I don’t like Gene Hackman. I get that he is a great American actor, but because many of his characters are generally angry, driven, abusive and possibly mad men, I associate him with his characters, and I instinctively hate his face. I’m sure that Hackman (even the name sounds like his characters) is a lovely human being, but if he is in a film, even one that I want to see, I drag my feet before watching it; thus the reason why I only recently saw The French Connection.
The French Connection is a fictional movie loosely based on a real life international heroin trafficking scheme. I did NOT know this before watching the movie. While watching The French Connection, I thought that it was just another imaginative international thriller from the 70s when they understood how to build tension and weave different elements of a story together although it was a bit random to have French drug gangsters in NY. (Side note: this 70s storytelling technique is what Ben Affleck a great story teller and director.) I had no idea that French drug dealers were actually a thing. If I had to look deeper, which is not necessary, The French Connection could be seen as a modern retelling of Moby Dick with Hackman as the new Ahab.
The French Connection is a hateful must see. First, I love to see NYC in the 70s. NYC was really gritty then, and The French Connection encapsulates the period perfectly. Second, The French Connection’s characters’ actions feel real and consequential, not like film contrivances. Hackman’s character, Popeye Doyle, may be the main character that we are supposed to root for, but he is jarringly hateful and careless. Usually police crossing the line in film seems right and necessary, and towards the end, Doyle’s actions begin to seem rational because we can see what the criminals are doing and how they begin to target him and do not care about the collateral damage, but before that, Doyle seems like a sadistic and racist bully. Even his partner, played by the impeccable Roy Schneider, invisibly winces at Doyle’s comment, “Never trust a nigger,” and Schneider was just slashed by a suspect. Who knows? Maybe at that time, those scenes were actually read as an irreverent hero who was willing to do what it takes regardless of the rules, but after watching The French Connection II, I don’t think so based on a comment from a French detective. Also considering that most cops don’t trust Doyle with their lives, I would conclude that Doyle isn’t some lovable maverick, but a problem.
Third, The French Connection has the best cat and mouse scenes in film history. Everyone talks about the car versus train chase scene, but I need more people to discuss the dance between Hackman and the villain at Grand Central Station. I feel like every movie or tv show has tried to emulate that scene at some point. It is worth the price of admission.
The French Connection is not a perfect film. The French Connection would never continue if it were not for the fact that two cops casually having a drink after work sense malfeasance brewing among fellow patrons. They aren’t assigned to a case. They just sense something, run with it and their superiors seem to cosign it and give them huge leeway regardless of jurisdiction. I have no idea if that happens in real life. I thought detectives are assigned to cases. I have no idea. Maybe detectives can make their own assignments based on hunches after work. I’m surprised more people did not critique this, or maybe I’m biased after years of watching Law & Order.