The French Connection at 50 - William Friedkin's classic crime thriller reviewed

Martin Davis

August 2021

'The French Connection' celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Half a century has done little to diminish the powerful impact of William Friedkins’ superb crime thriller.

Shot with an almost documentary style gritty realism, the film tells the story of the NYPD narcotics divisions’ attempt to stop a huge heroin shipment reaching the streets of New York from France.

Opening in the back alleys of Marseille, an undercover French police officer is assassinated by a brutal hitman, Pierre Nicoli (Marcel Bozzuffi) on the command of wealthy French Criminal, Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). Charnier plans to smuggle $32 million worth of heroin into the United States in the car of his friend, French television personality, Henri Devereaux (Frédéric de Pasquale) who is desperate for a cut of the money.

Meanwhile in Brooklyn Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his partner Buddy “Cloudy” Russo (Roy Scheider) are engaged in an undercover stakeout leading to another low-key arrest of minor consequence. The streets are clean which means something big is due. The question is when and where and by whom? Later that evening, whilst drinking in a local nightclub, Popeye observes petty criminal Salvatore “Sal” Boca (Tony Lo Bianco) and his wife Angie (Arlene Farber) at a table entertaining a group of mobsters with known narcotics connections.

A painstaking surveillance mission begins and it soon becomes obvious the young couple are living a lavish lifestyle way beyond their humble means. Charnier, Nicoli, and Devereaux arrive in New York with Devereauxs’ Lincoln Continental Mark III sitting in the docks packed with illegal drugs.

A race against time begins for Doyle and Russo to crack the case before a deal is done. The shrewd Charnier very quickly becomes aware his every move is being watched and after managing to leave his hotel unobserved he is spotted by Doyle, leading to a tense chase on foot through the streets and subway stations of the city. Always one step ahead, Charnier leaves the exasperated policeman stranded on a station platform with a taunting wave from the departing subway train. Now dubbed “Frog One” by his adversaries, Charniers’ patience is being tested by the inability to get the deal completed and the persistent cops.

Nicoli is despatched to eliminate Doyle but his failed sniper attack leads instead to one of the most exciting chase sequences in cinema history. With “Popeye” behind the wheel of a commandeered Pontiac Le Mans, racing through the New York traffic and Nicoli above him in an elevated train speeding out of control through the stations, the driver held at gunpoint, it remains a landmark moment in film history. Only ‘Bullitt’, with Steve McQueen, a few years earlier had come close to the sheer rush of the chase scene in ‘The French Connection’.

The role of Jimmy Doyle was originally offered to McQueen who turned it down, not wanting to be typecast in tough guy cop roles. It’s difficult now to imagine anyone other than Gene Hackman playing the part.

For all his flaws, and he has a few, Doyle is a good cop, even if his commitment to the case borders on the obsessive. Hackman deservedly won the Best Actor Oscar, with the film also picking up Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Scheider) and Best Screenplay amongst others.

‘The French Connection’ remains a timeless classic.