[Leica] BULLITT and THE FRENCH CONNECTION and Cars

[rmcclure2 at woh.rr.com (Rob McClure)]

I am often torn between foreign and American goods.  I was reared 
mostly in redneck Kentucky, where I was surrounded by domestic muscle 
cars as a youth and was a MoPar (Chrysler Corp) fanatic.  However, my 
parents were educated easterners, corporately transferred (exiled?) to 
Kentucky.  As a result, there was a strong bent toward classical music, 
fine dining (not locally available unless you call grits "fine") and 
travel.  Therefore, my first car was a Renault R10 followed by various 
Toyotas, TR6, MGB, Capri, Hondas and currently a BMW X3 and MINI. My 
redneck ways still come to the surface, though, culminating in purchase 
of the aforementioned Mustang 5.0.  Conversely, with cameras (to get 
somewhat on topic), I started with the basic Argus C-3 brick, followed 
with a Canon FD kit, and then the ultimate, long-desired Leica M kit.

Regards,

Rob McClure



my father's development of the active ingredient in Head and Shoulders 
shampoo as a research scientist with Olin Chemical Corp (he holds joint 
patent)l
On Aug 21, 2007, at 1:59 AM, Marc James Small wrote:

> At 05:10 PM 8/20/2007, Rob McClure wrote:
> >
> >The Bullitt chase scene is one of the greatest ever filmed IMHO. At 
> about the same time, the French Connection
> >chase scene often competed with Bullitt for best.  No comparison, in 
> my
> >book.
>
> Rob
>
> The FRENCH CONNECTION appeared around five or six years after BULLITT 
> and the two are quite distinct movies.  I was not impressed with THE 
> FRENCH CONNECTION in any regard though when it appeared I was living 
> in a duplex in Wallingford, Connecticut, (appropriately, this was on 
> Bull Avenue) and the woman occupying the other side happened to know 
> Popeye Doyle so I heard a lot about him.  This was shortly before Hank 
> Aaron beat out Babe Ruth's record for career home runs.  (Nixon 
> resigned around the same time.  It was an historic year!)
>
> I might well be wrong but I believe that the production crew 
> deliberately copied the FRENCH CONNECTION chase scene from that in 
> BULLITT and some of the same folks who choreographed the first were 
> involved in the second.
>
> I am, like Jerry Lehrer, a snob for European autos and know little of 
> American muscle machines.  My Michigan-born farm-raised wife, however, 
> does know such.  She hates film noir anit-hero police procedurals and 
> so sat down to sneer at BULLITT when we watched it last week.  She 
> snorted and jeered until we came to the chase.  And while I am trying 
> to point out the part which we saw being filmed, she is getting worked 
> up, rattling on about, "THAT'S a Dodge Hemi!" and the like.  Oy Vey!  
> Admittedly, in an earlier incarnation she spent a lot of time at 
> Michigan International Speedway at NASCAR races.  For the most part, 
> we watch MIDSOMER MURDERS episodes and the like, mind you.  Nurses.  
> Never marry a nurse.  Especially, never marry a Masters level 
> management nurse.  As Zappa says in THINGFISH, "Uh-Oh.  I smells 
> trouble coming." <he grins>
>
> Now, my wife DID love McQueen in THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR.  But who 
> couldn't?  A role unlike any other he ever did, to my fairly certain 
> knowledge, and one he did to perfection.  Some actors rise above 
> themselves -- may I suggest Newman in COOL HAND LUKE? -- by doing the 
> opposite of what they normally do, and so McQueen did in THE THOMAS 
> CROWN AFFAIR.
>
> As I have pointed out before, I have never owned an American-made car. 
>  I currently drive a 1984 Audi 4000S.  In my recent move, I found a 
> LOT of oddball car parts, including the 36-hp engine from my first 
> car, a 1960 VW ragtop with machts-nichts sticks, and a machine-shop 
> reworked crankshaft for a Sunbeam Alpine V which I have no memory of 
> acquiring.  All sorts of cylinder heads and VW engine cases and the 
> like.  It is time for me to concentrate on picking up that 1958 VW Bus 
> I want for camping or maybe I'll go for a 1958 Karmann Ghia.  Who 
> knows?  I do know that 28 PCI Solex carb!
>
> Marc
>
>
> msmall@aya.yale.edu
> Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!
>
>
>
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>
>
Rob McClure
Upper Sandusky, OH