The French Connection II is another example of fantastic gritty 70’s filmmaking. John Frankenheimer took what could’ve easily been a quick cash grab of one of the best Police dramas ever made, and instead created a solid sequel that manages too stand shoulder to shoulder with the original. The film sees the return of New York detective “Popeye” Jimmy Doyle (Gene Hackman) as he tracks down Alain Charnier the drug smuggler who managed to slip away at the end of the previous film to Marseille.

Whilst the film certainly has a more melodramatic edge then its predecessor it still manages to stay relatively grounded in the style the first film set-up. John Frankenheimer retains all of the same visual rough…

There's nothing quite like a good, gritty 70s crime movie. Part police procedural part character study, John Frankenheimer's sequel to the much acclaimed multiple Academy Award winner about Santa Clauses interested in weird foot massages in Poughkeepsie, French Connection II follows detective Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) going after drug lord Alain Charnier, who returned to Marseille, France after the events of the first film.

The French Connection gave us one of the most intriguing and unpredictable characters in Popeye Doyle, an egomaniac who knew the ins and outs of underground New York and who happened to be a cop, a rather unorthodox one at that as well. Being a New York cop is really what keeps him together, so when…

A brave sequel to an all-time classic that now seems largely forgotten, possibly thanks to its unrelenting grimness: it makes the first one look like, well, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.......

Doyle is back on the trail of Frog One, this time in Marseilles and immediately Frankenheimer throws us in alongside Hackman to a city where we're instantly isolated. There's no subtitles for the huge amount of French dialogue and this sense of being utterly alone drives the plot in its entirety.

Eschewing the iconic action beats of the first film in favour of almost a character study of Doyle, as he's kidnapped and put through all manner of brutality (itself not really of the physical kind, not wishing…

For the purposes of this review, I will be calling this The French Connection II. Because it's always really bothered me that it's missing the 'The'. It just looks cooler with the 'The' I think. So there you have it.

The French Connection II isn't as good as I remembered it being. I've always held the opinion that it's one of the better sequels that have been made to outright classic originals. Unfortunately, this viewing revealed it to be rather unfocused and for long stretches of its running time to dispense with the main plot completely. It feels like John Frankenheimer wanted to make about three different films here.

The only really interesting one of them though is the continuation…

A brave sequel to an all-time classic that now seems largely forgotten, possibly thanks to its unrelenting grimness: it makes the first one look like, well, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.......

Doyle is back on the trail of Frog One, this time in Marseilles and immediately Frankenheimer throws us in alongside Hackman to a city where we're instantly isolated. There's no subtitles for the huge amount of French dialogue and this sense of being utterly alone drives the plot in its entirety.

Eschewing the iconic action beats of the first film in favour of almost a character study of Doyle, as he's kidnapped and put through all manner of brutality (itself not really of the physical kind, not wishing…