William Friedkin's classic policier was propelled to box-office glory, and a fistful of Oscars, in 1972 by its pedal-to-the-metal filmmaking and fashionably cynical attitude toward law enforcement. Gene Hackman's Popeye Doyle, a brutally pushy New York City narcotics detective, is a dauntless crime fighter and Vietnam-era "pig," a reckless vulgarian whose antics get innocent people killed. Loosely based upon an actual investigation that led to what was then the biggest heroin seizure in U.S. history, the picture traces the efforts of Doyle and his partner (Roy Scheider) to close the pipeline pumping Middle Eastern smack into the States through the French port of Marseilles. (The actual French Connection cops, Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, make cameo appearances.) It was widely recognized at the time that Friedkin had lifted a lot of his high-strung technique from the Costa-Gavras thrillers The Sleeping Car Murders and Z--he even imported one of Costa-Gavras's favorite thugs, Marcel Bozzuffi, to play the Euro-trash hit man plugged by Doyle in an elevated train station. There was an impressive official sequel in 1975, French Connection II, directed by John Frankenheimer, which took Popeye to the south of France and got him hooked on horse. A couple of semi-official spinoffs followed, The Seven-Ups, which elevated Scheider to the leading role, and Badge 373, with Robert Duvall stepping in as the pugnacious flatfoot. --David Chute

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great service
Comment: I received this product sooner than promised. It was in great condition.
The movie was everything it was advertised to be. I would buy more products like this one anyday.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting Pseudo-Documentary That Doesn't Age Very Well!
Comment: First the good news: Fox has done a great job mastering this dvd as both the picture and sound quality are very good having been given the THX Dolby Digital 5.1 treatment. The second disc also has very interesting true documentaries about the original Doyle and Grasso, the former actually having a role in the movie. I thought the camerawork was very, very good though with excellent play with lighting especially in the late night stake out scenes. The car chase scene was also very good too. This next point can also be construed as a negative but the film tried very hard to stay true to the events as they actually happened.

Now the not so good news: this film doesn't age very well as is typical with movies from the 70s the story takes a while to develop and in this case, the movie is shot like a documentary too. This means that for young movie-goers of today, this film will very likely bore you for the most part. In keeping as close to actual events as possible, the ending had to be lame with the criminal actually getting away. Overall, this is a good police movie if you have the patience to sit through the slow unfolding of it and quite frankly I cannot understand how this film won the Oscar for the Best Picture, Actor and Director when clearly another film that actually has aged a whole lot better and is certainly much more interesting that year should have won those three categories: "A Clockwork Orange." Now that was truly film that was ahead of its time and Stanley Kubrick is on another planet when it comes to directing as compared to Friedkin. Another negative point is the fact that Fox has done it yet again in trying to get you to pay more than is necessary for this by putting on two discs when they could have put on one just to get you to pay more. They did the same thing with "M*A*S*H.

Entertaining? Yes, if you have the patience. Best Film of the year? Certainly not. Ages well for today's audience? Nope. Good quality sound and picture? Definitely. Now you decide if you still wanna get this.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Boring!
Comment: This had to be the most boring cop movie I've ever seen. Not only was it boring, but I found myself hoping the bad guys got away. The movie was basically about a racist, sadistic cop who spent the whole movie either beating innocent African Americans or chasing a drug dealing ring. No intersting dialogue at all. The only halfway good part was the car chase scene, but when Doyle almost hit a woman crossing the street, I lost interest in the dynamics because it was so thoughtless. Then, if you weren't sleep by then, you get to watch the police tear up a drug dealer's car for probably 15 minutes. What was really stupid was that they completely ripped the car up, upholstery and all; however, when the owner picked the car up, it was in tip-top shape. I don't know what other movies this one was up against for the Acadamey Awards, but surely one of them was better.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Brutal as Brooklyn Winter
Comment: "The French Connection," (1971) opens: we quickly see Brooklyn, New York, a few days before Christmas. It's brutal: we see a sidewalk Santa shivering at his Salvation Army bucket; a man freezing his touchas off as he works a hot dog cart. Suddenly we realize they're cops surveilling a dive of a bar, as they tear their costumes off and rush inside. So begins a nonstop action thriller, one of the greatest crime dramas/police procedurals of the 1970's; one of Hollywood's most celebrated golden eras. In 1971, it won five Oscars: Best Picture; Best Actor for Gene Hackman; Best Director for William Friedkin (it now appears this movie will be the crowning achievement of his career); Best Writing for Ernest Tidyman, noted black author ("Shaft") who wrote the witty screenplay (Howard Hawks contributed uncredited polish), and Best Editing. The excellent cinematography was by the talented Owen Roizman. Add to that the fact that it was based on a crackerjack novel by well-known thriller writer Robin Moore. And the odd fact that G. David Schine, a New York boy if ever there was one, and a central figure during the 1950's Army-McCarthy hearings, gets a credit as Executive Producer, and you have one flavorful film.

The plot is, of course, pretty well-known; based on a true story of a major 1970's drug bust. New York was then in big trouble, reeling from drug use, an overburdened welfare system, graffiti, crime, and near bankruptcy. Hackman plays the always in overdrive New York City Police Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle; Roy Scheider plays Det. Buddy "Cloudy" Russo, his partner. Both stars of the true life drama, Eddie Egan and Sonny Grasso, play minor characters in the film; each advised on the picture, and would go on to successful careers, post P.D., as advisers to the entertainment trade on police matters. We see a Bunuel favorite, Fernando Rey as their chief antagonist, smooth Frenchman Alain Charnier; and a Costa-Gravas favorite, Marcel Bozzuffi as Pierre Nicoli, his henchman. And we get the under appreciated Tony Lo Bianco as Sal Boca, hard luck fall guy. For an added fillip, we get a couple of scenes of Philadelphia girl group - always loved them-- the Three Degrees. Plus, of course, we get two of the screen's most memorable sequences: the (elevated) subway/automobile chase, and Nocoli's concluding death on the subway steps.

Most of all, we get what was at the time an absolutely fresh, genuine picture of New York as it then was, as real as a blast of Arctic winter air. We see a lot of its subways; there's even a poster somewhere in a subway car dated "1971." We see the Empire State Building on the horizon a couple of times, and the World Trade Center going up. Lower East Side landmark restaurant Ratner's; Ward's Island; The Westbury, and other luxury hotels and restaurants: Charnier sends a cup of coffee out to Hackman, shivering as he surveills him. Brooklyn has never been better served: Doyle is shown as living in a project there. My neighborhoods, the places I knew best: the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges,the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and its exit ramps, Hicks Street and Court Street,the Brooklyn Heights Promenade with its heart-stopping views of Manhattan as Xanadu, right there on the screen. The classic chase sequence begins at Bay 50th Street, in Bensonhurst. Hackman had a real-life car crash filming the chase, at Stillwell Avenue and 86th Street; it was left in. Friedkin, who was only 32 when he won his Oscar for this movie, has said he utilized documentary techniques to get its edginess; he cut that celebrated car chase to Carlos Santana's hit "Black Magic Woman."

Listen, they just don't make them like this anymore....

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Oldie but goodie.
Comment: The French connection is a superbly cast and directed film from the early 1970s. A hard as nails Gene Hackman cuts his way through all of the back alley dirt, and the facade of a police force gone dirtier on his way to busting one of the biggest heroin rings of all time. The film includes a gut wrenching car chase that rivals Steve McQueen's "Bullet". A must see film, I give it a solid two thumbs up!

---