Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey)’s Timeline and Summary
- Charnier has a meeting with his shipbuilder, then arrives home to meet his young, beautiful wife. They are preparing to take a trip to New York.
- At Chateau d'If, Charnier meets with Nicoli, who's unsure about involving the movie star Devereaux.
- They are going to pack a car full of heroin, and the movie star will travel with it to New York. Charnier says it will be fine. Devereaux arrives to the island and shakes hands on their agreement.
- As Devereaux arrives by ship to a New York harbor, Charnier and Nicoli watch the goings on.
- Charnier meets with Sal Boca at a Manhattan hotel, as Popeye and Cloudy look on. The two criminals are very aware that they're being watched.
- This surveillance becomes all the more ridiculous once Popeye attempts to follow him undetected from his hotel, down into the subway. Charnier sees that something must be done, and he's eager to get the deal finished ASAP.
- Charnier flies to DC and meets Sal on the Mall for what he hopes is a truly un-watched meeting. (However, Klein is there, too.) He tells Sal he wants the deal done by the end of the week.
- One the flight back, Nicoli says that the cops have been getting too close, and he wants to take Popeye out. Charnier says no. (He tries anyway, unfortunately for his own survival. Oops!)
- After Popeye and Cloudy get their hands on the car, Devereaux and La Valle find it missing and have to go to the police lot to get it. The whole thing is feeling too dangerous to Devereaux, and he tells Charnier he's out. Charnier is miffed but wants to get all of this taken care of before any more messes are made.
- Taking the drug car from where it was parked by Devereaux, in the garage of the hotel, he drives it out to Ward's Island, where he meets Sal and his men. They make the exchange and put the money in place of the drugs, inside the car.
- Sal and Charnier drive from the island to the bridge, but the cops are barricading the on-ramp. They turn the car quickly and vroom back to the deal site to warn everyone.
- Once they park the car, everyone scatters, sirens in the distance. Charnier runs into an abandoned building, eventually getting away, despite Popeye's best efforts.
- Charnier escapes, and is believed to be living in France, the only one to get off truly scot-free.