Gene Hackman’s 97% RT Crime Masterpiece Has a Sequel Nobody Remembers

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1971 was a truly memorable year for Hollywood, releasing a series of classic films, including A Clockwork Orange and Dirty Harry, and starting a successful period for crime movies. Many consider it the best year in film history, giving several actors some of their most famous parts. For Gene Hackman, it featured a performance as a remarkably strong detective that became a high point in his career. Unfortunately, the follow-up film hasn’t been remembered as well.

Throughout his career, he consistently proved himself to be among Hollywood’s most gifted and dedicated actors. He’s celebrated for his roles in films such as Unforgiven and The Conversation, and his work appears in countless memorable movies. In 1971, he achieved iconic status with a leading role in a highly-regarded crime film, placing him in the company of classics like The Godfather and Dirty Harry. As often happens with successful, self-contained stories, the studio decided to make a follow-up. While the sequel was enjoyable, it hasn’t endured over time and is now largely seen as a lesser extension of a truly exceptional film.

The French Connection Rewrote Crime Cinema

The French Connection tells the story of Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, a tough New York detective who investigates a large heroin shipment expected to arrive in the city. He explores all his leads – including informants and his fellow officers – and begins to suspect Alain Charnier, a wealthy French businessman, is the source. Lacking concrete proof – only rumors and observations – Doyle starts following Charnier, hoping to gather enough evidence to build a case. A confrontation with Charnier’s associates leads to a famous and intense car chase, which ends with a criminal being shot and killed. Facing increasing pressure from his superiors, the detective goes to extreme lengths, seizing Charnier’s vehicle, confident it will reveal the hidden drugs.

We watch as Popeye and his team gather the necessary evidence, allowing them to create a plan to capture Charnier and his crew. The pursuit leads to an abandoned building where a shootout begins, ultimately ending with Popeye tragically shooting and killing a fellow officer, mistaking him for the criminal. The film concludes with a note explaining that Charnier managed to escape back to France, and Doyle and his partner were transferred due to the unsuccessful operation. By showing the criminal remaining free, the film highlights a common and frustrating issue faced by law enforcement: not every criminal is caught, and investigations can be hindered by problems with different legal areas.

Popeye Returned For Closure

Four years after the original film came out, studios asked John Frankenheimer (also the director of Ronin) to make a sequel. This new story would follow Popeye as he travels to France to catch Charnier. Frankenheimer, who had lived in France himself, really liked the idea of the rough-around-the-edges Popeye navigating a foreign country without speaking the language. The story starts with Doyle arriving in Marseille with official orders from his department, where he meets a local inspector named Barthelemy. His mission is to finally shut down Charnier’s criminal network. However, the American immediately rubs his French coworkers the wrong way with his bold behavior and reputation for violence. As he digs deeper, it becomes obvious that the French are manipulating him. But when Charnier realizes the NYPD cop is on his trail, he turns the tables.

The film really takes a dark turn when Doyle gets snatched by Charnier’s guys. They start shooting him up with heroin, trying to force information out of him. It’s brutal – weeks of abuse turn him into a full-blown addict. When Charnier realizes Doyle isn’t going to talk, he tries to kill him with an overdose, leaving him practically dead right in front of the French police station. It’s a shocking scene. Barthelemy, desperate to save face and worried about Doyle, oversees his recovery. Once Doyle’s back on his feet, he goes after Charnier, driven by personal revenge, and basically burns the whole operation to the ground. With the French police finally ready to intercept the latest drug shipment, I finally get that long-awaited face-to-face showdown with my enemy. It’s incredibly satisfying, after everything he’s put me through.

Why Nobody Remembers The Sequel

The 1970s brought a lot of changes to film, but one change that often goes unnoticed is how sequels became common. After Dirty Harry was widely praised and launched a franchise, audiences started to expect that good crime stories would get a follow-up. However, The French Connection succeeded precisely because it broke thriller conventions, especially with its dark and uncertain ending. In a typical conclusion for that decade, the flawed hero accidentally kills one of his allies, allowing the villain, Charnier, to get away. This reflected the ’70s’ tendency to embrace pessimism, failure, and character flaws in storytelling. This same theme appeared in Gene Hackman’s 1974 film The Conversation, which also deliberately ends without a clear resolution.

This follow-up film really focuses on the intensity of Hackman’s acting from the first movie, perhaps even too much. We see scenes of the main character being forced to use drugs and experiencing extreme suffering, which is quite different from the original, where Popeye is usually in charge. Showing drug use in movies is always difficult – filmmakers risk losing the audience – and this sequel is no different. The film deserves credit for being brave and visually striking, offering a real change of pace, but it’s not going to appeal to everyone. If it was already a sensitive topic in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in 1994, it would have been even more shocking and difficult to watch twenty years earlier.

The reason the 1975 movie faded wasn’t just that the first film was stronger. Many successful sequels still have a dedicated fanbase even if they don’t exceed the quality of the original – think of the later Indiana Jones films or long-running horror series. The real issue was recognizing that the sequel wasn’t just weaker, but actively diminished what made the first movie so special and memorable for ’70s audiences. Popeye’s story isn’t meant to have a neat and tidy resolution, and forcing one undermines the impactful and somber feeling of the original film’s ending. It takes away from the original’s weight and atmosphere.

Friedkin’s Film Was Better Left Alone

Following the 1975 sequel, the decision to create a third Popeye movie – this time for television – is particularly strange. Starring Modern Family’s Ed O’Neill as Hackman’s detective, the film centers on a police investigation into a prostitute’s murder, which quickly expands into a case of international corruption. While the sequel wasn’t as good as William Friedkin’s original, this TV movie was a significant decline in quality. The ’75 film at least offered fans a sense of closure, but O’Neill’s story felt like a simple attempt to make money. Even if the plot had potential, it wasn’t well executed.

Frankenheimer’s follow-up film isn’t poor by any stretch. Actually, judged by today’s standards, it’s a very good thriller, tackling the issue of drug crime directly and with impact, and Hackman delivers a strong performance. It’s understandable, though, that most people only remember the first film, perhaps because of the sequel’s difficult scenes. While John Frankenheimer was a talented director, the story’s impact really came from Friedkin’s distinctive and powerful style, and viewers noticed that same energy wasn’t present in the second installment. It’s still worth seeing if you enjoy dark and realistic crime films, but arguably, the original should have remained the only film made, given its strong message.

How The French Connection Represents The ’70s

The 1970s, above all else, weren’t afraid to challenge viewers, resulting in a constant stream of thought-provoking and often disturbing thrillers. Like Stanley Kubrick, who shocked audiences with his dark vision in A Clockwork Orange, Francis Ford Coppola delivered the definitive Mafia story with The Godfather. The decade generally accepted that heroes didn’t always have to succeed, and cinema truly shines when it’s unexpected. It was acceptable for the villain to win, which allowed for narratives that echoed the intricate morality and uncertainty found in film Noir. The French Connection expertly used this approach, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats, wondering if ‘Popeye’ would ultimately succeed. While the sequel wasn’t necessarily poor, it lacked the impact of the original’s ambiguous conclusion.

Hollywood has had a hard time lately with stories that aren’t clearly good versus evil and plots that keep you guessing, making the 1970s stand out as a golden age of film even today. While many think of Clint Eastwood and Al Pacino when they remember that era, a lot of other actors helped make it special. For example, in 1971, Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, and William Friedkin all won Oscars for The French Connection, and that film was perfect as a standalone movie – it didn’t need a sequel.

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2025-10-05 02:39