Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) travels to Marseilles to find Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey),the drug smuggler who eluded him in New York.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two and a half out of four stars and said that "if Frankenheimer and his screenplay don't do justice to the character (of Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle),they at least do justice to the genre, and this is better than most of the many cop movies that followed." Is this the classic the original was? Of course not. But you have to give them credit for trying, and not just passing it off as a weak sequel. They kept Hackman, they brought in a big director like Frankenheimer. This was not something just to make a few bucks. And while it may not be the same level of "classic", it still has what most viewers want: some action, some chase scenes... and a devious subplot of a drug cop getting hooked on heroin!

The original FRENCH CONNECTION was an amazingly gritty and realistic police drama--one that would have been very hard to equal. While this film, THE FRENCH CONNECTION II didn't come all that close, it was still an enjoyable film.

Four years had passed since the last film and this film is set entirely in France--unlike the original. Popeye Doyle has been assigned to duty with the French police and immediately his character seems like an idiotic loudmouth. While he was far from sophisticated in the first film, here he just seemed incredibly dumb--pointlessly so at times. Although he didn't bother to learn a single word of French, he expected everyone around him to know English and his attempts to communicate just made him seem like a stereotypical "ugly American". While having him be pushy did make sense, having him have absolutely no awareness of any social graces whatsoever and having him talk loudly and wildly gesticulate to get people to understand just seemed like bad writing. Additionally, having him deliberately lose his police escorts seemed incredibly dumb as well and of course led to tons of trouble for Doyle. So the first half hour or more of the film did not have a very auspicious start! Later, when Doyle was captured, it was hard to watch these scenes where they forced drugs on him. Later, when the police found him and forced him to go "cold turkey", the scenes were even more difficult due to the realistic and unflinching manner in which it was filmed. Perhaps these scenes went on a bit too long, but they were well done.

In the last half of the film, the film looked a lot more like the original film--with ample chase scenes and shootouts. And, in the end, as expected there is the final showdown with the evil guy, Fernando Rey. Despite being rather expected, the scenes were done exceptionally well and definitely ramped the film to a much higher and more satisfying level.

So, overall I give the film a 7. The action-packed latter portion of the film picked up the film from its lackluster beginning and showed that despite initial appearances, Doyle was not 100% stupid. A decent, though not especially inspired sequel.

By the way, parents, this film abounds with vulgar language--more than any other 1970s film I can think of and even more than THE FRENCH CONNECTION.

The French Connection is a superb cop flick, that manages to be both sharp and gritty. French Connection II is not only a worthy sequel, it is a fine if slightly inferior one too. While it does have an initially slow set up, when the film gets going it is every bit as exciting as the original. The film does look great with a visual style that is a little grittier but in keeping with its predecessor. Don Ellis's music adds to the atmosphere and style, the story is enough to draw you enough with an interesting plot point with Doyle and a disturbing sequence involving his withdrawal after being forcibly addicted and there is a cracking script and great direction. Gene Hackman is also brilliant with his acting in the cold turkey scenes among the best he has ever done, and while the ending is abrupt in a way due to its sharpness and thoughtfulness this abruptness works. Overall, a fine sequel and perfect to go with a superb first film. 8/10 Bethany Cox