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Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II Year: 1975 Rating: ***
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There's a kind of guilty pleasure watching a thinned-down Gene Hackman as New York's favorite tough cop Popeye Doyle being force-fed heroin in a Euro-slum, and then kicking it cold turkey whilst squirming, vomiting, and eventually screaming about Mickey Mantle...
We begin in France and this time remain there. Unlike his New York stomping grounds, Doyle can't get a decent whiskey buzz, this time gets beat up by a black guy, finds it impossible interrogating perps, and is without partner/anchor Roy Scheider, who, that same year, was busy hunting a Great White Shark for Steven Speilberg...
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Gene Hackman and Bernard Fresson in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II
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But the good news is Scheider's replacement, French actor Bernard Fresson (who resembles Vic Morrow), does a great job, starting out as Doyle's bitter, lecturing lead on the French beat before staring to trust each other's rhythm and instincts.
The involving cat-and-mouse chase between the ragged anti-hero Doyle and classy villain Charnier, played by a returning Fernando Rey, is more of a crippled dog verses a lazy lion this time around...
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| Gene Hackman and Bernard Fresson in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II |
Perhaps because a less mysterious English-speaking Charnier is too comfortable as he meets with American military agent Ed Lauter, while Popeye has absolutely nowhere to turn in this grungy sequel, which does merit some excellent handheld camerawork (John Frankenheimer imitating William Friedkin(, yet feels like a visitor game without much of a home team...
But at times the claustrophobic journey is somewhat intriguing. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be enjoyed, but rather, experienced. And for conventional audiences who like happy endings, the last frame will be much more satisfying than the original's ambiguous cliffhanger.
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| Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II |
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| Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II |
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| Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II |
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| Ed Lauter and Fernando Rey in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II |
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| Gene Hackman and Bernard Fresson in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II |
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| Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II (a black guy beating him this time) |
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| Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II |
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| Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II |
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| Gene Hackman and Bernard Fresson in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II |
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| Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION II |
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