New York City detectives Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle and Buddy “Cloudy” Russo go out for drinks after a night of roughing up black people for intel. While at the bar, they see a couple of low-level crooks entertaining narcotics mobsters and begin to tail them. A big heroin shipment is rumored to arrive and when the American criminals begin meeting with Frenchman Alain Charnier, Doyle suspects the deal is about to go down. Doyle follows Charnier, who catches on and thwarts Doyle’s pursuit. Charnier then authorizes a hit on Doyle, but it’s unsuccessful and results in a dramatic car-and-train chase across the city. Doyle impounds a vehicle connected to Charnier and police mechanics find $32 million worth of heroin hidden in the car. The detectives return the heroin and wait for the deal to go down. They set up road blocks and chase the criminals back to Wards Island where a shoot-out showdown takes place.
This film played way differently than I thought it would, but I really liked it. Gene Hackman’s “Doyle” was a super-tropey, bad behavior, hunch-driven-and-hungry detective, but his performance works. And the well known, stand-out sequence of the film was the car chase across New York City between an elevated train and a commandeered vehicle. Front fender POV shots and deft cutting between street-level and train-level action worked together to create a dramatically exciting chase. But the shoot-out conclusion to the sequence has your questioning the lengths Doyle will go to. Other than revealing that his hunches have been wrong (and costly) in the past, the film never really addresses Doyle’s unhealthy drive and desire to crack the case, no matter the cost. Ultimately, it’s the semi-unsatisfying ending that elevates this struggle and gives the film credibility. Sure, at the end of the day, our “good guys” win in an exciting fashion. But with critical criminals getting away or getting off early, and our heroes lost to friendly fire or scattered to the wind, was the cost worth it?