The French Connection: Review By ejk1

In 1971, audiences were introduced to the definitive anti-hero in American film. He was a gruff cop, willing to do whatever was necessary to bring the bad guys to justice. Many people believe the character in question is "Dirty" Harry Callahan, played by the steely Clint Eastwood. However, this is not true. In beating Dirty Harry to theaters by two months, The French Connection introduced the prototypical anti-hero to the American public in the form of James "Popeye" Doyle. Played with the greatest of skill by Gene Hackman (in his Oscar winning performance), Popeye Doyle is not the policeman the world is used to seeing. Gone are the niceties associated with policemen. Instead, the audience gets a boozy, brawling, and bigoted man that has no problem picking up random girls off the street. Yes, he is definitely not the "knight in shining armor" type of guy, but to be honest, in the world of this gritty crime drama, Doyle fits perfectly.

*Certains spoilers peut apparaître*

The French Connection tells a tale of a drug smuggling operation from France to the U.S., and the attempt Doyle and his partner Buddy Russo (played by Roy Scheider) make to bring it down. After wrapping up a sting operation on a small time dealer (in the roughest way possible), the police duo stop by a bar to celebrate. It is there that Doyle notices a minor thug, Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco), entertaining some members of the mob. What follows is some decent cat-and-mouse action. Doyle, Russo and others take turns staking out Boca at his home, his business, and wherever else he goes. They soon find out that he has connections to Joel Weinstock (Harold Gary), a lawyer that expedites heroin deals in the criminal underworld. Convinced that something big is going down after talking to an undercover cop, Doyle and Russo obtain a wiretap on Boca's life. Through this, the detectives uncover a connection that Boca has with a certain susp*cious Frenchman, or as they so eloquently put it, "Frog One." This frenchman is identified as Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), and he is the ultimate villain. He is smooth, intelligent, and very manipulative. He never does the dirty work, opting to let his hit man Pierre Nicoli (Marcel Bozzufi) get rid of his problems. What occurs the rest of the way is more cat and mouse, but at a level of intensity in a stratosphere only reached by a select few films.

There are two great sequences where this game of cat and mouse reaches the pinnacle of excellence. The first is when Doyle is tailing Charnier through the streets of New York, and ending at the subway. The second instance of greatness is the car chase scene, as Doyle follows Nicoli, who after trying to kill the detective ran onto the elevated train and took the conductor hostage (side note: why is it that every time the NYC El-train is on film, greatness occurs? The French Connection, Spider-Man 2, etc.). This chase of a train by a car is one of the most exhilarating sequences ever captured on film, and would be known as the greatest car chase in movie history if Steve McQueen was never born.

The French Connection is driven by its actors. Scheider is excellent as Russo, the more level-headed detective who seems to be the enabler in Doyle's life. There's no doubt that Russo cares for his partner, but he if he said no once or twice to his partner, then maybe both of them would have stayed out of the trouble they always seem to find. As mentioned before, Charnier is one of the best villains film has ever produced. Rey plays him as such a smooth criminal, I am convinced that he is the inspiration for the Michael Jackson song (If you don't know, I mean "Smooth Criminal"). Lo Bianco and Gary give their respective characters the right amount of sleaziness, and Bozzufi achieves an icy greatness as the hit man Nicoli. Bill Hickman played FBI agent Bill Mulderig very well, as his character takes great delight in antagonizing Doyle.

But Hackman shines above them all. He is superb as Doyle, giving the character an edginess never seen before in the protagonist (at least to my knowledge), and only rarely duplicated. I am stupified at Hackman's place in the lexicon of actors. He has won both the Academy Award for Best Actor and Supporting Actor, while garnering multiple other nominations over a nearly fifty year acting career. Yet whenever the question of greatest actors is a topic of conversation, Hackman is rarely brought up. Well, I'm bringing it up now. Hackman is a legend, and deserves his spot next to DeNiro, Pacino, and Eastwood. I'm also puzzled by the fact that Hackman was never young on-screen. He was over 30 years old when he debuted in Hollywood, and was 41 at the time of filming The French Connection. Why did it take so long for this great talent to make his mark? I don't know the answer, but I am happy he made it to the big-time. Bonnie & Clyde, The French Connection, Superman, and Unforgiven are all the better for it, not to mention Young Frankenstein, in which Hackman appeared as the Blind Man (an uncredited role).

After reviewing three straight animated films where "Happily Ever After" seemed like the prevailing mantra, I'm glad I watched The French Connection. Unlike those films, The French Connection was gritty and hard-nosed. It also serves as a reminder that the ending is not always what you expect. I for one, was very surprised by the ending of this film, as I am sure many others were or will be in the future. The French Connection serves as a reminder that in real life, justice may not always prevail.

Notes on The French Connection:

The French Connection is based on the real life exploits of NYC detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso. Both men actually appear in the movie--Egan as Walt Simonson, and Grosso as Bill Klein.

It is the first R-rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Film in the MPAA era.

The French Connection won 5 Academy Awards: Best Film, Actor (Hackman), Director (William Friedkin), Adapted Screenplay, and Film Editing.

AFI's Best Movie List Ranking: #70 (1998 list), #93 (2007 list)

AFI's Best Thrills: #8 (The Car Chase)

ejk