Gene Hackman's 'French Connection' Car Chase Is One Of The Best And Most Reckless Movie Stunts Of All Time

As we mourn the death of Hollywood legend Gene Hackman, I thought now would be a good time to look back on how he and director William Friedkin changed movie car chases forever with his unforgettable sequence in 1971's "The French Connection." Not only is it one of the most iconic movie car chases of all time, but it's also perhaps one of the most dangerous.

Friedkin insisted on shooting the scene as cheaply and with as few safety precautions as possible, guerilla style. Despite ripping through the elevated subway tracks of Brooklyn, Friedkin said he had "no permits to do the chase scene," according to The Telegraph. All he did was pay "the guy from the transit department" $40,000 to shoot on the elevated tracks," adding that he "broke all the rules" and put his life and others in danger:

"I really didn't care. I just felt that nothing was going to go wrong, and, by the grace of God, it didn't."

For most of the chase, Hackman was not behind the wheel of his 1971 Pontiac LeMans. Instead, it was stuntman Bill Hickman who reached up to 90 mph in some sections of the chase while bashing into cars, buildings, and other debris in the road. Of course, Hackman–playing the titular role of NYPD Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle–was behind the wheel for some of the chase, including what could have been a very bad accident.

Throughout the five weeks it took to shoot the 15-minute sequence, there were only five staged stunts, including a near-miss with a woman and a baby carriage, narrowly dodging cars in an intersection, and driving the wrong way down a one-way street. One stunt didn't go as planned when Hackman was behind the wheel: instead of a near miss at the corner of Sitwell Ave and 86th Street, Hackman and a student driver collided, according to Hagerty. Friedkin decided to keep the crash in the film because he dug the way it looked.

Here's how Hackman's car chase scenes were shot, according to Friedkin's post on the Director's Guild of America website:

Whenever we made shots of Hackman at the wheel, all three mounted cameras were usually filming. When Hackman was not driving, I did not use the over-shoulder camera. For all of the exterior stunts, I had three cameras going constantly. Because we were using real pedestrians and traffic at all times, it was impossible to undercrank, so everything was shot at normal speed. In most shots, the car was going at speeds between 70 to 90 miles an hour. This included times when Hackman was driving, and I should point out that he drove considerably more than half of the shots that are used in the final cutting sequence.

The world lost a movie icon with the passing of Gene Hackman at 95, but at least we've got a legendary body of work to remember him by. If you're trying to brush up on your Hackman films, might I suggest watching "The French Connection" (obviously), "The Royal Tenenbaums," Hoosiers," and "The Conversation" as great places to start.