The French Connection

Name: The French Connection
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: October 7, 1971
Duration: 104 min
Rating: 94
Cast: Ann Rebbot, Arlene Farber, Bill Hickman, Fernando Rey, Frédéric de Pasquale

1971

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Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 193 Ratings

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8.4

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The French Connection

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Movie Details & Credits

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: October 7, 1971 | R

Starring: Ann Rebbot, Arlene Farber, Bill Hickman, Fernando Rey, Frédéric de Pasquale, Gene Hackman, Harold Gary, Marcel Bozzuffi, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco

Summary: New York narcotics officer "Popeye" Doyle and his partner take on an international drug ring shipping heroin into the United States.

Director: William Friedkin

Genre(s): Action, Drama, Thriller, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 104 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

The French Connection is routinely included, along with "Bullitt," "Diva" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," on the short list of movies with the greatest chase scenes of all time. What is not always remembered is what a good movie it is apart from the chase scene. Read full review

100

Empire Andrew Collins

Friedkin's hand-held documentary style was the perfect vehicle for the film's pumped-up verite. Read full review

100

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not credited)

This tough, brilliant crime film features Hackman as the indefatigable Popeye Doyle, who passionately hates drug pushers. Read full review

Mark Harris

To watch it now is to appreciate more than ever Gene Hackman’s uncompromising talent, Owen Roizman’s great, barely-color cinematography, and a time when the spectacle of a foulmouthed, racist, brutal cop could still outrage as many moviegoers as it excited. Read full review

Robert B. Frederick

Producer and screenwriter have added enough fictional flesh to provide director William Friedkin and his overall topnotch cast with plenty of material, and they make the most of it. Read full review

Jay Cocks

The French Connection is a knockout police thriller with so much jarring excitement that it almost calls for comic-book expletives. POW!, ZOWIE! The film has all the depth of a mud puddle, but Director William Friedkin (The Night They Raided Minsky's) sets such a frantic pace that there is hardly a chance to notice, much less care. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

The real problems, however, are that Friedkin's nervy, noisy, undisciplined pseudo-realism sits uneasily with his suspense-motivated shock editing; and that compared to (say) Siegel's Dirty Harry, the film maintains no critical distance from (indeed, rather relishes) its 'loveable' hero's brutal vigilante psychology. Read full review

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User Reviews

pgmark

Dec 17, 2010

Gene Hackman as the dumpy tough cop.. superb!! Must see movie with a gritty feel you can almost imagine being there. So rare to find a Hollywood movie that is actually believable... this one is!!!!!!!

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

TheNewSpielberg

Jun 6, 2011

I watched this movie for the first time today. At first, I hesitated before picking up the DVD because I worried that it would go really slowly and become one of those movies that only gets interesting during the last 35-40 minutes. But I was wrong. In this movie, I saw the seedier sides ofI watched this movie for the first time today. At first, I hesitated before picking up the DVD because I worried that it would go really slowly and become one of those movies that only gets interesting during the last 35-40 minutes. But I was wrong. In this movie, I saw the seedier sides of New York, drug dealing and a truckload of amazing acting all rolled into one hell of an entertaining crime movie. It may not be an all out gunfights, car chases and one liner action epic, but If you like your crime on the realistic side, SEE THIS MOVIE.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

kevinswag95

Jul 1, 2014

I stated that "The French Connection" is one the best cop films besides "Dirty Harry." It shows that the experience of the true story of the cops who is hurting the streets of Brooklyn. The movie has it chills and suspence with the car chase.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

MeritCoba

Mar 1, 2016

For a movie based on real events and purported to have a documentary style it is curious that it contains such flights of fancy as the car chase that made the French Connection iconic. Actually the movie has two chases of note, both equally nonsensical, one in which Popeye Doyle, playedFor a movie based on real events and purported to have a documentary style it is curious that it contains such flights of fancy as the car chase that made the French Connection iconic. Actually the movie has two chases of note, both equally nonsensical, one in which Popeye Doyle, played superbly by Gene Hackman, an unconventional narcotics detective, shadows a French drugs dealer, played by Fernando Rey, an Spanish actor who never got the credits he deserves for all laurels go to Hackman and Scheider.

Perhaps it is illustrative that the makers didn't much care for finding a real French actor to play the part of the French villain and chose a Spanish one instead. His French was deemed under par. So they finally had to dub over the voice of Rey by someone who was able to speak proper French. At least you got to give credit for trying to make him speak French, for nowadays French in an American movie is just American English with a funny accent, just like the entire rest of world nowadays speaks American with a funny accent, even the neighbors.

Gene Hackman was probably the best choice for Popeye as he is good at playing the almost thuggish violent impulsive detective who works more with his guts than with his sense. This perhaps explains why he and his pal Russo is said to have been taken of narcotics four years later in the movie. In fact the movie gives the feel that he was mostly good at arresting (and beating up) the street dealers and junkies and this big bust was more the odd one out.

The other chase is the famous car chase which involves Hackman chasing a bumbling assassin who aims for Hackman but hits a woman with a baby instead, keeps on missing because he is badly positioned on a rooftop from which he can only hit his target if he hangs over the side. Hackman ascends the stairs of the building only to find the hitman gone. Hackman looks over the side and then sees a shadowy figure run down the street. Hackman teleports to the street and runs after the man who tries to make his escape via an elevated railway car. Hackman commandeers a private car and races after the railway car through the oncoming traffic of New York, crashing into various other cars, but finally making it in time as the train too crashes, into another train, because the driver got an heart attack and apparently trains in this movie didn't have dead man's switches that makes them stop. The hitman is finally confronted by Hackman who shoots this witness dead, totally messing up any police investigation and making the whole chase pointless.

I will not discuss that other chase, as equally unproductive as the other in which Hackman tries to shadow someone by wearing a hat that makes him stick out so obvious Rey must have been blind not to notice. How stupid can you be?

The movie is gritty and leaves virtual no room for anything but the chases and the police work and it is done with such fervor that it awes. Also laudable is that they tried to make the bay guy at least human and do not give him all the nasty attributes that movies feel villains should have. In fact we get more of an impression of the man than we do of Doyle who we almost never see outside the context of his police work. The movie also ends in an unconventional way. There is no closure. This leaves room for the sequel.. but this doesn't seem intended. This movie also ends with a handful of lines telling us what happened.. which is a weakness in any movie. A movie should show or end. We don't need an epilogue thank you.

All in all, probably an impressive movie at the time and with it's gritty feel and superb acting a must see, but I think it can't really stand story wise on an equal level to movies as Serpico or Fort Apache, the Bronx. The problem is simply that almost no time is spend on character development and to be honest, none of the cops actually endear. They seem often to be the most abusive and thus most abject as their are supposed to serve and protect, not kick and beat up people just because that badge shields them.

Therefore, after long pondering I have decided to revise my scoring mechanism to make an 8 from the 9's I give.
An 8 therefore, but a weak one.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Spangle

Jul 2, 2017

Between The French Connection and The Exorcist, the early 1970s were clearly William Friedkin's high-point in his long career. While he made many good films outside of those two, none really reached the heights of either in the minds of critics and audiences alike. In finally watching TheBetween The French Connection and The Exorcist, the early 1970s were clearly William Friedkin's high-point in his long career. While he made many good films outside of those two, none really reached the heights of either in the minds of critics and audiences alike. In finally watching The French Connection, it is not hard to see why it has been often cited as one of the best American films ever made. Set in New York City, the film shows two morally iffy narcotics detectives stumble upon a drug ring that has ties to a dealer in Marseille, France. Going off of hunches and some neighborhood crackdowns, the two men will do whatever it takes to bring down these dealers, even if it means losing themselves in the process. With intense chase scenes, great characters, and a thrilling realization of a true story, William Friedkin's The French Connection certainly lives up to the hype.

Time-after-time, The French Connection is absolutely mind boggling. Taking the voyeurism of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and adding it to the thrill of a foot or car chase, The French Connection is the film equivalent of a testosterone-laced speedball. One needs to look no further than Gene Hackman as Detective Jimmy Doyle chasing a train in his car from underneath the tracks for why this film is so deeply masculine. A thrilling chase, it is as great as it is insane to watch unfold with Doyle putting one eye on the train above - which has a burgeoning hostage situation to add to the tension ten-fold - and the other on the road where he plays bumper cars with civilians. In addition to this car chase, there are numerous scenes of Doyle following a potential perpetrator where the game of cat-and-mouse really takes hold, especially with Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). Ducking and weaving around a subway station with Charnier fully aware that Doyle is there, the two have one hell of a battle of the minds as they try to stay one step ahead of one another at all times. By now, The French Connection has become revered for its chase sequences and, honestly, it is not hard to imagine why. The plot is compelling, the characters are strong, and the chases give audiences that "heart in the throat" feeling that many films aim for, but fall woefully short of achieving.

Perhaps one of The French Connection's greatest accomplishments is showing both the similarities and the differences between cops and criminals. For the former, in the pursuit of justice, cops often compromise themselves and their morals to catch a criminal. Both Detective Doyle and his partner Detective Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) rough up black people in the streets, shake down clubs, beat people up, and shoot first without bothering to ask questions. They are both brutal men who take the challenge of finding a criminal as a question of their masculinity. As a result, they spare no expense in ensuring that their pursuit is successful, no mater where it leads them. This is perhaps never clearer than when they strip the car without cause, going purely off of Doyle's hunch that drugs are in the car. Regardless of whether he is right or not, it is unquestionably a morally gray action that shows how willingness to cut corners to get to justice.

The latter, however, is perhaps the most interesting bit. With the cops being the ones in pursuit, they can never rest, out of fear that their target will slip away. The criminals, however, just toy with the cops and go about their daily lives with hardly a care in the world. This is perhaps best portrayed in a single scene of the film. With Doyle and Russo waiting outside in the cold looking through at Charnier and company in a restaurant, Friedkin brilliantly juxtaposes the actions of the cops with those of the criminals. Outside, the cops are freezing, eating cheap food from a stand, and drinking awful coffee that Doyle throws out on the street. Inside, the the criminals eat in a Michelin-rated restaurant with perfectly cooked food and piping hot coffee served at the table. In this juxtaposition, Friedkin shows the difference in the lifestyle of those pursuing justice and those avoiding justice. The cops slave away as the criminals put their feet and relax. Though crime may not pay, it is clear in the film that it is certainly not a bad lifestyle while it lasts.

A thrillingly complex web of constantly moving parts, The French Connection's plot is just as brilliant as its chase sequences. With the film being a dense puzzle waiting to be unlocked, Friedkin's great achievement here is lacing the picture with an overwhelming sense of doubt. With Doyle shown to be a loose cannon who is willing to cut corners, Friedkin establishes him as a bit of an unreliable narrator. Though we do know the Frenchmen are up to no good and orchestrating a deal to bring drugs, Friedkin leaves it up in the air as to whether or not Doyle is actually following the right leads or not. In the aforementioned scene where the cops tear apart the car… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

tonyGreen

Oct 6, 2017

A great action / crime movie with an original and cohesive artistic vision. The film has some flaws but is well worth sticking with for the 2nd reel especially. A 'New Hollywood' classic.

The dialogue is *bad* particularly in the first half. But this is a *very* dialogue light film, and isA great action / crime movie with an original and cohesive artistic vision. The film has some flaws but is well worth sticking with for the 2nd reel especially. A 'New Hollywood' classic.

The dialogue is *bad* particularly in the first half. But this is a *very* dialogue
light film, and is part of it's essential style. There are some technical flaws too, particularly the use of frame dropping to speed up some the chase shots which gives a jerky unrealistic effect. This appears only in the earlier action scenes.

The pacing of The French Connection is very unusual and works brilliantly. Some sequences are languid and beautiful. Action sequences are chaotic and frenetic and are brilliantly realised into extended action scenes.

The cinematography is georgeous and depicts a cold dirty city that seems on the verge of total collapse.

Most of all its a thrilling ride.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Kaasbraden

Oct 22, 2010

I can't understand the reputation this movie has. It has an extremely misleading title, and gives you a very negative impression of the country. It's not my experience of France at all. It was such a lovely place when I spent my honeymoon there. I didn't see any drugs the whole time I was there.

1 of 14 users found this helpful113

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