Review: The French Connection (1971)

The French Connection takes its time winning its audience over. The gritty, cinema verité technique is distancing at first, requiring patience and more work than an average police thriller. But soon enough, the energy of its execution becomes clear, resulting in a terrific police procedural with remarkable performances by both Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider. The film won over audiences, winning Oscars for best actor (Gene Hackman), directing, editing, screenplay (even though most of the dialogue was ad-libbed) and best picture. Sure, the film is famous for the extended, chaotic car chase scene, but what makes The French Connection so unique is how audaciously independent the film is. Taking place during the winter, the look is gray and muted, almost black and white (not counting the Santa Claus outfit Popeye Doyle is wearing when we’re first introduced to him). Sometimes, the jazz score is loud and in your face, and then, suddenly, during the chase sequence for example, it’s gone. Director William Friedkin and cinematographer Owen Roizman shoot most of the movie using handheld cameras. Combined with jump cut editing, the result is a maddening energy that’s as vibrant and crazed as Hackman’s performance. The movie plays out as a deliberately paced cat-and-mouse thriller between two New York City narcotics detectives and an assortment of dealers, drug kingpins, playboys and rich Frenchmen. Besides the iconic car chase, there is little action. This is not to say the film is not exciting. In fact, the most exciting sequence is not the chase but the “tailing” scene between Hackman and Fernando Rey. The sequence takes place along Manhattan’s dilapidated streets and ends on the subway. Those fans of the Waterloo station scene from The Bourne Ultimatum will find plenty to like in this one. This is a film so unpretentious and restrained it feels like a documentary and not a work of fiction.

Richard Saad
© Cinephile Magazine, 2009