The French Connection

Name: The French Connection
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Released: 1971-10-09
Duration: 1 h 44 min
Rating: 7.7
Cast: Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi

Doyle is bad news—but a good cop.

The French Connection (1971)

Timing: 1:44 (104 min)

7.7/10
167 394

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7.5/10
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7.7/10
150000

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Everything about the movie

Video 20

Photo 95

Actors and characters

Video for the film The French Connection — Dennis Lehane on THE FRENCH CONNECTION

3:19

Photo 95

Release date

1971-10-09

Country

United States

Production

20th Century Fox, D'Antoni Productions, Schine-Moore Productions

Genre

Action, Crime, Thriller

Budget

$1 800 000

Box office

$51 702 590

Website

Director

William Friedkin

Actors

Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi, Frédéric de Pasquale, Bill Hickman, Ann Rebbot, Harold Gary, Arlene Farber
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Philip D'Antoni, G. David Schine

Camera operator

Owen Roizman

Composer

Don Ellis

Artist

Audition

Robert Weiner

Editing

Gerald B. Greenberg
Whole Team (41)

Short description

Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

What's left behind the scenes

The American Film Institute has recognized Friedkin's film as one of the greatest films in history.
Filming began in November 1970 and was completed in March 1971.
The film's plot is based on real events, as well as their fictionalization by Robin Moore.
It was the first film with an “R” rating to win an Academy Award for Best Picture since the introduction of the film association’s rating system.
In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the United States as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Initially, Peter Boyle was chosen for the role of “Popeye” Doyle, but he turned it down because his agent believed the film would be a failure.
Friedkin was against casting Hackman in the lead role and envisioned Paul Newman for it, but his candidacy was rejected due to budget limitations. Jackie Gleason and New York columnist Jimmy Breslin, who had never acted before, were then considered for the role. However, by that time, Gleason had become “poison” for box office receipts after the failure of the film “Gigot” with his participation, and Breslin refused to get behind the wheel of a car in the chase scene. Steve McQueen was also considered for the lead role, but he didn’t want to star in another police film after “Bullitt.” Furthermore, his fee, like Newman’s, exceeded the film’s budget. Charles Bronson also auditioned for the role. Friedkin almost agreed to give the role to Rod Taylor (who, according to Hackman, actively sought it), also approved by the studio, before finally settling on Hackman.
The casting of Fernando Rey, who played the smuggler Alain Charnier, turned out to be a successful mistake. Friedkin asked his assistant to find a Spanish actor he had seen in Luis Buñuel’s French film “Belle de Jour.” Francisco Rabal played the role, but Friedkin didn’t know his name, and instead contacted Rey, who had appeared in several other Buñuel films. After Rabal was finally found, it turned out that he didn’t speak either French or English, and Rey was cast in the film. However, in an even greater irony, after the film was edited, the crew found Rey’s French unacceptable for the film. The sound engineers decided to dub his French, but retain the lines in English.
According to William Friedkin, his decision to make the film arose during a conversation with Howard Hawks, whose daughter was living with Friedkin at the time. Friedkin asked Hawks what he thought of his films, to which Hawks bluntly replied that they were all “terrible.” In his opinion, people didn’t need stories about other people’s problems or psychological pretension: “All they need is action,” he said, and advised Friedkin to “make a good chase. Make it better than anyone else has.”
The car chase scene with Popeye pursuing the hitman Nicolai has been included in film schools worldwide and is considered iconic for the further development of the “thriller” genre.
The American Film Institute recognized Friedkin's film as one of the greatest movies in history.
Peter Boyle was initially chosen for the role of 'Popeye' Doyle, but he turned it down because his agent believed the film would be a failure.
Friedkin was opposed to casting Hackman in the lead role and envisioned Paul Newman in the part, but Newman's candidacy was rejected due to budget constraints. Jackie Gleason and New York columnist Jimmy Breslin, who had never acted before, then auditioned for the role. However, by that time, Gleason had become 'box office poison' following the failure of the film 'Zygote,' and Breslin refused to get behind the wheel of a car for the chase scene. Steve McQueen was also considered for the lead, but he did not want to star in another police film after 'Bullitt.' Additionally, his fee, like Newman's, exceeded the film's budget. Charles Bronson also auditioned for the role. Friedkin had almost agreed to give the part to Rod Taylor (who, according to Hackman, actively pursued it) and was also approved by the studio, before finally deciding on Hackman.
The casting of Fernando Rey as the smuggler Alain Charnier turned out to be a successful mistake. Friedkin asked his assistant to find a Spanish actor he had seen in Luis Buñuel's French film 'Belle de Jour.' The role had been played by Francisco Rabal, but Friedkin did not know his name and instead contacted Rey, who had appeared in several other Buñuel films. After Rabal was finally located, it turned out that he spoke neither French nor English, and Rey was cast in the film. However, in a further irony, after the film was edited, the crew felt that Rey's French was unacceptable for the movie. The sound engineers decided to dub his French lines while keeping his English dialogue.
The plot of the film is based on real events, as well as their novelization by Robin Moore.
According to William Friedkin, his decision to direct the film arose during a conversation with Howard Hawks, whose daughter was living with Friedkin at the time. Friedkin asked Hawks what he thought of his films, to which Hawks bluntly replied that they were all "lousy." In his view, people didn't need stories about other people's problems or psychological intellectualism: "The main thing they need is action," he said, advising Friedkin to "do a good chase. Do it better than anyone has ever done it."