French Connection II (1975)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

Alexander Jacobs (screenplay) and
Robert Dillon (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 May 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

THE FRENCH CONNECTION was only the beginning-THIS is the climax

Plot:

"Popeye" Doyle travels to Marsailles to find Alain Charnier, the drug smuggler that eluded him in New York.

Plot Keywords:

Narcotics | Detective | Jail Cell | Drug Trafficking | Spoon

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Doyle
Fernando Rey	...	Alain Charnier
Bernard Fresson	...	Barthélémy
Philippe Léotard	...	Jacques (as Philippe Leotard)
Ed Lauter	...	General Brian
Charles Millot	...	Miletto
Jean-Pierre Castaldi	...	Raoul
Cathleen Nesbitt	...	The Old Lady
Samantha Llorens	...	Denise
André Penvern	...	Bartender
Reine Prat	...	Young Girl on the Beach
Raoul Delfosse	...	Dutch Captain
Ham-Chau Luong	...	Japanese Captain (as Ham Chau Luong)
Jacques Dynam	...	Inspector Genevoix
Malek Kateb	...	Algerian Chief (as Malek Eddine)

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:X (original rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | UK:18 (video rating) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:16 | Brazil:16 | Canada:18A (video rating) | Finland:K-16 (1988) (video rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Whenever Fernando Rey is speaking French in the film, his voice is dubbed by a French actor.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the beginning of the movie, when Doyle arrives with his suitcases at the dock, a girl in a flowered dress and a boy in a yellow shirt run past him towards his right-hand side. In the next shot, when we see Doyle from the front, the same girl and boy are climbing up on a fence on his left-hand side.

Quotes:

Alain Charnier: [the two are duck hunting] We should decide the matter of the rendezvous, a place to meet after you have made the delivery.
Brigidier General William Brian, Charnier's Accomplice: How's New York?
Alain Charnier: [laughs slightly] You know better than that, William.New York is hazardous to your health, at least to MY health.But it is an amusing city.
[shouts a command in French]
Brigidier General William Brian, Charnier's Accomplice: How did you do it,if it's not a secret?
Alain Charnier: Oh, it was very simple and very droll.83 policemen wanted to talk to me,and 52 of them chose to talk to my money instead.I love a city where you always know where you stand.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pale Blue Balloons (2008)

Gritty Street-Wise Cop Action With Teeth

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.