10 Best Film Sequels By Different Directors

10. The French Connection II (1975)

The Sequel To: The French Connection (Friedkin, 1971)

The Director: John Frankenheimer

Taking Over From: William Friedkin 

Though nowhere near as iconic or influential as the original, which took home four of the Big Five at the '72 Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor and Adapted Screenplay), cult director John Frankenheimer's sequel to William Friedkin's cop masterpiece, The French Connection, is a damn-fine effort, and one that deserves a little more recognition. 

With the action relocated from the grime and grease of New York to the more unfamiliar (especially by cop-movie standards) terrain of Marseilles, France—where Franco, the escaped drug-dealer from the first French Connection is holed up—Frankenheimer crafts a riveting, entirely unconventional thriller.

Hackman reprises his Oscar winning role as Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle, a fact that helps the film immeasurably, especially so considering that he's arguably better here, with Doyle being forced into a heroin addiction in a sequence of substantial power. Before that, he's altogether more sunnier than the Doyle of the original, and it's here that II gains extra credit for not being afraid of deviating from its predecessor. 

Add to that a foot-chase among the greatest ever filmed and you get a sense of just how good The French Connection II really is. It's everything you want from a sequel to a classic film.