Prior to The French Connection, Friedkin had made a career as a documentarian and filmmaker of art-house pictures. The French Connection not only saw Friedkin ascend to the echelons of the “New Hollywood” movement that featured the likes of Martin Scorsese and Peter Bogdanovich, but it also laid the groundwork for a filmmaker whose uncompromising vision changed the cinema landscape.
Loosely based on true events, The French Connection tells the story of Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman), an uncompromising narcotics detective who, along with his partner Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider), investigates a mysterious French drug kingpin (Fernando Rey) who plans to export a massive amount of heroin into New York City.
A potent blend of gritty police procedural and innovative action thriller, The French Connection set the standard for action packed crime movie filmmaking that is still felt to this day. Friedkin brought his documentarian mindset to not only the films police procedural elements that felt raw and real, but also to a now legendary chase scene in which Doyle takes no prisoners in his pursuit of a hitman who has taken escape on an elevated train.
Gene Hackman delivers one of the best performances of his career as Popeye Doyle, a cop of ferocious intensity and anything-to-get-his-man dogged determination that often steps over ethical boundaries, placing him in the crosshairs of his less than enthusiastic superiors. While John Wayne would never shoot anyone in the back, Hackman’s Doyle had no such qualms.
A heart pounding and engrossing crime action movie that has rarely been equalled, The French Connection proved Friedkin a force to be reckoned with.
