Customer Reviews

The French Connection (Widescreen) [2 Discs]

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

You may not like the characters in this movie, but it totally captures the seedy underbelly of New York in the early 70s. Gene Hackman plays the part brilliantly. I didn't actually expect to like this but was hooked from start to finish. Only disappointment was sound quality. Found I had to have the volume way up to properly follow the dialogue. But other than that a classic of early 70s cinema.

in my opinion,The French Connection is one long bore.Gene Hackman is a
gifted actor,but even he can't save this mess.William Friedkin has
managed to create a movie in which all of the action scenes(as well as
the rest of the movie)seem slow and boring.and in case you don't know
what the movie is about,here's a brief synopsis the way i saw it.cop
movie with bad dialogue,punctuated by boring action sequences,followed
by more bad dialogue and on and on.the writers should not escape notice
for their part in this disaster,either.i know this movie is considered
a classic,but i don't see it.this is just my view and i'm probably in
the minority,but that's how i saw this movie.i can only give The French
Connection 1/5.

simply fantastic! the 2nd dvd got lot of significant details about this great movie making. the quality of the dvds are so crispily sharp. very very good viewing experience. gene hackman admitted it set off his career and confessed the difficulties to bring himself into playing the popei role. by viewing his performance only proved that he's one of the greatest modern time actors. think back....almost all of his movies roles were great, no matter how lousy the movies themself was. gene hackman is a national treasure.

After two decades of watching squeaky clean LAPD Sergeant Joe Friday on "Dragnet", and decades of Chicago's favorite fed, Elliot Ness on "The Untouchables", and then the innocent buffoons of the NYPD on "Car 54 Where Are You?", it was little wonder that people of the t.v. era were shocked by this movie's unflinching look at New York's lawmen. THE FRENCH CONNECTION, if not for anything else, will be remembered as the film that ultimately de-romanticized the noble cop legend. Popeye Doyle (marvelouly portrayed by Gene Hackman) is the anti-cop. He is not a crooked cop by any means. However, he's bigoted, amoral, prone to violence, self-possessed, and oblivious to the rules of police conduct. Norman Mailer once said of bad cops that they are sworn to uphold the law but feel they are above it; that they are supposed to keep the peace, but are inherently violent. That's Popeye Doyle.

The plotline of the film is fairly simple: the police receive information about a major drug operation about to go down, and they try to prevent it and arrest everyone involved. But Director Friedkin infuses the film with the complexities and dreariness inherent in pursuing such a case. I developed an appreciation of the hours of stake-out drudgery that the police go through. And then, of course, there's the danger every policeman confronts.

There's something for everyone in this film, including the greatest car chase in movies (even if the car is chasing an elevated train). Note: the elevated tracks that Gene Hackman drives under are the same tracks that appeared in the opening credits of "Welcome Back, Kotter" and, more importantly, they are the same tracks that John Travolta saunters under in the open scene of "Saturday Night Fever". If you're interested, those are the elevated tracks of the West End line (now the "D" train) on 86th Street in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

This movie was good, but it wasn't THAT good.
The ending itself is a HUGE left-off-hanging disappointment.
It doesn't really stand out from a lot of other cop movies that received far less attention.

More than 30 years after its release, "The French Connection" has become one of the signpost cop dramas of American cinema. That its portrayal of law enforcement officiers is far less than flattering is hardly the point. The movie is stylish, brilliantly acted, authentically filmed, and features perhaps the most amazing chase sequence in movie history (the biggest reason why it is so amazing is explained in the extras that come with this DVD).

Having said all of that, the five-star DVD edition is an absolute must own for those who love the movie. It contains a full disc of extras, including two documentaries, a bunch of deleted scenes, as well as other goodies. If only every great movie was available in a package this complete.

This movie was incredibly boring. The whole movie is basically one long chase scene which is never finished. To jlind555: if Popeye Doyle is as you described him, " a racist, selfish, insensitive," person, then why is he such an interesting character? Also you said that these traits helped him in his chase against the criminals. But didn't you see the ending? Doyle never catches the ringleader of the drug traffic. Those harsh characteristics of his obviously didn't help him very much.
After watching this movie, I was extremely surprised to find that it won several academy awards. This movie does have some very well done scenes, but the overall message of the film seems very pointless.

If you like a gritty, non-stop action movie, you will love what you see here. Popeye, the psycho cop who cares about nothing except getting his prey, was a defining role for Hackman. The car chase scene ranks as one of the best ever. NYC looks like a filthy mess ( which it was, and still is ), and adds to the effect of the film. Great action movie!!

THE FRENCH CONNECTION is hands-down my favorite police movie. Gene Hackman set a standard as Popeye Doyle. This movie is completely satisfying as a thriller. Watch it and compare it to any of the Lethal Weapon movies, for example. The acting in T.F.C. is top-notch, from Hackman as well as Fernando Rey and Roy Scheider. Direction from William Friedkin is super-tight. The movie just rocks-- it's cliche to write this now, but the plot just won't let you go. Friedkin was at the top of his game in the early 1970s, directing this as well as THE EXORCIST.

Fans of police thrillers should see THE FRENCH CONNECTION at once-- it's a memorable movie that you'll enjoy, and you'll watch it every few years from then forward.

ken32

William Friedkin is really underrated in terms of direction. This movie, The French Connection, has a great documentary feel to it, and is very realistic. Gene Hackman's performance as Popeye Doyle was one of the best roles I've seen in an action movie. Roy Scheider was awesome too. Favorite line from him: Shove it up your a$$. The movie has the best car chase ever, even if most of it was an accident. Friedkin said that there were supposed to be no crashes in that chase. Just near-misses. I think the crashes help the movie. The French Connection is just a great action movie. I loved it.