Admirable film.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

A great movie with amazing action sequences. The car chasing scene was the best scene in the movie. It makes me wonder of the effort taken by the crew to make the chase scene happen. I'm not sure how much of the climax really happened in real life, but it could have been handled in a better way and not let the main culprit escape.

This movie captures a cop-criminal dynamic for its time making it not only entertainment but sort of a history lesson too. This is how they went about solving and preventing criminal activities and we get close-ups on the people on the front lines. Consider too that Roy and Gene who star here deliver believable roles on how to go about it and what to expect as do the criminal elements as well. Good scenes, acting and haunting appropriate music make this movie not only memorable but a must see again from time to time. Its just quality entertainment and worthy of a two hour viewing investment. Recommend a decent snack and drink to enhance the experience making for a good....

While narcotics detectives Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle and his partner Buddy 'Cloudy' Russo are out in a New York bar they observe some suspicious characters and decide to follow one of them, Sal Boca. They are convinced that he is up to nothing good and start a proper investigation. Meanwhile in Marseilles Alain Charnier is preparing to take a large shipment of heroin to New York. When he gets to New York he is quickly spotted and tailed by Popeye although it isn't long before he realises he is being followed. There is then a constant game of cat and mouse as the police try to link Charnier, Boca and others to a drug shipment… unfortunately finding the drugs will be far from easy.This film is rightly considered a classic; the central drama is exciting and the characters are interesting. Gene Hackman does a great job as Popeye Doyle; a character who is surprisingly unpleasant for a protagonist… I know social attitudes have changed since 1971 but many of his racial slurs would still have been considered offensive back then. He is ably supported especially by Roy Scheider as his partner Buddy and Fernando Rey as the dapper French drug smuggler Alain Charnier. The City of New York is effectively a character as well; this isn't a bright shining New York but a run-down city with streets strewn with litter and a general feeling of decay; all of which contributes to a great atmosphere. Fans of a good car chase should be pleased as this includes a classic as Popeye chases a train; it isn't a particularly high speed chase but the crowded streets give it a realism and intensity one doesn't often get. There is some violence and strong language but this isn't particularly excessive; at least by today's standards. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to any fans of the genre.

The movie has gotten rave reviews since it came out and I never understood why. The 1970s were an amazing movie period, especially for big city, real life dramas and cop movies. But this does not hold up to the 1970s brilliance. The camera work is pedestrian and assembly line. The music is awkward. Ninety minutes of watching Hackman follow Sal around a very seedy NYC. I am suspicious that the movie was an elbow reaction to Blaxploitation movies of the time and particularly to Shaft. It has only white main characters and is brutally racist. This itself is odd being that the French were very ethnically progressive in the 1970s. Doyle seems indeed to be an anti-Shaft creation and all of the academy awards reinforce my belief that Hollywood was very threatened by Blaxploitation and by African Americans in general. The amazing acclaim it received from the academy seems to be overly eager in its praise and extremely over-rated to a suspicious degree. The car chase was just a marketing gimmick to validate the acclaim to mainstream audiences. But the plot is generally very weak. The racism is rampant and except for Hackman and Scheider, the acting is very limited. Just like the ridiculous nickname and the poorly worked bully act, the main character leads the viewers down several dead ends. I was genuinely rooting against Doyle the whole movie. Especially after the scene where his partner comes to his apartment to pick him up and finds that he had sleep with an underage girl. In fact, this movie reminds me of the many hundreds of weak NYC 1980s TV cop shows and I believe it probably was a template for them. The ending was just unbearably weak and unbelievable. It really should have been filmed in France and included some French actors, script and camera personnel. They also could have scored better music and utilized it more dramatically. There was some great music being made at this time. They probably didn't do this because, again, I believe it was only a Hollywood racist response to Blaxploitation and the mainstream success of Shaft. Cops employing obvious tails and staring into windows, bumbling, beating up minorities and living out of unmarked cop cars. It really just doesn't hold up anywhere. Unless you are looking for 1970s scenes of seedy Brooklyn, stay away from this one and watch Shaft instead.