Review of The French Connection (1971) by Hanneguacamole — 06 Jun 2015

The French Connection is a thrilling, morally troubling, and important movie on the war on drugs. A complex web of truth and lies, of black and white, I found it hard to discern who or what I was rooting for in the end. These detectives Cloudy and Popeye have dedicated so much time to finding and catching these elusive heroin smugglers – namely Charnier.

I think the most intriguing aspect overall was watching the descent of these detectives (mostly Popeye) from doing their jobs to becoming hopelessly obsessed and entangled in their work and catching these people. I think the chase scene was by far one of the best I have ever seen. It was real, showed a true sign of danger, and was even extreme with the train. It was certainly one of my highlights overall and I can't recall a time where I was so invested in exactly how the chase went down and who got hurt.

Nicoli the hit-man does an exquisite job at showing the true danger and power coming from these mob groups that just want to smuggle their heroin in cars from unsuspecting French people. It's so out there that it's actually believable and leaves me wondering why my life is so mundane compared to this. As for the invisible lines that everyone in this movie crosses – it's fascinating. In what world is shooting and killing someone on your side not worth a second glance? It is here.

The locations of New York and Marseille were completely on point and only helped to enhance the inner workings of the police department, the mobsters, and their constituents. A classic and a staple in the book of chase scenes.