French Connection II

Far superior to Friedkin's original, simply because Robert Dillon's script is much more critical in its probing of the Popeye Doyle character. As Doyle visits Marseilles to track the drugs ring to its source, his natural, bigoted arrogance and sense of superiority are undermined, not merely by being a stranger in a strange land, but also by being shot full of heroin and forced to suffer the terrors of cold turkey. Hackman takes the enlarged role by the scruff of the neck and delivers yet another fine performance of doubt and the dawning awareness of his own weakness. Frankenheimer directs in taut, pacy fashion to keep the suspense high.