Reel Brooklyn: The French Connection: Gravesend/Bensonhurst

Reel Brooklyn is a biweekly column chronicling the definitive history of Brooklyn on-screen, one film—and neighborhood—at a time.
One of the authentic pathmarks of the American New Wave, William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971) was more New York than any movie anyone had ever seen—more New York than Shadows (1959), more than Rosemary’s Baby (1968), more than Midnight Cowboy (1969). There was something about the way the movie smelled—an unmistakable com