When The French Connection came out in 1971, Gene Hackman won an Oscar for the role of Jimmy Doyle, who was based on real-life detective Eddie Egan. In 1973, we got to see another movie inspired by the adventures of the former NYPD detective—Badge 373 (the number of Egan's badge while he was active), but this time around the character was named Eddie Ryan, and was played by Robert Duvall. He did not win an Oscar, but a lot of critics agreed he gave a very strong performance as an ex-cop looking to find out who killed his partner. And Duvall was extremely meticulous in his portrayal, staying in character even during breaks, frequently using racial slurs that his character would use in the movie.
Considering the fact that Puerto Ricans were the main villains and were, therefore, on the receiving end of all the slurs, it should come as no surprise that the Puerto Rican Action Coalition demanded the film be withdrawn from distribution, but Paramount Pictures refused to give in. With intriguing action scenes set on the streets of New York (the most memorable one being a suspect chase involving a NY city bus), screenwriter Pete Hamill created an even more fictionalized version of Eddie Egan than was the case with Hackman’s Doyle in The French Connection. And Egan was obviously on board with that decision, what with him being a technical consultant on the film and playing the role of Ryan's Lieutenant. Interestingly enough, this was the first top billing of Robert Duvall's career, and the last film Howard W. Koch ever directed.
In 1972 a neophyte Spanish media company created a rare platform for artists to explore classic genre imagery with a sophisticated cinematic sensibility.
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