As I see it a large number of unanswered questions arise in this account of Hackman's visit to Marseilles. The idea of Hackman acting as bait to locate Fernando Rey seemed faintly idiotic. After Hackman was captured by the bad guys what exactly was the point of them spending a lot of time turning him into a drug addict, and then dumping him back for the local police to look after ? Why was such a pointless extra long time spent on showing his cold turkey cure, and his sports fantasies ? Was this cure meant to last for three weeks or more ? What was the point of showing an old woman, who was nothing to do with the story, stealing his wrist watch ? Were all the people in the Hotel Tanger, or Colonnade, drug addicts ? Very little made sense --- or was I missing something ? After quite a lot of shooting, the whole scene was suddenly flooded by cascades of water. I had no idea where all that water came from, and the only point of it seemed to be to show how Hackman saved the life of the French cop. Then the French cop would be indebted to Hackman. For what reason ? It was all peculiar, and the only reason I might watch it again would be to try to figure it out. Somewhat like in the first film, Hackman ends up doing a fantastic amount of running, and then produces a stupendous long-distance pistol shot. He is often shown eating, and doesn't like Swiss chocolate. Don't know why.
Review of French Connection II
