The Connection (1973 film)

The Connection is an ABC Movie of the Week that was broadcast on February 27, 1973, starring Charles Durning as an out-of-work newspaper reporter who becomes involved with jewel thieves.

Synopsis
Frank Devlin is a popular newspaper columnist who is now out of work and in debt. A young man he knows through his regular poker game, Sy McGruder, approaches him through his wife, June. Sy was one of the robbers and now wants to sell back the jewels to the insurance company.

Devlin agrees in return for ten percent of the proceeds. But Sy and his wife double-cross him. The movie ends with a high-speed chase through the West Side of Manhattan in which Sy and his wife are prevented from making off with the insurance money.

Cast

 * Charles Durning as Frank Devlin
 * Ronny Cox as Everett Hutchneker
 * Zohra Lampert as Hannah
 * Dennis Cole as Sy McGruder
 * Heather MacRae as June McGruder
 * Howard Cosell as Himself
 * Mike Kellin as Pillo
 * Dana Wynter as Eleanor Warren
 * Richard Bright as BeeJay
 * Joe Keyes Jr. as Dewey
 * Tom Rosqui as Detective Phelan
 * Christopher Allport as Richard Wilcox
 * Norman Bush as Gilson
 * Franklin Cover as Lee Harris
 * Dan Frazer as Verplanck
 * Frank Gio as Kloss
 * Merwin Goldsmith as Summons Server
 * Burt Young as Ernie

Reception
New York Times reviewer John J. O'Connor wrote that the plot "had holes wide enough to need a car chase or two" but praised the directing by Tom Gries and the performance by Charles Durning, whose character he described as resembling Jimmy Breslin.