The French Connection

The French Connection (1971)

Runtime: 104 minutes

Directed by: William Friedkin

Starring: Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi

From: 20th Century Fox

Did you ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?

As has been common as of late, I have revisited motion pictures I last saw many, many years ago. As this was recently added for free on Prime, no better time than now to see if The French Connection was as great as I had recalled. Thankfully, it was.

Based loosely on real life cops Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso (who have minor roles in the movie and in fact Egan retired from the force to become an actor) and a huge heroin bust they had in the 60's, Popeye Doyle and Cloudy Russo are narcotics officers who stumble upon a deal that they eventually realize is a large quantity of “the horse” from Marseilles, France. The key thing to note about the movie is that it has a deliberate pace as not only does it demonstrate the drudgery and tedium that police work can be, it enhances the gritty feel that this has. The setting is the grungy and dirty New York City of old and the two leads can be rough to suspects... not to mention use some “politically incorrect language.” The tale has other characters which were inspired by real life figures, including the main criminals.

There is plenty of interesting lore surrounding the movie: the legendary car chase-still effective half a century later-often happened in real traffic with real life pedestrians... Fernando Rey being cast as the lead bad guy by mistake after Friedkin did not know which actor he was impressed by in Belle de Jour (at least Rey delivered a quality performer and the right actor-Francisco Rabal-later was later one of the leads in Sorcerer)... this was low budget so a wheelchair was used for what would normally be dolly shots... but while I get why some wouldn't like this movie, it works like gangbusters for me. I was always invested in the story & despite their gruff nature, it was easy for me to root for the protagonists as they put in the hard work and long hours-taking a small break for Popeye to have a booty call!-to crack the case.

The rough NYC setting adds to the ambiance; so does the high standard of the performances all around, especially from Hackman and Scheider. The awesome jazzy score from Don Ellis was also a huge benefit. This won several of the “big” Oscars in '71 and even if some could argue if all those awards were “right”, this is a must for those that dig those pugnacious cop dramas from the 70's. The long chase sequences that includes the Pontiac Le Mans chasing the elevated train segment-there's running on foot done before and after-is excellent and perhaps the movie should be watched for that alone.