FRENCH CONNECTION II (1975)

Gene Hackman reprises his role as Popeye Doyle, now in Marseille to track down French drug kingpin Charnier (Fernando Rey), who somehow escaped being being busted at the end of the first movie. He gets grudging help from French police. Then he's mugged by Charnier's gang and shot up with heroin for three weeks; then given an overdose and dumped at police HQ; then forced into a cold-turkey withdrawal. He finally recovers and nails Charnier. The beginning and ending of this movie are pretty good, but as you no doubt infer, the addiction/withdrawal sequence is unbearably long and boring, and drags the whole film down. Add this to the pile of sequels-that-failed. A rare miscue for the great John Frankenheimer.