Review of The French Connection (1971) by Matt G — 03 Feb 2015

The French Connection has become quite famous for containing one of the greatest car chases of all time. Although "car chase" seems like a misnomer, since it's really a car chasing an elevated train instead of another car. This is a great sequence, and I can see why it has become legendary, but there's a lot more meat on this film than just that scene. This film is basically a realistic police procedural. It feels like we are actually seeing how real police work happens as Popeye and Buddy track down leads, act on hunches, and hope that eventually the criminals slip up. My biggest complaint with the movie is that many times they try to put us in the shoes of the detectives, so they don't give us much information about what is going on. This works in some films, but I found myself agitated and eventually disinterested because I had no idea what was happening and why. As the movie progresses we learn more and more about the criminal activity, but by then I'm just anxious for the big bust to happen. So the movie did pull me back in, but I wish I was fully engaged from start to finish.

Gene Hackman is excellent as a detective who is willing to do anything in order to catch a crook. We see him shouting racial slurs, roughing up people for information, and even getting into fights with other cops just to make a point. His passion is palpable and it really pays off in the climax. Roy Scheider is also good as Hackman's partner who is willing to go with Popeye most of the way, but seems to have his passion more under control. Sadly, the rest of the cast was one of the other difficulties I had with the film. I was surprised how bland and unremarkable I found the various criminals. Not one of them stood out as the man in charge. As a result I wasn't sure who the big bad was for the climax, who was I most anxious to see Popeye catch? I think it would have been a bit more effective at inspiring passion in me, for that final climactic moment, if I thought this one guy was the kingpin that they needed to arrest/kill in order to make this case a success. Otherwise I found The French Connection to be a riveting film that contained just enough action and solid police drama. It's not one that I would praise as one of the greatest films of all time, but I'd gladly watch again if I had the opportunity.