The Friedkin Connection

William Friedkin directed The French Connection, followed it up with The Exorcist and then blew it all with Sorcerer. He kept working, but nothing he ever did afterwards ever got near the success of those first two films and he went down in cinematic history as yet another 'Whatever happened to…'

Cobblers.

Sorcerer, about four no-hopers transporting dynamite through a South American jungle to put out a fire in an oil well is a stunning piece of work. You can feel the sweat and smell the hell hole of a village they set out from. When the trucks cross a swaying rope bridge in a raging downpour, I defy you to think of anything else while you’re watching. It’s a film so tactile you can almost reach out and touch it.

If nothing he ever did afterwards reached those heights, he often came pretty damn close, with Cruising, Bug and Killer Joe. His big failing? Not making another film that earned as much as The Exorcist. 

Anyway, this book is his autobiography. Vigorous, fast-paced, vivid. Very easy to read. Long chapters on those three films at the top, not so much on the others. I would have liked more on his ‘failures’ and what he thought went wrong – or right - with them, but I don’t suppose I can blame him for not doing that. This is William Friedkin’s story, told by William Friedkin, and William Friedkin – by all accounts I’ve ever come across – never did anything William Friedkin didn’t want to do. We can take it or leave it.

I’ll take it.