The French Connection is a 1971 American neo-noirSilver & Ward 1992 action thriller film directed by William Friedkin and starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, and Fernando Rey. The screenplay, by Ernest Tidyman, is based on Robin Moore's 1969 book of the same name about narcotics detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso. It tells the story of their fictional counterparts, New York Police Department detectives Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo, in pursuit of wealthy French heroin smuggler Alain Charnier (played by Rey).
At the 44th Academy Awards in April 1972, the film earned eight nominations and won five, for Best Picture, Best Actor (Hackman), Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Scheider), Best Cinematography and Best Sound. Tidyman also received a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award for his screenplay. The film's commercial and critical success also propelled both Hackman and Scheider to leading man status. A sequel, French Connection II, followed in 1975, with Hackman and Rey reprising their roles.
The French Connection appeared on the American Film Institute's list of the best American films in 1998 and again in 2007, placing 70th the first time and 93rd the second. In 2005, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
Plot
In Marseille, a man is shadowing Alain Charnier, who runs a heroin-smuggling syndicate. Charnier's hitman, Pierre Nicoli, murders the man. Charnier plans to smuggle million (equivalent to $million in ) worth of 89% pure heroin into the United States by hiding it in the car of his unsuspecting friend, television personality Henri Devereaux, who is traveling to New York City by ship. In Brooklyn, police detectives Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle dressed as Santa Claus and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo stake out a bar known for drug trafficking. They later go out for drinks at the Copacabana. Popeye observes Salvatore "Sal" Boca and his wife, Angie, entertaining mobsters involved in narcotics. They tail the couple and establish a link between the Bocas and Joel Weinstock, a financier in the narcotics underworld. Popeye learns that a shipment of heroin will arrive soon. The detectives convince their supervisor to wiretap the Bocas' phones. Popeye and Cloudy are joined by federal agents Bill Mulderig and Clyde Klein.
Devereaux's vehicle arrives in New York City. Boca is in a hurry to make the purchase, but Weinstock urges patience, understanding they are being surveilled. Charnier realizes he is being surveilled as well, identifies Popeye as a detective, and escapes on a departing subway shuttle at Grand Central Station. To evade Popeye, he has Boca meet him in Washington, D.C., where Boca asks for a delay to avoid the police. Charnier wants to conclude the deal quickly. On the flight back to New York City, Nicoli offers to kill Popeye, but Charnier says Popeye would just be replaced by another policeman. Nicoli insists, however, saying they will be back in France before a replacement is assigned. Soon, Nicoli attempts to snipe Popeye in Brooklyn but hits a bystander. Popeye chases Nicoli, who boards an elevated subway train. Popeye shouts to a policeman on the train to catch Nicoli and then commandeers a passing car. He gives chase, crashing into several vehicles on the way.
Realizing he is being pursued, Nicoli shoots the policeman who tries to intervene and hijacks the train at gunpoint, shooting the conductor while forcing the motorman to drive through the next station. The motorman suffers a heart attack, and the train stop engages before it rear ends another train, hurling Nicoli to the floor. Popeye arrives and sees Nicoli descending from the platform. Nicoli sees Popeye and turns to run, but Popeye shoots him dead. After a long stakeout, Popeye impounds Devereaux's Lincoln. In a police garage, mechanics tear the car apart in a search for drugs, initially coming up empty-handed. Cloudy discovers that the car's weight was recorded at 120 pounds over its standard, implying that the contraband must still be in the car – packages of heroin are finally discovered beneath the rocker panels. The car is reassembled, despite being nearly destroyed, and returned to Devereaux who delivers it to Charnier.
Charnier drives to an old factory on Wards Island, where Boca's brother Lou works, to meet Weinstock and deliver the drugs. After Charnier has the rocker panel covers removed, Weinstock's chemist tests one of the bags and confirms its quality. Charnier removes the drugs and hides the money inside the rocker panels of another car purchased at a junk car auction, which he plans to take back to France. Charnier and Sal drive off in the Lincoln, but a large contingent of police led by Popeye blocks their path. The police chase the Lincoln back to the factory, where Boca is killed by Cloudy during a shootout. Most of the other criminals surrender. Charnier escapes into a nearby abandoned bakery with Popeye and Cloudy in pursuit. Popeye sees a shadowy figure in the distance and opens fire too late to heed a warning, killing Mulderig. Undaunted, he tells Cloudy he will get Charnier. He reloads his gun and runs into another room. A single gunshot is heard.
Title cards describe various characters' fates: Weinstock was indicted, but his case was dismissed for "lack of proper evidence"; Angie Boca received a suspended sentence for a misdemeanor; Lou Boca received a reduced sentence for conspiracy and possession of narcotics; Devereaux served four years in a federal penitentiary for conspiracy; Charnier was never caught and is believed to be living in France. Popeye and Cloudy were transferred out of the Narcotics Bureau and reassigned.
Cast
Production National General Pictures was originally set to produce the film but dropped it, disliking the original script by Alex Jacobs. Richard Zanuck and David Brown offered to make it at Fox with a $1.5 million budget. The film came in $300,000 over budget, at $1.8 million.
The overall atmosphere, character characterization and narrative style are largely influenced by the French film Le Samouraï (1967) by Jean-Pierre Melville. William Friedkin was also inspired by Alain Delon's performance, where he plays a solitary and methodical hitman, to shape the character of Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman).
In an audio commentary Friedkin recorded for the film's Collector's Edition DVD release, he says the film's documentary-like realism was the direct result of his having seen Costa-Gavras's Z. He describes Z's influence on The French Connection:
The film was among the earliest to show the World Trade Center: the completed North Tower and partially completed South Tower are seen in the background of scenes at the shipyard after Devereaux arrives in New York.
Casting Though the cast proved to be one of the film's greatest strengths, Friedkin had problems with casting from the start. He strongly opposed Gene Hackman as the lead, first considering Paul Newman (too expensive), then Jackie Gleason, Peter Boyle, and the columnist Jimmy Breslin, who had never acted.Friedkin recounts his casting opinions in Making the Connection: The Untold Stories (2001). Extra feature on 2001 Five Star Collection edition of DVD release. The studio considered Gleason box-office poison after his film Gigot had flopped several years before, Boyle declined the role out of disapproval of the film's violence, and Breslin refused to get behind the wheel of a car, as Popeye does in an integral chase scene. Steve McQueen was also considered, but did not want to do another police film after Bullitt; moreover, as with Newman, his fee was too high. Charles Bronson was also considered for the role. Lee Marvin, James Caan, and Robert Mitchum were also considered; all turned it down. Friedkin almost settled for Rod Taylor (who had actively pursued the role, according to Hackman), another choice the studio approved, before going with Hackman.
The casting of Fernando Rey as Alain Charnier (irreverently called "Frog One" throughout the film) resulted from mistaken identity. Friedkin had seen Luis Buñuel's 1967 film Belle de Jour and been impressed by the performance of Francisco Rabal, who had a small role in it. But Friedkin did not know Rabal's name, remembering only that he was a Spanish actor. He asked his casting director to find the actor, and the casting director contacted Rey, a Spanish actor who had appeared in several other Buñuel films. Rabal was finally reached, but because he spoke neither French nor English, Rey was kept in the film.
Comparison to actual people and events The plot centers on drug smuggling in the 1960s and early 1970s, when most of the heroin illegally imported into the East Coast came to the U.S. via France (see French Connection).
On April 26, 1968, a record-setting of heroin was seized, concealed in a Citroën DS and smuggled to New York on the ocean liner. The total amount smuggled during the DS's many transatlantic voyages was , according to arrested smuggler Jacques Bousquet.
Like its two protagonists, several of the film's other characters have real-life counterparts. Alain Charnier is based on Jean Jehan, who was later arrested in Paris for drug trafficking but not extradited, because France does not extradite its citizens. Sal Boca is based on Pasquale "Patsy" Fuca, and his brother Anthony. Angie Boca is based on Patsy's wife, Barbara, who later wrote a book with Robin Moore detailing her life with Patsy. The Fucas and their uncle were part of a heroin-dealing crew that worked with New York crime families.
Characters not prominently depicted in the film include the special agents and undercover operatives of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), the federal agency primarily responsible for investigating the French Connection, who worked alongside NYPD detectives throughout most of these events until the FBN dissolved later in 1968.
Henri Devereaux, who takes the fall for importing the film's drug-laden Lincoln into New York, is based on , a television actor arrested and sentenced to three to six years in a federal penitentiary for his role, serving about four before returning to France and turning to real estate. According to the director's commentary, Joel Weinstock is a composite of several similar drug-dealing financiers.Film commentary
Car chase The film is often cited as featuring one of the greatest car chase sequences in movie history. The chase involves Popeye commandeering a civilian's car (a 1971 Pontiac LeMans) and frantically chasing an elevated train on which a hitman is trying to escape. The scene, coordinated by Bill Hickman, was filmed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, roughly running under the BMT West End Line (now the , then the B train), which runs on an elevated track above Stillwell Avenue, 86th Street, and New Utrecht Avenue in Brooklyn, with the chase ending just north of the 62nd Street station. At that point, the train hits a train stop but is going too fast to stop in time and collides with the train ahead of it, which has just left the station.