The French Connection opens in Marseilles near a bridge. A man is eating a sandwich and watching two other men walk out of a building, get into a car, and drive away. Later the same man sits at a restaurant watching the crowds. The man walks home, but as he checks his mail he is shot by another man.

In Brooklyn, several boys talk to a Santa Claus collecting money for the Salvation Army. While others are distracted, another man enters a busy bar populated by African-Americans. He locks one man into a telephone booth and when the others run out, the Santa Claus and the man chase them. As they run, we see that "Santa Claus" is Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle. When they catch the man, they wrestle him to the ground and beat him. They corner, the man, Willie, and try to...