Two narcotics detectives, “Popeye” Doyle and his partner Buddy Russo (Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider), start to close in on a vast international narcotics ring when the smugglers unexpectedly strike back. Following an attempt on his life by one of the smugglWilliam Friedkin’s classic policier was propelled to box-office glory, and a fistful of Oscars, in 1972 by its pedal-to-the-metal filmmaking and fashionably cynical attitude toward law enforcement. Gene Hackman’s Popeye Doyle, a brutally pushy New York City narcotics detective, is a dauntless crime fighter and Vietnam-era “pig,” a reckless vulgarian whose antics get innocent people killed. Loosely based upon an actual investigation that led to what was then the biggest heroin seizure in U.S. history, the picture traces the efforts of Doyle and his partner (Roy Scheider) to close the pipeline pumping Middle Eastern smack into the States through the French port of Marseilles. (The actual French Connection cops, Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, make cameo appearances.) It was widely recognized at the time that Friedkin had lifted a lot of his high-strung technique from the Costa-Gavras thrillers The Sleeping Car Murders and Z–he even imported one of Costa-Gavras’s favorite thugs, Marcel Bozzuffi, to play the Euro-trash hit man plugged by Doyle in an elevated train station. There was an impressive official sequel in 1975, French Connection II, directed by John Frankenheimer, which took Popeye to the south of France and got him hooked on horse. A couple of semi-official spinoffs followed, The Seven-Ups, which elevated Scheider to the leading role, and Badge 373, with Robert Duvall stepping in as the pugnacious flatfoot. –David Chute
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March 13, 2010
#1
I guess thats what happened, everything ive see from him sucks, the hunted was ok, but other then that i guess he ran out of ideas or something. This movie is too short to tell a story, it feels incomplete, the performances are average at best(Gene as done better), the so called fast pace isnt there(its boring for an 1 hour and 40 minute which is way too short), there is one half decent sniper chase other then that there is some bad jokes, bad music, bad camera work, and a poor attempt at a story. For some reason a women pushing a baby carrage gets shot during the only half decent scene of the movie which was basically 110% underplayed and he just walks away without so much as seeing if she is dead or not, i guess it was supposed to be shocking or gritty or dramatic but it felt like an afterthought. Bad film making overall. Like I said Willy must have used all his talent on the masterpiece known as The Exorcist, without a doubt his best movie. Everything else he made feels like he just got lazy and didnt even try to make a good movie with any quality whatsoever. Maybe if somebody would just tell him about caffiene, and give him a good script, we might see another movie that is actually somewhat entertaining. 1 out of a 10 for a half decent sniper chase, the ending is also bad because i thought he shot himself but after that it says he was fired or something like that, whatever.
March 13, 2010
#2
C’mon people! How fun is it to watch a racist, lewd, borrish, and dumb person beating up people for no f—–g reason. As little as possible. All the film does is show two unorthadox sleep in car all night, hold up bars just because there are black people there, and reapeatedly getting the same food as 24 minutes ago. And a point that should go out, THERE IS NO CAR CHASE! Just someone chasing a train! I will end by saying that this trashy film deserved no oscars! BYE!
March 13, 2010
#3
This DVD was very disappointing because it was not the full movie. It ended in America with the Frenchman returning home. The movie was much longer with Popeye Doyle going to to Paris to follow up on the case. The most exciting and important conclusion of the film was deleted.
March 13, 2010
#4
This had to be the most boring cop movie I’ve ever seen. Not only was it boring, but I found myself hoping the bad guys got away. The movie was basically about a racist, sadistic cop who spent the whole movie either beating innocent African Americans or chasing a drug dealing ring. No intersting dialogue at all. The only halfway good part was the car chase scene, but when Doyle almost hit a woman crossing the street, I lost interest in the dynamics because it was so thoughtless. Then, if you weren’t sleep by then, you get to watch the police tear up a drug dealer’s car for probably 15 minutes. What was really stupid was that they completely ripped the car up, upholstery and all; however, when the owner picked the car up, it was in tip-top shape. I don’t know what other movies this one was up against for the Acadamey Awards, but surely one of them was better.
March 13, 2010
#5
Unfortunately, This particular DVD was of such poor quality that I will have second thoughts about purchasing any DVD’s in the future.