French Connection II

Shipping Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle across the Atlantic to France, where he meets up with political exile director John Frankenheimer, does give this freestanding sequel to The French Connection a certain autonomy, even if the filmmakers ultimately end up sacrificing suspense and urgency along the way. The plot again revolves around heroin-smuggling led by drug kingpin Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), but this picture only really comes alive and starts feeling authentic once it delves into Doyle's budding heroin addiction following a kidnapping. The film's best scene has Gene Hackman firing on all cylinders - drunk and in heroin-withdrawal, he alternately lashes out on and leans on his French colleague Henri Barthélémy (Bernard Fresson), and there's a riveting authenticity to Hackman's work in this and contiguous segments. And it certainly makes "Popeye" and also the film's rather predictable finale more relevant in the process.

Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) travels to Marseilles to find Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), the drug smuggler who eluded him in New York.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two and a half out of four stars and said that "if Frankenheimer and his screenplay don't do justice to the character (of Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle), they at least do justice to the genre, and this is better than most of the many cop movies that followed." Is this the classic the original was? Of course not. But you have to give them credit for trying, and not just passing it off as a weak sequel. They kept Hackman, they brought in a big director like Frankenheimer. This was not something just to make a few bucks. And while it may not be the same level of "classic", it still has what most viewers want: some action, some chase scenes... and a devious subplot of a drug cop getting hooked on heroin!

The movie concerns on Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman), an unorthodox New York narcotics cop investigating the flow of drug that follows the trail of the French connection . He travels to Marsaille following the foreign connection and tries to track down the eluded evil Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey) , the smuggling ring chief , who escaped from N.Y.C. There , he joins forces to the French gendarmes (Bernard Fresson and Jean Pierre Castaldi , among others) to hunt down the ringleader . Then , Popeye getaways his French escorts and goes himself into action .

The picture is the follow-up to ¨French Connection¨(by William Friedkin) but didn't achieved the same success and was a flop at box office . However , being , nowadays , considered a very good film and highly rated . In the movie there is action , suspense , violence , intrigue and a little bit of humor in charge of Popeye Doyle , as he begins to find himself as a fish out of water in France and particularly on his relationships with the French people . The film develops a certain social critical to the French habits and there's specially a banter to the Police called Gendarmerie . The motion picture has action-packed but in the intervening period when the starring ends up being abducted by Alain Charnier's henchmen , it results to be a little bit boring , with overlong scenes ; besides , quite disagreeable as Popeye is injected heroin . Gene Hackman's interpretation as the rebel and nonconformist Popeye Doyle is top-notch as well as the previous film that's why he gained deservedly an Academy Award . Fernando Rey repeats perfectly his role as the elegant and cunning nasty and the secondary casting formed by French actors are very fine . The picture was stunningly directed by John Frankenheimer. Rating : Very good and well worth watching.

Popeye Doyle is now in France to find the drug dealer. The film continues the story, this time John Frankenheimer takes the directing reins.

The film's style is not that different from the first film, it feels part of the series, not detached at all.

Gene Hackman actually gets better, he really gets more out of his acting in this one. The film is very much character driven, very little action. The Cold Turkey sequence is mindblowing. Doyle is shown as a flawed character as is Alain Charnier, this adds to the realism.

The direction is excellent, I'm glad the style didn't change too much.

The photography is less gloomy but the locations are similar to the first film.

The French Connection and its sequel are the Grandfather to such classics as To Live and Die in L.A., Copland, and Narc, and the anti-thesis of all of those 80's flops either far too "Hollywood" or far too "by the book". Hackman is still the "knock down, drag out", shoot first ask later 2-fisted narc that doesn't know what Miranda means that he was in part I, but with a change of scenery that takes him across the pond. The terrain has changed, but the raw unadulterated character acting of Hackman still makes it one hell of a roller coaster ride.

Rife with dirty cops, drug smugglers, and French thugs, this movies direction and writing reminds instantly that it is part of the production catalyst that would later see series like The Shield have such success in prime time TV. The 70's rarely pulled punches when it came to top billed cop movies, starting with Dirty Harry, the original French Connection and then snowballing into classics like Serpico. The French Connection II is no exception. This movie won't disappoint any fan of either the original, or anyone that wanted to see for themselves Gene Hackman carrying a lead action role almost through the screen.