French Connection II(1975)

Gene Hackman returns to his Oscar-winning role of Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, still obsessively pursuing "the French connection" to the New York drug trade: Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). Doyle has taken his show on the road to Marseilles, where the smug Charnier has settled back into organizing massive heroin deals with the likes of Brigadier General William Brian (Ed Lauter) from Washington D.C. Roy Scheider's Buddy Russo must've stayed at home, leaving a lone Doyle in the hands of dry-witted Inspector Henri Barthélémy (Bernard Fresson). Doyle's tunnel vision prevents him from seeing he's being dangled as bait by his New York and French keepers. Captured by Charnier, Doyle is shot up with heroin until he becomes a junkie, which seriously complicates his not-so-well-laid plan to bring Charnier to justice. (Also returning for the sequel: Don Ellis, who contributes another experimental jazz score).

French Connection II(1975)

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