Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
4/4
The French Connection
SteelCity99 - wrote on 04/22/2018
Several directors, either foreign or American (not that American can't be foreign, of course), build a classic and unforgettable filmography in their early days, where the image quality of the camera had that beautiful and magical high definition and when more original stories where still available, thus leaving some room for originality and a predominant, characteristic style. William Friedkin is no exception to this list of directors, a filmmaker who already has fallen into the horrible world of idea-lacking and Hollywood mediocrity. The French Connection does not only belongs to the group of the best American crime films of the Golden Age of cinema, but it is also Friedkin at his most stylish, explosive and ultimately kickass, fantastically edited and with a powerful and male-centered …
Rating of
3/4
"The French Connection" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 02/27/2012
Tough New York street detective "Popeye" Doyle stumbles on a ring of drug runners planning to import heroin from France. William "The Exocrist" Friedkin uncompromisingly directs one of the great hard-boiled cop dramas of the 70s in what can be seen as the grandaddy of popular TV series The Wire. Hackman shines as the flawed cop with a two fisted approach to investigation who is constantly wrong footed and outsmarted by his wily opponent. The gritty, documentary approach has a visceral realism, and makes for some of the most memorable action sequences of the era, especially the A-train car chase in which Doyle virtually destroys his commandeered automobile. Incredibly tautly directed and breathlessly paced, there is no room for soapy personal relationships or love interests, just a single …
Rating of
2/4
The French Connection review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 08/21/2011
In a New York setting, detectives James "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Roy Scheider) try to investigate a drug shipment. So many characters involved and insufficient time for character development. You hardly know the story of Doyle and Russo, not even a history of the criminals Tony Lo Bianco as Salvatore 'Sal' Boca, Marcel Bozzuffi as Pierre Nicoli, Hit Man and Frédéric de Pasquale as Henri Devereaux. One of the conspicuous qualms I have aside from the lack of character build-up were the length of the scenes that are not interlinked with the story (long chases/walks, a few arrests, etc.) and likeability of the leads. Yes Popeye is a good cop, yet he sleeps with a chick and makes errors that would make his search unbelievable since there is no concrete …
Rating of
4/4
Great Police thriller
Ichabod Crane - wrote on 11/04/2009
An exciting police thriller that I enjoyed every second of and continue to enjoy it every time that I watch it. The film is great; the true story it follows is incredibly interesting. I liked the way the story followed through the police procedure, very realistically and in an incredibly interesting way. The famous car chase scene is famous for a reason it looks great and is incredibly satisfying in the end. The whole story is satisfying, I thought the whole film was great.
Oscar Win Best Actor Gene Hackman 5/5- Hackman is perfectas Popeye Doyle. His scenes where he takes down the criminals through talking and handling is perfectly done. The other scenes important are his obsessions of catching the criminal. His obsessions are well shown in the scenes and his last scene his is in …
Rating of
2.5/4
Review - The French Connection (1971)
Delorted - wrote on 11/14/2007
Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) was a tough cop that would go to any heights to bring in the bad guy. When he and his partner, Detective Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Roy Schneider) find out about a drug smuggling job with a French connection, they set out to stop it in the Best Picture winning film, "The French Connection."
There are a lot of levels to this movie, so I'll address them separately. The first level is the story, which is fair, but it is played out in a horribly slow way. I was intrigued by Hackman's character, but I sort of wanted him to just catch the guy already.
While I thought the film was played out poorly, it does have one of the best car chase scenes to ever grace the silver screen. I know I'm not the first person to mention it, but it's done …
