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Summary
The belated , greatWilliam Friedkinleft viewers with a slew of great movies that rest a testament to his originality and range . William Friedkin passed away on Aug. 7 , 2023 , at the historic period of 87 . A talented filmmaker with a wide-ranging career spanning decades , Friedkin left behind a bequest that helped regulate numerous music genre . WithThe French Connection , Friedkin introduce raw level of complexity and vividness to the police thriller . WithThe Boys in the Band , he afford the doorway to Hollywood manage LGBTQ+ stories . WithThe Exorcist , he redefined what horror could do in a groundbreaking version of William Peter Blatty ’s novel .
WhileThe exorciser : Believerwill soon seeFriedkin ’s most notable movie earn another follow - up , the director ’s rich and varied career was defined by more than just his iconic horror movie . Chamber pieces likeThe Boys in the Band , Bug , andThe Birthday Partyproved that Friedkin necessitate nothing more than a few character in a elbow room to make a story fall to life-time . However , in direct contrast , propulsive thrillers likeTo survive and Die in L.A.andThe French Connectionshowed that Friedkin could lens chaotic action sequences in a manner that felt both anarchic and fluid at the same time .
10Bug
Bugis an vivid , gritty repulsion movie set almost entirely in a single room . While this verbal description might call to mindThe exorciser , Bug ’s story is much more grounded and realistic than that before hit . The two - hander is n’t excessively challenging , withBug ’s entire story focusing on a paranoid veteran and his nervous girlfriend navigate delusions and addiction while cooped in a ratty motel . However , this limited frame-up let Friedkin ’s skillful character piece of work to shine through . Bugcontains one of Michael Shannon ’s most compelling , moving , and terrorise screen turns , as well as prima support from Ashley Judd as his increasingly precarious mate .
9The Birthday Party
The Birthday Partywas an early labor that take care Friedkin adjust the debut play of award - succeed playwright Harold Pinter . Starring Robert Shaw and Patrick Magee , The Birthday Party ’s “ drollery of threat ” involved strange intruders ruining the nominal solemnization with veiled threats and insinuations . Magee ’s role in thecult TV hitThe Prisonermakes him perfect for the role of McCann , whileThe natal day Partyproved Friedkin was one of the only helmers capable of bringing the electric tenseness of Pinter alive onscreen . Although not a financial hit , this remains one of Friedkin ’s most underrated feat .
8Sorcerer
Loosely inspire byThe Wages of Fear , Sorcereris an unbearably tense thriller that merit well than the vital shame the movie received upon release . Sorcerer ’s failure was chalked up to everything from its puzzling title to its opening successiveness , which boast no dialogue in English until almost twenty minutes have slip away . However , Sorcerer ’s lack of selling appeal does n’t make its thrilling , vivid story any less gratifying or telling . The fib of four uneven outcasts tasked with transporting dangerously mentally ill dynamite over treacherous terrain , Sorcereris uncomfortable , face - wracking , and viciously brilliant .
7The Night They Raided Minsky’s
The Night They Raided Minsky’sis a major departure from Friedkin ’s darker menu , but this only makes the picture show ’s light tonal mite all the more impressive . A melodious funniness , The Night They Raided Minsky’sis a warm , charming delight that shows just how various the late movie maker was . The story of an innocent Amish girl who blunders into stardom when she arrives in New York , The Night They Raided Minsky’scombined the cynical wit of screenwriter Norman Lear with Friedkin ’s active counselling . BeforeAll in the Familyand its many spinoffscemented Lear ’s position as a comedy icon , this definitive musical helped set up his bloodline .
6Killer Joe
BeforeTrue Detective , 2011’sKiller Joe started the McConaissance in earnest . Another history with limited location that would have do well onstage , Killer Joeis a sweaty neo - noir about a desperate small - meter criminal hiring the titular hitman to take out his female parent . Naturally , there is no end of double - crosse and trick as this southerly thriller unfolds , while Matthew McConaughey has a eruption as the eponymic villain . Lurid , fantastical , and undeniably funny , Killer Joeis a will to Friedkin ’s deft power to handle potentially tasteless material with good will and wit .
5Cruising
1980’sCruisingis undeniably an fallible movie , but the Al Pacino fomite was a brave endeavor and an effective thriller . The vivid psychological thriller genius Pacino as a detective who goes undercover in New York ’s gay S+M scenery to catch a serial killer . As that synopsis suggests , Cruisingdoes include some problematic elements that have n’t age well since its release over forty years ago . specially at a time when Friedkin’sclassic law thrillerThe French Connectionwas of late re - edited , Cruising ’s portrayal of the law ’s uneasy family relationship with queer citizen is worth revisit .
4To Live And Die In L.A.
WhileThe French Connectionmight be more far-famed , To dwell and Die in L.A.might be the most influential of Friedkin ’s movies . While the first third of this neo - noir thriller is tense , the second half of the movie is one farsighted , incredibly ambitious action succession that pushes the bound of what action film producer could achieve . Auteurs like Tony Scott and John Woo often get well - earned course credit for their donation to military action movie house , but Friedkin did n’t get his flowers forTo Live and break down in L.A. ’s immensely influential Salmon Portland Chase . This underrated classic is one of the most strictly splanchnic thrill ride in action moving picture story .
3The Boys In The Band
While arguably excessively maudlin , Friedkin ’s adaptation of the phase playThe Boys in the Bandwas still a revolutionary and deeply poignant exploration of gay life before the intimate revolution . Netflix’sThe male child in the Bandremake better on this original version with an all - mirthful plaster bandage and tighter counseling , but the impact of Friedkin ’s original adjustment should n’t be leave out . The story of a group of festive mankind rehashing old competitiveness and reopening old wounds when they reunify for a birthday party , The Boys in the Band , is by turns funny , moving , and quietly devastating .
2The French Connection
The French Connectionis simultaneously the effective chase thriller in cinema history and a gloomy , morally equivocal character study of a bull who is arguably even worse than the crook he follow up on . While Popeye Doyle went on to barrack a pile of magnetic antiheroes , Friedkin frames him as a glowering thug with a incorrect moral compass . WhileThe Gallic Connectionleft viewers wonder where the line between cop and condemnable prevarication , its exemplary action changed the biz for the genre run onward .
1The Exorcist
One of the best horror moving-picture show ever made , The Exorcistwas a landmark in the genre ’s account . None ofThe Exorcist ’s sequelscould retake the original movie ’s intensity and sheer affright - inducing superpower , but this makes it well-situated to forget the human drama at the core of the adaptation . WhileThe Exorcistdid push the boundaries of censorship and have some scenes that still shock audience to this day , the movie was also a moving exploration of faith , parentage , and responsibleness that never abandoned its ambitious focus on these lofty themes . As a resolution , The Exorcistbecame William Friedkin ’s best movie and an iconic man of cinema history .
