History Film / TheFrenchConnection

* InstantSeduction: Popeye picks up a woman riding a bicycle. While we don't see the actual seduction, he slowly follows her on his way home, [[GilliganCut then cuts to]] Cloudy walking into Popeye's apartment to find a bicycle behind the door and woman's clothes on the floor, and Popeye [[ChainedToABed handcuffed to his bed, by his ankle, with his own cuffs]].

* IncrediblyObviousTail: The film goes to some trouble to show how a real life tail should be conducted (even so Doyle is successfully evaded by the Frenchman on the subway).

* FauxAffablyEvil: Charnier is always polite in his conversations, and silent when evading the police. It's only when talking with Nicoli at one point that the façade slips a little, where he refers to Popeye Doyle as "that bastard".

* FauxAffablyEvil: Charnier is always polite in his conversations, and silent when evading the police. It's only when talking with Nicoli at one point, that the façade slips a little where he refers to Popeye Doyle as "that bastard".

* SpiritualSuccessor: 1973's ''Film/TheSevenUps'', starring Roy Scheider as another New York City cop leading a special organized crime task force. It had the same producer and composer of ''The French Connection'', Sonny Grosso as technical advisor and also had a high speed car chase. The main character is an {{Expy}} of Cloudy Russo.

* TheInformant: Nicoli murders the FBI's in the opening, while Popeye and Sonny discover the shipment from theirs.

* AxCrazy: Pierre Nicoli, Charnier's hitman who attempts to kill Doyle

* InTheBack: Popeye Doyle shoots a man in the back. The real Popeye objected to this portrayal at first but eventually learned to accept it under the RuleOfCool.

* BeardOfEvil: Worn by Alain Charnier, aka "Frog One".
* BigBad: Alain Charnier.

* BeardOfEvil: Alain Charnier, AKA "Frog One".

''The French Connection'', a 1971 crime thriller film directed by Creator/WilliamFriedkin, written by [[Film/{{Shaft}} Ernest Tidyman]] and produced by Phillip D'Antoni, is the tale of [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops NYPD]] detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Creator/GeneHackman) and his partner, Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Creator/RoyScheider). One day, they stumble upon a huge shipment of heroin from France. The trail leads to notorious drug kingpin, Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). {{Car Chase}}s [[HilarityEnsues ensue.]]

A classic piece of seventies Hollywood cinema, based on the true story of the two cops who would stop the drug trafficking between France and the US, it was a huge success, both financially and critically. The film won five UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s including Best Picture, Best Director for Friedkin, and Best Actor for Hackman. Thus it would come close to winning the Big Five, but lacked a female main character. It also won for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing and the car-chase alone is worth it.

* UsefulNotes/AcademyAward: It won five of them: Best Picture, Best Director (Friedkin), Best Actor (Hackman), Best Adapted Screenplay (Tidyman) and Best Film Editing. It was further nominated for three others: Best Supporting Actor (Scheider), Best Cinematography and Best Sound Mixing.
* AluminiumChristmasTrees:
** Just in case anyone was wondering about that scene where the traffickers are testing the purity of their merchandise... pure substances (such as heroin) have fixed melting points, but the melting point will become lowered if the substance is impure. So, if the powder tastes like heroin and melts at the right temperature (as determined by a Thiele melting point apparatus in this case), then it's got to be pure heroin. The trafficker's expert [[ShownTheirWork demonstrates all the salient points of the lab procedure]], even displaying the mineral oil bottle just to show us that he's using the usual heat transfer medium. On top of that, real heroin was used for that scene.
** Also, the entire plot is based on the real "French connection" case where raw Turkish opium was processed into heroin in Marseilles before coming to the US. Many other countries have also served as drug middlemen.

* NiceHat: Popeye's porkpie hat.

* {{Corpsing}}: In character. When Doyle goes into his "picking your feet in Poughkeepsie" schtick, Russo has to turn away from the suspect to hide his grin.

* DeadfootLeadfoot: Coke, the El Train driver, passes out during the chase (likely having a fatal heart attack or stroke), causing the train to speed up.

* AntiClimax: Frog One at the very, very end of the sequel. This being TheSeventies, when Doyle catches up with the Frenchman - after being humiliated and tortured for two ''long'' films - [[spoiler:he calls out his name and shoots him. Twice. Cut to credits. It takes all of four seconds.]]

* DigitalDestruction: For the first Blu-ray release of the film in 2009, director William Friedkin supervised some significant changes to the film; no scenes, dialogue, characters or story elements were altered, but the color timing of the film was significantly changed to give the film a colder and more low-fi look. Cinematographer Owen Roizman and many fans were less than pleased, especially since the original version wasn't included in the Blu-ray. Comparison images can be [[http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/Images/stories/2009/feb/fcbdcomp.jpg found]] [[http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/wank.php online]] for the curious, but consensus is effectively "just stick with the DVD", maybe because RealIsBrown.
** In 2012, a new Blu-ray transfer - approved by both Friedkin and Roizman and restoring the original color palette - [[http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-French-Connection-Blu-ray/39973/ was issued for exclusive sale at Best Buy stores]].

* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: For the first Blu-ray release of the film in 2009, director William Friedkin supervised some significant changes to the film; no scenes, dialogue, characters or story elements were altered, but the color timing of the film was significantly changed to give the film a colder and more low-fi look. Cinematographer Owen Roizman and many fans were less than pleased, especially since the original version wasn't included in the Blu-ray. Comparison images can be [[http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/Images/stories/2009/feb/fcbdcomp.jpg found]] [[http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/wank.php online]] for the curious, but consensus is effectively "just stick with the DVD", maybe because RealIsBrown.
** In 2012, a new Blu-ray transfer - approved by both Friedkin and Roizman and restoring the original color palette - [[http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-French-Connection-Blu-ray/39973/ was issued for exclusive sale at Best Buy stores]].

* DigitalDestruction: For the first Blu-ray release of the film in 2009, director William Friedkin supervised some significant changes to the film; no scenes, dialogue, characters or story elements were altered, but the color timing of the film was significantly changed to give the film a colder and more low-fi look. Cinematographer Owen Roizman and many fans were less than pleased, especially since the original version wasn't included in the Blu-ray. Comparison images can be [[http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/Images/stories/2009/feb/fcbdcomp.jpg found]] [[http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/wank.php online]] for the curious, but consensus is effectively "just stick with the DVD", maybe because RealIsBrown.
** In 2012, a new Blu-ray transfer - approved by both Friedkin and Roizman and restoring the original color palette - [[http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-French-Connection-Blu-ray/39973/ was issued for exclusive sale at Best Buy stores]].

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Doyle is forced to drop the investigation by his superiors. One of the traffickers tries to assassinate him. Doyle gets the investigation re-opened.

* KarmaHoudini: The bad guys all either get off scot-free or have their sentences reduced. Only Devereaux (the film star turned unwitting smuggler) serves any significant prison time, and then only four years.

** Because of Metropolitan Transit Authority rules forbidding unauthorized personnel from operating subway trains, the motorman and transit police officers were actual MTA employees.

** Irv, the police mechanic Popeye and Cloudy help to tear apart the Lincoln was the actual NYPD fleet mechanic who helped Eagan and Grosso crack the case.
** Because of New York Transit Authority rules forbidding unauthorised personnel from operating trains, the motorman and transit police officers were actual MTA employees.

* ShoutOut: The white straw hat in Popeye's back car window when he's on duty is to Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid

* DamageProofVehicle: When Doyle drives recklessly to catch a suspect travelling to a nearby station in Manhattan. The car narrowly misses dozens of vehicles and pedestrians, and makes it without a scratch.

''The French Connection'', a 1971 crime thriller film directed by Creator/WilliamFriedkin, written by [[Film/{{Shaft}} Ernest Tidyman]] and produced by Phillip D'Antoni, is the tale of NYPD detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Creator/GeneHackman) and his partner, Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Creator/RoyScheider). One day, they stumble upon a huge shipment of heroin from France. The trail leads to notorious drug kingpin, Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). {{Car Chase}}s [[HilarityEnsues ensue.]]

The film's success actually led to an odd little pseudo-SharedUniverse of films, mainly by virtue of being based on the same real-life case. The success of the film led to one true sequel, the entirely fictional ''French Connection II'' (1975), with Doyle heading to Marseille in the hopes that his first-hand recognition of Charnier will help put pressure on the manufacturing end of the line. ''Film/PopeyeDoyle'', a [[RecycledTheSeries TV pilot movie]] was made in 1986, with Creator/EdONeill as [[TheOtherDarrin Doyle]]. ''Film/TheSevenUps'' is a SpiritualSuccessor starring Roy Scheider as an {{Expy}} of Cloudy Russo. Finally, in 2014 Cédric Jiminez made ''La French''[[note]]Called ''[[MarketBasedTitle The Connection]]'' in Anglophone countries.[[/note]], based on the same case, [[POVSequel but covering the events on the Marseille end.]]

''The French Connection'', a 1971 crime thriller film directed by Creator/WilliamFriedkin, written by [[Film/{{Shaft}} Ernest Tidyman]] and produced by Phillip D'Antoni, is the tale of NYC cop Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Creator/GeneHackman) and his partner, Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Creator/RoyScheider). One day, they stumble upon a huge shipment of heroin from France. The trail leads to notorious drug kingpin, Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). {{Car Chase}}s [[HilarityEnsues ensue.]]

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