I hope this isn’t a spoiler or the “OH SHIT” moment.
Well, here’s another movie I have not seen or haven’t heard much about. I know there’s a young Gene Hackman in it — who I thought might have been bae back in the day but he looks the exact same, just less wrinkles. I was actually talking with my husband about how this was the next film I needed to watch (because I could just skip over Pulp Fiction) and he said “Oh, I don’t think you’ll like it. I thought it was boring.” WAIT. WHAT!? How is he going to try and ruining my movie viewing experience before I even get to form my own opinion…? He then redacted his previous statement by saying that he was probably too young to fully understand the film as a whole and might need another viewing to form a better verdict. I guess we shall see which one of his statements is more true.
Basic Premise of the Film: There’s drug smuggling afoot. Two New York Detectives (but really one of them) are trying to bust it up. Based on a true story.
Okay, I didn’t know what to expect beforehand except for my husband’s “review.” Honestly, this film was so much better than I was expecting. It took a minute for the film to really reel me in. There was like maybe 20 minutes or so of plot set-up before the film really took off. Suspense: AMAZING! Plot: GREAT! What really sent this movie over edge for me was this really great foot/train pursuit. All the Oscars were won based on this like 10 minute segment of the film, I swear. Also, the movie poster was a low-key spoiler of an “OH SHIT” moment. After this, you can totally see that a lot of detective-suspense movies after this one wish they were The French Connection. The French Connection isn’t THE detective movie (see: The Maltese Falcon), but it’s definitely one of the best out there that I’ve ever seen. I think one of the things I low-key liked best was that the drug and the smugglers for once weren’t from a Latino background with a cocaine hookup. In this film, they’re French (obviously) and the drug was heroin. They gotta mix it up sometimes, right?
Acting on this film was I think some of the best on this list so far — with the exception of Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur, of course. You’re-gonna-need-a-bigger-boat Roy Scheider was great as Detective Russo. Obviously, the star of this movie was Detective Doyle — Gene Hackman. He was great and definitely deserved the Best Actor Oscar he won. Not only that but this movie was deserving of the Best Picture Oscar as well — the first R-rated film to do so! When the list first came out in 1998 this film as listed at #70 now it’s at #93. 23 spots is a pretty big drop, but that’s still five less that Ben-Hur’s 28. Hopefully, when this list is updated again it’s still on the list because that whole sniper-train chase scene alone deserves to stay on the list.
If you’ve seen “The French Connection,” what did you think of it?
I viewed this film on a hosted website. CLICK HERE if you’d like to watch it. As always, available for rent on YouTube.
And now for funsies…
Here’s a short YouTube documentary on what makes this film so great. The things I couldn’t find the words for, this covers it.
secret life of an almost "Grown-Up" 