Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett CollectionĪfter a long and illustrious career, no one expected any more surprises from Jack Nicholson, yet here he is, giving the complex Irish mafia boss Frank Costello the best he has to offer.

Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio in 'The Departed'. Truly, the two performances gave us one of the most in-depth portraits of a fictitious character we've ever seen on screen. With the role split between Brando and De Niro, Vito Corleone emerged as a tragic and vicious figure who looms over his family, leaving a legacy that haunts everyone he loves. In an era where movies increasingly suffer from bloated runtimes, Coppola made the first installment's three-hour length riveting, packing the story with a grand wedding, shootouts, a love story in Italy, surprise murders, and the death of a patriarch, all while having time left over for excursions in Hollywood and Las Vegas. With an ensemble including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Richard Bright, Abe Vigoda, and Bruno Kirby, the prequel was already destined to be memorable, but Coppola's sense of timing and rhythm makes the film feel like a true achievement even decades later. Where to watch The French Connection: Maxįrancis Ford Coppola's career high mark gave audiences the American crime saga of the Corleone mafia family toward the end of the '50s, with Part II looking back on the criminal clan after Vito Corleone ( Robert De Niro) moves to the States from Sicily. It's ambitious, dogmatic, and insanely neglectful of everything but the pursuit of justice, a perfect metaphor for the film itself. Gene Hackman - who developed new shades of menace and gravitas with each passing year - turns in a career-best performance as the determined and obsessive Detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle, who, along with Roy Scheider as his partner, seems truly willing to lose his life if it means catching Fernando Rey's Alain 'Frog One' Charnier.įriedkin knew where he wanted the camera for every shot, and that includes the famous car chase sequence, which still manages to instill dread and anxiety as Hackman crashes into vehicles while in hot pursuit of a villain on a train. Countless films have tried to emulate its greatness since, but The French Connection is the modern blueprint of the genre for a reason. The adaptation of Robin Moore's non-fiction book sees two detectives try to bring down a drug kingpin with complications arising at every turn. This William Friedkin neo-noir masterpiece all but swept the 44th Academy Awards. Roy Scheider and Gene Hackman in 'The French Connection'.

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