The French Connection Hello?

The French Connection is a film about one of the biggest drug raids in New York history. It has a hugely famous car chase scene that is filmed on the streets of real-life New York, and it has to be seen to be believed. It’s one of the most thrilling sequences in any action movie, and it’s helped to make the film a cult classic.

It’s also a movie with some serious problems, and it’s amazing that so many people have managed to ignore them. The plot is full of holes, and the dialogue is appalling. Despite this, it’s still a very entertaining watch. The music is superb, and it’s easy to see why Jerry Goldsmith’s score is so celebrated. The acting is also excellent, and it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Gene Hackman playing the part of the brutal detective.

A few years ago, the film’s creator Stephen Marks put his loss-making Nicole Farhi label up for sale, and French Connection seemed like it was on its last legs. It’s a shame, because the brand was once a true fashion icon. Its arresting FCUK branding tapped into the logo-laden zeitgeist of the Nineties, and simple T-shirts emblazoned with ‘fcuk fashion’ went down a treat. They were perfect with combat pants and a girl-power pout, or the appropriate parka and scowl for men.

Marks has recently blamed the current financial The french connection left over crisis for the closure of 14 of the chain’s UK stores, but he hasn’t given up on the business completely. He’s still running the relaunched homeware line, and has a number of other projects in the pipeline. There’s even a chance that the brand will make a comeback in the US, where it was a huge success in the Seventies.

This is a digitized version of an article that originally appeared in print on September 13, 1996, and was created by The Times’s archive production team. This digital copy is not permanent and may not be available in the future. The Times welcomes comments on this story.

1996 The New York Times. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.