The French Connection (film)

The French Connection
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWilliam Friedkin
Screenplay byErnest Tidyman
Based onThe French Connection
by Robin Moore
Produced byPhilip D'Antoni
Starring
CinematographyOwen Roizman
Edited byGerald B. Greenberg
Music byDon Ellis
Production
companies
  • Philip D'Antoni Productions
  • Schine-Moore Productions
Distributed by20th Century-Fox
Release date
  • October 7, 1971 (1971-10-07) (United States)[1]
Running time
104 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • French
Budget$1.8–2.2 million[3][4]
Box office$75 million (worldwide theatrical rental)[5]

The French Connection is a 1971 American neo-noir[6] action thriller film[7] 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 nonfiction book. It tells the story of fictional New York Police Department detectives Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo, whose real-life counterparts were narcotics detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, in pursuit of wealthy French heroin smuggler Alain Charnier (played by Rey).

At the 44th Academy Awards, 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 Mixing. Tidyman also received a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award for his screenplay. A sequel, French Connection II, followed in 1975, with Hackman and Rey reprising their roles.

Often considered one of the greatest films ever made, The French Connection appeared on the American Film Institute's list of the best American films in 1998 and again in 2007. 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".[8][9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference AFI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "THE FRENCH CONNECTION (18)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  3. ^ Bart, Peter (August 8, 2011). "'Alien' territory: an economics lesson". Variety. p. 2. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  4. ^ "The French Connection". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  5. ^ Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, p. 167, ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1.
  6. ^ Silver & Ward 1992
  7. ^ "The French Connection (1971) - William Friedkin". AllMovie. Archived from the original on 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  8. ^ "Librarian of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 2020-11-26. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  9. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on October 31, 2016. Retrieved October 2, 2020.