French Connection II **** (1975, Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Bernard Fresson) – Classic Movie Review 2,041

John Frankenheimer’s welcome 1975 thriller film French Connection II is not quite such a spectacularly brilliant movie as the original, but as a sequel to one, it’s first class. Gene Hackman brilliantly reprises his Oscar-winning role as ‘Popeye’ Doyle.

Director John Frankenheimer’s welcome 1975 sequel to the 1971 Academy Award-winning blockbuster features another mesmerising, ultra-gripping performance from Gene Hackman, brilliantly reprising his Oscar-winning, star-making role from the 1971 The French Connection. It is an entirely fictional sequel to the initially true story of the 1971 picture, expanding on the central character of NYPD Detective Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle.

Hackman and Fernando Rey are the only returning cast members. There were no awards this time, though Hackman was again nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor and the writers were nominated for a Writers Guild of America award for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen.

Hackman’s highly energised and skilled performance lights up this tough crime thriller sequel, this time with the action transferred from New York City to Marseilles. Maverick New York cop Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle (Hackman) travels to the south of France where he is attempting to break a drugs ring and track down Alain Charnier, the French drug smuggler who eluded him in New York at the end of the first film.

The investigation doesn’t go smoothly and ‘Popeye’ is attacked, shot through with heroin and forced to undergo a gruelling cold turkey cure. Once recovered, he has to reassess his own feelings of superiority over the French cops who saved him and his fellow drug victims, and finally try to catch the evil, unscrupulous drug dealers.

This exciting, intelligent movie rarely loses its throttle-tight grip thanks to the story, the fine performances and the stylish direction by Frankenheimer, making the most of the opportunity of being able to use great French cinematographer Claude Renoir. Fernando Rey also makes the most of his returning role from the original as the villain Alain Charnier, the wealthy French criminal who runs the largest heroin-smuggling syndicate in the world.

Also in the cast this time are Bernard Fresson, Jean-Pierre Castaldi, Charles Millot, Cathleen Nesbitt, Pierre Collet, Alexandre Fabre, Philippe Léotard, Jacques Dynam, Raoul Delfosse, Patrick Floersheim, André Penvern, Ed Lauter and Hal Needham.

Robert Dillon and Laurie Dillon (story and screenplay) and Alexander Jacobs (screenplay) make a good job of carving out a sequel script, which is never an easy task. However, original director William Friedkin and writer Ernest Tidyman, both Oscar winners in 1971, are conspicuous by their absence. It’s not quite such a spectacularly brilliant movie as the original, but as a sequel to one, it’s first class.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,041

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