Join us at the Rio Theatre as we dim the lights, raise a glass, and tip our collective cinematic hats to one of the all-time great actors of his generation, Gene Hackman, with a screening of one of his most indelible performances in one of the greatest action films ever made, William Friedkin‘s THE FRENCH CONNECTION.

“It moves at magnificent speed, and exhausts itself in movement.” (New York Times)

“‘The French Connection’ is as amoral as its hero, as violent, as obsessed and as frightening.” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times)

“Gritty, downbeat and, in Hackman’s “Popeye” Doyle, fronted by one of the most unlikely heroes that cinema had seen, this was one of the great films of Hollywood’s most creatively uncompromising period.” (Times UK)

“If you want a dog-eared guide book, stuffed with authentic detail, to the work of the New York narcotics squad, this is your film. It certainly is mine. Every element coalesces into a hard bunch of excitement you can’t imagine better done.” (London Evening Standard)

“William Friedkin’s symphony of long, sharp shocks is memorable for any number of sequences.” (Time Out)

THE FRENCH CONNECTION (William Friedkin, 1971 / 104 mins / 18A)  A pair of NYPD detectives in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a heroin smuggling ring based in Marseilles, but stopping them and capturing their leaders proves an elusive goal.