The true story behind ‘The French Connection’
Movies that are inspired by true stories without being slavish recreations of real-life events are expected to take creative liberties, but William Friedkin‘s The French Connection nonetheless hewed faired closely to the inspirations behind its source material.
One of the greatest crime thrillers ever made that won five Academy Awards, including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’, and ‘Best Actor’ for Gene Hackman, the story follows the aforementioned star’s Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle and Roy Scheider’s partner Buddy ‘Cloudy’ Russo as they chase down a French heroin dealer.
Inspired by Robin Moore’s non-fiction book of the same name, the true story detailed the investigation of New York City detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso – the thinly-veiled inspirations behind Doyle and Russo – as they sought to uncover the key players in a sprawling drug ring.
Beginning in the 1930s, the French Connection was a drug-smuggling operation initiated by Corsican gangsters, who would ship poppy seeds from Turkey and Lebanon to Marseille, where the seeds would then be processed into heroin and transported to the United States in volumes measuring tens of tonnes.
Friedkin added several of his own flourishes – including the iconic car chase through the streets – but he brought Egan and Grosso on board as technical advisors and consultants to ensure his fictional feature wasn’t straying too far from the path they had walked. Beyond that, several supporting characters in the film are based on the real people involved in the smuggling ring.
Egan and Grosso began surveillance on Pasquale ‘Patsy’ Fuca after spotting him mingling with known criminals, who was loosely recreated on-screen through Tony Lo Bianco’s Sal Boca. His wife Barbara became the inspiration for Arlene Farber’s Angie Boca, who even co-wrote the book Mafia Wife alongside The French Connection author Moore, detailing her experiences.
Television personality Jacques Angelvin was arrested and sentenced to federal prison for his role in the French Connection, with Frédéric de Pasquale’s Henri Devereaux acting as his on-screen facsimile, while real-life ringleader Jean Jehan was substituted for Fernando Rey’s Alan Charnier. All told, Friedkin’s classic didn’t deviate too wildly from what actually happened, with the key events remaining largely the same despite the names being changed.
It arguably worked better as a heightened dramatization than a faithful retelling anyway, with Friedkin’s style and Hackman’s performance playing a significant part in elevating The French Connection into the pantheon of Hollywood greats when stifling their approach in favour of painstakingly restaging events that had only unfolded in the years directly before the film’s release in 1971 having the potential to hold the movie back from realising its full potential.
A record-breaking heroin haul was seized in April 1968 concealed within a Citroën car, and it would only be three years until The French Connection arrived to put its own unforgettable and inimitable twist on the tale.
