Product: The French Connection I & II (1975)
Rating: 4.0
An Often Overlooked Classic
The French Connection has never seemed to generate as much buzz as other Best Picture Winners, and is likely to be overlooked yet again in its DVD release, coming so close to the Godfather Trilogy and Citizen Kane. The exception is the chase, of course, long celebrated as perhaps the best ever captured on film. In addition to the action elements, however, there are other reasons to add this to your collection, including Gene Hackman's fine, Oscar-winning turn as Popeye Doyle and William Friedkin's energetic direction. French Connection II suffers somewhat by comparison - Hackman is still great, but the movie seems to lack cohesion, as if the writers patched the story together scene by scene, rather than knowing their destination. It is not a bad movie by any means, but certainly not the classic its predecessor is. The bonus materials are nicely presented and pretty interesting, for the most part - a solid, if not particularly spectacular, package.