William Friedkin is DEAD to me!

He had a hot ass, but he couldn't live forever.

DL has had some good "Cruising" threads.

RIP

Excellent director. The French Connection, The Boys in the Band, The Exorcist, To Live and Die in LA, and Cruising rank as some of my all time favorites. RIP.

RIP. He filmed some true classics.

I don;t know what effect he was going for with all those fillers at OP's photo, but they made him look like the elderly Carol Channing.

Was he a gay?

I always thought he was a homosexualist.

Always liked him. He came across so well in interviews. He always showed great retrospective love for Boys In The Band.

He was married to Sherri Lansing for years and years. But he may well have been gay all the same.

He looks like Mitch McConnell’s brother

Could never get my head around him being married to Lesley Anne Down.

Checked out before having to answer questions about those awful upcoming Blumhouse Exorcist films ruining his classic.

Smart move!

One of my favorite directors....he took chances that no one else would......this truly is a kick in the balls (or ovaries, in my case)....fuck me I am spending tonight watching all of my faves of his, starting out with BITB....also, was a great interviewer so I'll be watching plenty of those 2.

Bye Billy!!You were awesome.

Interesting that in the headline they mention the tacky ludicrous horror movie he directed and not the one that won him an Oscar.

Which is also a shitty movie. Both of them.

He was also with Fosse dancer Jennifer Nairn Smith. Va Va Voom.

[quote]the tacky ludicrous horror movie

The movie holds up, r14. Blame the tacky ludicrous book it was based on.

His greatest work

He was married to Jeanne Moreau? Yes. For 2 years.

A lot of the very old ones dying lately.

He and French actress Jeanne Moreau were married for 2 years. In the 60s directed The Night They Raided Minsky's, Good Times with Sonny and Cher and The Birthday Party based on a Pinter play.

Yes, that's what happens, R20.

Noted for giving cineastes these immortal lines:

"Let Jesus fuck you."

"Hips or lips?"

R5 I was thinking her looked a bit like Mitch McConnell in a toupee and contact lenses.

If all you see in the Exorcist are cheap thrills and jump scares, then it's no surprise you dont like it. Fortunately the movie is far more than that and actually a moving character study of a man regaining his lost faith and the power of selfless love.

Why is To Live and Die in LA not streaming? It is a great movie.

Damn, that Variety picture looks like it was taken the day after a terrible facelift.

Sucking cocks in hell, no doubt.

To Live And Die In L.A. is an underrated classic. Early Willem Dafoe. Sexy William Peterson.

^ hawt

What’s going on with his neck in OP’s pic? It looks like he’s had a vagina transplanted to the side of his neck.

I didn't see his Sorcerer (1977) until just a few years ago, but it's also worth a look.

^^^ weird movie. The production history is insane.

Aw, one of the greats. I like this 'making of' doc. How a film goes from a thought to a movie theater.

[quote]I was thinking her looked a bit

Oh, fucking DEAR, R24!

Great talented director.

I like the story about his direction of a real priest in The Exorcist. Unable to draw the right expression from the priest for his character finding Father Damien Karas dead at the bottom of a stone staircase in DC, he slapped the priest/actor in the face and then filmed his response.

Friedkin is also the reason I came to know what pure true unadulterated male beauty could be like...

So instead of finding out a way to reach a non-professional actor, he assults him. And you think that made him a great director, R36?

Master! R.I.P.

[quote]I like the story about his direction of a real priest in The Exorcist. Unable to draw the right expression from the priest for his character finding Father Damien Karas dead at the bottom of a stone staircase in DC, he slapped the priest/actor in the face and then filmed his response.

I vaguely recall someone from the Exorcist also saying he drew a gun on someone, but I can't remember who/why. He also had Ellen Burstyn slapped for real, knocking her into a piece of furniture and hurting her back. The Exorcist is without a doubt a great movie & a classic piece of art, but his shit would never fly today.

R25 it's also tedious and not scary and you feel nothing for Regan. Everything dealing with Father Karas and his Greek mother and Lee J. Cobb is unnecessary. Theologically it makes no sense for a priest with a heart condition and another suffering grief and guilt would not be chosen to do battle with the demon. And though it's not the movie's fault by the time I saw the film, and didn't everyone know that she was possessed and all the obligatory scenes involving doctors and psychiatrists felt perfunctory

Has Linda Blair commented yet?

When I was an undergrad he spoke at my university. Somebody asked about the closing scene in French Connection where the film ends with an unexplained gunshot.

I've never made up my mind if his replay was clever or inane. He said he wanted to end the movie with a bang.

His wife stated he has a movie coming out.

He was one of my favourites. A master storyteller and very interesting man.

Has Ellen Burstyn commented yet? Old girl is 3 years older than him.

The tales of his cuntiness are legendary. He should be a DL patron saint as evidenced in the link. 😂

[quote]His wife stated he has a movie coming out.

Yes - The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, with Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke and Jake Lacy, using a 50-year-old script by Herman Wouk, adapted from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Let's not forget the peak of his career -- directing Shannen Doherty and Antonio Sabàto, Jr..

He seems to have lost his mojo, but then Francis Ford Coppola made bombs for years & people kept throwing $$ at him. I wonder what happened to get him off track or if he just got old, rich & satisfied.

R47 is a bitter pathetic person....why go into a thread of a recently deceased filmmaker to talk shit? I don't get it. Is it that he failed so much in life he doesn't like it when other people get merits for NOT failing?

I wish he and Arthur Laurents could have made a movie together starring Debra Winger and Tonya Pinkins!

Thanks r46. Can't wait.

And r47 is a cunt.

Susan Dey is reportedly crafting her statement of condolence and may be releasing it shortly.

R49 and R51 are humorless fools who look to DL for reverence. A shame -- but useful information for updating one's "blocked list."

He also directed the music video for Laura Branigan's "Self Control".

Did he ever find out what she did?

The cunting daughter?

R54, meet R18. You have so much in common.

I’m sucking cocks in Hell as I type.

RIP.

Marty? You in danger, girl.

[quote]A lot of the very old ones dying lately.

Gee, I wonder if there's somehow a correlation involved.

[quote]Gee, I wonder if there's somehow a correlation involved.

Excuse me? - you can go for ages and ages without a single famous oldie dying. Recently there have been many. Get it now?

I get that you're a simpleton, and an exceptionally touchy one at that.

[quote] Was he a gay?

He was more like the Q in LGBTQ.

My favorite story from him is how he said he and some of the crew in Cruising apparently clad themselves up in leather and went undercover to the leather bars prior to filming to get the right feelings of the places, but according to him he was so unattractive, no one hit on him....I didnt think he was that bad

Also heard that when he was scouting for actors for BitB at Fire Island he came across a crowd of about 10 dudes participating in a "daisy chain" and was partly intrigued, partly shocked. Tbh I doing Friedkin was gay but he did seem to be attracted to "fringe" lifestyles, and being gay both pre Stonewall as BitB was, and gay in the S&M scene pre Aids 70s, pretty much was that.

Also the crazy connection between The Exorcist, Cruising, and the fact that radiologist in the first film ended up being a serial killer that partly inspired the second film is one of my favorite coincidences in Hollywood.

He had four wives and two children. If he was gay, he wasn't very good at it.

I’ve always been curious as to why WF was asked to direct a music video for Laura Branigan and her record company, Atlantic Records, in 1984?

[quote]I get that you're a simpleton, and an exceptionally touchy one at that.

Projecting. Clearly.

[Quote]I’ve always been curious as to why WF was asked to direct a music video for Laura Branigan and her record company, Atlantic Records, in 1984

I've always wondered how he came to direct The French Connection after having directed The Boys in the Band, the Birthday Party, The Night They Raided Minsky's and Good Times

[Quote] "I don't give a flying fuck into a rolling donut what Al Pacino thinks."

L E G E N D.

R63 In one interview he said he got mostly ignored at the leather bars because he was “just another fat Jew in a jockstrap.” But I also agree he was cute when younger.

He was delightfully bitchy and dismissive of all the Exorcist sequels, as evidenced by the clip r39, not to mention other well known figures in Hollywood, which undoubtedly cost him work. He claimed he made quite a few mistakes and regretted a lot of stuff. It’s too bad his career peaked with the Exorcist 50 years ago. But he was a true renegade who didn’t suffer fools and was a true artist who never fulfilled his potential who made one masterpiece, The Exorcist, and another that was close, the French Connection, that still stand the test of time.

The Exorcist is no masterpiece, imo. It isn't even good. The script is dreadful, the characters are one-dimensional, and the special effects are garish.

His voice sounds just like Trump's. I was listening to the commentary on Cruising without knowing what he looks like and couldn't help but picture Trump talking about leather bars in the 70s.

Sorcerer, To Live and Die in LA, and Cruising are also masterpieces, IMO, critics and box office of the time be damned. I have no idea why Vito Russo and his legion were so heated about Cruising - respectability politics of the day? It was filmed totally on location and using actual patrons of the leather clubs in the scenes.

Killer Joe and Bug are solid too, if you want to check out his very late style work.

Agree r71. It makes sense that he would've burned a lot of bridges given the tone of a lot of his interviews. I like that about him though. Unapologetically authentic.

Unapologetically an asshole, more like. And slapping actors? Fuck him.

I though he was hot back when.

Memorialized by La Bomer

How far back when?

I can’t believe no one has mentioned one of the first things everyone in Hollywood always said about him for years: He had a really big cock. How else do you think he got all thise famous wives and girlfriends?

I think you're in the minority on that one r72. And if you feel that way I'm not sure why you're on this thread tbh. Are you also r76?

Interesting that time onetime wife the legendary Jeanne Moreau dated at least one primarily gay man - Pierre Cardin. Who’s to say she wouldn’t make a habit of it?

R80, he got those wives and girlfriends because he's famous. You think beautiful women are lining up to date janitors with big dicks? $$$$ and fame matter way more to females than penis size

r80 I saw him do a Q&A about a decade ago and I thought maybe he had a colostomy bag in his pants, because something INSANE was bulging down there

R81, just because I didn't like a movie of his, that means I wouldn't be interested in a "Dead To Me" thread about him?

And I'm fine being in a minority. Discerning people usually are.

[quote]The Exorcist is without a doubt a great movie & a classic piece of art

[quote]a true artist who never fulfilled his potential who made one masterpiece, The Exorcist,

Are you people on drugs? It's hoity-toity trash.

When it was released in 1973, I was too young to see it but was so disappointed when I finally did.

The film, playing locally at the Cinema I, is the biggest thing to hit the industry since Mary Pickford, popcorn, pornography and “The Godfather.” When I dropped into the Cinema I the other weekday morning at the first showing of the day, it was apparent that here was a movie a lot of people wanted to see, including old ladies, single men with brief cases, loving couples and teen‐age kids (seemingly with and without parents). The kids especially, several of whom lay in an orchestra aisle near my seat and smoked and talked about basketball during those sections of the film in which the tormented child on screen was not vomiting bile at the priests, masturbating with a crucifix, screaming obscenities about the young priest's dead mother, or, for fun, turning her head 180 degrees to the rear.

If “The Exorcist's weren't so popular, and if it didn't obviously fulfill the expectations of the aUdiences who are going to see it„ it wouldn't be worth writing about. True, it has a cast of good actors. Its settings, including those shown in a prefatory sequence shot at an archeological dig in Iraq, are handsome and give the production an impressively expensive look. It's been very fancily put together, with a good deal of canny crosscutting to build the mood of menace.

Yet “The Exorcist” is claptrap. It has hardly any narrative to speak of, and what it has contain* more loose ends than the first draft of a 2,000‐page novel. The entire Iraqi sequence is superfluous window‐dressing.

While watching the film the first time at a press screening, I kept trying to figure out what the movie was really up to. Critics are like that. They keep trying to find hidden meanings in the most explicit, bald‐face narratives. One friend later suggested it was actually about mothers and daughters, but that friend had just had a fight with her mother and was full of her own bile.

NY Times Vincent Canby

Yet “The Exorcist” is claptrap. It has hardly any narrative to speak of, and what it has contain* more loose ends than the first draft of a 2,000‐page novel. The entire Iraqi sequence is superfluous window‐dressing. Unlike a lot of extremely dumb vampire movies, it's about nothing else but what it says, demonic possession and exorcism. Though I admit to being skeptical, even that would be defensible and possibly fun. I enjoy how‐to movies about exotic occupations, whether the occupation is climbing Annapurna or saving rich, high‐strung Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney, ‘Jr.) from the lycanthrope that lurks within.

Trash is right, R86, it wasn't great and it sure wasn't art.

He was married to Sherry Lansing.

I have the vaguest memory of him appearing on Marc Maron’s podcast. Marc asked him about his Judaism and Friedman went off talking about Jesus and the Shroud Of Turin.

R74 to his great credit, though Vito Russo hated the film and thought it was at least inadvertently homophobic, he never backed the attempts to censor it or to stop it from being filmed, in fact he was against them......those was all on Arthur Bell, the writer from the Village Voice, and his posee. Arthur Bell seemed to have a vendetta against Friedkin, he also deplored BitB....honestly watching interviews from him he seemed like such a whiny bitch....though he was a good writer.

*those were all on Arthur Bell

It's absurd the way people got themselves so worked up even before seeing the film. It never scared me as The Night of the Living Dead (68) The Haunting (63) Black Christmas (74), The Omen (76) or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (74] did.

R92 it’s not your cup of tea. I get it. The first time you see it, and you’re not knowing what to expect, it’s a visceral, gut punching experience. Practically everyone that fainted were squeamish at the hospital scenes when Blair’s blood squirts. To call this film trash, as the above poster claimed, is ludicrous. Why do you think it’s stood test of time? Friedkin brought the horror genre, which before this were Dracula and science run amok movies, into mainstream and critical acceptance. I agree with all posters it’s more than a horror film, it’s really a love story at its heart, with horrific elements. Many films have tried to replicate its success, but have failed. Friedkin was a stickler for detail and a perfectionist.

[quote]I've always wondered how he came to direct The French Connection after having directed The Boys in the Band, the Birthday Party, The Night They Raided Minsky's and Good Times

In his memoir, which is a good, fast read with a lame title ("The Friedkin Connection"), Friedkin says he met the producer of "Bullitt," Phil D'Antoni, in the steam room at Paramount; Friedkin considered "Bullitt" "one of the best films of my generation" and was eager to work with D'Antoni, who had an option on Robin Moore's book "The French Connection." They were both with William Morris and worked out a deal.

R40 I remember Burstyn hurt her back when a harness meant to hold her in position while the bureau/highboy shuffled across the room to block the door (so awesome) came loose and twisted her back at an angle.

[quote] To call this film trash, as the above poster claimed, is ludicrous. Why do you think it’s stood test of time?

I stand by what I said, R93. And standing the test of time is not a sign that a movie is great art.

R95 Burstyn knew in a way what was coming. She claims she overheard Friedkin telling the guy who was going to yank her-let her have it-after Friedkin reassured her she’d be fine. I’m really unsure why Ellen went through with it after hearing this. She could’ve been padded up enough, along with the floor, to think she was going to be ok. But I would’ve told Friedkin fuck off get a stunt double. She’s extremely lucky she didn’t injure her back more than she did.

R96 think what you want. Practically everyone would disagree with you. And it is true the great films are for the ages.

Another example of Friedkin being an asshole.

I really loved the way he photographed NYC in The French Connection. His NYC location shots in BITB were also great.

[quote] Practically everyone would disagree with you. And it is true the great films are for the ages.

Pauline Kael wouldn't. She also thought the movie was garbage. And I also stand by what I said that a film that stays popular for years isn't necessarily a great film.

"The Exorcist" was around for a decade or so after it came out; then, no one much thought about it, and then it was released on an anniversary, like the 30th year or something, and that gave it a litte resurgence. But it's not "The Wizard of Oz" and it sure isn't "Citizen Kane" in quality. It's crude, tacky, and artless, like its director.

[quote] And if you feel that way I'm not sure why you're on this thread tbh.

Honey, nobody appointed you to the Thread Police.

What R102 said.

Questioning one's existence on a thread sounds entitled and cunty.

R101 fuck Kael. You’re really citing her? She hated practically everything she reviewed and had no business being a serious film critic. You go on any board outside of DL (and even here), calling the Exorcist tacky, crude and artless, and 99 percent of the posters will laugh you right off.

I want to talk more about Arthur Bell, but I won't hijack a thread on the day of the guy's demise.

R104, no need to rant.

No matter the wives and girlfriends, still not sold on his being straight. But bisexuality exists, just saying.

Calm blue ocean, r104... Calm blue ocean...

He was known to his friends as Billy.

R63 that sounds like an urban legend. Why would he have to all the way to FI to find gays when the principal photography was done on location in NYC?

(^.^) PS I heard he went to The Anvil in Greenwich Village which makes more sense

[quote]The Exorcist is no masterpiece, imo. It isn't even good. The script is dreadful, the characters are one-dimensional, and the special effects are garish.

It was a flop!

R110 he went to look for actors, not for photography....it's were he found Bobby La Tourneaux, Cowboy in BitB.

I never said it wasn't massiverly popular, R112.

*massively

I know, R114, it's a reference to someone in the Barbie threads who insists that film was a flop because he didn't like it. I didn't really get that vibe from you.

I didn't see The Exorcist for about 20 years thinking I wouldn't be surprised. Then I saw it and in the first 20 minutes I realized I was watching a great film. The atmosphere in the opening sequences is masterful. Also, no one can deny this film it's place as a culturally significant work, whether the effects have aged or not (and they haven't much, really).

Thanks, R116. I even mentioned how popular it was upthread.

R113 here, my bad, that's not where he found La Tourneaux...he had already been found and had originated the role Off Broadway. But I did hear Friedkin went to F.I to prepare for the film in some way. Will try to verify it.

R101, I remember Kael's review fondly -- hilarious.

I go back and forth about the artistic quality of THE EXORCIST, but your remark that "no one much thought about it" after the first decade is just silly. As a teenager in the '80s, I sure heard a great deal about it, and in any case it's silly to make claims about what everyone else thought or didn't think.

[Quote] fuck Kael. You’re really citing her? She hated practically everything she reviewed and had no business being a serious film critic. You go on any board outside of DL (and even here), calling the Exorcist tacky, crude and artless, and 99 percent of the posters will laugh you right off.

There are a dozen books of Kael's film reviews (Reeling, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I Lost It at The Movies, Hooked . . .) and she, is the subject of the documentary What She Said and a bio by Brian Keller. She was very influential in the 70s and Tarantino is supposedly preparing to do a film about her. BTW she liked Room at the Top, The Innocents, The Heiress, Mean Streets, My Left Foot, The Godfather I and II, Pretty Poison, Bonnie and Clyde, The Earrings of Madame de, Weekend, Fires on the Plains, Sleeper, Dog Day Afternoon, Strangers on a Train, Drugstore Cowboy, Casualties of War . . .and countless other films.

[quote] it's silly to make claims about what everyone else thought or didn't think.

I would say this applies to the poster here (maybe it's you) who said practically everyone holds this movie in great esteem.

R9, been rumors about Sherry as long as i can remember

You're making the much married Billy Friedkin and his wives, gay now?

Now I've seen it all.

I agree with r120. Sometimes I think it's genuinely a great film, especially in how it captures the anxiety, in the wake of the hippie movement and especially the Manson Family murders) that nice white teenage children might suddenly turn out for no reason to be monsters. I am amazed so few of the reviewers of the time caught that (even though Chris's film about the protesting university students ties in with what happens to Regan).

But the film has many flaws. Kael was right that the movie doesn't show any real feeling for Regan's suffering, and very little for Chris's. Regan is much too idealized before and after she's possessed, which makes it harder to care about what happens to her. Also, the opening Iraq sequence goes on for too long; it's never intelligently explained what the connection is between the unearthing of the Pazuzu statue in Iraq and what happens to Regan in Georgetown (I've heard people give reasons, but they're never convincing, and the explanation should be in the film); the pea-green vomit coming out in gushing steams is ridiculous and disgusting rather than scary and disgusting; and the whole subplot with Father Karres and his anguish over his dead mother is tedious rather than sympathetic.

And yet again on the other hand, there are genuinely great terrifying moments, and there are so few of those in horror movies: "You're gonna die up there" (so shocking the first time audiences heard it); the desecration of the statues in the church (ditto--nothing like that had ever been shown in mainstream films); Chris's walk through the dark attic, the medical scan sequence at the hospital, and (especially) the spider-walk sequence (cut from the original print). The film is worth it just for those.

R93 Like The Omen it is trash. Trash with superior production values than most horror movies. I remember a few months after it came out audiences were laughing rather than throwing up and people were shouting out 'pea soup' when Regan spewed vomit and laughing at the language coming out of Regan's mouth.

R121 I said practically. I think she deliberately looked for petty, ridiculous reasons to hate a film, thereby trying to bolster her rep as a SERIOUS film critic. She hated Streep, and guess who got the last laugh here.

R125 you make some good points, but both your and Kael's viewpoint seems to come from the premise that it's Reagan's story, when its not. It's always been Father Karras's story to me and why I found the story of him and his mother and the guilt he felt for her as anything but tedious. And while shedding some light on why Reagan became ultimately possesed would have cleared things up, it could have easily ended up as a morality play on why divorce is hard on kids, especially pre teen girls.

This wasnt her story. And I do think they showed a great deal of Cris's anguish.

The death of Sandra Bullock's BF seems to be getting WAY more attention in the tabs. Says it all about today.

[quote] She hated Streep, and guess who got the last laugh here.

Meaning what, R127, that Streep outlived her? It's certainly true that Kael loved a multitude of movies, but if you're a cranky Kael hater, there's nothing I can do to persuade you otherwise.

R128, I don't think Regan has to be considered the main character (or Karras) for the audience to have sympathy fr them. There just isn't any warmth for anyone in the movie.

Guess I don't agree, I saw the sympathy, but we all see, or not see, what we see. R130

I do agree about the initial sequence in Irak, it goes on for too long and it seems like it doesn't fit into the rest of the film.

R95, R97 I'd read it was Linda Blair who sustained the back injury in the harness and she was convulsing on her bed. Beeston was injured too, but Blair suffered a back fracture. I also heard the injury happened in a clip many people attest to seeing but couldn't have, Blair crabwalking downstairs, no such scene was ever in the film.

It was a great film, its critique on the 'modern woman/mother/divorcee, adds another layer to it.

As for a priest with a heart condition 'not being believable ' to do such a task illustrates a big misunderstanding . The 'Demon' chose Regan because it wanted Father Merrin. The demon was preemptively following the father as he was 'attached' from the earlier exorcism he was involved in.

Love many of Friedkins films, although The Exorcist isn't my favorite of his work.

[quote] I also heard the injury happened in a clip many people attest to seeing but couldn't have, Blair crabwalking downstairs, no such scene was ever in the film.

Behold!

R128 I think she’s possessed because of Regans direct conduit with the demon, via the ouija board. Plus a little girl is probably the person you’d least suspect to go through something like this. Also Father Karras losing his faith and in close proximity, Chris’s ignorance on how to deal with the possession which prolongs the misery, and the overall dysfunction and lack of religion in the household, which the demons knows and capitalizes on.

R130 no. Her over 45 year career and enough awards hardware to sink a house. Kael could be right about some films, but so is a busted clock twice a day. I never took her reviews seriously. I knew to anticipate grievance filled paragraphs so I just stopped reading them.

Well, that's good, R134, that you stopped reading, or should I say, misreading Kael. She really just wasn't for you.

He worked with Pacino on Cruising, but he really, really didn't like Pacino.

Has anyone had a look at The Night They Raided Minsky's lately? I haven't seen it since it first came out but remember loving it. And I'd actually forgotten Friedkin directed it.

I liked how grumpy and gun shot his manner speaking was. I was surprised to read that he only has a high school education. He seemed far more articulate than that.

Vito Russo never forgave Friedkin for "Boys In The Band". In fact, in his one man Gays In Film presentation he ripped into Friedkin for perpetuating gay stereotypes and was first in line to crucify him when "Cruising" started shooting. Arthur Bell used his weekly column in the Voice to attack Friedkin, and after that crusade, went after the hideous Ryan O'Neal/John Hurt debacle, "Partners". That one deserved to be hated.

R122, it does indeed. But I'm not the one who made that claim either.

It's no wonder Vito Russo hated "Boys in the Band." He hated all depictions of sissies in films. He thought all of them were always homophobic, even when Bugs Bunny dressed up in drag in old Warner Brothers cartoons.

I'm sure it had to do something with his growing up at mid-century both gay and Italian-American.

[quote] Vito Russo never forgave Friedkin for "Boys In The Band". In fact, in his one man Gays In Film presentation he ripped into Friedkin for perpetuating gay stereotypes and was first in line to crucify him when "Cruising" started shooting.

Not sure why Friedkin was pillaried by Riusso for the movie when it was based on a play by a gay playwright, R139.

"Cruising" was fairly despicable, though.

*Russo

R133 As that video states, was never included in the movies release. I may not have been clear enough about it having been shot but not being used. Although the people I'm thinking of would've seen it either in theaters or on VHS, those cut scenes were released some time later from what I understood.

THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY'S is very enjoyable. Full of authentic detail, (including Bert Lahr!) and it ends with this great scene with "Mademoiselle Fifi" scandalizing the crowd!!

R142, even though I dont think it was intentionally homophobic, and I think at times it was actually sympathetic to the gay plight, I could see Cruising not sitting well with some, especially during that time....I still think its a good (or entertaining) film, but problematic for sure.

But Boys in the Band? Like you said, its a play from an actual gay playwright, it wasnt some straight guy writing about what he saw was the gay life. And what did they want, a bunch of well adjusted gay guys talking their feelings out and helping each other out? That makes good broadway plays? The criticism that bothered me more was from from Edward Albee....he freaking wrote Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf....no the healthiest portrayal of straight marriage....and it was a masterpiece....but we must treat Pre Stonewall, Pre gay pride gays with kid gloves.

When Vito Russo railed against BITB it was a time when the ONLY images of gays in film were those of pathetic suicidal sissies. Have you seen THE CELLULOID CLOSET based on Russo's book? It's quite brilliant and still resonates.

Everything is context, you know.

And while Russo did amazing work and had many good points to make, he was awfully reductive about BOYS IN THE BAND. But he's not alone there.

True, R147 I get that to a point but I still think it was unfairly reviled, even back then. Especially because of the actors and Matt Crowley who I think were very brave in putting the story out there. Plus no one killed themselves in BITB. A few of them (not all) were unhappy is all. I think if Vito were alive today, in hindsight, he'd agree.

*Mart*

[quote] He was known to his friends as Billy.

No, he hated the nickname "Billy". To his close friends, he was just "Bill".

I remember when Friedkin married local KNBC-Los Angeles anchor, Kelly Lange. They lived down the block from my family. It seemed like such an odd pairing.

First, Kelly lived in the neighborhood, then she bought the lot next door and had local builder, Fred Smathers, build this HUMONGOUS home with what seemed like the Great Wall of China around it. It was up on a little hill. Many neighbors hated it and thought it was an eyesore. The joke was she was putting a helipad on the property so she could fly over to KNBC in Burbank. (She used to be the local traffic-weather girl who flew around in a helicopter when she started out.)

Anyway, when she moved into the new place, Friedkin bought her other house, so they became next door neighbors. They soon built a pathway between the two properties, so they could walk between their homes. They eventually married and moved into her monstrosity on the mound. I think the marriage lasted about three or four years.

We always called Kelly "the helicopter girl" because of how she got her start, flying around town in a chopper reporting on traffic and weather.

[Quote] Chris's film about the protesting university students ties in with what happens to Regan

WTF! What about[ism] the absentee father who after one failed transatlantic call 'did you take an illiteracy test to get this fucking job' is never seen, heard from or really mentioned again.

[quote] No, he hated the nickname "Billy". To his close friends, he was just "Bill".

No, you're wrong - he preferred to be called by his full name, William.

The Exorcist should have won Best Picture.

He liked Willie best.

Willie Best? AKA "Sleep'n'Eat?"

[Quote] The Exorcist should have won Best Picture.

It did at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Awards and the Golden Globe

The Exorcist is more memorable than 1973s Oscar winner The Sting but not as good as American Graffiti the best of the 5 films nominated.

What a bitch, haha.

I've never seen it r137. Before my time. But I will now, thanks.

[quote] No, he hated the nickname "Billy". To his close friends, he was just "Bill".

[quote] No, you're wrong - he preferred to be called by his full name, William.

No, you're both wrong. He always wanted to be called by his self-bestowed nickname, "Lady Bird."

Cunt at r136 I literally just posted that at r69.

OP I don't give a flying fuck into a rolling donut

He looked like a sprightly Mitch McConnell...what causes that no lip/turkey waddle?

Pacino looked repulsive in that, R2. The chest is commendable, however.

“The French Connection”was a terrfic genre movie, but there’s no way it should have won the Oscar for Best Picture over “The Last Picture Show.”

Typical of the days when the Academy membership was overwhelmingly male and straight. That audience will always pick a well staged action scene over a well-written, acted and directed emotional or sexual scene, though the latter are MUCH harder to do well.

An affectionate parody tribute to Burlesque with a minimum of plot and a maximum of evocative stage routines. It's lightweight and disorganized; it's a shambles yet a lot of it is charming and it has a wonderful seedy chorus line. Joseph Wiseman memorably, elegantly funny is the senior Minsky, Elliott Gould is the junior Minsky . . . and Bert Lahr whose role was reduced to little more than a glimpse because he died during shooting.

Pauline Kael GOING STEADY

^^^THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY'S

No, The French Connection was perfection.

As others have said, he went overboard trying to get better performances from some actors. Here's wikipedia's description of the filming of "The Exorcist":

[quote]Friedkin manipulated the actors to get genuine reactions. Unsatisfied with O'Malley's performance as Dyer ministers to the dying Karras at the end of the film, he slapped him hard across the face to generate a deeply solemn yet literally shaken reaction for the scene, offending many Catholic crew members. He also fired blanks without warning to elicit shock from Miller for a take; Dietz recalls him also doing this during the scene where Regan assaults the doctors at the house. Friedkin also told Miller that the vomit, porridge colored to resemble pea soup and pumped through a hidden tube, would hit him in the chest during the projectile vomiting scene, and rehearsed it that way. But when filmed, the soup hit his face, resulting in his disgusted reaction.

He directed a music video for Babs.

Barbra calls him Billie.

[quote]Yet “The Exorcist” is claptrap. It has hardly any narrative to speak of, and what it has contain* more loose ends than the first draft of a 2,000‐page novel. The entire Iraqi sequence is superfluous window‐dressing.

Shall we summon the writer? He's in Paris, I believe.

Was Shirley MacLaine ever considered for THE EXORCIST? Wasn't Chris supposedly based on her in the book?

Is the film a faithful adaptation of the book? IIRC the book was HUGE best-seller (I was a child back then).

[quote]Is the film a faithful adaptation of the book? IIRC the book was HUGE best-seller (I was a child back then).

The book is even more explicit. During one of the scenes between the demon and Karras (I can't remember if this is before or after Merrin shows up), Regan shits the bed and then the demon tells him to consecrate it.

^ OMG - HORRID!

Now the scene where Regan is shoving a cross into her twat is an example of the sacred and the propane.

[quote]Barbra calls him Billie.

Friedkin called Barbra...Honker.

Babs turned down the lead of Chris McNeil.

As did Jane Fonda.

Burstyn and Blair pay tribute.

I seriously doubt Linda Blair wrote that but whoever did deserves a raise. It sounds more like Jodie Foster than Blair.

OK, I fess up: I wrote that for Linda.

R181 thanks for that. Good to know that even if he pushed his actors, sometimes a little too hard, they still think so well of him.

Boo now I'm sad again.

Sorry to burst Burstyn's bubble but Friedkin wasn't a genius. He certainly isn't considered an influential or innovative director and was never talked about in the same way Altman, Kubrick, Welles, Scorsese, Fellini, Hitchcock . . .were

R174 Chris was patterned after Shirley when Blatty wrote the book. From what I understand it was always down to three actresses-Hepburn, Bancroft and Burstyn. Friedkin wouldn’t film in Rome, so that let Hepburn out. Friedkin met with Bancroft and claimed she look like shit (he told this to Ellen) talking about the film with her in some deli, so Ellen got the part. I can definitely see MacLaine in the part, but no one was serious about casting her.

Shut the fuck up R185

Bancroft passed on the role because she was pregnant.

R188 Ellen has said in multiple interviews what Friedkin told her when she got the role; that Anne looked bad when they discussed the role in some deli. So he gave it to Burstyn. Unless Bancroft was in the early stages of pregnancy and not looking her best and maybe thought the shooting schedule would be shorter. I don’t think Ellen would be lying about it. He might’ve let Anne say she turned the role down in the decades since for the hell of it. But Friedkin could be a real cunt, so it’s probably what transpired, saying she looked like shit, especially to a peer of Anne’s.

William F also deliberately caused Ellen a bad back injury. William F instructed to pull this rope extra hard during a scene . Ellen left on a stretcher

Yes. I don't know the exact details. I think in one of the scenes, possessed Regan sends her mother flying into the wall. This was done with a harness and with the crew pulling ropes on pulleys. Friedkin told the crew not to hold back, to yank the ropes hard to make it look realistic. During one of the takes, Burstyn landed hard on her tail bone. She complained to Friedkin that the crew had to ease up and not pull so hard. He asked the crew to be less aggressive but he made some gesture, which he thought Burstyn couldn't see, that he didn't mean it.

I didn't realise she left that scene on a stretcher.

In 1981 Burstyn planned to star in the play "Duet for One" on Broadway with her acting teacher Lee Strasberg; she asked Friedkin to direct and he agreed, but he and the producers decided not to use Strasberg, and a very disappointed Burstyn left the production. Miss Dunaway read for the part, but eventually Burstyn was replaced by Anne Bancroft (with "The Exorcist's" Max von Sydow instead of Strasberg). The play, which had been a hit in London, was a flop and closed after a couple of weeks.

Friedkin has said that for "The Exorcist" Bancroft, Fonda, and Audrey Hepburn were all considered by the Warners' casting directors and were all "excellent choices."

You're leaving out the final chapter, r192.

I was actually the original choice to play Regan, because I look so much younger than I really am.

R187 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♀️

Maclaine did The Possession of Joel Delany in 1972

Fonda and Friedkin

[Quote] During one of the takes, Burstyn landed hard on her tail bone. She complained to Friedkin that the crew had to ease up and not pull so hard. He asked the crew to be less aggressive but he made some gesture, which he thought Burstyn couldn't see, that he didn't mean it.

[Quote] I didn't realise she left that scene on a stretcher

is this her idea of 'pure genius'

I find him in interviews and audio commentaries exceptionally dull. Compared to his contemporary Peter Bogdanovich.

[quote][R54], meet [R18]. You have so much in common.

R56 Blow me. Who cares if someone repeats a post? Get out of your mom's basement and off DL for awhile.

If I can forgive r54 you can too.

His interviews about "Cruising" ring false. He feigns naivete: "Golly gee, I just wanted to make a horror movie with a gay backdrop". But at a time when gays were especially under siege (Jerry Falwell, Anita Bryant, etc.) it probably wasn't a good time to portray them as creepy monsters. As did other movies at the time like "Windows", "Dressed To Kill", "Looking For Mr. Goodbar"...

There was a feverish tunnel vision to make this movie; he had an agenda.

I think Linda Blair was also injured in one of the early scenes where she's being whipped back and forth on the bed. When she's screaming "Make it stop", it wasn't acting.

Has Pazuzu commented?

Tonight TCM is having a Friedkin marathon, no Exorcist or Cruising (surprise, I lnow).