Doyle is bad news—but a good cop.
Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.
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Character
Earnest, grave, classical in form and meticulous.
- earnestironic
- gravecomic
- classical in formformally daring
- rawmeticulous
- character-ledplot-driven
Who loves it, who doesn't
39 profiled raters. Loved most by The Prestige Hunters; disliked most by The Comfort Seekers.
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“Is The French Connection better than The Exorcist?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- CinemaSerfon TMDB · Sep 20247/10
Though he's not top-billed here, I found it's Fernando Rey who delivers best in this brutal and authentic-looking story of trans-Atlantic drug smuggling. Popeye (Gene Hackman) and his pal Russo (Roy Scheider) are detectives in New York determined to bring down a network of cocaine importers who are bringing the lucrative white powder in from Marseille. They suspect that it's Charnier (Rey) who is masterminding the whole enterprise, but they can't pin anything down on him. He hides in plain sight, clad in cashmere with a distinctive hat and dining in fine establishments - but always beyond their grasp. He almost teases the increasingly frustrated policemen who stray ever closer to the line as they try to apprehend him. Will either of them ever crack? Hackman is on great form as the exasperated cop and the drip-roast effect of the plot development from director William Friedkin makes that even more potent, especially when coupled with the flagrant nonchalance of his quarry, with a powerful score from Don Ellis and one of the best city car chases you'll ever see on a big screen. Scheider does enough, and there are also quite a few effective supporting contributions from the likes of A
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Cast
- Gene HackmanJimmy "Popeye" Doyle
- Roy ScheiderBuddy Russo
- Fernando ReyAlain Charnier
- Tony Lo BiancoSal Boca
- Marcel BozzuffiPierre Nicoli
- Frédéric de PasqualeDevereaux
- Bill HickmanMulderig
- Ann RebbotMarie Charnier
- Harold GaryWeinstock
- Arlene FarberAngie Boca
Crew
- William FriedkinDirector
- Ernest TidymanScreenplay
- Owen RoizmanDirector of Photography
- Don EllisOriginal Music Composer
- Gerald B. GreenbergEditor
- Philip D'AntoniProducer
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Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
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Three Days of the Condor 197578% alikeBoth earnest, grave, classical in form.
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Wild Wild Country 201878% alikeTelevision · Both grave, earnest, classical in form.
Often watched with
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