Based on a novel by Robin Moore, which chronicled the exploits of real-life detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso who smashed a top drugs cartel in New York, William Friedkin’s 1971 Oscar-winning police procedural thriller gave Gene Hackman one of his greatest roles as ‘Popeye’ Doyle, a tough, uncompromising detective who along with partner ‘Cloudy’ Russo (Roy Scheider) hang out at their local basement bar and track a couple working in a deli who appear to be flaunting more money than they are worth. Tracking them to their shop in the suburbs, they discover there is more to this, with a trail leading to an imminent supply of drugs from Marseille, masterminded by top dog Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), who uses a local TV star as a front.
Any number of modern police dramas like the CSI series of programmes and others have been influenced by this then low-budget offering that contains one of the greatest city car chases in which Doyle pursues a hitman trying to kill him (all shot on the streets with unsuspecting bystanders, which makes it all the more terrifying to view nearly half a century after its’ release.