Like many other reviewers, I wonder what the fuss is about. I can't believe this movie made the Top 200 by AFI. There is no coherent plot, the little pieces of the story told in the particular 'jazzy' way, the trick that attracts some attention at first, but then it becomes dull and predictable. The director obviously strived for 'tell it like it is' approach, but all he managed to create is dull and chaotic movie. The movie heavily borrows from "Bullitt", which I found dull as well. There is no suspense in "The French Connection".
Gene Hackman's performance as a lead was a dud. I couldn't relate to his character at all - there's no internal drama, or really anything. The tagline - "good cop"? The drinking, whoring, racial slurs, shooting unarmed people? No wonder NYPD is knee-deep in lawsuits up to this day.
And a little bit of science fiction made it into the movie. It's clear that NYPD at the time made use of the time machine, because there is no possibility that you can rip apart the luxury car, including interior and the engine, and then put everything back so the car seemed untouched, all in 4 hours (!!!).
The much talked-about car chase is just a long, long, very long car chase. The 'near-collision' scenes are so heavily cut and edited, that all appearance of the continuous chase is gone, and one might be reminded of the editing style of the 'made for TV' films. It wasn't worth to block all that traffic in Brooklyn to shoot it.
One of the most overrated movies of the 70's.
Gene Hackman's performance as a lead was a dud. I couldn't relate to his character at all - there's no internal drama, or really anything. The tagline - "good cop"? The drinking, whoring, racial slurs, shooting unarmed people? No wonder NYPD is knee-deep in lawsuits up to this day.
And a little bit of science fiction made it into the movie. It's clear that NYPD at the time made use of the time machine, because there is no possibility that you can rip apart the luxury car, including interior and the engine, and then put everything back so the car seemed untouched, all in 4 hours (!!!).
The much talked-about car chase is just a long, long, very long car chase. The 'near-collision' scenes are so heavily cut and edited, that all appearance of the continuous chase is gone, and one might be reminded of the editing style of the 'made for TV' films. It wasn't worth to block all that traffic in Brooklyn to shoot it.
One of the most overrated movies of the 70's.