In the great tradition of American thrillers , this famous movie concerns ¨Popeye Doyle¨(Gene Hackman) , an unorthodox narcotics undercover police following the Marsella French connection about a smuggling ring connected with a New York crook (Tony LoBianco) . He teams up with cop Buddy Russo, ¨Cloudy¨(Roy Scheider) , following the trail to hunt down the ringleader named Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey) , a suave gentleman but astute baddie , and his hoodlum (Marcel Bozzuffi). The time is just right for an out and out thriller like this . When "Popeye" cuts loose, anything goes! Doyle is bad news - but a good cop. A $32,000,000 chase turns into the American thriller of the year! .There are no rules and no holds barred when Popeye cuts loose!
In this highly rated film there is noisy action , suspense , thrills , violence and being extremely entertaining . Gene Hackman as the rebel and non-conformist Popeye is magnificent , he won a deserved Academy Award . His nemesis , Fernando Rey as the drug smuggler , plays perfectly his role as the cunning and elegant villain . Furthermore , a splendid support cast , such as : Roy Scheider , Tony LoBianco , Marcel Bozuffi , among others . The movie contains one of the best car chases ever shot with another prize for the professional film editor (Greenberg) and one of the most gripping pursuits between Popeye Doyle and Alain Charnier. Aproppiate and realistic cinematography by Owen Roizman , Friedkin's usual cameraman (The Exorcist) and adequate music score by Don Ellis . Interesting screenplay by Ernest Tidyman , an expert writer on thrillers and action movies (Shaft) . This is a great film , professionally directed by William Friedkin and followed by a nice sequel ¨French Connection II¨ by John Frankenheimer and again with Gene Hackman and Fernando Rey. Rating : Above average and well worth seeing , as it is an authentic classic movie .
