French Connection II

Released in 1975, French Connection II continues the story of New York narcotics detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle. Having narrowly missed drug boss Alain Charnier back home, Doyle follows him to Marseille, where he is expected to work alongside French police. His abrasive methods and unwillingness to fall in line quickly create friction with his local counterparts, and his conspicuous presence soon alerts Charnier that he is in the city. The investigation becomes a personal struggle for Doyle as he tries to bring down the heroin network operating from southern France.

John Frankenheimer directed the film, the seventh of the eighteen features he made, arriving between Grand Prix and Black Sunday. Gene Hackman returns as Doyle, with Fernando Rey again playing Charnier, and Bernard Fresson, Philippe Léotard, Ed Lauter and Charles Millot among the supporting cast. Alexander Jacobs, Robert Dillon and Laurie Dillon wrote the screenplay, and Robert L. Rosen produced it for 20th Century Fox. Made for about 4 million dollars, it took roughly 13 million worldwide.

Audience response has been moderate: on IMDb it holds 6.7 from over twenty thousand votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.8 from several hundred. A critics' rating of 6.6 from thirty-nine reviews places it slightly below the audience scores. As a sequel, it shifts the action from New York to France while keeping Hackman's obsessive detective at the centre.