Brooklyn · Manhattan · Marseille · 1971Looking up from the car
Gene HackmanPopeye Doyle · 1972
Eddie Eganthe real Popeye · 1972
Fernando ReyCharnier · 1974
William Friedkindirector, on set · 1973
A film about following people, shot in a New York winter in 86 real places. Above: Hackman and Eddie Egan, the detective he played, in 1972; Fernando Rey in 1974; Friedkin on a set in 1973.
Bay 50th Street. The train pulls out above you. Floor it. One of the places you can visit.
Gravesend · Bensonhurst · 26 blocks
The car follows the train up Stillwell Avenue, north onto 86th Street and then New Utrecht Avenue: some 26 blocks across Bensonhurst. You can ride the whole run on the D in a few minutes, or walk it under the steel.
Station 1
Bay 50th Street at Stillwell Avenue, Gravesend, Brooklyn
The hit man boards the elevated train at Bay 50th Street station, and the chase begins. Popeye follows him into the station, where he hides behind an arriving train. The station keeps its original windows and wooden doors. The D train serves the whole West End Line today.
A working D-train station. Ride north from here and you follow the chase from above.
Station 4
86th Street at 20th Avenue, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
The car follows the train up Stillwell Avenue, north onto 86th Street and then New Utrecht Avenue: some 26 blocks across Bensonhurst. Bensonhurst was where most of the chase was filmed. Hackman did a lot of the driving himself. Streets were closed for six or seven blocks at a time, and some shots were cranked at 18 or 20 frames a second to look faster. A local resident wrote to complain that no car could speed down 86th Street in daytime traffic. Friedkin replied that he had taken artistic licence. The elevated West End Line opened in 1916.
A busy shopping street in the shade of the tracks. Walk it, or ride the D above it. If you drive it, drive slowly.
Station 8
New Utrecht Avenue at 62nd Street, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
The runaway train meets another at 62nd Street station, and the chase ends just north of it. The station stairs seen in the film were replaced after 1971.
A working D-train station. The station house sits under the tracks on New Utrecht Avenue.
How it was shotFive stunts, closed streets
Hackman did a lot of the driving himself. Streets were closed for six or seven blocks at a time, and some shots were cranked at 18 or 20 frames a second to look faster. A local resident wrote to complain that no car could speed down 86th Street in daytime traffic. Friedkin replied that he had taken artistic licence.
The chase was broken down into about five stunts; two or three cameras were rigged in the car and four or five filmed the crash from outside; streets were closed for six or seven blocks; some shots were cranked at 18 or 20 frames a second.
American Cinematographer: Photographing The French Connection (Herb Lightman, February 1972)
A Bensonhurst resident complained about 86th Street and the train used; Friedkin answered that he took artistic licence.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Chasing down The French Connection
New York
Live marketplace results for film-location tours of New York. None follows the chase; for that, ride the D from Bay 50th Street to 62nd Street.
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Compare tours42nd Street Shuttle · Grand Central
Charnier plays cat and mouse with Popeye on the shuttle platform and escapes by slipping back onto the train. Play it. He always does the opposite.
Charnier is on the train. You are on the platform. The doors are open.
42nd Street Shuttle, Grand Central, Midtown
Charnier plays cat and mouse with Popeye on the shuttle platform and escapes by slipping back onto the train. The crew filmed on the busy shuttle beneath Grand Central. The centre track was taken out of service when the shuttle was rebuilt in 2020–21.
Ride the S between Grand Central and Times Square. Stand clear of the doors.
Winter 1970–71 · on foot and by car
Sal Boca leads them from a Bushwick luncheonette over the bridge into Manhattan; Charnier leads them from a Madison Avenue hotel to a warm dining room, with Popeye outside in the cold.
Frame 1 · Bushwick
91 Wyckoff Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Sal and Angie Boca’s luncheonette was filmed at 91 Wyckoff Avenue. The detectives watched from across the street, and Cloudy went undercover in the shop. It is now Mesa Azteca, a Mexican restaurant.
A restaurant on Wyckoff Avenue. Go in and eat; the flats across the street are homes.
Frame 2 · the bridge
Brooklyn Bridge, from Brooklyn to Pearl Street, Manhattan
Sal drives across the Brooklyn Bridge with Popeye and Mulderig behind him, and comes off at Pearl Street in Manhattan. The traffic jam on the bridge was shot without permission. A protected bike lane now runs at the same level as the cars.
Walk the raised promenade from either end. The roadway is for traffic.
Frame 3 · Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue at East 69th Street, Upper East Side
Charnier stays at the Westbury on Madison Avenue, and Popeye watches from across the street. The building is now condominium apartments.
Private flats now. Look from the pavement on Madison Avenue and move on.
Frame 4 · First Avenue
891 First Avenue at 50th Street, Midtown East
Charnier and Nicoli dine at 891 First Avenue while Popeye freezes across the street at 886. It is now Copinette, a restaurant with a plaque that remembers the film.
A working restaurant at First Avenue and 50th Street. Book a table and eat inside, unlike Popeye.
The police garage
The detectives are sure the car is carrying it. The mechanics strip the whole thing and find nothing. Do it yourself.
Parts list0/8 off
A Lincoln shipped over from France, up on the garage floor. Start anywhere.
The police mechanic rips apart the entire car and finds nothing.
Mechanics take the Lincoln apart in a police garage; packages of heroin are finally found beneath the rocker panels.
NYC in Film places the find in the driver door’s rocker panel, and could not confirm which garage was used.
The film is based on the real 1961 case in which the New York detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso seized 120 pounds of heroin.
Columbia Heights at Middagh Street, Brooklyn Heights
The Bocas switch cars in an open field off Columbia Heights while Popeye watches from Willow Street. The field is now Hillside Park, and its trees block the view from Willow Street.
A small public park on the slope of Brooklyn Heights, near the Promenade.
Where it starts
140 rue du Vallon des Auffes, Marseille 7e
The film opens here: Charnier leaves Chez Fonfon, followed by a French detective. Chez Fonfon has served bouillabaisse on the little harbour since 1952. Fishing boats are still moored below the cabanons.
Chez Fonfon is open every day, 12:00 to 14:00 and 19:00 to 22:00. Book for the bouillabaisse.
Quai du Port, Marseille 2e
The detective is seen finishing a coffee at the Vieux-Port. A working dock in the 1970s, it is now a pedestrian quay under Norman Foster’s mirrored canopy, with a fish market every morning.
A pedestrian quay. Come early for the fish market.
Île d’If, bay of Marseille
On the island, Charnier talks over the New York job with an associate. It is the prison of Dumas’s Count of Monte Cristo; today its main residents are seagulls. Admission is €7, and visitors under 26 go in free.
Reached by boat from Marseille. Admission is €7, free under 26; check the château’s site for hours.
Fernando Rey plays Alain Charnier, who runs the operation from his home in Marseille.
From his home in Marseilles, Alain Charnier runs a heroin-smuggling syndicate; the film was shot on location in New York, Washington and Marseilles.
Anse de Maldormé, Corniche J. F. Kennedy, Marseille 7e
A five-star hotel on the Anse de Maldormé, along the same corniche as the Vallon des Auffes where the film opens, with a three-star restaurant. The photograph shows the Vallon.
Check roomsMarseille
Live marketplace results for boat trips from Marseille to the island where Charnier talks over the New York job.
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Compare tripsWashington · Wards Island
Jefferson Drive SW at 6th Street SW, National Mall
Charnier has Sal meet him in Washington, and gets out of his car on 6th Street SW near Jefferson Drive. The crew also filmed at key government buildings in Washington.
On the National Mall, beside the Air and Space Museum. Free to walk at any hour.
South end of Randalls Island Park, East River
The last scenes were shot on Wards Island, in the upper East River near Hell Gate. Charnier drives to an old building on the island, in full view of the Triborough and Hell Gate bridges. Little Hell Gate, the channel that once divided the islands, is now a salt marsh with a boardwalk. The 103rd Street footbridge reaches the island from Manhattan.
Public parkland. Walk over the 103rd Street footbridge from East Harlem.
7 October 1971 · New York opening
Gene HackmanJimmy “Popeye” Doyle
Roy ScheiderBuddy “Cloudy” Russo
Fernando ReyAlain Charnier
Eddie EganThe detective behind Popeye
William FriedkinDirector, with Owen Roizman
Five Oscars on 10 April 1972: best picture, director, actor for Hackman, film editing for Jerry Greenberg and adapted screenplay for Ernest Tidyman.
New York shooting ran from late November 1970 to mid March 1971, through snow and sleet, with no studio interiors at all.
Robin Moore’s 1969 book told the real 1961 case of Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso.
The 44th Academy Awards were held on 10 April 1972; the film won picture, directing, actor (Hackman), film editing (Greenberg) and adapted screenplay (Tidyman).
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: the 44th Academy Awards (1972)
Principal photography late November 1970 to mid March 1971 in New York; opened in New York on 7 October 1971; based on Robin Moore’s 1969 book about the 1961 case of Egan and Grosso.
Shot in New York’s winter, often in snow and sleet; no formal studio interiors; 86 locations.
American Cinematographer: Photographing The French Connection (Herb Lightman, February 1972)
Roy Scheider plays Popeye’s partner.
13 places you can visit in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Washington and Marseille. The old Westbury Hotel is private flats now, so it is named but not pinned.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working D-train station. Ride north from here and you follow the chase from above.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A busy shopping street in the shade of the tracks. Walk it, or ride the D above it. If you drive it, drive slowly.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working D-train station. The station house sits under the tracks on New Utrecht Avenue.
Bay 50th Street at Stillwell Avenue, Gravesend, Brooklyn
The hit man boards the elevated train at Bay 50th Street station, and the chase begins.
A working D-train station. Ride north from here and you follow the chase from above.
86th Street at 20th Avenue, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
The car follows the train up Stillwell Avenue, north onto 86th Street and then New Utrecht Avenue: some 26 blocks across Bensonhurst.
A busy shopping street in the shade of the tracks. Walk it, or ride the D above it. If you drive it, drive slowly.
New Utrecht Avenue at 62nd Street, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
The runaway train meets another at 62nd Street station, and the chase ends just north of it.
A working D-train station. The station house sits under the tracks on New Utrecht Avenue.
Stay
A hotel along the same Marseille shore as the harbour where the film opens.
Anse de Maldormé, Corniche J. F. Kennedy, Marseille 7e
A five-star hotel on the Anse de Maldormé, along the same corniche as the Vallon des Auffes where the film opens, with a three-star restaurant. The photograph shows the Vallon.
Check roomsGo there
The chase is a D-train ride; the island is a boat ride.
New York
Live marketplace results for film-location tours of New York. None follows the chase; for that, ride the D from Bay 50th Street to 62nd Street.
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Compare toursMarseille
Live marketplace results for boat trips from Marseille to the island where Charnier talks over the New York job.
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Take it home
Original 1971 posters from our store, Robin Moore’s book, Friedkin’s memoir and Don Ellis’s music.
The original 1971 US one-sheet, 27 × 41 inches, backed on linen. Mint.
In stock
View posterThe original 1971 US one-sheet, 27 × 41 inches, rolled. Mint.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterRobin Moore
Robin Moore’s 1969 account of the real 1961 case worked by Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso; the film is based on it.
Find the bookWilliam Friedkin · HarperCollins
William Friedkin’s memoir of his life in film.
Find the bookDon Ellis · CD, Film Score Monthly, 2001
Don Ellis’s scores for both films on one CD.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
14 of 14 places · 14 of 14 Moments
Bay 50th Street at Stillwell Avenue, Gravesend, Brooklyn
The hit man boards the elevated train at Bay 50th Street, and Popeye takes a car.
86th Street at 20th Avenue, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Popeye races the train under the tracks for some 26 blocks of Bensonhurst.
New Utrecht Avenue at 62nd Street, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
The runaway train meets another at 62nd Street station.
91 Wyckoff Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
The detectives watch Sal and Angie’s luncheonette on Wyckoff Avenue; Cloudy goes in undercover.
Columbia Heights at Middagh Street, Brooklyn Heights
The Bocas switch cars in a field off Columbia Heights while Popeye watches from Willow Street.
Brooklyn Bridge, from Brooklyn to Pearl Street, Manhattan
Sal crosses the Brooklyn Bridge with the detectives behind him.
Madison Avenue at East 69th Street, Upper East Side
Charnier checks into the Westbury on Madison Avenue; Popeye watches from across the street.
891 First Avenue at 50th Street, Midtown East
Charnier and Nicoli dine on First Avenue while Popeye freezes across the street.
42nd Street Shuttle, Grand Central, Midtown
Charnier gets on and off the shuttle until Popeye is left on the platform, and waves as the train pulls away.
South end of Randalls Island Park, East River
The hunt ends in an old building on Wards Island, under the Triborough and Hell Gate bridges.
Jefferson Drive SW at 6th Street SW, National Mall
Charnier meets Sal in Washington, D.C.
140 rue du Vallon des Auffes, Marseille 7e
Charnier leaves Chez Fonfon in the Vallon des Auffes, and a detective follows him.
Quai du Port, Marseille 2e
The detective finishes a coffee at the Vieux-Port.
Île d’If, bay of Marseille
Charnier talks over the New York job on the Château d’If.
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