French Connection II (1975)

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 | Trolleybus | Neo Noir | Seaport

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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:

In planning the climactic chase in which Doyle pursues Charnier across Marseilles, director John Frankenheimer wasn't aware that Gene Hackman suffered from knee problems. Despite this, Hackman went ahead and filmed the entire chase without a double, badly inflaming his knee by the time he was through. He has said that Doyle's expressions of pain and determination as the chase progressed didn't require much acting.

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:

Brigidier General William Brian, Charnier's Accomplice: [in a restaurant,drinking wine] I wish this Blanc De Blanc would travel,I'd like to take twenty cases with me back to Washington.
Alain Charnier: All you Americans have that misconception.Wine will travel,it is people who have difficulty.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pale Blue Balloons (2008)

Hooked

An outstanding sequel to Friedkin's celebrated original. Hackman's 'Popeye' Doyle continues his pursuit of Fernando Rey's drug lord Charnier in the latter's native France. Shot on location in Marseille, the film often has a feeling of latter-day spaghetti (onion?!) western with long spans of impenetrable, untitled French. Doyle's attempts to integrate himself personally and professionally into this alien town are as well handled as anything in the film.

The film deals in obsession and addiction. Just as the last film closes with Doyle abandoning reason to continue his pursuit, so this one develops this theme. Gene Hackman's bitter, awkward, tough-but-pitiful performance is the stuff of an Oscar winner who doesn't even know how to spell complacency.

John Frankenheimer does an almost impossible job very well in following Friedkin's visual temperament in support of Hackman. Marseille is filmed ruthlessly, grimy and crumbling. There is a great deal of hand-held work, culminating in extraordinary but judiciously used PoV shots in the final, remarkable chase. It's also an economical film, using unscripted action to advance the narrative. Artfully real but uncontrived, it's a very grown-up action thriller. 8/10