The French Connection

There are some pieces of art that break ground for what's to come later, but still hold quality of their own. Citizen Kane broke ground in methods of cinematography and storytelling that are ubiquitous today, but the movie itself still holds up for its story. Halloween codified the slasher template, and its pace and largely bloodless murders seem quaint to modern youth, but it holds up as a masterclass of slow-burn dread and building atmosphere. I dont know if The French Connection is the wellspring for a ton of cop movie clichés, but it certainly feels like it. Cop with a bad attitude and a drinking problem? Check. Operates on a hunch that his captain doesn't trust? Yup. Exasperated partner? You got it. Captain threatening or actually busting down the protagonist because of an error? It's here. You name the cop movie trope, and The French Connection has it. Problem is, it doesn't have much more than that, and I do mean that literally. The French Connection is a remarkably dry movie, giving you all the moment-by-moment tedium of stakeouts and tailing someone in near-real time. I was expecting a riveting, gritty, street-level action movie, and what I got was the banality of police work. Sure, the train/car chase scene is interesting, but it goes on way too long. In fact, that's really the problem of The French Connection: everything it does, it indulges in for far too long, and it's to pad out a movie that feels like it doesn't have the material to fill half of its 100 minute run time. There is more padding than a pillow factory. I've seen plenty of movies with threadbare plots stuffed with cheap filler, but rarely have I seen that filler be so mundane. And as if that weren't enough, the ending is non-existent. Gene Hackman wanders into a room in a warehouse, fade to black, gunshot, and then a "where are they now?" wrap-up of the characters is all you get to tie a bow on this. DId they run out of time or money? Did they not know how to end it? Or did they have the audacity to think this was clever or edgy? This was one of the Best Picture winners I went into with high hopes, and I was woefully disappointed. I wasn't expecting The Fast And The Furious or Lethal Weapon, but I also wasn't expecting something so unwilling to engage in the principal purpose of a cop action movie: excitement. The presence of two amazing actors can't save it, as Hackman mostly snarls and spits racist epithets, while Roy Schieder is wasted as his beleagured sidekick. This felt like an average episode of an average TV cop drama, bloated to feature length, and starring some A-listers. I can't, for the life of me, understand how it even got on the radar of the Academy Awards, let alone won.