French Connection II

French Connection II (1975) is John Frankenheimer's hard-edged crime thriller, and you can watch it online on iFILM. New York cop Popeye Doyle lands in Marseille chasing the heroin kingpin who slipped away from him back home.

Gene Hackman returns as Doyle, and he's still abrasive, monolingual and out of his depth. The French police barely tolerate him; he can't read the city or the people in it. His target is Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), who runs the pipeline Doyle nearly broke in the first film. Then the movie pulls a turn no action sequel attempts: Charnier's men capture Doyle, hook him on heroin, and the middle stretch becomes a brutal account of withdrawal in a locked room.

Frankenheimer shoots Marseille as a sweaty working port, never a postcard. The closing foot chase along the docks is a study in editing rhythm. Grimmer than the original and carried almost entirely by Hackman, it's a sequel that earns its existence. Stream French Connection II (1975) online on iFILM.