The Wolverine: 10 Movies That Influenced James Mangold

3. The French Connection (1971) A somewhat bizarre influence perhaps, The French Connection remains, in its own right, one of the best films of the '70s. Starring Gene Hackman in one of his signature roles, William Fredkin (who also directed The Exorcist) helms the movie brilliantly - the thrills don't stop coming for the length of its relatively time. The story is based around that of drug smuggler, and the movie has one cinema's best car chases. We're hoping that the influence here, then, is in some seriously brilliant action set-pieces and an overall mood and tone that come close to that of The French Connection's. And perhaps, too, one might find room to compare Hackman's character here to Wolverine's. Both of them have seriously bad tempers and occasional lapses into questionable territory, but they're both drawn to doing the right thing. Anti-heroes: you gotta love 'em.