Rating: 
Summary: Still Good After All Of These Years
Review: Been a long time since I saw this one, but it still holds up. Fast astion and a great chase. The older croud will know, love, and remember this one. One of my favorites and very hard to find in the stores
Rating: 
Summary: below expectations!
Review: I was disappointed with this film, having heard all the good reviews. The chase scene really isn't that spectacular. I could not believe it when I saw this garbage beat out A Clockwork Orange for best picture! For a better action flick, check out Dirty Harry; It has a much better chase scene which involves Clint Eastwood riding on the roof of a school bus.
Rating: 
Summary: THE BEST CRIME MOVIE EVER MADE!
Review: French Connection is a exciting action/crime film starring Gene Hackman as Popeye Dole, a N.Y. Narcotics Cop who is investigating the recent flow of herion coming into N.Y. He and his partner (Roy Shrieder) get into the absorbing process of phone tapping, following suspects, and stakeouts. A real good crime movie from director William Friedkin. One of the best films ever made, also has the most exciting chase scene in history. A winner!!
Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking
Review: After two decades of watching squeaky clean LAPD Sergeant Joe Friday on "Dragnet", and decades of Chicago's favorite fed, Elliot Ness on "The Untouchables", and then the innocent buffoons of the NYPD on "Car 54 Where Are You?", it was little wonder that people of the t.v. era were shocked by this movie's unflinching look at New York's lawmen. THE FRENCH CONNECTION, if not for anything else, will be remembered as the film that ultimately de-romanticized the noble cop legend. Popeye Doyle (marvelouly portrayed by Gene Hackman) is the anti-cop. He is not a crooked cop by any means. However, he's bigoted, amoral, prone to violence, self-possessed, and oblivious to the rules of police conduct. Norman Mailer once said of bad cops that they are sworn to uphold the law but feel they are above it; that they are supposed to keep the peace, but are inherently violent. That's Popeye Doyle.The plotline of the film is fairly simple: the police receive information about a major drug operation about to go down, and they try to prevent it and arrest everyone involved. But Director Friedkin infuses the film with the complexities and dreariness inherent in pursuing such a case. I developed an appreciation of the hours of stake-out drudgery that the police go through. And then, of course, there's the danger every policeman confronts. There's something for everyone in this film, including the greatest car chase in movies (even if the car is chasing an elevated train). Note: the elevated tracks that Gene Hackman drives under are the same tracks that appeared in the opening credits of "Welcome Back, Kotter" and, more importantly, they are the same tracks that John Travolta saunters under in the open scene of "Saturday Night Fever". If you're interested, those are the elevated tracks of the West End line (now the "D" train) on 86th Street in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
Rating:
Summary: the 4th time viewing got even better experience
Review: simply fantastic! the 2nd dvd got lot of significant details about this great movie making. the quality of the dvds are so crispily sharp. very very good viewing experience. gene hackman admitted it set off his career and confessed the difficulties to bring himself into playing the popei role. by viewing his performance only proved that he's one of the greatest modern time actors. think back....almost all of his movies roles were great, no matter how lousy the movies themself was. gene hackman is a national treasure.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Film Noir.
Review: I just saw this one the other day for the second time and was amazed at how riveting it still is. It's also one of the only times that I can think of where a car chase scene rises to the level of art. There is practically nothing in this movie that is black and white. Even after all these years of cultural and social decline, Hackman's final words to Roy Scheider still manage to disturb. I was further surprised at how pertinent the themes are and at the unpredictability of the plot turns. The acting is first rate with the French actors being well chosen.
Rating:
Summary: Film is great, DVD could be a little better
Review: The acting, scenery, and gritty realism of TFC make it brilliant. But sadly the DVD (despite two discs) sports no bloopers or outtakes of the movie. Also, why couldn't Hackman and Scheider have a complete and seperate commentary each, instead of the half commentary each their given?
Rating:
Summary: One of the best ever
Review: Let's just get the plot synopsis out of the way: Popeye Doyle and Cloudy Russo are to NYPD detectives who make the largest heroin bust of their time. As the title implies, heroin is being smuggled in by a prominent Frenchman and sold through middlemen in Manhattan. Doyle and Russo do an amazing job of tracking down the bad guys, but unfortunately, the bad guys still claim somewhat of a victory in the end. The movie's based on a true story, but of course, many liberties are taken. Alright, that's that.
This is simply one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. Gene Hackman never topped himself with his Oscar-winning performance as Popeye Doyle. He's able to channel the obsessiveness, harshness, and faux racism of the actual person he's based on so genuinely that you wouldn't doubt that he's an actual hardened detective. Roy Scheider does an outstanding job as Popeye's sidekick Cloudy. He plays Cloudy a bit more mellow than Popeye, but you can tell that he's just as good a cop as his partner. The cast also includes Fernando Rey who turns in a great performance as the French villain.
Of course, the acting is superb, but the cinematography and the action are equally great. Since Friedkin wanted the movie shot in a documentary style, the on-screen action takes on a very realistic appearance. This enhances our appreciation of the New York that is seldom portrayed - the non-5th-avenue, real, heroin-infested backstreets of the 60's. And, yes of course, one of the greatest chases in the history of movies - Popeye in a car chasing the French hitman who's on a train. There's no CGI here. And as you'll learn from the commentaries, the crashes you see are real since the filmmakers didn't bother to obtain permits to shoot on the streets and instead just stole the shots.
That brings me to the DVD extras. The commentary by director Friedkin is excellent. It really gave me a new appreciation for this movie. Friedkin talks at length about the 2 detectives the main characters are based on, the difficulties in making the movie, and probably most interesting to a film fanatic, the correlations between the movie and the actual case itself. The commentaries by Hackman and Scheider are also great, but unfortunately, each only speak for about 20-30 minutes. The DVD also has an insightful documentary produced by the BBC about the movie and the actual case.
I'm sorry I'm talking so long, but there's still more to say. There are seven 7 deleted scenes and accompanying commentaries on the DVD. After viewing these, I realized just how revolutionary the ideas behind this movie actually were. The final cut of the movie was controversial enough in its portrayals of drug use, police behavior, and Popeye's racist attitudes, but one look at the deleted scenes will convince you that Friedkin would have pushed the envelope farther if only audiences were ready for it. The most striking of the scenes depicts the French hitman enjoying sadomasochistic activities with a prostitute. That may be par for the course for today's movies, but just imagine what it would have been like back then.
I've rambled enough, but it's only because I love this movie and this DVD. Make sure you pick it up next time you go to Blockbuster or wherever.
Rating:
Summary: You'll be Picking Your Feet in Poughkeepsie
Review: What can be said about this landmark picture? It's got everything. You've got Gene Hackman commanding the screen as Popeye Doyle in every scene he's in whether he's busting a drug bar, chasing a sniper while driving manicly under the El tracks, or pursuing his elusive prey, Charnier, better known as "Frog One". Roy Scheider gives a great supporting performance as Cloudy, Popeye's cooler headed partner as does Fernando Rey as the wily Charnier. Kudos also go to William Friedkin for his sure-handed direction. He orchestrates every aspect of this film perfectly from the establishing scenes in Marseilles, to the buyers in New York, to the police investigation of the connection. Though we have been inundated in recent years with police dramas both cinematic and on television, this is the mother of them all. Thirty plus years on this film holds up as well as it did on it's initial release.
Rating:
Summary: Willy Used all his talent on The Exorcist.
Review: 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.
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