Plot

The film opens in Marseilles, France, a city well known as a center for refining heroin. An undercover French detective follows Alain Charnier (Rey), a well-dressed and refined man who on the surface is an honest businessman, but claims he hasn't put in an honest day's work "since [he] stepped off the crane." In this scene, the motif of the hunter becoming the hunted first manifests itself, as the detective is tailed home by Charnier's hitman, Pierre Nicoli, where he is shot and killed.



The next scene, which takes place in New York, introduces the two main characters, Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Hackman) and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Scheider), on a stakeout of their own. These characters are based on actual New York narcotics detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grasso. Many of the scenes are acted out almost exactly as they occurred, as both detectives were on set both as consultants, and as actors.



In the scene, the two detectives chase and violently interrogate a street thug after he flees a raid on a bar. This scene, based on an actual event, identifies the contrasting nature of the two detectives. Popeye is identified as a rash drunk, whose passion for his existence dominates his entire being, whereas Cloudy is calm and reserved. The scene depicted the actual methods of the NYC detectives, and this was also one of the first uses of the now all-too-common "good cop / bad cop" technique.



While in a nightclub, Popeye notices an unfamiliar face amongst a table of known gangsters, and is immediately suspicious. The face belongs to Sal Boca, a young Italian deli owner who plans to import 60 kilos of Charnier's heroin into the United States in a massive $32 million deal. Popeye decides to follow him, and he and Cloudy commence the stakeout which would eventually reveal the identity of "French Connection."



The hunter becomes the hunted a second time in what is likely the film's most famous scene. In the scene, Popeye evades assassination by Nicoli, and chases him through the city in a very unique manner.