One of the greatest crime thrillers ever made, The French Connection is the grimy, gritty and obsessive breakout feature of renegade director William Friedkin. Based on a true story from the book by Robin Moore, Friedkin’s film stars Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider in career-defining performances as NYPD narcotics detectives Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo. When the two stumble across leads on a massive impending drug import from Marseille, Popeye and Cloudy maintain constant surveillance on the importing mobsters and a suspicious French businessman, staking out day and night. As their targets grow increasing elusive, the hunters soon find themselves in the sights of the exporting European crime syndicate.

Winner of five Oscars including Best Picture, The French Connection remains one of William Friedkin’s best films, capturing New York’s ugly underbelly in grippingly realistic documentary-style. The famous car chase, shot without permits in real city traffic, lives up to its reputation, standing strong as a tantalising sequence of irresponsible brilliance that you have to see with your own eyes — as Friedkin himself says “the fact that nobody got hurt is a miracle”.