This movie captures a cop-criminal dynamic for its time making it not only entertainment but sort of a history lesson too. This is how they went about solving and preventing criminal activities and we get close-ups on the people on the front lines. Consider too that Roy and Gene who star here deliver believable roles on how to go about it and what to expect as do the criminal elements as well. Good scenes, acting and haunting appropriate music make this movie not only memorable but a must see again from time to time. Its just quality entertainment and worthy of a two hour viewing investment. Recommend a decent snack and drink to enhance the experience making for a good....

The French Connection (1971) is an Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller movie about 2 cops in the Narcotics Bureau of New York City. Popeye and Cloudy trying to intercept a big heroin shipment from France. Popeye, aka Jimmy Doyle, is played by Gene Hackman, and Cloudy, aka, Buddy Russo is played by Roy Scheider. I thought that both actors did a wonderful job in the movie and portrayed their characters well and in an interesting way. This was a very entertaining thriller film. The music was appropriate and mysterious and the plot was full of suspense. I would recommend this film to anyone who loves Classic Crime Dramas. The Chase is intense. Will Popeye and Cloudy catch the criminals?

The movie has gotten rave reviews since it came out and I never understood why. The 1970s were an amazing movie period, especially for big city, real life dramas and cop movies. But this does not hold up to the 1970s brilliance. The camera work is pedestrian and assembly line. The music is awkward. Ninety minutes of watching Hackman follow Sal around a very seedy NYC. I am suspicious that the movie was an elbow reaction to Blaxploitation movies of the time and particularly to Shaft. It has only white main characters and is brutally racist. This itself is odd being that the French were very ethnically progressive in the 1970s. Doyle seems indeed to be an anti-Shaft creation and all of the academy awards reinforce my belief that Hollywood was very threatened by Blaxploitation and by African Americans in general. The amazing acclaim it received from the academy seems to be overly eager in its praise and extremely over-rated to a suspicious degree. The car chase was just a marketing gimmick to validate the acclaim to mainstream audiences. But the plot is generally very weak. The racism is rampant and except for Hackman and Scheider, the acting is very limited. Just like the ridiculous nickname and the poorly worked bully act, the main character leads the viewers down several dead ends. I was genuinely rooting against Doyle the whole movie. Especially after the scene where his partner comes to his apartment to pick him up and finds that he had sleep with an underage girl. In fact, this movie reminds me of the many hundreds of weak NYC 1980s TV cop shows and I believe it probably was a template for them. The ending was just unbearably weak and unbelievable. It really should have been filmed in France and included some French actors, script and camera personnel. They also could have scored better music and utilized it more dramatically. There was some great music being made at this time. They probably didn't do this because, again, I believe it was only a Hollywood racist response to Blaxploitation and the mainstream success of Shaft. Cops employing obvious tails and staring into windows, bumbling, beating up minorities and living out of unmarked cop cars. It really just doesn't hold up anywhere. Unless you are looking for 1970s scenes of seedy Brooklyn, stay away from this one and watch Shaft instead.

Dear William Friedkin, The French Connection was a really gritty crime drama with the cops and drug sellers playing hide and seek in the backdrop of New York. Gene Hackman is tough and menacing as the alcoholic and lecherous cop. Roy Scheider's sober cop is a perfect foil and sidekick for Hackman's Popeye. Fernado Rey's high life as a sophisticated drug supplier is placed parallel to the low life of the two cops but their stories do intersect once in a while. The film looked a lot like a documentary. The visuals were stark and moody and there was hardly any light in many of the scenes. The editing was best described by you yourself, William. You said as an audience, you never knew what the next cut was going to be. The first running chase and Hackman's car chase of his potential assassin were both thrilling. Anurag Kashyap overdid it in Black Friday. This is my third favorite film directed by you, after The Exorcist and The Sorcerer. Best Regards, Pimpin. (8/10)