>> at the end of the '60s, hollywood was ballooning budgets up to catastrophic size. >> here, i'll tell you what, i'll even pay for it in cash. >> fine. >> so it opens the door for smaller movies. and when the budget's lower, the artistic freedom tends to be higher. >> play misty for me. >> misty? >> all of a sudden, here's this young group of directors that came along and started blowing up the bridges behind them of the way things used to be, now were trying new ways. let's see if it works. >> "french connection" was about a couple of new york cops doing a hard hustle and busting a bunch of lowlife scumbag drug dealers. >> that car's dirty! >> billy friedkin shot the film like a documentary. he found a way to make it so real. it really influenced me. my favorite gene hackman performance is popeye doyle. >> gene hackman was so filled with anger.