*** Spoiler alert: don't read this if you haven't seen The French Connection and plan to do so***

The ending of The French Connection made it clear that Popeye's viciousness and obsessiveness didn't really help much of anything. The light sentences received by the villains were the fault of the "liberal" courts, but Popeye himself kills a fellow officer and lets Frog One get away.

That marks a pretty big difference between Dirty Harry and The French Connection; big enough so that we can easily see why the same people might damn the former and praise the latter.

I enjoyed both. But then I liked Olympia and Triumph of the Will, too. (Without liking fascism.)