Some critics think the sequel is much better than the first French Connection (1971). A New York Irish-American cop, 'Pop-eye' Doyle is a stranger in a strange land on a mission to target the drugs-lord Alain Charnier played by the dapper bearded Spanish-actor, Fernando Rey (The Light at the Edge of the World' (1971) and Antony and Cleopatra (1972)). The urban underbelly of the port of Marseille ca. '74-75 is captured well and the film shows the factory methods of heroin production, eccentric French police methods, the local shipping trade, evocative scenes of a French bar when an inebriated Doyle sporting a beige mac and a pork-pie hat orders a double creme-de-menthe and pickled eggs while ogling attractive young French girls. The cold turkey scene is evocative.
Review of French Connection II
