Editing The French Connection (film) (section)

===Car chase===
The film is often cited as featuring one of the greatest [[car chase]] sequences in movie history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6091432/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041022044246/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6091432 |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 22, 2004 |title=Top 10 car chase movies - MOVIES - MSNBC.com |publisher=MSNBC |access-date=August 2, 2014}}</ref> The chase involves Popeye commandeering a civilian's car (a 1971 [[Pontiac LeMans]]) and frantically chasing an [[elevated train]] on which a hitman is trying to escape. The scene, coordinated by [[Bill Hickman]], was filmed in [[Bensonhurst, Brooklyn]], roughly running under the [[BMT West End Line]] (now the {{NYCS trains|West End}}, then the [[B (New York City Subway service)|B]] train), which runs on an elevated track above Stillwell Avenue, 86th Street, and New Utrecht Avenue in Brooklyn, with the chase ending just north of the [[62nd Street (BMT West End Line)|62nd Street]] station. At that point, the train hits a [[train stop]] but is going too fast to stop in time and collides with the train ahead of it, which has just left the station.{{efn|[[R42 (New York City Subway car)|R42 cars]] 4572 and 4573 were chosen for the film and had no [[B (New York City Subway service)|B subway]] [[rollsign]]s because they were normally assigned to the [[N (New York City Subway service)|N subway train]]. Consequently, they operated during the movie with an N displayed. As of July 2009, these cars were withdrawn from service, but are preserved as part of the [[New York Transit Museum]] fleet.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}}}

The scene's most famous shot is from a front bumper mount and shows the streets from a low angle. Director of photography [[Owen Roizman]] wrote in ''[[American Cinematographer]]'' magazine in 1972 that the camera was undercranked to 18 frames per second to enhance the sense of speed; this effect can be seen on a car at a red light whose exhaust pipe is pumping smoke at an accelerated rate. Other shots involved stunt drivers who were supposed to barely miss Doyle's car, but due to errors in timing, accidental collisions occurred that were left in the film.<ref>This account of the shooting is described in ''Making the Connection'', supra.</ref> Friedkin said he used [[Carlos Santana|Santana]]'s cover of [[Peter Green (musician)|Peter Green]]'s song "[[Black Magic Woman]]" during editing to help shape the chase sequence. The song does not appear in the film, but the chase scene "did have a sort of pre-ordained rhythm to it that came from the music".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6070626 | title=From 'Popeye' Doyle to Puccini: William Friedkin with Robert Siegel (interview) | date=September 14, 2006 | work=NPR.org | access-date=August 2, 2014 | archive-date=August 12, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812151550/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6070626 | url-status=live}}</ref>

The scene concludes with Doyle confronting Nicoli at the stairs leading to the elevated train track and shooting him as he tries to run back up them, as captured in a still shot used in a theatrical release poster for the film. Many of the police officers who were advisers for the film objected to the scene on the grounds that shooting a suspect in the back is murder, not self-defense, but Friedkin stood by it, saying he was "secure in my conviction that that's exactly what [[Eddie Egan]] [the model for Doyle] would have done, and Eddie was on the set while all of this was being shot".<ref>Director's commentary on DVD</ref><ref>"Making the Connection" and "The Poughkeepsie Shuffle", documentaries on ''The French Connection'' available on the deluxe DVD.</ref>