French Connection II (1975)

	Directed by: John Frankenheimer	COUNTRY USA GENRE Action/Crime NORWEGIAN TITLE Brennpunkt Marseille RUNNING TIME 119 minutes
	Produced by: Robert L. Rosen
	Written by: Alexander Jacobs Robert Dillon Laurie Dillon

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle	Gene Hackman	½
Alain "Frog One" Charnier	Fernando Rey
Inspector Henri Barthélèmy	Bernard Fresson	½
Jacques	Philippe Léotard	½
General Brian	Ed Lauter	½
Miletto	Charles Millot	-
Raoul Diron	Jean-Pierre Castaldi	-
The Old Lady	Cathleen Nesbitt	-

Review

Shipping Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle across the Atlantic to France, where he meets up with political exile director John Frankenheimer, does give this freestanding sequel to The French Connection a certain autonomy, even if the filmmakers ultimately end up sacrificing suspense and urgency along the way. The plot again revolves around heroin-smuggling led by drug kingpin Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), but this picture only really comes alive and starts feeling authentic once it delves into Doyle’s budding heroin addiction following a kidnapping. The film’s best scene has Gene Hackman firing on all cylinders – drunk and in heroin-withdrawal, he alternately lashes out on and leans on his French colleague Henri Barthélémy (Bernard Fresson), and there’s a riveting authenticity to Hackman’s work in this and contiguous segments. And it certainly makes “Popeye” and also the film’s rather predictable finale more relevant in the process.