More than half a century after William Friedkin’s revolutionary action film stunned viewers, Geoffrey Macnab looks at how the rogue cop at its centre manages to be so perversely sympathetic ...

Although he inhabits the role as if he weren't even acting, Gene Hackman had one major problem with Popeye Doyle that he didn ...

Gene Hackman starred in multiple classic films – but there was one the actor refused to watch back. On Thursday (27 February), the Hollywood star was found dead, aged 95, in his Santa Fe home ...

By Mike Barnes, Duane Byrge Gene Hackman, the versatile leading man renowned for his smoldering performance as hard-nosed New York City narc Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection ...

A lot of cinephiles like to think of Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle as the quintessential Gene Hackman performance, but the truth is, before The French Connection, Hackman had a very different career.

He won two Oscars over a career spanning over four decades, for playing Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in William Friedkin’s 1971 action thriller “The French Connection” and for his role as ...

This is how we encounter Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) in William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971). He may be dressed as Father Christmas but he is an undercover cop with a ...

Popeye is violent, impulsive ... had been the producer’s first choice as the lead star, but he turned The French Connection down on the grounds it was too close to Peter Yates’ Bullitt ...