William Friekin

Career / Biography

William Friekin was a film maker used a gritty reality and an authenticity and also a level of ambiguity. He started his career making television documentaries in CHicago. After 10 years he move to Hollywood where a directed one episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. His first feature film was Good Times with Sonny and Cher and was a film about wanting make a film. He then adapted Harold Pinter's play The Birthday Party. This was followed by the musical The Night They Raided Minsky's. The French COnnectionwas the film that brought him to the attention of main stream audiences. THe most significant scene in the film is the car chase that was filmed for real in New York. Again the is an ambiguity in the morals of the lead character. It was him a Best Director Oscar. HIs next film was the classic horror film The Exorcist. The film changed a lot of the ideas of what a horror film is about. It dealt with evil and horror in an as realistic way as was possible. The Brink's Job was a crime comedy. Cruising was his most controversial film of an uncercover policeman investigating a serial killer in the gay community. To Live and Die in L.A. was a thriller andd brought him critical acclaim. Like French Connection it has another great car chase. The 1990's were a difficult period for him as a director. Rules Of Engagement examined the morality of military engagement where civilians are present and is also part courtroom drama. Bug is a pshycological horror of a man with paranoid delisions of of being infected with bugs. Killer Joe si southern Gothis but with also a vein of comedy running through it. He was married four times and his send wife was Lesley-Anne Down.

Career / Biography

Director

Producer

Oscars