The French Connection is a 1971 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by William Friedkin and starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider and Fernando Rey. The screenplay, written by Ernest Tidyman, is based on Robin Moore’s 1969 non-fiction book.

It tells the story of fictional NYPD 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).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_French_Connection_(film)