The French Connection (1971)
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98% of critics liked it
(50 reviews) -
86% of users liked it
(40,768 ratings)
This gritty, fast-paced, and innovative police drama earned five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (written by Ernest Tidyman), and Best Actor (Gene Hackman). Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Hackman) and his partner, Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider), are New York City police… More This gritty, fast-paced, and innovative police drama earned five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (written by Ernest Tidyman), and Best Actor (Gene Hackman). Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Hackman) and his partner, Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider), are New York City police detectives on narcotics detail, trying to track down the source of heroin from Europe into the United States. Suave Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey) is the French drug kingpin who provides a large percentage of New York City's dope, and Pierre Nicoli (Marcel Bozzuffi) is a hired killer and Charnier's right-hand man. Acting on a hunch, Popeye and Buddy start tailing Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco) and his wife, Angie (Arlene Faber), who live pretty high for a couple whose corner store brings in about 7,000 dollars a year. It turns out Popeye's suspicions are right -- Sal and Angie are the New York agents for Charnier, who will be smuggling 32 million dollars' worth of heroin into the city in a car shipped over from France. The French Connection broke plenty of new ground for screen thrillers; Popeye Doyle was a highly unusual "hero," an often violent, racist, and mean-spirited cop whose dedication to his job fell just short of dangerous obsession. The film's high point, a high-speed car chase with Popeye tailing an elevated train, was one of the most viscerally exciting screen moments of its day and set the stage for dozens of action sequences to follow. And the film's grimy realism (and downbeat ending) was a big change from the buff-and-shine gloss and good-guys-always-win heroics of most police dramas that preceded it. The French Connection was inspired by a true story, and Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, Popeye and Buddy's real life counterparts, both have small roles in the film. A sequel followed four years later. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- William Friedkin
- Written By
- Ernest Tidyman, Robin Moore
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Classics
- In Theaters
- Oct 9, 1971 Wide
- Studio
- 20th Century Fox
Critic Reviews
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Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune
There is only one problem with the excitement generated by this film. After it is over, you will walk out of the theater and, as I did, curse the tedium of your own life. I kept looking for someone who I could throw up against a wall.
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Jay Cocks, TIME Magazine
A knockout police thriller with so much jarring excitement that it almost calls for comic-book expletives. POW! ZOWIE!
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Robert B. Frederick, Variety
Producer Philip D'Antoni and screenwriter Ernest Tidyman 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.
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David Fear, Time Out New York
William Friedkin's symphony of long, sharp shocks is memorable for any number of sequences.
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J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Popeye also earned counterculture points by mistakenly shooting a federal agent and exhibiting a conspicuous lack of remorse.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Gene Hackman
as Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle
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Fernando Rey
as Alain Charnier
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Roy Scheider
as Buddy Russo
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Tony Lo Bianco
as Sal Boca
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Marcel Bozzuffi
as Pierre Nicoli
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Frederic de Pasquale
as Devereaux
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Irving Abrahams
as Police Mechanic
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William Coke
as Motorman
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Eddie Egan
as Walter Simonson
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Andre Emotte
as La Valle
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Arlene Faber
as Angie Boca
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Al Fann
as Informant
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Harold Gary
as Weinstock
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Sonny Grosso
as Klein
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Bill Hickman
as Mulderig
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Ben Marino
as Lou Boca
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Patrick McDermott
as Chemist
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Maureen Mooney
as Bicycle Girl
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Ann Rebbot
as Marie Charnier
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The Three Degrees
as Themselves
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Alan Weeks
as Drug Pusher
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Robert Weil
as Auctioneer
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Randy Jurgensen
as Police Sergeant

