Movies

"The French Connection" is an excellent film in every way imaginable. Gene Hackman (Oscar-winning) stars as a tough New York cop who is obsessed with stopping the flow of heroin into the city from France. Fernando Rey is perfect as the ring-leader of the smuggling. Tough, gritty, and realistic, "The French Connection" is an intense character-study that is never short on suspense or action. The film won five Oscars in 1971, including the Best Picture Oscar and one for William Friedkin's (only 32 at the time) intense direction. In a year that produced "The Last Picture Show" and "A Clockwork Orange", this film's win makes it even more impressive than it was nearly 30 years ago. Excellent. 5 stars out of 5.

Whether it was the best movie of the year is up for debate, but that does not mean The French Connection is a bad film. In fact, it is a superb film. It is very well made, it has a hard edge, is well directed, has a fine script, some very memorable sequences, is well scored and Gene Hackman once again is superb in the lead. I like cop flicks just as much as the next person, and I have to say The French Connection is one of the best of them. Not only does it have all the things I mentioned above, but I think it has aged well and it is definitely worth seeing more than once. All in all, superb, worth seeing for Hackman. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Gene Hackman gives a wild performance as the loose-cannon cop Popeye in this classic film. I loved the gritty realism of the movie and especially the long, engrossing sequences of the cops following their man around on the New York streets which built huge amounts of tension. The car/train chase is quite inventive and fun as well.