Looking back, it's tempting to say that William Friedkin was one of the best directors of all time. I think a credible argument could me made that he was the very best. Sadly, tragically, he was not given the respect he deserved. The studios should have treated him like solid gold.
Friedkin entered the world of feature films with a movie that will only illicit laughs today. Good Times was a lighthearted parody movie starring Sonny and Cher. It failed to find success, and he went on to a surreal adaptation of a Harold Pinter play and then, of all things, a musical comedy set in the world of 1920s burlesque. He did a gay-themed drama called The Boys in the Band long before it was cool to do so. In fact many considered the movie to be career suicide. This was far from the first time Bill Friedkin defied established conventions at great risk to his livelihood.
Somehow Friedkin stumbled on to a movie-in development called The French Connection. This could have been another standard cop picture. Entertaining, well made, but nothing special. It was here that Friedkin really came into his own.
The films of William Friedkin, the good ones anyway, provoked. They stirred the pot. They incensed people.
The French Connection was enormously successful, but it isn't an easy movie. Popeye Doyle, played by Gene Hackman, isn't a likeable character. In fact he is more than a bit of an asshole. Friedkin wasn't trying to make a comfortable story about good and bad guys. His intention was to honestly depict the time and place.
He broke the rules. Friedkin shot without permits in New York City. He endangered his cast and citizens with an illegal chase scene. He used real heroin in a scene where the drug had to be tested. Friedkin wanted those in the know to see the real thing.
Then of course came The Exorcist. One of the most successful and terrifying movies of all time, The Exorcist is still making money and is still influencing not only movies, but our entire culture. Friedkin insisted on filming the prologue in Iraq. He demanded pure accuracy. This was at a time when it wasn't exactly safe for an American to be there.
The pacing, the editing, the entire atmosphere of The Exorcist defies all established cinematic rules. It was a gamble that paid off.
From there, well, the career of William Friedkin dropped off of a bridge.
Sorcerer nearly wrecked Friedkin's career. He went wildly over budget with this tough adventure story. He put his cast in greater danger than ever before or since. It should have been the highlight of his career. It was an unmitigated disaster. An extremely costly disaster.
What happened? Numerous things. Tides were changing, and audiences wanted simple movies like Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The title, inspired by a Miles Davis album, was wildly misleading.
There was another aspect to it. Friedkin was reportedly unbelievably contentious at the time. He alienated a lot of people and created no small amount of animosity. I think he remained a basically good guy, but success does funny things to people. Something similar happened to Bogdanovich.
Sorcerer is now considered one of the finest movies ever made. At time it was reviled by critics and ignored by moviegoers. I still think that, with the right push and proper publicity, it would have found its audience and seen the success it should have had.
It happened again when Friedkin made Cruising, a lurid and violent story of a brutal killer in the world of gay S&M clubs. Friedkin was raked over the coals by gay rights groups as well as puritanical conservatives. I still think it's a damned good movie.
William Friedkin had some hits and some misses in the ensuing years. To Live and Die in L.A. was a nice comeback. His serial killer movie, Rampage, was another career nosedive.
Then there were true embarrassments like Deal of the Century and The Guardian. I kind of liked The Guardian, but it's a terrible picture that only tarnished William Friedkin's reputation.
Rampage was the last one I saw. I liked it a lot, but after that came Blue Chips. A basketball movie with Nick Nolte was precisely the last thing I wanted to watch in 1994. I wrote off William Friedkin as surely as the big studios did.
I paid no attention to ones like Jade and Bug. Movies like Rules and Engagement and The Hunted were completely under my radar. I didn't even know Friedkin directed them.
I need to fill in the blanks. The one that looks most interesting to me is Killer Joe, a controversial neo-noir from 2011. Like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, it was refused an R-Rating regardless of any cuts. The tone of the entire movie was too disturbing. Seventy-six years old and still shocking people. God bless William Friedkin's soul.
The whole story is told in The Friedkin Connection. His no-bullshit, take-no-prisoners attitude is in full force in this book, which I read in a day's time. It made me grateful for the movies I have seen and regretful about the ones I passed by.
I don't know if the current entertainment atmosphere could have someone like William Friedkin in it. He was too much of a maverick, too uncompromising. Sure, he played the game when he had to, but the man who broke down barriers with The French Connection and The Exorcist wouldn't be very welcome in this time of data crunchers and accountants.
Written by Mark Sieber
Friedkin entered the world of feature films with a movie that will only illicit laughs today. Good Times was a lighthearted parody movie starring Sonny and Cher. It failed to find success, and he went on to a surreal adaptation of a Harold Pinter play and then, of all things, a musical comedy set in the world of 1920s burlesque. He did a gay-themed drama called The Boys in the Band long before it was cool to do so. In fact many considered the movie to be career suicide. This was far from the first time Bill Friedkin defied established conventions at great risk to his livelihood.
Somehow Friedkin stumbled on to a movie-in development called The French Connection. This could have been another standard cop picture. Entertaining, well made, but nothing special. It was here that Friedkin really came into his own.
The films of William Friedkin, the good ones anyway, provoked. They stirred the pot. They incensed people.
The French Connection was enormously successful, but it isn't an easy movie. Popeye Doyle, played by Gene Hackman, isn't a likeable character. In fact he is more than a bit of an asshole. Friedkin wasn't trying to make a comfortable story about good and bad guys. His intention was to honestly depict the time and place.
He broke the rules. Friedkin shot without permits in New York City. He endangered his cast and citizens with an illegal chase scene. He used real heroin in a scene where the drug had to be tested. Friedkin wanted those in the know to see the real thing.
Then of course came The Exorcist. One of the most successful and terrifying movies of all time, The Exorcist is still making money and is still influencing not only movies, but our entire culture. Friedkin insisted on filming the prologue in Iraq. He demanded pure accuracy. This was at a time when it wasn't exactly safe for an American to be there.
The pacing, the editing, the entire atmosphere of The Exorcist defies all established cinematic rules. It was a gamble that paid off.From there, well, the career of William Friedkin dropped off of a bridge.
Sorcerer nearly wrecked Friedkin's career. He went wildly over budget with this tough adventure story. He put his cast in greater danger than ever before or since. It should have been the highlight of his career. It was an unmitigated disaster. An extremely costly disaster.
What happened? Numerous things. Tides were changing, and audiences wanted simple movies like Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The title, inspired by a Miles Davis album, was wildly misleading.
There was another aspect to it. Friedkin was reportedly unbelievably contentious at the time. He alienated a lot of people and created no small amount of animosity. I think he remained a basically good guy, but success does funny things to people. Something similar happened to Bogdanovich.
Sorcerer is now considered one of the finest movies ever made. At time it was reviled by critics and ignored by moviegoers. I still think that, with the right push and proper publicity, it would have found its audience and seen the success it should have had.
It happened again when Friedkin made Cruising, a lurid and violent story of a brutal killer in the world of gay S&M clubs. Friedkin was raked over the coals by gay rights groups as well as puritanical conservatives. I still think it's a damned good movie.
William Friedkin had some hits and some misses in the ensuing years. To Live and Die in L.A. was a nice comeback. His serial killer movie, Rampage, was another career nosedive.
Then there were true embarrassments like Deal of the Century and The Guardian. I kind of liked The Guardian, but it's a terrible picture that only tarnished William Friedkin's reputation.
Rampage was the last one I saw. I liked it a lot, but after that came Blue Chips. A basketball movie with Nick Nolte was precisely the last thing I wanted to watch in 1994. I wrote off William Friedkin as surely as the big studios did.
I paid no attention to ones like Jade and Bug. Movies like Rules and Engagement and The Hunted were completely under my radar. I didn't even know Friedkin directed them.
I need to fill in the blanks. The one that looks most interesting to me is Killer Joe, a controversial neo-noir from 2011. Like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, it was refused an R-Rating regardless of any cuts. The tone of the entire movie was too disturbing. Seventy-six years old and still shocking people. God bless William Friedkin's soul.
The whole story is told in The Friedkin Connection. His no-bullshit, take-no-prisoners attitude is in full force in this book, which I read in a day's time. It made me grateful for the movies I have seen and regretful about the ones I passed by.
I don't know if the current entertainment atmosphere could have someone like William Friedkin in it. He was too much of a maverick, too uncompromising. Sure, he played the game when he had to, but the man who broke down barriers with The French Connection and The Exorcist wouldn't be very welcome in this time of data crunchers and accountants.
Written by Mark Sieber
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