The French Connection DVD: Review By The Dark Knight

This is just a great example of the 1970s action movies.

This is one of my favorite cop movies. I just love everything about it. This movie I believe is in the top 100 films by AFI. It certainly deserves to be on that list. The way it was filmed and the cinematography was done very well. I'm not just talking about the car chase but the whole movie as a whole. This is a great cop film. William Friedkin great director this is one of his best films I've seen of his.

Director - William Friedkin (The Exorcist) Hasn't had the greatest career but has had a pretty good one. He did one hell of a job directing this movie. I think if it had a different director It would have been so great and it wouldn't be in the top 100.

Cast - Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey,and Tony Lo Bianco

Plot - Det. Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle and his partner Det. Buddy Russo are controlling the streets and cleaning up pubs. This movie takes place in New York in the 1070s. They think something fishy is going on they notice something fishy is going on. Popeye notices a criminal that is involved in drug trafficking. They start to do stake outs and then they set their eyes on a drug trafficker from France which entitles The French Connection. The whole movie is one big chase. From beginning to end. At the beginning seeing Gene Hackman wearing a santa suit to Gene chasing a man on and of of a subway to him chasing a train the chase never would end. The whole subway going on and off of it was pretty funny for me. I found it hilarious, it reminded me of an old comedy that Chaplin would do. Then he waves to him haha irony at the end of the film when Jimmy Waves at him. I think haven't spoiled anymore of the movie than the trailer would have. It basically spoon feeds you the movie.

Gene Hackman as Det. Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle

10/10 Best actor over and over and over Gene got many nominations and won a lot too for his character.

Favorite Quote "All right, Popeye's here! get your hands on your heads, get off the bar, and get on the wall!"

Genes character is easy tempered, alcoholic, obsessive and most of all a damn good cop is sorta the glue that sticks this cast together maybe Jack Nicholson might have been able to do this role, but I much rather love his character in Chinatown, 1974. One of the best I recommend you see it. Gene Has done a lot of great movies over his career hes played Lex Luthor from Superman too Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart in Behind Enemy lines. He has had a successful career. One film of his I highly recommend is Heist.

The Late Roy Scheider as Det. Buddy Russo

7/10 Nominated for best supporting actor

Favorite Quote "You wanna play "hide the salami" with his old lady?"

Roy did a great job in this movie. He wasn't leading this film so he wasn't the center of attention. I love his part in this movie. He is a determined police officer it doesn't really go any further than that with him. I love the scene when they are taking apart a Lincoln piece by piece and can't find anything but Jimmy and Buddy are so determined to find something. Roy had a great career too bad he died in 2008 along with so many other greats. He played so many different characters over the years he played Frank Castle Sr. in The Punisher, 2004 to Dr. Heywood Floyd in 2010 to Police Chief Martin Brody in Jaws. He is one of my favorite old time actors from the 1970s era.

This movie has one of the best car chases sequences ever. It is so memorable and I can remember seeing a video with the director saying in order to make this a good action movie we need a great car chase and he was so right. Man it is amazing. This is all real. The good old days when metal crushed against metal not today with all the CGI we use. Grindhouse: DeathProof brought it back in 2007. This car chase gave me memories of the film Bullitt with Steve McQueen. Man I love the dodge chargers from 1968 and 69 they were great the ones now days don't even look the same, but the new challenger looks awesome. Now lets back to what I was saying in order for us to get a great car chase you can't rely on CGI.

The filming was great. I love how when they were running at the beginning of the movie and the man carrying the camera was running along through the cars giving it that feeling then keeping it far away when they were beating up that black guy. The end is where I really love the way it was filmed. The sound was good for back in the 70s. This is a highly recommend film by me. This is a buy if you don't own it. If you have blu-ray get it in Feb 24, 09