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Summary: So terrible I could'nt even watch it.
Review: I purchased this movie because it was FINALLY closed captioned so Deaf people like me can FINALLY watch it. I have heard much about this movie and it was one of the few I was anxiously awaiting re-release with captions. Once popping the tape in my VCR, there were NO CAPTIONS at all and I am trying to get in touch with 20th Century Fox regarding this... If I can't watch it, this movie simply deserves no stars at all (I just wasn't able to enter a "no stars" field.
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Summary: You won't be disappointed...
Review: ...by this film, in which Gene Hackman pulls out all the stops and creates a character so real you feel as though you know him personally. Great script, great plot. If you are a fan of 70's flicks, this one has enough of that decade's gritty feel and bad hair to make you a happy camper for days.
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Summary: French Connection connects with real assets
Review: The French Connection is the touchstone cops'n robbers classic for modern crime dramas like NYPD Blue. Its greatest assets are its moody New York City atmosphere and Gene Hackman's unrelentingly violent tour de force as the maverick NYPD detective Popeye Doyle. Roy Schieder holds his own as Doyle's no nonsense partner. And Tony Lo Bianco and Fernando Rey are good as the drug-pushing heavies (the latter though in a somewhat subdued performance). The best thing about the French Connection is that the action sequences are expertly couched and edited in such a way that they don't detract from the deliberate pacing of the story. The protagonists don't uncover the plot and foil the bad guys in typical Hollywood fashion, making for a rousing, intelligently made thriller that deserved its multi Oscar props.
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Summary: not a boring scene in this 70's gem
Review: The whole movie is a heart-speeding, eye opening adventure that you have to listen good to follow. Every gunshot is a memorable one, and all the performances (especially Hackman) are believable. Don't miss any of the train chaising scene.
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Summary: You can almost smell NYC!
Review: "Hey, ya ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?" Gotta love this film. Great acting, great NYC feel, great realism and fantastic villains. The hoodlums ain't bad either. Hackman is a revelation. You can see why he's still in such demand as an actor. Don't miss this one.
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Summary: The Action Film That Paved The Way
Review: There's something special about New York movies. Good ones capture the city, not merely as backdrop, but as a character in itself. The French Connection is a bonafide New York movie in every sense of the word.The cold New York weather, the celebrated chase between a mere car and a powerful subway train, the compelling performances, and the knowledge of this being a true story, combine to make one of the best films of all time. Some may say that over time, it comes off a little slow compared to today's action films. But don't look for a Van Damm film here. Look for, and experience the intelligence of this film, the driven characterization, and the haunting performances. This is movie making at its best.
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Summary: Set a precedent for cop/action movies of the past 28 years
Review: Not only is The French Connection the movie that became a model for such films in later years, it still stands out from the rest for its blistering true-to-life screenplay and powerful performances by the leads. Hackman as Doyle is gritty and urgent, exuding bulldog tenacity and robust charm. Scheider is fantastic, his deadpan, streetwise humor the perfect foil to Hackman's hot-under-the-collar performance. Fernando Rey shines as the clever "importer" whose fine wardrobe and luxurious tastes provide a stark contrast to the tired and frustrated cops tailing him. Don't expect the film to compete in action thrills with some of the films made today (except for the much-vaunted car chase scene); do know that it stands head and shoulders above most of them with top-notch writing and top-level acting.
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Summary: The best cop movie ever made!
Review: I say that and I really do mean it. As a film student, I find French Connection to be one of the most influential movies I have ever seen. It certainly beats all the action flicks we see now. Absolutely captivating and Gene Hackman's best performance ever. I owe a lot to French Connection because I will never view film the same way ever! You will see the best car chase scene in cinematic history! You will hear sound so graphically, that you won't soon forget. I recommend another William Friedkin movie that is ALMOST as good as this one: TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA.
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Summary: A thoroughly dated movie
Review: Man, what a bore. I watched it because of all the accolades this movie has received over the years. Maybe it was good years ago, but this movie has not aged well at all. I mean, cmon, the whole premise is around $500,000 worth of heroin. Please. Even in today's dollars, that's a joke. The movie spends 10 minutes watching the cops rip the car apart trying to find where the drugs are stashed. Today, drug traffickers rent 26 foot Ryder trucks to move the stuff around. The vaunted chase scene was ok, but again, it's nothing special compared to what's done today. Essentially, almost the entire movie consists of watching a couple unlikeable cops tail bad guys for over an hour. Yawn.
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Summary: A Superior Crime Drama With Superb Action And Performances
Review: The French Connection remains one of the classics of film. For brilliance of portrayal and suspense, it is timeless. The film embodies what drives its two protagonists. Alain Chanier (Fernando Rey) is a dapper businessman on the outside, ruthless killer and drug kingpin on the inside. NYPD Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman in a deserved Oscar-winning performance) is a hyped-up cop who pursues his quarry with glee, but is also quite likeable. The contrasts are best shown in two early scenes - Chanier's dapper nature comes through when he and his wife Marie exchange gifts for their pending trip to the US; Popeye Doyle's nature comes through in a thoroughly engaging scene when he and his partner Cloudy Russo (Roy Scheider in what should have won him an Oscar) bust a lowlife junkhouse bar; Popeye accosts men twice his size, pulls "dropsy", and all knowing none of these scumbags will dare protest. The raid, though, is cover so Popeye can debrief one of his best informants (Alan Weeks); the informant reveals the coming of "a shipment" (Chanier's) in two weeks. To make the ruse look good, Popeye reluctantly busts the man's jaw (the grimace on Popeye's face as he does so is priceless.). Adding to the tension is the presence of FBI Agent Bill Mulderig (stuntman Bill Hickman in a superb performance), who hates Popeye, blaming him for the death of an officer in a previous case. The two quarrel several times and come to blows at one point. Through it all, Popeye trails Chanier and his American friends, lawyer Joel Weinstock, candy store owner Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco), actor Henri Devereaux (Frederique De Pasquale), and others. When Chanier barely escapes Popeye's pursuit, he has his henchman Pierre Nicoli try to kill him. But the sniper attack is botched, and the result is a thrilling chase; Nicoli hijacks an elevated train (killing a policeman and a transit official in the process), and Popeye commandeers a car to pursue. When the train crashes, Popeye corners and kills Nicoli. It is the unique nature of the chase as well as its execution that makes it a film classic. Most car chases involve cars chasing cars; a car chasing a train is something that hasn't been done, before or since. Eventually Popeye and company seize the car in which Chanier's junk is hidden. They replace the stash, return the car, and eventually tail Chanier to an abandoned crematorium where the switch is made. A gunfight ensues, and Popeye blasts a man in the shadows - Mulderig. In the epilogue we learn the fate of the captured hoods, none of whom get any kind of serious sentence. The unsatisfying outcome embodies the unsatisfying outcomes of so many crimes - a further testimony to this film's greatness.
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