The French Connection screeched into theaters in 1971, and forever changed the look of law enforcement movies. Directed by William Friedkin (The Boys in the Band and The Exorcist), it starred Gene Hackman as NYPD narcotics detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, porkpie hat and all, tracking an elusive drugs kingpin to Marseilles. The movie should have been boring with all the waiting around and stealthy shadowing, but Hackman’s performance kept it taut and exciting. The film created the cliche of the cop who leads with his gut and piss off other police departments, but it also shows some of the gruff humor that goes on behind the scenes during claustrophobic stake-outs.
The story starts in Lebanon, where an informant tells narcotics agents that the Corsican criminal network of Paul Carbone, Francois Spirito and Antoine Guerini is shipping heroin to Marseille. Agents intercept one shipment, and a drug-sniffing dog alerts them to a hidden compartment in the trunk of the car.
After the kingpins are arrested, authorities discover that they had also been smuggling morphine base into Europe using a fictitious company named Lagrezette, Inc. Legged cops follow a trail of empty suitcases to the headquarters in Marseille, and then to the Corsican port city of Corte. There, agents meet with the ring’s top operative, Jean Jehan, who says that his anti-Fascist resistance work during World War II trumps any criminal activities. He’s given a get out of jail free card byThe french connection tina justice, and continues to push dope all over the continent throughout the ’80s before dying in his sleep in Corsica.
Despite her toxic relationship with Ike Turner, Tina Turner was a big pop star in France with hit songs like “Proud Mary” and “Let’s Stay Together.” She was also a frequent visitor to the Provence-Alpes-Cotes-d’Azur region of southern France and made such an impression on local residents that Villefranche-sur-Mer mayor Gérard Grosgogeat made her an honorary citizen at the start of her term in 1995.
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