Thoughts on The French Connection?(1971)

Friedkin did a fantastic job and Gene Hackman is tremendous.

It's terrific though Hackman gives an even better performance in French Connection II.

Flip flappin' amazing.

Also, yes... I have picked my feet in Poughkeepsie.

It's just too stripped down for my taste. I remember not caring for it when I was younger so I gave it another shot sometime last year and felt pretty much the same. There's a startling lack of story and character development and Gene Hackman gives maybe the most by-the-numbers performance of his career. I think I get that impression because the script doesn't give him anything to work with, so his customary ferocity comes off as shallow (he gives virtually the same performance in Mississippi Burning but is much more interesting to watch there). I still have mad respect for the technical craftsmanship on display, especially the cinematography, but otherwise the film feels very empty and uninteresting because it lacks a strong narrative foundation. I just don't have enough of a reason to care about Doyle's pursuit of these indistinguishable crooks who frankly might as well have been left nameless for all the attention the screenplay gives them. A few surface-level thrills aside (the car chase is a technical masterpiece unto itself), the movie's story doesn't get interesting until the last scene, and the ending truly is one of the most haunting ever put to screen. The rest just doesn't quite hold up.

So I don't get the hype.