It's Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle! It's a bunch of people chased and chasing around for nearly 2 hours! And did I mention that it has Gene Hackman early on in the film in a Santa suit chasing down a dope dealer? And, and, and... his partner killed a shark! Okay, so Roy Scheider did that in Jaws but still!
In all seriousness, though, the re-telling of a true story and the fact that the film was the first actual MPAA R rated film to win an Oscar says something for its historical merit for, not only its genre, but also the overall canon of film. Culturally, the film and its iconic car chase scene continue to pop up from the Simpsons to Batman Begins to the video game, Grand Theft Auto 4, and even motivated the car chase scene in the classic 1980 John Belushi and Dankroyd film, the Blues Brothers.
On a pop cultural level, it provides an almost quaint look at a world that, in order to keep pace with modern viewing expectations, continue to delve deeper into slickly looking deeper and deeper into the underbelly of its subject matter. One thing that catches my attention is that for a 37 year old film, going back and watching the way it lays out the narrative with two parallel storylines, switching between the smugglers and the cops.
A key ingredient for a film like this, and indeed for most on this list, is that they hold up over time. The French Connection definitely holds up and while I admit to enjoying it, I can say that in the realm of personal preference I think the genre itself has gotten stronger over the years. It is well deserving of its place in film lore because of the excellent action and acting by Hackman and the "villain", Fernando Rey, as well as the compelling story line. It's yet another film that I've been able to revisit since starting this little project and I think it would be well worth most peoples' wile to do likewise.
4 Pontiac LeMans out of 5
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