"The French Connection" is probably the most famous and heavily praised of all buddy-cop films. It is an excellent film with much action and dramatic tension. Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider play cynical but determined New York City cops out to bust a big heroin ring. Stake-outs and hunches lead to encounters with the criminals, who vary from dangerous assassins to wealthy businessmen to streetwise hoodlums. There is a famous "chase" scene which has Hackman driving a car, recklessly weaving through traffic, following a sniper who has commandeered a train.
"The French Connection" won a mountain of Academy
Awards. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor
(Hackman), Best Film Editing, and Best Writing.
The Academy must have been impressed by the
film's gritty edge and realism, and forgiven its
excesses (Hackman engages in violence, threats
and racial slurs; He accidentally kills a cop
which is given trivial treatment; In one scene
his young blonde one-night-stand has handcuffed
his leg to a bedpost; There are the usual
dramatic arguments between the "rogue" cops and
their supervisors).
There are some great moments besides the chase
sequence. Hackman tries to follow criminal
mastermind Fernando Rey, who plays cat and mouse
games to escape. Another great scene has Hackman
and Scheider tapping a criminal couple's home
phone, and falling over laughing after hearing
the wife lay down the law. The Three Degrees
appear as nightclub performers. They are best
known for the hit "When Will I See You Again."
Is "The French Connection" the best buddy-cop
film ever? Perhaps it doesn't qualify, since
Scheider has a lesser part. Maybe "48 HRS.
(1982)" is a better movie. But it avoids the
pitfalls of later police dramas, which are too
heavily cynical or have unrealistic portrayals of
the cops and criminals. (81/100)
Two narcotics detectives, Popeye Doyle and his partner Buddy Russo (Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider), start to close in on a vast international narcotics r...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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