Many films of the Hollywood Renaissance era can be boiled down to two things: how perfect they are in fitting a strict genre and how painfully mediocre they go about exploring that genre. William Friedkin's The French Connection is the perfect example of this. I had not even heard of this film before making it a goal to watch all of the AFI's Top 100 films and frankly, I find it very difficult to see why this one made it on that list at all. There is nothing particularly wrong with this story or the way that it's made other than it is so clearly a product of its time. I could easily guess every plot point of this film and while there are some fantastic performances and a stellar chase sequence, the plot never strays from what any audience member could expect. This film is perfect for when you need a solid crime thriller to satisfy your adrenaline cravings but for its characters and actual development of the plot, it does next to nothing for me.
Detectives Jimmy Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) are two cops in New York who are notorious for doing things outside of the law in order to get the justice they believe the city deserves. When a wanted drug lord named Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey) arrives in town looking to smuggle heroin, the two detectives must go to any lengths in order to track him down and stop him. I really enjoyed this story and I find it difficult to not at least be entertained by a crime story to this degree but I was greatly underwhelmed by how typical this script was. Written by Ernest Tidyman and adapted from the novel by Robin Moore, this movie feels more like an episode of a police procedural show stretched into a feature-length film. Tidyman did not do a fantastic job with introducing these characters or ever really building upon them and because of that, I felt like I was missing a lot of the world's context. I did not ever feel for these characters or their struggle and I feel like much more time was actually put into building the life of the antagonist Charnier. It is very hard for me to get invested in a film that does not make me feel anything towards its supposed leads, let alone one that is already of a genre that does not particularly catch my attention. The French Connection is also clearly a movie of its time and I feel like many of the directorial choices that were made caused me to not care about Doyle or Russo. Friedkin's direction is very dull and predictable and the choices he made, especially for the character of Doyle, made me lose even more interest. Although it was relevant to how a large number of people were at the time, the excessive use of violence by Hackman's character and his beratement of people of color is a strange characteristic for him to have, especially as a police officer. Because of this, I tried to sympathize with Scheider's character Russo more than Doyle but even he did not have much of a personality. In addition to these choices, I suppose my main gripe with everything is how by-the-book the story felt; I am very disappointed with how bored I was during this entire film and I kept wondering when and if it would ever possibly end.
Despite the mediocrity that pulses throughout this movie, there are a lot of scenes that kept me decently entertained and some other elements that make this movie stand out more than most. I was not too engaged with the dialogue or the telling of the story but thank god the action-filled scenes carried this film into memorability. Hackman, Scheider, and Rey all turned in solid performances and I enjoyed seeing them get recognition for these roles. Detective Doyle might be an asshole who pushes the boundaries at times, but Hackman embodied that perfectly. I did not exactly resonate with how Friedkin tried to get his audience to be on one side over the other but Hackman was definitely able to take what he was given and run with it. His dedication to this role is amazing and I got lost in his portrayal. Scheider was also very good in his role regardless of how little characterization he was given. The element of this film that I enjoyed the absolute most, however, was how well it personified New York and the thrilling chase sequence on the train. If nothing else, The French Connection gives its city such a distinct voice unlike many location-less thrillers of this time. New York very much exists to give these characters their attempted personalities and it also helps to set up how frustrating it must have been to be a cop chasing down someone on the train above you. That entire sequence was riveting and I really enjoyed the action of it all. Even though this production felt like an extended television episode, this action scene gave it a much more "Hollywood" style. The build-up to the confrontation between the main characters was done excellently and the wit that was shown between them as Doyle hunted down Charnier is intensely clever.
The French Connection is a wildly unremarkable thriller that, unlike what some will tell you, did not have me on the edge of my seat. I was quite bored during the majority of this film and while I can appreciate the impact it has had on this ever-popular genre, I could not get myself to like this very much. Thankfully the solid performances from Hackman and Scheider make up for the lack of interest I had in their respective characters' stories.
My Rating: ★★★
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