The French Connection is one of those films that you hear is an absolute classic but you never get the chance to see it. Well thanks to a Special Edition DVD release I finally got the chance last night and it was well worth the wait.
Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy 'Cloudy' ... Read review
New York City detectives Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) hope ... more
to break a narcotics smuggling ring and ultimately uncover The French Connection. But when one of the criminals tries to kill Doyle, he begins a deadly pursuit that takes him far outside the city limits. Based on a true story, this action-filled thriller, with its renowned chase scene, won five Academy Awards, in 1971, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Friedkin) and Best Actor for Hackman.
New York City detectives Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) hope ... more
to break a narcotics smuggling ring and ultimately uncover The French Connection. But when one of the criminals tries to kill Doyle, he begins a deadly pursuit that takes him far outside the city limits. Based on a true story, this action-filled thriller, with its renowned chase scene, won five Academy Awards, in 1971, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Friedkin) and Best Actor for Hackman.
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: K.C. Bascombe - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jesse James, Rachel Skarsten, Charles Powell, Linda Purl, Kevin Zegars
Advantages: great acting and direction, action, gritty realism Disadvantages: none
The French Connection is one of those films that you hear is an absolute classic but you never get the chance to see it. Well thanks to a Special Edition DVD release I finally got the chance last night and it was well worth the wait.
Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy 'Cloudy' Russo (Roy Schieder) are two New York cops who like nothing better than cleaning up the city by stamping down on the drug problems in the bleak areas ... ...in.
The French Connection is a classic film in all aspects. You don't see anything like it anymore. It's one of those films's that won Oscars that you might think strange. But then you think about it and really appreciate that it stands up after thirty years.
Normally I watch a film at home and get restless halfway through. Not once did I do it with this film.
The French Connection is one of those films that you hear is an absolute classic but you never get the chance to see it. Well thanks to a Special Edition DVD release I finally got the chance last night and it was well worth the wait.
Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy 'Cloudy' Russo (Roy Schieder) are two New York cops who like nothing better than cleaning up the city by stamping down on the drug problems in the bleak areas of upper Manhattan. Doyle has an eye for spotting crooks and one night he sees someone familiar dishing out cash like confetti in a club. He has a hunch and drags along Russo on a stakeout. They tail the guy who seems shifty and owns a business that doesn't really bring in the cash. In fact this guy is a go between on a large drugs deal between a dealer from France and a New York crime Barron. But Doyle is on the case and from then on it's hard-nosed detective work and sheer determination to apprehend the 'French Connection'.
This may sound like your basic cop film but it's so much more than that. We have great characters and realism. It's a film with balls that don’t get made anymore. There are some thrilling scenes such as a chase through the subway that leads to a sometimes-amusing game of cat and mouse. But by far the highlight is a car chase where Doyle speeds after an express train overhead at full speed dodging cars, hitting cars and narrowly avoiding mothers and their prams. Its very well stage and some of it is actually claimed to be done for real with some other car smashes authentic. How true this is I don't know.
Hackman won an Oscar for his performance and it's easy to see why. it's the kind of performance that isn't showy but creates a real character and not someone you just look at as an actor going through the motions. Doyle is a real hardass in the film and often apprehends suspects and gets them to confess by asking "do you ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?". The suspect doesn't understand but feels intimidated to say yes.
In equal support is Roy Scheider, another role that is flawless and natural. In a way I was watching this film and wishing that Scheider would still be getting good roles instead of some worthless DTV dross.
William Friedkin also won an Oscar for his direction of this film and it's well deserved. It defines the term 'gritty. There’s no showy lighting here with everything very real and untouched. If it's dark on a stakeout then you can hardly make out the characters. He shoots it in a documentary style and you feel the realism with locations that show the darker side of New York away from the glitz of lower fifth avenue and the lower west side.
It's also intriguing that a lot of the film is played out without any music. it actually adds to the ambience and doesn't detract from what the character is saying at any moment.
In this day and age you could look at the film and say it had a racist view as most of the drug addicts and criminals are black but maybe this was what it was like in the early seventies. I've never heard anyone slate the film for it. The fact that the film is based on a true story just makes it more believable and worth investing your time in.
The French Connection is a classic film in all aspects. You don't see anything like it anymore. It's one of those films's that won Oscars that you might think strange. But then you think about it and really appreciate that it stands up after thirty years.
Normally I watch a film at home and get restless halfway through. Not once did I do it with this film.
Advantages: Great acting, story, direction, cult car chase, camera, score Disadvantages: picture & sound quality
French Connection holds no prisoners: it's a tough, documentary-style crime thriller that never knows when to give up.
Based on a true incident, detectives "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his buddy Kliene (Roy Scheider) work the 70s crime streets of New York. On the basis of a tip off and some curious goings-on from various known crims, they use undercover surveillance on a French gang who threaten to do a huge drugs import deal worth millions ... ...McQueen in "Bullitt" (1968).
French Connection is perhaps one of the best cop films of the 70s (or any era for that matter). There are no real heroes, no soundbites (aka. Harry Callaghan's "Make My Day" or "Feel Lucky, Punk!"). Just wonderfully convincing acting with no contrived endings.
The only real complaint is the lack of characterization from the two leads. We get to know little or nothing about their family/private life other than Popeye ...
dreamstar70 31.01.2001
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Advantages: Grime, grime, grime Disadvantages: The fashions
In the crowd of 'gritty police drams', The FrenchConnection stands head and shoulders above rest. The tale of a New York drug cop smashing an international drug ring was one of the first to address the issue and was one of the first to cast aside Hollywood glitz and glamour in favour of dirt and realism. The underbelly of 70's America is on show here and there's so much dirt, grime, and the dregs of society that you may feel the need to shower afterwards (or was that just me?)
Hackman's the man and his hard nosed, pig headed portrayal of Popey Doyle is perfect - you can't really imagine an Inspector Poirot type waltzing into a downtown bar and performing a shakedown can you? Rey offers the perfect counterbalance for Hackman's bullishness, replacing his rough and readiness with style and sophistication (well as sophisticated as you ...
Advantages: good cast, great script, car chases Disadvantages: a bit heavy going at times
"The FrenchConnection" is probably the most famous and heavily praised of all buddy-cop films. It is an excellent film with much action and dramatic tension. Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider play cynical but determined New York cops out to bust a big heroin ring. Stake-outs and hunches lead to encounters with the criminals, who vary from dangerous assassins to wealthy businessmen to streetwise hoodlums. There is a famous "chase" scene which has Hackman driving a car, recklessly weaving through traffic, following a sniper who has commandeered a train.
"The FrenchConnection" won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Hackman), Best Film Editing, and Best Writing.
There are some great moments besides the chase sequence. Hackman tries to follow criminal mastermind Fernando Rey, who plays cat and mouse games to escape ...
Advantages: Great acting, a clever and exciting plot and one of the greatest car chase scenes in cinematic history Disadvantages: None
The Frenchconnection is one of those films which somehow looks and feels like no other film, every single scene is special and is so classy that you'd forgive yourself for breaking open a bottle of fine red wine to drink while watching it. I first saw the majority of the film on tv a few years ago and just had to buy it when I saw it reduced in the shops it now stands as one of my favourite films.
Let me start with a brief introduction to the director of the film. William Friedkin was born in Chicago, Illinois. His dad was a semi-softball player and merchant seamen who never bought more tan fifty dollars a week into the household. At an early age William developed a taste for the classiest of classy films such as 'Citizen Kane' where he became a huge fan of the legendary Orson Welles.
He set to work for tv networks after ...
