The French Connection

Note: Originally written in January 2015

Often in crime dramas that involve drug busts and detectives, we see different facets of the detective game - forensics, espionage, gun fights, the works. But not many flicks focus on the very personal aspects of the detectives - the stuff they eat as they wait around the street corner to nab the mob boss, the things they do as they listen to hours of wiretap, the frustrations and anxieties they face, the works. This one does. But its also so much more than an intimate character study of a detective who's possibly addicted to the thrills of his job. Its a tautly made figurative chase from beginning to end - one that is as solid on ambience as it is on script. Gene Hackman knocks it out of the park in being a frenetic detective - right from trashing a filthy cup of coffee on the sidewalk to emptying six barrels of his revolver into the suspect in a flash. 

Catch more on the flick at IMDB and Letterboxd.