The French Connection

Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle and his partner Buddy Russo are New York police detectives on narcotics detail, trying to track down the source of heroin from Europe into the United States. Suave Alain Charnier is the French drug kingpin who provides a large percentage of New York City’s dope, and Pierre Nicoli is a hired killer and Charnier’s right-hand man. The film’s high point, a high-speed car chase with Popeye tailing an elevated train, was one of the most viscerally exciting screen moments of its day and set the stage for dozens of action sequences to follow. And the film’s grimy realism (and downbeat ending) was a big change from the buff-and-shine gloss and good-guys-always-win heroics of most police dramas that preceded it. (www.allmovie.com)