Luke’s Reviews > The Friedkin Connection: A Memoir > Status Update

Here Friedkin talks about his work directing a number of different operas, a couple of films from the early 2000s I haven’t seen, and then a scary medical situation where he had to have dangerous heart surgery. He says “I considered the possibility that I might die without having accomplished anything of lasting value”. This man made THE EXORCIST, and still thought he had no legacy. The human brain is fickle.

In this chapter Friedkin quickly ran through some of his significant films from the late 80s and the 90s. He talked about Blue Chips and how Nick Nolte truly lost himself in the role, a movie I haven’t seen called Jade which he claims has his best car chase, and his remake of 12 Angry Men, in which James Gandolfini was apparently nervous to act with Jack Lemmon. I’m gonna watch that one tomorrow (thanks Tubi).

In the chapter about To Live and Die in LA., Friedkin says that it was the most confident he ever felt while making a movie, and it really shows in the final product. Awesome fucking movie. He also talks about a movie he made called Rampage (never heard of it) and then how he met his wife, a successful producer named Sherry Lansing. At one point he says he admired Harvey Weinstein, which made me feel gross.

This chapter was mainly about the making of Cruising, which I just watched for the first time. Apparently the film was protested before it even started shooting, for being harmful to the gay community, and there were more protests throughout the entire production, and it was reviled when it released. I think it’s a pretty great movie. Al Pacino apparently thinks otherwise. I wonder if he’s ever gone back to it.

Well I just read about an insane story that I had never heard before. Apparently this radiologist who appeared in one of the hospital scenes in The Exorcist, a guy named Paul Bateson, was convicted of murdering a Variety theater critic in New York, and some believe he was an actual serial killer. This inspired Friedkin to make Cruising, which I will hopefully be watching tomorrow before I read on. Crazy stuff.

This chapter was about my favorite Friedkin film, Sorcerer. Its production was so interesting that it could probably be a full book on its own. He talks a lot about how the success had gotten to his head, and he had become obsessive. The famous bridge scene required them to shut down travel to a different country after a river dried up. It’s an incredible movie but it flopped, and his career was never the same.

So many stories. Friedkin fired a good friend of his, composer Lalo Schifrin, from The Exorcist, and 40 years later they still hadn’t spoken again. He had a criminal friend steal a bootleg print of The Exorcist at gunpoint from a porno theater. He formed a production company with Coppola and Peter Bogdanovich that lasted less than a year because the head of Paramount turned them all against each other.

In this section, Friedkin writes about the making of The Exorcist (which I watched for the first time yesterday). He tells so many great stories about how he was chosen to direct, how the cast was assembled, how the sets were chosen/built, and a million other interesting details. I’m in the middle of the chapter where he talks about filming in Iraq (pre-Hussein), which is so fascinating and could be its own book.

I’m in the middle of a very long chapter where he talks about the making of The French Connection, and it is absolutely insane. The famous chase scene was filmed illegally, with no permits and real reckless driving. The heroin test scene was filmed with actual heroin. They caused a real traffic jam on the BQE. They paid off an MTA head to let them film on an elevated track. The 70s were unhinged!

Really wish I could read this while I walk around at work. Up to this point, I have never even seen any of the movies that Friedkin has talked in detail about, but I’ve still loved every page. He has such a no-nonsense approach to reminiscing, and has no problem whatsoever with talking about the creative differences he had with other artists on each film. It’s so refreshing.