6600th Movie Review!!! Genre Guesstimation – French Connection II (1975)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s genre has been chosen by Paul of Silver Screen Classics and we will be reviewing our favorite New York Films of the 70’s.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Jun by sending them to NYC70spaul@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Paul!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of New York Films of the 70’s….

“I’d rather be a lamppost in New York than the King of France.” – Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle

Number of Times Seen – Twice (25 May 2008 and 14 Jun 2020)

Brief Synopsis – Popeye Doyle travels to Marseilles in order to find the wealthy French drug trafficker since he is the sole person who can identify the man.

My Take on it – This is a sequel that picks up right after the events of the previous film.

Gene Hackman once again does a great job with this character. his ‘seclusion’ sequences work well enough in establishing that his work in the previous film wasn’t a fluke.

In addition, the story goes into some very dark places.

The fact that the film isn’t just a rehash of the previous film and is actually able to make Doyle seem confused and disorientated due to the fact that he is totally out of his element with the story and despite this tries as hard as he can to solve this ongoing mystery.

There is no subway chase here yet they find a way to give us a compelling foot race across the streets and waterway of the city.

Having Doyle partner with a French detective works well in establishing the fact that in police work, one can et around language barriers and the different law.

The friendship and camaraderie of these men in the same profession shows how they can forge connections with one another even with the cultural differences between them.

Bottom Line – Great way to continue the story of the previous film. Hackman once again does a great job with his character and the added ‘seclusion’ sequences helps show his acting skills off while also finding ways to make this story go to some very dark places. Love the way that in contrast to the previous film, they present Doyle as a confused character too far from his own element yet striving to get closure for himself. The film doesn’t have a subway race yet it manages to give us a thrilling foot chase through the street of Marseilles. Partnering up Doyle with a local cop works well in establishing the kind of friendship and camaraderie that detectives can forge with one another even when there is a language and cultural barrier between them. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Doyle’s memorable cry of “Mickey Mantle sucks!” during the cold turkey sequence was the source of much trouble for the film makers and their legal department. Producer Robert L. Rosen had to track down Mickey Mantle to obtain his permission for the reference. After a long phone call, Rosen flew out to Mantle’s home in Dallas with a print of the film, which was screened for him and his lawyer. When Gene Hackman uttered the line, Mantle surprised Rosen not only by roaring with laughter but also insisting that they watched the rest of the film because both he and his lawyer were enjoying it so much. Mantle later happily signed a release waiver and the line stayed in the film. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Not really.. nice continuation of the story from the previous film yet despite having some nice themes still misses its mark and isn’t compelling enough.

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10)