970s urban America, FRENCH CONNECTION II looks lost in space and time. Marseilles locations, costumes and props might be authentic, but the audience is less likely to catch glimpse of mid-1970s France and more likely to experience bad mid-1970s Hollywood filmmaking.
This is most evident in police film cliches that burdened the genre to this day – single dedicated detective against all-powerful criminal mastermind, his reluctant "by-the-book" colleague who gradually approves of his methods and massive shootouts. Those cliches are more likely to be annoying to the viewer because FRENCH CONNECTION II has serious problems with pacing and rather weak plot. Character of Doyle is already established, but the script nevertheless spends too much time solely focused on him and his unsuccessful attempts to do his job deprived of friends, colleagues and familiar context. The results is overlong film with scenes in which Doyle makes incomprehensible baseball references, pathetically hits on local girls and gets drunk. The only thing making those scenes watchable is Hackman's unquestionable acting talent.
This talent again becomes evident in the film's best remembered scenes when Doyle gets kidnapped by Charnier's henchmen and receive heroin shots in order to develop drug habit. Those scenes, and the scenes in which Barthelemy stubbornly (and inexplicably) help him kick the habit are great display of acting talent, but they look like they belong to another film.
This was probably Frankenheimer's idea – to make FRENCH CONNECTION II as different from FRENCH CONNECTION as possible. Sequel also provided opportunity to deal with two potential flaws of Friedkin's film. The first was allegedly sensationalist approach to drugs; unlike 1971 film, this one shows through Doyle's ordeal what the narcotics can do to someone and why fighting drugs makes such sense. The other was lack of proper closure. Frankenheimer in his film provides a closure with extended chase scene that ends abruptly and shockingly. This shock, however, quickly wears off and the viewer is left with an impression of a Hollywood sequel that tried different routes but in the end reached same destination as most Hollywood sequels do.
- 1. anonymous - September 18, 2013
Nice, well thought out review. Thank you!


text:
How to: Export Code Metric Results to Excel
If Microsoft Excel is installed on your computer, you can export results from the Code Metrics Results window to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
To Export results to Microsoft Excel
Click the Open List in Microsoft Excel button on the toolbar of the Code Metrics Results window.
Microsoft Excel will be launched and the results list will be imported. You can then save the spreadsheet.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Basscraft LUMAFLEX Spinnerbaits
PRICE REDUCED! Unheard of price reduction on 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 oz single and double blade spinnerbaits this page!
Basscraft is your Lumaflex spinnerbait headquarters! If you haven't tried a Lumaflex Spinnerbait, give it a shot today. Lumaflex has remarkable life-like action in the water and the air voids in the fiber hold your favorite attractant much longer than silicone. Some fishermen swear by this fiber skirt material for it's look, action and feel.
Color Note - Due to variations in the manufacturer's color process, Chartreuse is now Chartreuse YELLOW. It does not have the "greenish" tint as before.
|01-L White Lumaflex
|02-L White/Chart. Lumaflex
|03-L White/Yellow Lumaflex
|04-L White/Black Lumaflex
|05-L Black/Chartreuse Lumaflex
|06-L Ghost Shad Lumaflex
|07-L Blue Back Lumaflex
|08-L Chartreuse Lumaflex
|09-L Silver Shad Lumaflex
Select LUMAFLEX shirts are available banded, and ready to add to your favorite spinnerbait, on the accessories page! They look great when paired with the tied trailer hooks on the accessories page!
Our spinnerbaits feature hand-tied skirts, Mustad Ultra Point hooks, and super tough paint! Basscraft spinnerbaits feature Nickel and Gold plated blades. We DO NOT use the cheap polished brass blades. As always, Basscraft baits are HAND-TIED. No rotten rubber collars.
Further word on Basscraft spinnerbaits... Basscraft spinnerbaits are built on a standard size frame with a "lighter than usual" wire for increased blade vibration and feel. Other hardware is generally smaller than normal as well. When combined with appropriate sized blades and a large hook, you have a bait that offers finesse as well as a full size bite! Series 1 heads are "arkey style". In our experience the wide, flat head remains upright better when coming through cover. Generally, it is less prone to rolling over and snagging on cover.
Basscraft spinnerbaits are available in weights: 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, and 1 oz.
Head weight series and prices.
|Series 1: 1/4 oz, 3/8 oz., 1/2 oz.
$ 5.59 each
|Series 2: 5/8 oz., 3/4 oz., 1 oz.
$ 5.99 each
Basscraft Lure Co. has the blade configuration available to fit your fishing needs!
|Single Willow
|Double Willow
|Single Colorado
|Double Colorado
|Pic Coming Soon
|Double Indiana
Custom work: Basscraft stocks a large variety of blade sizes, styles and colors. Many are available in a variety of styles such as plain, scale, or hammered. Please call or email if you have questions. If you don't see what you want in the menu choices below, let me know. I will work with you to try to get you the baits you want. Basscraft uses blade sizes experience has proven to work well. Please contact Basscraft to specify blade sizes for baits built just the way you want.
Use the menus and "Add to Cart" button to purchase your spinnerbaits. Use the drop-down menus to select your head weight, skirt color, and blade combination. Then click "Add to Cart". You may review your selection and specify a quantity in the following screen. Use the continue shopping feature to return to this page for further purchases.
NOTE: Blade color listings begin with the blade closest to the head. For example: Double Willow - Gold/Nickel: Gold is close to the head and Nickel is at the end of the wire. If you don't see the blade option you are looking for, let me know. If the inventory is available, I will include it in the option list.
Basscraft recommends SplitTail TrailerZ from Z-Man! ElaZtech® TrailerZ™ are the toughest, most lifelike moving-bait accessories on the planet, period! They'll stand up to the harshest conditions and countless fish catches, keeping you casting instead of digging through your tackle box for another trailer! Click HERE to purchase.


text:
Amid sweeping regulatory change, today's financial services institutions must grapple with capital management, business risks and global growth — all while meeting greater demands for transparency.
Our 35,000 global wealth & asset management, banking & capital markets and insurance industry professionals are located in major geographic hubs, a unique structure that allows us to rapidly mobilize and dedicate them to the right assurance, tax, transaction and advisory-related projects across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, EMEIA and Japan.
In light of increased competition, market volatility and demands for transparency, today's global asset managers need to rethink their business models. Turn to our Global Wealth & Asset Management Center for insights on addressing regulatory challenges, growing assets, mitigating risk and enhancing performance.
Unprecedented regulatory changes and demands are challenging global banks' path to growth and profitability. Whether your goal is to manage risk, ensure compliance with new rules, improve operating models or raise capital, our Global Banking & Capital Markets Center can help you adapt to the new rules of the road so that your organization can reach its full potential.
Insurers around the world need to plan for the impact of new regulatory and competitive challenges. Tap into the insights of our Global Insurance Center professionals to learn how to respond to the changes and set your organization apart on issues such as IFRS, Solvency II, Dodd-Frank and FATCA.
Global Consumer Banking Relevance Survey 2016 Our survey of 55,000 consumers in 32 countries reveals that traditional banks are under threat and their relevance with consumers is waning. Therefore, traditional banks need to revolutionize their approach to consumer relationships.
How insurance companies can drive successful transformation through a higher-order During the last decade, many insurance companies have been forced to focus on the challenges and opportunities right in front of them. From innovation and new technology to new market entrants and the threats they present, insurers have largely been playing defense.
Contact a member of EY's Financial Services team.
Stay connected with us through social media, email alerts or webcasts.
EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.


text:
Credit Suisse CEO defends tax tactics
Feb. 26 - Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan defends practices against allegations from U.S. lawmakers that the Swiss bank helps wealthy Americans evade taxes. Bobbi Rebell reports.
Credit Suisse's CEO Brady Dougan defended his bank against allegations of helping U.S. citizens avoid taxes- in front of a senate subcommittee. SOUNDBITE: BRADY DOUGAN CREDIT SUISSE CHIEF EXECUTIVE (ENGLISH) SAYING: "We fully recognize, Mr. Chairman, that despite our efforts, Credit Suisse has not been free of its own problems. We have invested enormous efforts to achieve as much clarity as possible about whether and to what extent Credit Suisse employees violated U.S. laws or helped clients to do so. We commissioned an independent internal investigation by U.S. and Swiss law firms that reviewed all aspects of the bank's Swiss-based private banking business with U.S. clients. The investigation identified evidence of violation of bank policy and U.S. laws that were centered on a small group of Swiss-based private bankers. The investigation evidence showed that these people went to great lengths to disguise their bad conduct from the bank. But senator Carl Levin was not letting him off that easily: SOUNDBITE: U.S. SENATOR CARL LEVIN (ENGLISH) SAYING: "You hide behind Swiss secrecy laws. So we are interested in collecting taxes as well that are owed, that have been evaded, and we need the cooperation of the banks in order to do that. But if the banks won't cooperate, citing Swiss secrecy laws then we simply have got to use our own domestic laws, to force cooperation from the banks. Now you cite Swiss secrecy laws and I gather the you said I think Mr. Dougan that you don't agree with those laws. SOUNDBITE: BRADY DOUGAN CREDIT SUISSE CHIEF EXECUTIVE (ENGLISH) SAYING: " I think our position is very clear which is that we are ready to provide any information that we can legally provide but I think that as you point out the issue that we have is we have 2 different legal jurisdictions and therefore, you know, for us to break the law in one jurisdiction in order to provide that information is difficult for us to do." Dougan added that the improper conduct was in the past- and was done by a small group of private bankers. But Levin pressed the issue- pointing out the different ways the bank had helped its U.S. clients avoid taxes. SOUNDBITE: U.S. SENATOR CARL LEVIN (ENGLISH) SAYING: Your banker referred to create shell companies in tax havens knowing that then those shell corporations would deposit those funds in their accounts with your bank under the name of the shell corporation." SOUNDBITE: BRADY DOUGAN CREDIT SUISSE CHIEF EXECUTIVE (ENGLISH) SAYING: "I view that just as egregiously as you do Mt. Chairman I agree. SOUNDBITE: U.S. SENATOR CARL LEVIN (ENGLISH) SAYING: And who was fired for that? Was anyone fired who did that I know a number of people were fired, a number of people were let go. I just want to know. SOUNDBITE: BRADY DOUGAN CREDIT SUISSE CHIEF EXECUTIVE (ENGLISH) SAYING: "I believe all those people do not work for the bank anymore. " Since the U.S. crackdown on tax evasion, Switzerland's private banks have suffered outflows of funds from international clients.


text:
This section contains 251 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)
Chapter 11 Summary
Keith Catana is a master sergeant in the United States Air Force, stationed in South Korea. Seated at a bar, he spots a Korean woman who he expects to be a high priced Korean prostitute. She introduces herself, and the two of them go to a motel. In the motel room, Catana is surprised by a third person, a bald man, who injects Catana with a needle. Catana loses consciousness. When he wakes up, he is in the same hotel room and is lying in a pool of blood, but it is not his own. Beside him is a body of a young woman, but not the one he had met earlier. Suddenly, the police burst into the room and arrest him. He soon becomes international news as the American serviceman who raped and killed a 13-year-old Korean girl.
Chapter 11 Analysis
This brief...
(read more from the Chapter 11 Summary)
This section contains 251 words
(approx. 1 page at 400 words per page)


text:
Sea Serpent-like 18-foot Fish Found at Catalina
Byline: Shane Scott
CATALINA ISLAND — Snorkeling in the waters of Toyon Bay Oct. 13, Jasmine Santana was headed past the pier for a relaxing swim. She expected to see fish. What she didn't expect was the glimmering blue half-dollar-size iridescent eye she saw staring at her from the sandy bottom.
Right then and there, the Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) instructor knew that her plans for the day had changed.
At first, Santana approached carefully. "When I first saw it, I was a little scared because it was so big. When I got closer, I saw that it wasn't moving," she said.
That's when she realized it was dead. With the body being almost perfectly intact, it appeared to have died of natural causes.
"I'd never seen anything like it," she said.
Santana swam around the 18-foot serpent-like body and realized what she'd found. "Once I saw the beautiful red dorsal fins on its head, I knew it was an oarfish," she said.
She remembered a video that her coworker had showed her on ribbon fish, a smaller relative of the oarfish, months earlier. Considering how rare this animal was, Santana knew she had to take it with her.
As she reached the ocean's surface, she looked around, searching for a landmark to remember. She figured she was about 20 feet away from the last pillar of the pier. Santana headed to shore, grabbed a pair of gloves — in case the fish was diseased — and put on some diving weights.
She swam back out, dove down and attempted to lift the giant fish, grabbing the head with both hands. "That was impossible, it didn't move," Santana recalled. After rising to take a breath, she went for the tail, pushing off the sea floor as she tried to surface the animal.
The oarfish head floated up, coiled and hit the swimmer square in the back. She pushed the dead mass away, straightening the creature behind her, raised the tail over one shoulder, and swam for shore.
"I found an oarfish!" Santana called out to a coworker she spotted walking up to the pier, as she was swimming under it. "He thought I said, 'I found a swordfish.'"
When co-worker Jeff Chace and other instructors got out to the surf line to help Santana, they realized what she had said. It took 15 people to pull the oarfish onto the shore and over to the amphitheater.
"It was just such an awkward thing," Chace recalled. "It's a lot of mass — maybe about 100 pounds."
Once there, the group covered the fish with a tarp and coated it with ice. "We iced it because we were going to have kids (here) on Monday. We wanted to preserve it so they could check it out," Chace said.
Because CIMI, founded by marine biologists in 1979, is an institution and camp dedicated to providing hands-on methods for children to learn about marine biology, instructors placed the oarfish in a ditch next to their lab, where they could show their find to about 200 children.
"Talk about imagination," Chace said. "People dream up all sorts of weird things in the ocean. The children were flabbergasted."
Unlike what conjures from a child's imagination, instructors showed students just how real this animal is.
"We talked about the fact that they can filter plankton with their teeth," Santana said. "I showed them the teeth and how they are modified to pick up the microorganisms."
Santana also explained to the students how the rare fish actually lies vertically in the water, not horizontally — and that it has a gelatinous body.
Instructors plan to exhibit the oarfish for one more day before dissecting the body.
"We'll take photos and maybe video tape (the dissection,) Santana said. "Then, we'll decompose the body and conserve the skeleton to display — to show that something that big exists, and it's real."