Sällan skildrades polisspaning samtidigt så hårdkokt och i en så impressionistisk anda.
The movie is all surface, movement, violence and suspense. Only one of the characters really emerges into three dimensions: Popeye Doyle Gene Hackman, a New York narc who is vicious, obsessed and a little mad.
...The French Connection remains an electrifying achievement, drawing its high-voltage forward momentum from the collision of semi-documentary procedural [...] and downbeat rogue-cop revisionism.
Young director Friedkin produced a suspenseful and utterly absorbing film which incorporated thrills with street humor and routine police work with highly dramatic scenes.