The French Connection and Bullitt have had so many imitators over the past 40 years it's almost impossible to remember that the clichés about police films had their start with these two. Still they did set a standard and should be remembered for that.
My basic problem with The French Connection is the lack of any character development other than Gene Hackman's role. Even his opposite number Fernando Rey is presented as a cool counterpoint to Hackman's Popeye Doyle, narcotics detective who lucked into one of the biggest heroin busts of all time.
Popeye is one of the most unlikely heroes ever portrayed in film. He's a racist bigot, a chauvinistic pig, he's even got a couple of kinks in his sexual persona. I don't think it's an accident that around the time Gene Hackman got his Best Actor Oscar, All In The Family debuted on television with its more lovable version of Popeye. Archie Bunker and Popeye Doyle would have hit it off great. I could see the two of them at Kelsey's Bar in Queens.
Some surveillance at a candy store pays off big time for Hackman and his partner Roy Scheider, but they don't even know how big. Over in Marseilles, Fernando Rey is planning to bring in one big shipment of pure heroin for mobster Tony LoBianco to sell. It's just a question of waiting and watching.
Hackman's not even good at that as Rey gives him the slip on a subway surveillance. Later on in a scene that rivals the car chase in Bullitt, Hackman commandeers a car and chases down one of the gang who holds a subway hostage, I think it's the Sea Beach train a stop or two from Coney Island if memory serves.
The French Connection is based on a book written Green Berets author Robin Moore as told to him by Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, the cops who did the actual bust. Both appear in the film in supporting roles. If Popeye is supposed to be Egan, all I can say is that this man told his story in the Cromwell tradition, warts and all.
Big warts at that.
My basic problem with The French Connection is the lack of any character development other than Gene Hackman's role. Even his opposite number Fernando Rey is presented as a cool counterpoint to Hackman's Popeye Doyle, narcotics detective who lucked into one of the biggest heroin busts of all time.
Popeye is one of the most unlikely heroes ever portrayed in film. He's a racist bigot, a chauvinistic pig, he's even got a couple of kinks in his sexual persona. I don't think it's an accident that around the time Gene Hackman got his Best Actor Oscar, All In The Family debuted on television with its more lovable version of Popeye. Archie Bunker and Popeye Doyle would have hit it off great. I could see the two of them at Kelsey's Bar in Queens.
Some surveillance at a candy store pays off big time for Hackman and his partner Roy Scheider, but they don't even know how big. Over in Marseilles, Fernando Rey is planning to bring in one big shipment of pure heroin for mobster Tony LoBianco to sell. It's just a question of waiting and watching.
Hackman's not even good at that as Rey gives him the slip on a subway surveillance. Later on in a scene that rivals the car chase in Bullitt, Hackman commandeers a car and chases down one of the gang who holds a subway hostage, I think it's the Sea Beach train a stop or two from Coney Island if memory serves.
The French Connection is based on a book written Green Berets author Robin Moore as told to him by Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, the cops who did the actual bust. Both appear in the film in supporting roles. If Popeye is supposed to be Egan, all I can say is that this man told his story in the Cromwell tradition, warts and all.
Big warts at that.