The French Connection poster & wallpaper

Al Fann, Ann Rebbot, Arlene Farber

Tough-talking New York City detective Popeye Doyle and his partner uncover an international drug smuggling ring, but it's Doyle's feverish and relentless pursuit of the suspects that drives the invest...( read more  read more... )igation forward.

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98% liked it

43 critics

R, 1 hr. 44 min.

Directed by: William Friedkin

Release Date: October 9, 1971

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DVD Release Date: September 25, 2001

Stats: 1,830 reviews

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Gene Hackman William Friedkin William Friedkin in discussion with Gene Hackman ( as, Det. Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle ) and Fernando Rey ( as, Alain Charnier ). shooting down a fucker Roy Scheider & Gene Hackman Gene Hackman in The French Connection Roy Scheider as " Det. Buddy Russo " & Gene Hackman " Popeye Doyle " The French Connection The French Connection The French Connection
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Flixster Reviews (1,830)

  • SirPant
    September 25, 2009
    SirPant
    Gene Hackman & Roy Scheider are great together in this classic! Hackman steals the show though as Popeye Doyle!
  • organgrinder136
    August 12, 2009
    organgrinder136
    i don't see how this made it into oscar territory, unless oscars are dished out for making a solid film, because it is nothing other. aside from some funny moments... one that comes to mind is when fernando reys character made popeye (gene hackman) at the train station and they b...( read more)oth kept stepping in and out of the train. made me genuinely laugh out loud! there's alot of tailing people. infact i think that's the majority of the reel. it does have one of the most realistic car chases in any movie... only it's a car chasing a train. loved it when popeye managed to slam the side of the car into that wall. better than steve mcqueen in bullitt!
  • FangsFirst
    June 12, 2009
    FangsFirst
    On a message board I used to wander daily, there were a number of action film fans, and the subject of the best car chase ever filmed often came up. Naturally this was often down to some famous contenders, and two titles in particular tended to stick in my mind, being some of the...( read more) most renowned for their car chases in general: Ronin and The French Connection. I'd never seen either, but when they kept coming up, the titles would get just a little more firmly ingrained in my mind, and I'd at least be overtaken with curiosity by wondering what exactly these movies consisted of, and how one rated these car chases as better than any others. I saw Bullitt a few years back, so I've already seen that chase, as well as Ronin's (which I also saw a few years back). Now I've completed the trio of films most recognized and, more important for me, the pair that I heard about so many times.

    Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Roy Scheider) are two cops in Brooklyn who work in narcotics, who are trying to get somewhere nearer to an actual source of heroin. Popeye's pursuit of the job even in the face of time off leads them to a bar where a man flashing money around catches his eyes. The men he's with are familiar faces to Popeye, so they begin to tail the man, Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco), until they stumble into Weinstock (Harold Gary), a man who smells dirty to everyone but comes out clean every time. They convince their superior Simonson (Eddie Egan, the actual cop Popeye is based on, his partner Sonny Grosso appearing as Bill Klein) to let them pursue things further, and find that the source is a Frenchman, Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), who has arrived with actor Henri Devereaux (Frédéric de Pasquale) as a cover and cold-blooded assassin Pierre Nicoli (Marcel Bozzuffi). Two wiretaps are how they luck into this and a meeting time for Boca and this source. Simonson gives them federal agent Mulderig (Bill Hickman, an actual stunt driver), who dislikes Popeye--who has no love for Mulderig either--and reveals Doyle's iffy past with "hunches." Charnier is smarter than the folks that Doyle and Russo are used to and easily makes them, making things difficult for everyone. Now Charnier has to find a way to make his deal with Boca in time for a real estate deal back in Marseilles, France, while Doyle and Russo must catch Charnier, Devereaux and Boca.

    The only other factoid I had about this film as I sat down for it was that the chain of Popeye's restaurants actually had nothing to do with E.C. Segar's amusing cartoon strip creation and everything to do with Gene Hackman in The French Connection. This was news to me when I heard it a couple years back, and was almost the most intriguing thing about it. I never really connected the film as a Best Picture winner (or Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Director, really), and understood the car chase to be a car chase with two cars. I didn't remember the Academy Awards until I had already finished watching the movie, and had no idea about the chase until I saw it. I knew Hackman and Scheider were in it (which is fine by me, I like both of them a lot) and that Friedkin directed it, but Friedkin I know in a strange way, as I didn't enjoy The Exorcist when I watched it some years ago, and I've only seen Sorceror since then, and To Live and Die in LA, which I was severely disappointed by (though more because of a lead I disliked than anything else). Still, I have an intellectual respect for Friedkin by reputation that comes from respectable sources, so I counted it as a plus anyway.

    As soon as it starts, the movie is filled with an immediacy driven by an unusual score from Don Ellis (who composed the soundtrack for the also-Scheider-starring The Seven-Ups, though that score bothered me) that is very light on melody, heavy on rhythm and sound. It's perfectly in keeping with the "induced documentary" feeling that Friedkin says he aimed for in making the film. It's an accent and a supporting prop, loud and brassy without being obnoxious or off-putting. It shows up momentarily and often almost out of the blue, playing underneath scenes that don't immediately show a need for that emotional intensity, thus giving it to them, being uncommon enough to let us know that this is something important without giving the slightest hint of what's about to happen. It's a pretty amazing effect, especially for a film nearly forty years old, because no one seems to have undercut this effect by overusing it--though I do feel like it has been tried. It makes you uneasy and uncomfortable and ramps up the tension even when nothing about the way things are acted or cut changes the feeling of what is being visually portrayed.

    From there, it's clear that Friedkin has made a no-nonsense, perfectly economic film. Never is any time wasted, but at the same time it's not rapid cutting and brief, terse moments for cuts or scenes. Each cut and scene lasts just as long as it needs to for events to roll along and put forth all the information necessary to understand them. Similarly, dialogue is not built purely for exposition, but never lingers long enough to fall into any kind of forced, intended characterization. Friedkin does come from documentary work, but I almost disagree with the tone he says he intended. As I watched, I did not get the idea that this was documentarian, but at the same time it had the right tinges of it to build a fictional-story-based-on-fact into something that screamed of reality even as it was clear that it was only something that resembled it. The camera doesn't seem to know where everyone is going to be, or even everything, yet at the same time they're edited in to cut out the chaff of pondering a building while we wait between moments that drive the story. It's a perfect line between pure fiction film and documentary, creating some strange amalgamation of the two that is utterly fascinating for its hook of dramatic tension and the exciting tinge of real events--the reason people see a movie "Based on true events" or studios market them as such. It almost doesn't even matter that it actually is, because Friedkin has perfectly conveyed the idea anyway.

    Hackman and Scheider are not used to carry the film because of this, because it would destroy the feeling of reality. Neither one is an actor who tries to steal the screen, though, with Hackman especially more interested and real acting and Scheider always seeming a cool character who just slides into roles and then back out of them and into the next one. It's not quite the same thing as a devoted character actor like Hackman, but it has the same feeling of relaxed reality to it. Their characters are not wonderful people, especially Doyle, and this is something that was once new--not that old at this point, in fact. Doyle is racist and obsessive, uninterested in anything but doing his job. He takes Cloudy along on bar trips to scope out possible targets for surveillance or busts, he criticizes his techniques on the job and spends days and nights on his surveillance without concern for much else. Cloudy is loyal and more passive behind Doyle's crass, smart alec obsessiveness, but strong enough to break up Doyle's conflicts and support his moves. Charnier is a strange counterpoint to this, an ultra-slick, suave and cosmopolitan sort of villain, neither twirling his moustache nor combing it into an ultra-slimy configuration. He knows what he's doing and it's what he does, the only thing he really shares with the two cops pursuing him. Rey is successful despite the mix-up that led to his hiring and his poor--by his admission, at least, prior to the film--French.

    So, of course, I started talking about this film by bringing up the car chase. I'd say "you're probably wondering..." but I think things like car chases are silly to talk about, as I know I never got a handle on what was cool about any particular chase that I had never seen, so I don't expect anyone to want to hear what it's like or about. What it IS, though, is absolutely breath-taking. Popeye is not chasing another car but an el train above his car. The filming of this scene is unbelievable, clearly filmed in live traffic and swerving and diving at rapid speed through screeching cars as he lays on the horn. Like many of the truly great chases, there's not much music behind this. It's almost all engine sounds and the constantly blaring horn of Popeye attempting to keep people from driving into his path. Like the rest of the film, there's never a feeling that it's prepared and calculated, even as the camera knows exactly where it needs to be, even if it's just a bit behind or a bit ahead or a bit off. It never looks sloppy, but it always looks like it was dropped into the moment, capturing something already existing, even if it wasn't real.

    This film was absolutely amazing, and I don't think I was expecting that. I thought it would be good, I thought it'd be engaging, but it was absolutely thrilling, the way thrillers rarely actually are. Usually they're too slick and calculated and fake to really entangle you, but the effect Friedkin creates is affecting and more than engaging, it's captivating--and I mean that in the sense of holding the viewer prisoner. There's no way out of the scene because it draws you in and locks you down and forces your eyes to watch, not because you necessarily want to know what happens next, though you may very well want to, but because you just absolutely have to know. It's not a possible lack of want that comes from a sick sense of pessimistic unease, but because you really don't know what's going to happen--you can tell it could be just about anything, this is too real to have a calculated ending (even though it does, of course, and a brilliantly enigmatic one--not lacking in closure and yet somehow open and inexplicable) and so maybe they won't catch him, mabye he won't get away, maybe he will--who knows? You have to know, though, because it's so well put together that you can't just turn away and shrug and let it go. Do yourself a favour: let this one drop its hooks into you and watch it straight through. Probably the most frenetic, kinetic film of this laidback kind, that has such energy without forcing it that it's almost unbelievable.
  • pier007
    March 16, 2009
    pier007
    Gripping, frantic and viscerally realistic thriller with a formidable Gene Hackman as the hard-boiled law enforcer Popeye Doyle.
    Gritty ambiance, impressive performances, and one of the most staggering and tense car chases ever shot.
  • sononothing
    February 27, 2009
    sononothing
    The French Connection is a fast paced cops and robbers story about heroine being smuggled into the United States by French criminals. Detectives Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Roy Scheider) literally stumble onto the conspiracy and the film follows ...( read more)the relentless pursuit of Popeye and Cloudy to bust the scheming smugglers and their American buyers.


    William Friedkin directs the film in a documentary style that, at times, makes you feel like you're riding right along in the chase. The crowning achievement is the car chase in which Popeye follows one of the Frenchmen who has highjacked an elevated train. It's not just the chase itself, but Hackman's reaction to the drive and how he reacts when it's over.

    Which leads us to Hackman's performance. Considering the guy was the ninth actor asked to play the role, it seems like a perfect fit for him. He lifts the role than the stereotypical cop in a cop movie. He's on a quest. He's almost like a machine in the way he chases and stakesout the Frenchmen. Hackamn's portrayal embodies all that. Roy Scheider is along for the ride as Cloudy. Even though he doesn't seem as obsessed as Popeye he still gives us a great character that's almost a ying to Popey's yang. the two have great chemistry together on screen. Fernando Rey plays the main French smuggler Chairnier, a man who is charming and, unlike most movie villains, doesn't really use violence that much. Rey gives the role that charm and that sense of diplomacy is more important to this man than bashing skulls- but he will if it's the last resort.

    The French Connection is another one of those gems that came from the 1970's and this one seems to have opened the decade up to the gritty New York saga that started with Midnight Cowboy. It deservedly won the Oscar for Best Picture against some stiff competition (A Clockwork orange and The Last Picture Show being the two other standouts that year). Just as importantly it was one of the first films, along with Dirty Harry later that same year, that gave us the anti-hero, the good guy that doesn't always do good things. But they still got the job done.
  • jonnycrumley
    November 20, 2009
    jonnycrumley
    Great movie. I loved director William Friedkin's authentic direction, and Gene Hackman's powerful performance as no-nonsense cop Popeye Doyle. From the quick opening credits your taken in by the movie's tense atmosphere, and violent attitude. There were loads of memorable scenes ...( read more)throughout the movie, but none more so than the infamous chase scene that still packs a punch even by today's standards. The French Connection is not to be missed.
  • Yelverton
    November 20, 2009
    Yelverton
    The car chase is good, that's about it.
  • Dannyrovira
    November 7, 2009
    Dannyrovira
    A milestone realistic police drama and action-filled thriller based on a true story, sheer entertainment and gripping suspense. Gene Hackman's knockout Oscar winning performance and a great supporting cast with the late Roy Scheider a standout in a fine performance as Hackman's p...( read more)artner, remarkable direction by William Friedkin and exquisitely photographed by Owen Roizman. A nail-biting climax featuring one of the best car chases ever filmed. Winner of 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
  • gwynfallan
    October 24, 2009
    gwynfallan
    Not the great movie I was lead to believe, but still a good, if slow paced drama with sporadic bits of action. Supreme acting by all.
  • ElCochran90
    October 20, 2009
    ElCochran90
    "The son of a bitch is here. I saw him. I'm gonna get him.
    ...
    Son of a bitch."

    The French Connection (1971)


    Director: William Friedkin
    Country: United States of America
    Genre: Action / Crime / Thriller
    Length:...( read more) 104 minutes

    Photobucket


    Several directors, either foreign or American (not that American can't be foreign, of course), build a classic and unforgettable filmography in their early days, where the image quality of the camera had that beautiful and magical high definition and when more original stories where still available, thus leaving some room for originality and a predominant, characteristic style. William Friedkin is no exception to this list of directors, a filmmaker who already has fallen into the horrible world of idea-lacking and Hollywood mediocrity. The French Connection does not only belongs to the group of the best American crime films of the Golden Age of cinema, but it is also Friedkin at his most stylish, explosive and ultimately kickass, fantastically edited and with a powerful and male-centered leading role.

    Gene Hackman stars as the very-well known detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle, a man within the NYC Narcotics Bureau with no scruples that seemingly would move mountains in order to achieve his main and most important purpose: to catch the bad guy of the day. With his partner Buddy Russo, he investigates a potential buyer who has a link with one of the largest drug suppliers of pure heroin to North America, named Alain Charnier. The film received 8 Academy Award nominations, receiving five of them which were Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Film Editing, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Director and Best Picture. It was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Cinematography and Best Sound. I'm fully aware of the fact that this is the film that stole precisely the 5 Academy Awards A Clockwork Orange (1971) fully deserved, but genius directors have never been adequately rewarded as they should have when they arise until much more later thanks to worldwide audiences, thus gaining fair recognition.

    Nevertheless, The French Connection is a realistically intense action thriller with an awesome pace and fantastic performances throughout, especially thanks to Gene Hackman and the fantastic actor Fernando Rey, who is most well-known because of the Buñuel films he starred in. The French Connection is not only a stylishly stereotypical and fast-paced feature film, but also a brilliant and cinematically gripping police drama. The film does not deviate from the crime genre, but successfully creating one of the best and most memorable car-chase sequences in the history of American cinema with substance behind it is a magnificent achievement, not to mention it makes the film title speak for itself.

    William Friedkin vision towards both the narcotics world and the city of New York establishes a balance between those genius, yet criminal people who, thanks to their talent and intelligence, build an empire, and the courageous cops who would risk their lives for the safety of the city they serve. Consequently, the film itself constitutes much more than just endless chase sequences and cool one-liners. The final outcome is an exciting ride through the streets of New York as realistic as possible, with a tense climax and a shocking, open ending.

    The French Connection may be fairly called "a masterpiece". It surely is, but it has so many qualities throughout, from the cinematographical to the technical aspects. It is a violent ride, and an auteur result that naturally attracted the attention of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and that has successfully stood the test of time. They simply don't make them like this anymore.

    92/100

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Critic Reviews

October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The French Connection is as amoral as its hero, as violent, as obsessed and as frightening. full review

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The French Connection Trivia

  • This 1971 movie was the first R-rated film to win the Academy award for best picture since the introduction of the MPAA rating system. The film revolves around the smuggling of narcotics between Marseilles, France and New York City. What movie was this?  Answer »
  • Which movie WON Best Picture at the 1971 Oscars?  Answer »
  • Which actor has starred in The French Connection, The Runaway Jury, and Enemy of the State?  Answer »
  • The "Poughkeepsie Shuffle" features in which crime thriller?   Answer »
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