Rent French Connection (1971)
3.8 of 5 from 368 ratings
1h 39min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- New York City detectives "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) hope to break a narcotics smuggling ring and ultimately uncover 'The French Connection'. But when one of the criminals tries to kill Doyle, he begins a deadly pursuit that takes him far outside the city limits.
- Actors:
- Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi, Frédéric de Pasquale, Bill Hickman, Ann Rebbot, Harold Gary, Arlene Farber, Eddie Egan, André Ernotte, Sonny Grosso, Benny Marino, Patrick McDermott, Alan Weeks, Al Fann, Irving Abrahams, Randy Jurgensen, William Coke
- Directors:
- William Friedkin
- Producers:
- Philip D'Antoni
- Writers:
- Ernest Tidyman, Robin Moore
- Others:
- Chris Newman, Christopher Newman, Jerry Greenberg, Theodore Soderberg, Gerry Greenberg, Owen Roizman
- Studio:
- 20th Century Fox
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- 12 Films of Christmas Past, Action & Adventure, Award Winners, Heist Movies: Masterminds and Mavericks, Holidays Film Collection, Oscar's Two-Time Club, Oscars: Winners & Losers, The Best Car Chase Films, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Stanley Kubrick, The Instant Expert's Guide to Wes Anderson, Top 10 Best Picture Follow-Ups, Top 10 Films About Trains: Thrillers, Top 10 Guest Houses On Film, Top 100 AFI Movies, Top 100 AFI Thrills, Top Films, What We Were Watching in 1971
- Awards:
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 01/12/2008
- Run Time:
- 99 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French DTS 5.1, Italian DTS 2.0
- Subtitles:
- Danish, Dutch, English Hard of Hearing, Finnish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- William Friedkin Introduction to The French Connection
- Audio Commentary by William Friedkin
- Audio Commentary by Gene Hackman and Roy Scneider
- Trivia Track
- Isolated Score Track
- Deleted Scenes - With Optional Friedkin Commentary
- William Friedkin Discusses the Deleted Scenes
- Anatomy Of A Chase
- Hackman On Doyle
- Friedkin and Grosso Remember the Real French Connection
- Scene Of The Crime
- Colour Timing: The French Connection
- Cop Jazz: The Music Of Don Ellis
- Rogue Cop: The Noir Connection
- BBC Documentary: The Poughkeepsie Shuffle
- Making The Connection: The Untold Stories Of The French Connection
- Disc 1:
- This disc includes the main feature and Special Features:
- William Friedkin Introduction to The French Connection
- Audio Commentary by William Friedkin
- Audio Commentary by Gene Hackman and Roy Scneider
- Trivia Track
- Isolated Score Track - Disc 2:
- This disc includes Special Features:
- Deleted Scenes - With Optional Friedkin Commentary
- William Friedkin Discusses the Deleted Scenes
- Anatomy Of A Chase
- Hackman On Doyle
- Friedkin and Grosso Remember the Real French Connection
- Scene Of The Crime
- Colour Timing: The French Connection
- Cop Jazz: The Music Of Don Ellis
- Rogue Cop: The Noir Connection
- BBC Documentary: The Poughkeepsie Shuffle
- Making The Connection: The Untold Stories Of The French Connection
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Reviews (3) of French Connection
Classic Cop Thriller - French Connection review by CP Customer
Known for its car chase, the French Connection is more than just four wheels through New York. The largest drugs bust in US history, its a gritty urban snapshot of the Big Apple in the 70's. Breakout performance from Hackman and confirming the talent of William Friedkin.
3 out of 5 members found this review helpful.
Classic Film - Terrible BluRay - French Connection review by MK
What can I say, its Hackman's most powerful performance save for Mississippi Burning and it shows just how rotten New York became post Vietnam. It will shock and offend in equal measure and that is it's intention. Be aware that this is a terrible BluRay transfer, its not even DVD quality its like watching a VHS tape. Not all transfers are made equal, its literally a digital scan of a cinematic print and this one is worn out and dirty with washed out colours. Buy the DVD and save your money.
1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Brilliant & Important Crime Thriller - French Connection review by GI
America's cinematic New Wave that began in the 1970s is never more obvious than in the presentation of the classic crime thriller. A more gritty realism was evident in the mid to late 60s in films like Bullitt (1968) for example and this realism developed especially with the depiction of violence especially. Director William Friedkin took the genre one step further with The French Connection, making a European arthouse style police procedural thriller, almost looking and feeling like a documentary and loosely based on real events and showing the squalid and seedy side of police work. There are no police heroes here, indeed quite the contrary. Set in New York (with a sideline in France) this follows two narcotics detectives as they stumble upon a drug trafficking case that, for one of them, becomes an obsession. The police here are depicted with their cynicism, general racism, casual oppressive use of violence and as deeply flawed in character and personality. Gene Hackman plays Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle, a dedicated but unpleasant cop and Roy Scheider is Buddy, his partner. Doyle's whole life is around his work and his reluctance to go home sees them inadvertently come across Sal (Tony Lo Bianco) and discover by hours of tedious surveillance his arrangement to buy a large consignment of heroin from Charnier (Fernando Rey), a suave French businessman and clever criminal. The film set new boundaries in its open depiction of drug use and the the use of violence by the police. It's a gripping story that shows the routines of police surveillance with a tough and realistic chase sequence in the centre of the film. This film effectively changed the face of crime cinema and opened the door for such films as Dirty Harry (1971) and Serpico (1973) to follow. It's one of the great American films of the 70s, with it's sinister music soundtrack, enigmatic final ending and gutsy action. A modern masterpiece of cinema.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.