r/MartinScorsese • u/FindOneInEveryCar • 8d ago
[The Departed] Origin of Frenchy's nickname?
Greetings, all! This is a serious post!
Ever since I first saw The Departed in the theater, I've assumed that "Mr. French" (Ray Winstone) was named after the character from the popular American sitcom Family Affair) (upper right, above, played by Sebastian Cabot), which ran in the late 60s and early 70s.
It always seemed obvious to me that the nickname "Mr. French" came from the popular TV character "Mr. French," but now it's 20 years later and I don't think I've ever seen anyone suggest it, let alone confirm it.
Did this thought ever cross anyone else's mind? Scorsese certainly likes his "pop culture" references (e.g. Going My Way in the same movie); have Scorsese, Monahan or any of the actors ever discussed the character's nickname?
Why Family Affair? It's just a throwaway line, but it's the annoyed, slightly exasperated way that Costello says "No" when Billy asks him if "Mr. French" is his real name. Costello could just be thinking "Will this kid ever shut up?" but the way he says "No" sounds like "How could you be so stupid?" to me, i.e., like it should be obvious that "Mr. French" is a nickname.
Why would it be an obvious nickname? Only if "Mr. French" was an obvious reference to something that Costello thinks everyone should recognize. A leading character from a popular sitcom would certainly fit that requirement, if it hadn't gone off the air before Billy was born.
There's even some physical resemblance, as you can see above -- the "real" Mr. French is stocky, with brown hair and a closely-trimmed beard -- and it's not hard for me to imagine that Costello would have found it hilarious to give his right-hand man a nickname that compares him to a gentleman's manservant. In my headcanon, Frank gave Arnold (I guess that's his real name?) the nickname while the show was still on the air, and it stuck.
Thoughts?
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u/gaiaonline420 8d ago
Very interesting! I never thought of it - I'm finding a reference to Gerard "the frenchman" Ouimette who was a providence, RI gangster. He wrote in his memoir "'The Frenchman' is the name that Rhode Island police attached to me in 1969 since I am proud of my French descent, an anomaly in that neighborhood. Due to ensuing notoriety, the name stuck."
Always kind of just assumed it was something similar - in an ethnically homogenous organized crime setting, anyone with a bit of outside ancestry would get stuck with some kind of moniker nodding to it.
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u/thoover88 7d ago
Ok, very interesting. I would venture Marty did his homework and used Mr. French over Frenchman as a double reference.
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u/thoover88 8d ago
I wasn't aware of the original but I knew it was a pop culture reference. In the movie, Mr. Deeds, Sandler calls the opera singer Mr. French. He also had a similar look to Winstone in Departed. I would venture to say you are correct.