You observe some dodgy characters while out drinking, it makes you curious and really gets you thinking, you and Buddy are both cops, and drug dealers are your crops, you pursue them, just to follow up your inkling. Your interest starts to pay some dividends, transpires a shipment of white stuff, will soon descend, more surveillance is acquired, telephones are bugged and wired, you know the kingpin, and you plan to apprehend.

An abrasive and coarse story of its time, following the exploits of two policemen and their quest to prevent a large consignment of heroin hitting the streets of New York, while capturing those bringing it in, and those that would deal. A legendary and iconic performance from Gene Hackman as the unstable and volatile Popeye Doyle, it's still a rewarding watch today.

While the 1960s brought us a slew of anti-heroes that even made their way to police films, predecessors such as BULLIT and MADIGAN are tame compared to this ground-breaking film. While these previous films gave a much bleaker view of police work and corruption, THE FRENCH CONNECTION was unique in the intensity of the sleaze that permeates the film. In most ways, this serves to heighten the realism, though even today some viewers will blanch at the films frequent use of the f-word and the general griminess of the city. Fortunately, in recent trips to the city, I was pleased to see how clean and safe the New York has become, but for the New York City office of tourism, this film must have been a nightmare!! Junkies, garbage, murders and the lowest elements frequent this interpretation of the Big Apple--making it look a bit worm-eaten and squishy!

The lead of the film is Gene Hackman and his quiet partner is Roy Scheider. Hackman's character, in particular, made it hard to differentiate him from the criminals because he played fast and loose with some people's rights and because he was prone to getting drunk and picking up one night stands. This was definitely NOT the cop your daddy would have seen in films in the good old days and I am pretty sure Jack Webb didn't approve of this Popeye Doyle character!!!

Despite the seaminess of the film, it was a great detective film because of its exceptional action sequences that made up for the very mundane nature of the job. Long periods of wire tapping and grunt work were punctuated with some of the most exciting scenes in film history--including what most experts would concede is the best chase scene on film. Additionally, the script and direction made the film quite exciting and gritty--thanks also to improvisations to spice up the cop lingo. In so many ways, this film helped create a new type of police film and led to movies such as SERPICO, THE BLUE KNIGHT and the DIRTY HARRY films. See this film and see where it all began--as this was the first rated-R cop film to win the Oscar for Best Picture and STILL today is a film you don't want to let your kids watch (unless you are an irresponsible idiot).

The French Connection and Bullitt have had so many imitators over the past 40 years it's almost impossible to remember that the clichés about police films had their start with these two. Still they did set a standard and should be remembered for that.

My basic problem with The French Connection is the lack of any character development other than Gene Hackman's role. Even his opposite number Fernando Rey is presented as a cool counterpoint to Hackman's Popeye Doyle, narcotics detective who lucked into one of the biggest heroin busts of all time.

Popeye is one of the most unlikely heroes ever portrayed in film. He's a racist bigot, a chauvinistic pig, he's even got a couple of kinks in his sexual persona. I don't think it's an accident that around the time Gene Hackman got his Best Actor Oscar, All In The Family debuted on television with its more lovable version of Popeye. Archie Bunker and Popeye Doyle would have hit it off great. I could see the two of them at Kelsey's Bar in Queens.

Some surveillance at a candy store pays off big time for Hackman and his partner Roy Scheider, but they don't even know how big. Over in Marseilles, Fernando Rey is planning to bring in one big shipment of pure heroin for mobster Tony LoBianco to sell. It's just a question of waiting and watching.

Hackman's not even good at that as Rey gives him the slip on a subway surveillance. Later on in a scene that rivals the car chase in Bullitt, Hackman commandeers a car and chases down one of the gang who holds a subway hostage, I think it's the Sea Beach train a stop or two from Coney Island if memory serves.

The French Connection is based on a book written Green Berets author Robin Moore as told to him by Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, the cops who did the actual bust. Both appear in the film in supporting roles. If Popeye is supposed to be Egan, all I can say is that this man told his story in the Cromwell tradition, warts and all.

Big warts at that.