This section of the site features original and previously published articles by George Pelecanos.

"The leaves are falling all around
It's time I was on my way"

Trower, who is a fit 60, performed to a packed auditorium. He played many of the most beloved tracks from Bridge of Sighs as well as tracks from Living Out of Time and the title tune off of Victims of the Fury. Davey Pattison ably filled the shoes of the late James Dewer on vocals, but it was Trower's guitar that the crowd had come to hear. He did not disappoint. I have seen most of the greats, including Page, Clapton when he had fire, and John McLaughlin, who delivered one of the truly spiritual lead guitar-based performances I have ever witnessed, but Trower is in a class by himself. I was twenty feet away from him, to the left of the stage, when he performed his final encore, "Daydream," off Twice Removed From Yesterday, and watching him, standing serenely under a single spotlight, working the frets and bending those notes, was damn near a religious experience. If he comes to a club in your town, check him out. All of this is fleeting, and he might not pass through again.

Convoluted plotting aside, the movie works. The actors, police and lowlifes alike, look the part (any movie featuring Tony Lo Bianco and Joe Spinell is all right with me). The intricacies of working a case such as this are accurately detailed, and the dialogue and rhythms of speech are dead on. Loyalty, betrayal, and the tangled relationships between the law and the street are addressed in a realistic fashion. Don Ellis's score, used sparingly but effectively, is non-traditional and often chaotic, reflecting the internal conflict and confusion of the characters. I saw The Seven Ups twice in theaters, and have watched it many times on VHS and now DVD. This is one of my favorite crime pictures from an era that produced many fine films.

But what about that car chase? There is no question that it is one of the most thrilling vehicular pursuits ever filmed. Still, some musclecar enthusiasts can't get behind this one because of the cars involved. Scheider drives a Pontiac Ventura, the sister car to the Chevy Nova; the other car, driven by the late Bill Hickman (the driver of the black Charger in Buliltt and Gene Hackman's stunt driver in The French Connection), is a long, heavy Bonneville. D'Antoni, no doubt, made a deal with GM's Pontiac division, but that doesn't negate the choice of cars. I can personally vouch for the Ventura, as I was lucky enough to drive one, a small-block, 350 V8, one summer long ago; mine was stock, but with a beefed-up suspension, the car becomes a smoker. As for the chase itself, it has the feel of unblocked danger. Watch the genuine look of fear on villain Richard Lynch's acne-scarred face, riding and brandishing shotgun as Hickman coolly drives, and Scheider, pale as milk and trembling after the insane final crash. When Scheider steers the Ventura back onto the highway, its hood blown off by Lynch, and pins the accelerator, the V8 wound up to the max, the audience I saw this with in 1973 was out of control and on its feet. That's the power of cinema.