![]() ![]() James Caan, Steve McQueen, Robert Mitchum, and Lee Marvin all turned down the role. I mean, Doyle lives in public housing, for pity’s sake, making it when he can with anything that wears boots, and he does things his way, even if it means breaking the rules and a few jaws along the way.Īpparently, quite a few leading men at the time found the realism a little too gritty. But heck, he’s a working class stiff, not unlike Michael Caine’s Harry Palmer from The Ipcress File. The film is in color, but it is muted, and the camera seems drawn to crumbling buildings, dank alleyways, and stagnant puddles of dark water.Īnti-hero Popeye Doyle, named, I guess for the pork pie hat he wears, keeps us rooting for him even as his unconventional, even thuggish tactics do little to differentiate him from the bad guys he pursues. ![]() Director Freidkin, who got his start making documentaries, perfectly captures the mean streets of New York, as well as a few in Marseilles, France, home of the suave but ruthless drug smuggler played to perfection by Fernando Rey. “Gritty” seems to be the going word here. Perhaps his only saving grace is his obsessive tenacity once he has you in his sights, the man will stay on your ass until you are either busted or dead, much to the lament of any citizen whose car he might commandeer along the way. Kills a colleague in a friendly fire incident and doesn’t even blink. Nobody has the balls to defy him cos he’s so frickin’ scary (Gene Hackman – cinema’s greatest shouter). Less badass and more just bad, he loves to flash his badge, rough up scumbags and shake down whole bars. Bigoted, vice-ridden and perennially abusive, he constantly teeters on the verge of being unlikeable. He doesn’t seem to dog, bust and shoot bad guys to keep people safe, more to satisfy some nasty, brutal desire. It doesn’t get much grittier than an early 70’s New York narc, and Popeye Doyle is the grittiest of the lot. Let me set the tone by quoting a fellow named Nick, who has taken it upon himself to describe some of “Cinema’s Greatest Badasses:” He gives high billing to Gene Hackman’s Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, the make-his-own-rules narcotics-cop based on real life policeman Eddie Egan: In fact, it was probably made before many of you were born. This film was made before the city had its glamour makeover and was slickly marketed the Big Apple. This landmark 1971 “cop and caper classic” was a commercial and critical success, earning a slew of Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor to name a few. It’s still as lean and mean as those dark and dirty streets of New York City 50 some years ago. ![]() Well, that certainly isn’t the case with Gene Hackman’s breakout role as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. How many times have you watched one of your all time favorites from 10 or 20 years ago and been not just disappointed, but even slightly embarrassed, because like more than a few Hollywood stars, it hasn’t aged well? If it is really authentic, as my mother’s was, with lots of pungent oregano, real Italian sausage, and a light homemade crust, it actually tastes as good or better on Saturday morning as it did on Friday night.Īnd that’s true with films as well. The test of a good pizza is eating it cold the next day. "Last time you were dead certain we had a dead cop." Federal agent to Popeye Doyle ![]()
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