Product: French Connection [VHS] (1971)
Rating: 2.0
Even in 1971, film makers could do better (and did)
Based on the true story of how two New York police detectives, "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider), uncovered a drug smuggling operation between France and America.Given its five Oscar wins (including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director), it appears that, back in 1971, "The French Connection" was considered very highly and even today it still enjoys a very high reputation, but after sitting through this movie, I can't, for the life of me, figure out why. With the exception of the ending (which is a bit of an anti-climax), "The French Connection" isn't a terrible movie, but it's not all that great either. The film is slow moving and didn't engage me at all. There is little tension present and the script didn't provide me with any means of relating to or caring about "Popeye" Doyle. The car chase, which everyone talks about, is disappointing by modern standards, and although I would agree that Gene Hackman is an Oscar-worthy actor, I don't think he did anything Oscar-worthy in this film.What makes the reputation of "The French Connection" even harder to understand is that it was released the same year as "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Last Picture Show", beating both of these films to win its many accolades. I recently saw "A Clockwork Orange" for the first time and I was blown away by just how incredible that film is, even more than 40 years after it was made. If "A Clockwork Orange" were released today, I am certain that it would be just as highly regarded as it was in 1971, whereas I doubt that the same thing can be said about "The French Connection". If you do watch this film, keep in mind that, even when it was made, film makers were capable of better.