Popeye Doyle is an American 1986 television film starring Ed O'Neill as New York City police detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle. It is a sequel to the feature films The French Connection (1971) and French Connection II (1975), in which Gene Hackman played Doyle; Hackman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The French Connection. Popeye Doyle was originally intended as a pilot episode for a proposed series under that title, but the series was not picked up.
Popeye Doyle is based on a real New York City detective, Eddie Egan, who appears in The French Connection as Walt Simonson, Doyle's supervisor.
New York City police Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle investigates the case of a murdered model, which leads him on the trail of a gang of terrorists and a drug cartel of international smugglers.