The French Connection Scene 23 Summary

  • At the forensic lot, Popeye and a mechanic are stripping down the Lincoln, tearing up vents and wall panels and slicing open upholstery. They can't find anything.
  • The Lincoln gets put on a lift, and Cloudy gets in on the action. They remove the oil, the tires, everything.
  • "That thing is clean," the mechanic says. Popeye looks beat, and still upset. "I don't buy that," he says.
  • Meanwhile, Henri Devereaux and his translator are at the lot, asking about the Lincoln. The cop/lot attendant gives them the run around while Popeye, Cloudy and the mechanic continue to look at the car.
  • The translator reads the attendant the riot act, which both Frenchmen smoke. "You're in a no-smoking area, sir," the attendant informs them snootily.
  • Popeye doesn't want to give up, but they're stumped. Cloudy asks the mechanic how much the car weighed when it came in. It turns out that it's 120 pounds overweight, and has been since it left Marseille.
  • The mechanic says they've ripped everything out but the rocker panels. Popeye, impatiently, hollers: "What the hell is that?"
  • A moment later, they're ripping up the rocker panels. And there's the heroin, in several green and plus plastic bags.
  • The Frenchmen are getting more and more angry, yelling that they've been waiting for four hours.
  • Just then, Cloudy comes in, saying the Lincoln "just came in from downtown." He leads Devereaux and his translator to the newly reassembled car, saying, "It's in perfect shape. Not a scratch, you must leave a charming life."