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The French Connection (1971)
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Overview
Tagline:
The time is just right for an out and out thriller like this. morePlot:
A pair of NYC cops in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a drug smuggling job with a French connection. full summary | full synopsis (warning! may contain spoilers)Awards:
Won 5 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 8 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(5 articles)
Hackman Snubs Films For Books (From WENN. 6 May 2008, 12:18 AM, PDT)
France Honors Director Friedkin (From Studio Briefing. 8 August 2007)
User Comments:
Tough, cool and clever moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Gene Hackman | ... | Jimmy Doyle | |
| Fernando Rey | ... | Alain Charnier | |
| Roy Scheider | ... | Det. Buddy Russo | |
| Tony Lo Bianco | ... | Sal Boca | |
| Marcel Bozzuffi | ... | Pierre Nicoli | |
| Frédéric de Pasquale | ... | Devereaux (as Frederic De Pasquale) | |
| Bill Hickman | ... | Mulderig | |
| Ann Rebbot | ... | Marie Charnier | |
| Harold Gary | ... | Weinstock | |
| Arlene Farber | ... | Angie Boca | |
| Eddie Egan | ... | Simonson | |
| André Ernotte | ... | La Valle (as Andre Ernotte) | |
| Sonny Grosso | ... | Klein | |
| Benny Marino | ... | Lou Boca | |
| Patrick McDermott | ... | Chemist (as Pat McDermott) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
104 minCountry:
USAColour:
ColourAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)Certification:
Canada:18A (video rating) | Philippines:R-18 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:18 | Brazil:14 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (special edition) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (special edition) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Ireland:18 | Norway:16 (1972) | Norway:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | West Germany:16 (bw) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) (original rating)MOVIEmeter: 
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
First originally R-rated movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since then, Midnight Cowboy (1969), which was originally rated X, has since been downgraded to an R-rating, technically making it the first R-rated Best Picture winner. moreGoofs:
Factual errors: When the subway motorman is shot and slumps in the motorman's cab, "the dead man's feature" should have taken effect, applying the train's brakes automatically when his hand came off the controller. Instead, the train continued moving at its excessive speed. moreQuotes:
[first lines]Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Merry Christmas. What's your name, little boy?
Little Boy: Eric.
Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Uh-huh, Eric. What do you want for Christmas Eric? Hmmm?
more
Soundtrack:
Everybody gets to go to the moon moreFAQ
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I just bought "The French Connection" DVD-box (must for anybody who appreciates fascinating old thriller classics) and I have to admit that even though I've seen this terrific film couple of times some years ago now I finally realized how stylish, impressive, brilliant and powerful movie it actually is. However personally I think that year Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece "A Clockwork Orange" would have been a slightly better choice for the best picture Oscar but I guess in the end it was way too dubious at the time to win it.
If "The French Connection" was released today, nobody would be interested in it. In the early seventies this was something totally unique, nowadays this is of course a huge classic that shaped the form of all the upcoming cop thrillers but nothing we haven't seen before. Actually that's the biggest problem of the modern cinema, we've seen it all - there's nothing new filmmakers can offer us.
If you have your doubts about this film you just have to be patient and wait a while. Gene Hackman is having one of the finest performances of his career as Popey Doyle but the film starts out like just a thriller among others. The second half of "The French Connection" reveals why this movie has earned its numerous awards and reputation as one of the greatest cop flicks of the 1970's. Over 30 years later those chase scenes are still pure dynamite.