The French Connection

One paragraph is not a review.

This movie is a classic because it is and was, in many ways, unprecedented in its excellence. You are not considered a top critic by Rotten Tomatoes, because you, in may ways, exhibit amateurish qualities in your writing style and ham-fisted, anachronistic analysis.

Friedkin cuts the crap and hits us smack in the face. Car chase not bad either. You pick your feet?

Yes indeed, thank you for giving this film the review it deserves. I'm shocked that this is revered as such a classic. The entire film follows shallow characters that ultimately go nowhere and gives you nothing in the end. I enjoyed the gritty cinematography of 70's new york but that was about it.

Excellent film. I can't believe it took me so long to see it. I disagree with the reviewer. It attempts to be the real thing, and I think it's very successful at it. Best picture and best actor of 1971? Who knows and who cares. Hackman's great. He may have pushed things a little far, even a little over the top, but I don't think his role would have been as memorable if he hadn't. The movie's a lot of great pieces that connect. It was over before I could say, "great film" !

I think that Friedkin is somewhat harsh. However, the film does contain some basic flaws - how, for instance, after Hackman and crew have ripped apart the 'drugs car' do they put it back together in seconds to hand back to one of the suspects???? Weird.

Wow. "Friedkin's nervy, noisy, undisciplined pseudo-realism"....what on earth are you talking about? I mean, "pseudo-realism"?? What does that even mean? Isn't all film peeudo-realism to a greater or lesser extent? Really, this review is illiterate. The beautiful lens-flares, the astonishing underground ballet as Hackman and Rey jump on and off the train, the bleak and beautiful backdrops, the immortal portrait of a specific moment in time (this can only be NYC in 1971), all the hot breath in the icy city air, the minimal, suspenseful, Jaws-like theme, the tension, Scheider, the ending, the car demolition scene, the stakeout of the plush restaurant in the freezing cold, the hand-held POV shots...blah, blah, blah,,,,I could go on and on about the wonderful things in this movie. "Pseudo"? Gimme a break. This movie is a nervy, noisy, undisciplined masterpiece.

Over rated during its time and lauded now as a cinematic achievement, French Connection is a movie that marked the first modern car chase but little else in terms of achievement. It's not just slow, it's pedantically nihilistic and a chore to watch. Either Fiddler on the Roof or Clockwork Orange would have been much more deserving of the 1971 Best Picture Oscar, but this movie won on a gimmick. The ending is unsatisfying on every level, although it was probably a mistake to expect any kind of substantial resolution from hours of flat characters chasing each other across the screen in what amounts to a throw away episode of Law and Order.

After reading this review (and, of course, having seen the film before, wich is excelent) I will be in the future very, very cautious with the recommendations or negative critics in the Time Out Film Guide. Not to be entirely trusted; they can be obviously be very far from the truth.

Thank you for being the only reviewer to give an honest critique of this film at rottentomatoes.com. The movie is disgusting. It wastes ample amounts of time on scenes that go nowhere. The villains keep losing Gene "Popeye" Hackman in painfully drawn out scenes, but Popeye always mysteriously turns up in the next scene. There are lots of scenes that do nothing for the plot. I found myself laughing at how ridiculous this was.