Rating of
2.5/4
Review - The French Connection (1971)
Delorted - wrote on 11/14/07
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 perfectly.
The whole movie feels like those cop shows that came out shortly after it, which I now know had to have been inspired by this film, both in context and quality. The music seemed really cheesy to me, like they just decided to throw it in at the last moment. The film quality also seems rather low.
I don't necessarily recommend this film unless you are a huge crime buff. It is based on a book that's based on real events, if that also intrigues you.
Acting: 7/10
Writing: 6/10
Video/Editing: 7/10
Audio/Music: 5/10
Entertainment: 6/10
Final Score: 6.2/10
