Watch French Connection II For Free

I wanted to but couldn't!

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

A Masterpiece!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

French Connection 2 (1975) is an Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller movie starring Gene Hackman aka Popeye Doyle, a New York narcotics detective. This film follows Popeye as he is sent to France to follow the trail of drug kingpin Alain Charnier and track him down. The film is in both English and French, but the French parts have English subtitles. Funnily enough, I found this movie to be much more entertaining than the first. I thought that the music was better, the story-line had more detail, and that the film was just overall more entertaining and engaging. Follow the hilarious and over-the-top Popeye as he investigates this crime and attempts to put the drug smuggler's in prison.

Lightening didn't strike twice for this series, and sadly, it shouldn't have to begin with. The French Connection was a great film, that didn't leave room for a sequel, no matter how open ended the ending was. Part of the charm of the first film, was to know that Frog One disappeared, and the case was closed. It was over. But you couldn't tell that to Hollywood executives, as well as the massive success of the Godfather series. But not all Oscar winners deserve to be given sequels. French Connection II is limp and boring compared to it's original. I must give note to some great ideas it had to offer, though. Having a narcotics dealer, namely Popeye, be addicted to heroin in this film is wildly inspired. That was the best thing about the film. Popeye gets doped, against his will. But I can't help but know for certain, that a greater director (William Friedkin) would've visually presented it in a more fascinating way. The cinematography is poor, and that's one of the many things that hinders this one. Gene Hackman is as good as ever, sadly. It's a movie you wished was better, and yet, it never had the right to be.

Despite it's unique style and ultimately somewhat dour tone William Friedkin's The French Connection was a massive critical and commercial success in 1971 and almost single handedly ushered in the edgy filmmaking style that would permeate much of 70's mainstream cinema. The original's ending makes a point of being ambiguous and leaves everything unresolved. This is not a flaw but part of what makes it such a great film. Nevertheless success begets a sequel in Hollywood and it fell to John Frankenheimer to tell us what happened to Popeye Doyle after the somewhat disastrous ending of the first film. Any other typical sequel would have been merely a retread of the first with a different antagonist but the same familiar, comfortable setting like the numerous Dirty Harry sequels. This sequel however, bravely moves from grimy Brooklyn to picturesque, sunny Marseilles, home of 'Frog One' himself, Alain Charnier, again played by Fernando Rey. We pick up Doyle as he arrives in Marseilles to assist the French authorities in identifying and tracking down the elusive Charnier. Here begins one of the films main defining themes, that of Doyle as a fish out of water. Here Doyle's savvy streetwise Brooklyn knowledge is useless. He has no idea as to the particulars of French culture, no bearing as to where he is and most importantly no grasp whatsoever of the French language making something as simple as ordering a Bourbon in a bar a near impossibility. Doyle's rash action and inability to read the terrain leads to the murder of a police informant much to the chagrin of police lieutenant Barthélemy, well played by Bernard Fresson. As Doyle bumbles around Marseilles looking for clues as to Charnier's activities he is spotted by the man himself and promptly abducted and in the film's second ace up the sleeve, is held captive and injected with Heroin. The film takes a dramatic turn and Hackman puts in an Oscar worthy performance with Doyle resembling the junkies he's spent most of his career chasing. After his release we see him forced to go cold turkey by Barthélemy and some of the extended takes of this harrowing ordeal are a veritable Tour De Force of acting. The Micky Mantle speech being particularly memorable. Whereas the first film had it's famous car/L-train chase the sequel climaxes with a foot chase through Marseilles the end result of which remains one of the greatest final shots (literally) that I've seen in a film. We really feel Doyle's desperation and Heroin induced fatigue but he simply will not give up even if it kills him. It may not have the fresh grittiness of the original but it earns points for its brave plot choices and Hackman's incredible performance. Easily one of the most underrated sequels ever, French Connection II gets my highest recommendation.

I rated this as a 4 because the acting and the actors were very good. However, the script was preposterous, improbable and totally laughable. I watched his via Netflix tonight and was glad that I had the option to fast forward over the middle section of the film where Charnier captures Popeye Doyle , etc. I cannot believe or conceive that someone would sit down to a typewriter or a computer and write such dreck. This mid section caused the whole film to go off kilter and became a sort of us sinking, sinking ship. Which is apropos to it being set in Marseille-- a very big port city with lots of boats and ships. Yes, that's what I would call this film... a sinking ship in the port of Marseille. Finally, the ending made me just shake my head and say what a rip off. Whoever wrote the script must really hate movie lovers.