Three early Butthole Surfers releases are receiving vinyl repressings via Matador’s new reissue campaign of the band’s catalog spanning 1983 through 1991.
The first three reissues in the series include the band’s 1984 debut full-length, Psychic…Powerless…Another Man’s Sac, the 1984 Live Pcppep EP, and 1986’s Rembrandt Pussyhorse. Remastered audio of the entire reissue series is now available via digital platforms (listen below), with vinyl pressings of the three aforementioned albums due out March 22nd.
The reissue campaign will feature “a number of key catalog titles” by the Texas band, all remastered under the group’s supervision. More reissues are expected to drop in the fall, bringing Butthole Surfers’ early discography back into print. According to the Matador’s digital catalog of the reissues, these EPs and LPs are also a part of the campaign (listed chronologically): the self-titled EP (1983), Locust Abortion Technician (1987), Hairway to Steven (1988), Pioughd + Widowmaker!
The first three reissues in the series include the band’s 1984 debut full-length, Psychic…Powerless…Another Man’s Sac, the 1984 Live Pcppep EP, and 1986’s Rembrandt Pussyhorse. Remastered audio of the entire reissue series is now available via digital platforms (listen below), with vinyl pressings of the three aforementioned albums due out March 22nd.
The reissue campaign will feature “a number of key catalog titles” by the Texas band, all remastered under the group’s supervision. More reissues are expected to drop in the fall, bringing Butthole Surfers’ early discography back into print. According to the Matador’s digital catalog of the reissues, these EPs and LPs are also a part of the campaign (listed chronologically): the self-titled EP (1983), Locust Abortion Technician (1987), Hairway to Steven (1988), Pioughd + Widowmaker!
- 1/24/2024
- by Jon Hadusek
- Consequence - Music
Founding member of The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Serge Gainsbourg song stylist Mick Harvey with Ed Bahlman on arriving in London: “The Pop Group were held very dear by the band as a kind of guide for how things could be, if you want to be that extreme. And The Fall were very much loved.”
In the second installment of Mick Harvey’s conversation with music producer and 99 Records founder, Ed Bahlman, on Mutiny In Heaven: The Birthday Party, they discussed The Birthday Party leaving Melbourne in 1980 to live in London; the differing life experiences at that time for him, Phill Calvert, and Tracy Pew, compared to Nick Cave and Rowland S Howard; British bands - The Fall, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, Killing Joke, The Pop Group and Mark Stewart; Lindsay Gravina’s on-camera interviews; Richard Lowenstein and...
In the second installment of Mick Harvey’s conversation with music producer and 99 Records founder, Ed Bahlman, on Mutiny In Heaven: The Birthday Party, they discussed The Birthday Party leaving Melbourne in 1980 to live in London; the differing life experiences at that time for him, Phill Calvert, and Tracy Pew, compared to Nick Cave and Rowland S Howard; British bands - The Fall, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, Killing Joke, The Pop Group and Mark Stewart; Lindsay Gravina’s on-camera interviews; Richard Lowenstein and...
- 12/30/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Mick Harvey on The Boys Next Door with Tracy Pew, Phill Calvert, Rowland S Howard and Nick Cave, and the group name change before going to London: “We had some discussions and we came up with The Birthday Party.”
In the first instalment with Mick Harvey we started out discussing his appearance in Wim Wenders’ Wings Of Desire as a member of Bad Seeds and Crime and the City Solution; Wenders’ latest films, Anselm (Anselm - Das Rauschen der Zeit on Anselm Kiefer) and Perfect Days (Japan’s Oscar submission); Pj Harvey, and Mick’s take on translating and recording four albums of Serge Gainsbourg songs in English, and Jane Birkin (performing at the French Institute Alliance Française in New York).
Mick Harvey with Ed Bahlman and Anne-Katrin Titze on William Friedkin’s The Birthday Party film (screenplay by Harold Pinter) and the name change: “We thought, yeah, that’s good.
In the first instalment with Mick Harvey we started out discussing his appearance in Wim Wenders’ Wings Of Desire as a member of Bad Seeds and Crime and the City Solution; Wenders’ latest films, Anselm (Anselm - Das Rauschen der Zeit on Anselm Kiefer) and Perfect Days (Japan’s Oscar submission); Pj Harvey, and Mick’s take on translating and recording four albums of Serge Gainsbourg songs in English, and Jane Birkin (performing at the French Institute Alliance Française in New York).
Mick Harvey with Ed Bahlman and Anne-Katrin Titze on William Friedkin’s The Birthday Party film (screenplay by Harold Pinter) and the name change: “We thought, yeah, that’s good.
- 11/1/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSSubscribe to Notebook magazine before November 1 to receive Issue 4, which explores cinematic soundscapes in their diverse sonic forms and includes contributions from filmmakers like Pedro Costa, Garrett Bradley, and Dominga Sotomayor, pop musician Julia Holter, plus a wide range of artists, writers, and scholars. Subscribers will also receive with this issue a very special gift, a seven-inch record featuring a song by filmmaker Gus Van Sant and a field recording by sound designer Leslie Shatz.This week brought the sad, shocking news that the legendary Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien has retired from filmmaking due to illness. Hou's family confirmed in a statement that he is battling Alzheimer's, and the effects of long Covid have forced him to stop making films; they requested privacy during this time, adding that he is healthy overall, in the presence of family.
- 10/25/2023
- MUBI
Thankfully recovering after a brutal bout with Covid-19, Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev will return with Jupiter. Variety reports the “politically-minded movie” tells the story of “a Russian oligarch’s reckoning with the harsh reality of his family’s future,” with a shoot set in Spain and France this spring. “The nature of absolute power is a universal theme, and through this prism we can look at any cultural landscape or historical era,” the director said.
Following Summer 1993 and Alcarràs, Carla Simon is prepping a summer shoot for the final entry in her trilogy with the flamenco musical Romería. Speaking to Variety, the director said, “Since I discovered that my biological mother was passionate about flamenco, a great curiosity began to grow in me for this genre, because of its history and its exceptional capacity to connect directly with emotion.” She added “This time music and dance will become the challenge...
Following Summer 1993 and Alcarràs, Carla Simon is prepping a summer shoot for the final entry in her trilogy with the flamenco musical Romería. Speaking to Variety, the director said, “Since I discovered that my biological mother was passionate about flamenco, a great curiosity began to grow in me for this genre, because of its history and its exceptional capacity to connect directly with emotion.” She added “This time music and dance will become the challenge...
- 10/20/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A Cannes Film Festival regular with her Critics’ Week showcased Ava (in 2017) and Directors’ Fortnight selected The Five Devils (2022), Léa Mysius has found her third feature. The French filmmaker will adapt Laurent Mauvignier’s recent French thriller Histoires De La Nuit (The Birthday Party) – it sounds like a great read per The Guardian. The Screen Daily folks report that Les Films de Pierre’s Marie-Ange Luciani and F Comme Film’s Jean-Louis Livi will produce. No cast has been attached yet, but it looks like there’ll be a meaty part for a lead female. Shooting is planned for May 2024, which means they’ll likely submit this for the Palme d’Or comp in 2025/ It’s worth mentioning that Mysius has technically been included in the comp before as she helped write Claire Denis’ Stars At Noon, Arnaud Desplechin’s Ismael’s Ghosts, Oh Mercy!…
Continue reading.
Continue reading.
- 10/13/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Mysius is a Cannes regular whose credits include ‘Ava’ and ‘The Five Devils’.
French writer-director Lea Mysius is set to write and direct her third feature, an adaptation of Laurent Mauvignier’s best-selling French thriller The Birthday Party (Histoires De La Nuit).
It is being produced by Marie-Ange Luciani’s Les Films de Pierre, whose credits include the Palme d’Or winning Anatomy Of A Fall, alongside Jean-Louis Livi’s F Comme Film, which produced Florian Zeller’sThe Father.
Set in a hamlet in rural France, the story follows a man and his wife, their daughter and an artist neighbour.
French writer-director Lea Mysius is set to write and direct her third feature, an adaptation of Laurent Mauvignier’s best-selling French thriller The Birthday Party (Histoires De La Nuit).
It is being produced by Marie-Ange Luciani’s Les Films de Pierre, whose credits include the Palme d’Or winning Anatomy Of A Fall, alongside Jean-Louis Livi’s F Comme Film, which produced Florian Zeller’sThe Father.
Set in a hamlet in rural France, the story follows a man and his wife, their daughter and an artist neighbour.
- 10/13/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
On Friday, October 6, cinephiles were given a precious gift when Showtime dropped one last film by the late, great William Friedkin: an adaptation of Herman Wouk’s play “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.” The film is classic Friedkin, a clinic in blocking, editing, and camera movement reminiscent of earlier theatrical adaptations like “The Birthday Party,” “The Boys in the Band,” and “Bug.”
While there are many filmmaking lessons to be learned from studying the piece, one notable Friedkin disciple had the chance to examine the director’s process firsthand: Guillermo del Toro, who shadowed Friedkin throughout production as a backup in case the 87-year-old filmmaker was unable to complete the movie.
Long before he ever met Friedkin, del Toro was an admirer of his work. “He is an original,” del Toro told IndieWire. “He blends the lessons of documentary with complex and precise technology and narrative prowess. Every decision he...
While there are many filmmaking lessons to be learned from studying the piece, one notable Friedkin disciple had the chance to examine the director’s process firsthand: Guillermo del Toro, who shadowed Friedkin throughout production as a backup in case the 87-year-old filmmaker was unable to complete the movie.
Long before he ever met Friedkin, del Toro was an admirer of his work. “He is an original,” del Toro told IndieWire. “He blends the lessons of documentary with complex and precise technology and narrative prowess. Every decision he...
- 10/12/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Long before he made Popeye Doyle race a Brooklyn subway and Regan MacNeil’s head spin, William Friedkin began his career doing live TV. He’d move on to an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, short documentaries, a Sonny-and-Cher joint (Good Times), theatrical adaptations (The Birthday Party, The Boys in the Band), and then an all-guts-all-glory double shot that instantly made him a New Hollywood power player. But like a lot of directors coming up in the early 1960s, his roots were with actors, words, conflict, and not much more.
- 10/7/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Plot: A Naval officer (Jake Lacy) is on trial for mutiny. His court-appointed attorney (Jason Clarke) must prove that his captain (Kiefer Sutherland) was dangerously unbalanced and that mutiny was the only solution to protect the crew.
Review: The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is an interesting final film for the late William Friedkin. While most know him for his seventies epics, having directed at least three or four of the greatest films ever made, many don’t know that he started his career with a couple of films based on stage plays: The Birthday Party and The Boys in the Band. His most recent work, Bug and Killer Joe, were also stage adaptations (of works by Tracy Letts), but The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is more traditionally mounted than those. This is basically a stage play put to film, with no exteriors, no music and only two sets.
The play was written...
Review: The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is an interesting final film for the late William Friedkin. While most know him for his seventies epics, having directed at least three or four of the greatest films ever made, many don’t know that he started his career with a couple of films based on stage plays: The Birthday Party and The Boys in the Band. His most recent work, Bug and Killer Joe, were also stage adaptations (of works by Tracy Letts), but The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is more traditionally mounted than those. This is basically a stage play put to film, with no exteriors, no music and only two sets.
The play was written...
- 10/6/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Somewhere, at any given moment, there’s a film director adapting a stage play to the big screen. Yet it’s rare, and fascinating, to see a filmmaker steeped to the gills in cinema as cinema who also has a grand obsession with the theater. Robert Altman was like that. His great films of the ’70s were so naturalistic they seemed to dissolve the edges of the movie frame, yet in the ’80s, starting with “Come Back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean,” he adapted nine plays in a row, the last of which, in 1988, was a darkly solid made-for-tv version of “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.”
William Friedkin, the legendary director who passed away last month, just before his 88th birthday, represents another case like Altman’s. In the early ’70s, when Friedkin commandeered Hollywood and the world with the extraordinary one-two punch of “The French Connection” (1971) and...
William Friedkin, the legendary director who passed away last month, just before his 88th birthday, represents another case like Altman’s. In the early ’70s, when Friedkin commandeered Hollywood and the world with the extraordinary one-two punch of “The French Connection” (1971) and...
- 9/6/2023
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Well-known international TV exec Michael Murphy is leaving Beyond after 19 years and has launched his own business.
Murphy has been with producer-distributor Beyond International for nearly two decades, but will launch Rockabill Media at MIPCOM Cannes with a trio of projects.
Banijay closed an estimated $30M deal for Beyond in January, with Beyond distribution business then assimilated into the Banijay Rights catalog.
The Ireland-based Murphy had been at Beyond since 2009, holding roles such as General Manager for Beyond Distribution and, more recently, Executive Director of Beyond Entertainment Holdings and of specialist music content producer and distributor BeyondTNC.
Murphy has owned a Rockabill Media entity since 2012 but is launching the production outfit as a new business of the same name. The operation will work on international TV and film projects and provide consultancy in areas such as content strategy, distribution, executive production and financing.
The business opens this week, and is working on three projects.
Murphy has been with producer-distributor Beyond International for nearly two decades, but will launch Rockabill Media at MIPCOM Cannes with a trio of projects.
Banijay closed an estimated $30M deal for Beyond in January, with Beyond distribution business then assimilated into the Banijay Rights catalog.
The Ireland-based Murphy had been at Beyond since 2009, holding roles such as General Manager for Beyond Distribution and, more recently, Executive Director of Beyond Entertainment Holdings and of specialist music content producer and distributor BeyondTNC.
Murphy has owned a Rockabill Media entity since 2012 but is launching the production outfit as a new business of the same name. The operation will work on international TV and film projects and provide consultancy in areas such as content strategy, distribution, executive production and financing.
The business opens this week, and is working on three projects.
- 9/5/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
The last works by artists who have just died often acquire a strange patina of significance. Whether the deceased knew the work would be their last or not, it’s almost impossible not to read into them a foreshadowing of the maker’s imminent departure, a railing against the dying of the light or a tidy return to earlier themes.
The storied director William Friedkin passed on Aug. 7 at the age of 87, just weeks after he completed his last feature film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. I don’t know if Friedkin was aware this would be his last when he decided to make it, but it does feel like a fitting final artistic word in many ways. Like so many of his other movies, it’s pithy, punchy, a little shouty at times, but made with brio and swagger.
From the earliest days of his filmmaking career, he was drawn to theatrical material.
The storied director William Friedkin passed on Aug. 7 at the age of 87, just weeks after he completed his last feature film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. I don’t know if Friedkin was aware this would be his last when he decided to make it, but it does feel like a fitting final artistic word in many ways. Like so many of his other movies, it’s pithy, punchy, a little shouty at times, but made with brio and swagger.
From the earliest days of his filmmaking career, he was drawn to theatrical material.
- 9/3/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nick Cave’s iconic post-punk band The Birthday Party are the subject of the new documentary Mutiny in Heaven from filmmaker Ian White, and in a newly released first look at the project, the band look back on the “monstrous beast” that was their live show. Check out the clip below.
The Birthday Party were sort of like The Velvet Underground; they may not have sold a ton of records, but everyone who did pick up a release from the group was probably inspired to make music of their own. Of course, the Melbourne/London/Berlin band skewed much darker than the New York art rockers, and their live gigs often erupted into violence.
Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Rowland S. Howard, and Phil Calvert look back on those turbulent days in a new clip, appropriately titled “A Monstrous Beast Live.” Thanks to a lot of drugs and alcohol, as well...
The Birthday Party were sort of like The Velvet Underground; they may not have sold a ton of records, but everyone who did pick up a release from the group was probably inspired to make music of their own. Of course, the Melbourne/London/Berlin band skewed much darker than the New York art rockers, and their live gigs often erupted into violence.
Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Rowland S. Howard, and Phil Calvert look back on those turbulent days in a new clip, appropriately titled “A Monstrous Beast Live.” Thanks to a lot of drugs and alcohol, as well...
- 8/29/2023
- by Carys Anderson
- Consequence - Film News
William Friedkin, one of the great directors of the New Hollywood movement, died August 7 at the age of 87. The news launched an outpouring of love for the director, whose ’70s and ’80s film work proved some of the most enduring and beloved of that cinema-redefining period.
The son of Jewish Ukrainian immigrants, Friedkin was born in 1935 and got his start as a director making documentaries for Chicago public television. In 1965 he moved out to Hollywood to advance his career and made his narrative feature debut with “Good Times,” a vehicle for Cher and Sonny Bono. Friedkin put out several generally well-received films, including the groundbreaking “The Boys in the Band” and “The Birthday Party,” but truly broke out with 1971’s “The French Connection.” Starring Gene Hackman and featuring one of the greatest car chase scenes in cinematic history, the movie earned Friedkin a Best Director Oscar and gave him the clout to pursue passion projects.
The son of Jewish Ukrainian immigrants, Friedkin was born in 1935 and got his start as a director making documentaries for Chicago public television. In 1965 he moved out to Hollywood to advance his career and made his narrative feature debut with “Good Times,” a vehicle for Cher and Sonny Bono. Friedkin put out several generally well-received films, including the groundbreaking “The Boys in the Band” and “The Birthday Party,” but truly broke out with 1971’s “The French Connection.” Starring Gene Hackman and featuring one of the greatest car chase scenes in cinematic history, the movie earned Friedkin a Best Director Oscar and gave him the clout to pursue passion projects.
- 8/8/2023
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
I remember clearly the first time I became aware of the name William Friedkin. I was 12 years old.
I used to wander around Manhattan a lot by myself in those days. I loved bookstores and hobby shops, and in particular I loved dingy places that sold strange collectibles. One Saturday, I entered such a spot — in this case, a movie memorabilia joint on Bleecker Street — and saw an enormous poster meant for display in subway stations. The image slapped me across the face: a truck in the pouring rain, leaning impossibly to the right on a rickety rope bridge ready for collapse. It said merely: “a William Friedkin Film, Sorcerer.”
What a mysterious and wonderful piece of art! I bought it (10 dollars, all I had on me) and posted it on my wall.
Soon after, I learned that this very same director had made a film showing at the Hollywood Twin,...
I used to wander around Manhattan a lot by myself in those days. I loved bookstores and hobby shops, and in particular I loved dingy places that sold strange collectibles. One Saturday, I entered such a spot — in this case, a movie memorabilia joint on Bleecker Street — and saw an enormous poster meant for display in subway stations. The image slapped me across the face: a truck in the pouring rain, leaning impossibly to the right on a rickety rope bridge ready for collapse. It said merely: “a William Friedkin Film, Sorcerer.”
What a mysterious and wonderful piece of art! I bought it (10 dollars, all I had on me) and posted it on my wall.
Soon after, I learned that this very same director had made a film showing at the Hollywood Twin,...
- 8/8/2023
- by James Gray
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
William Friedkin was an acclaimed American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He gained recognition for directing notable films such as “The French Connection” (1971) and “The Exorcist” (1973), the former of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Director. Friedkin’s filmography also includes “The Boys in the Band” (1970), “Sorcerer” (1977), “Cruising” (1980), “To Live and Die in L. . (1985), “Blue Chips” (1994), “Jade” (1995), “Rules of Engagement” (2000), “The Hunted” (2003), “Bug” (2006), and “Killer Joe” (2011).
In 1965, Friedkin relocated to Hollywood and released his debut feature film, “Good Times,” featuring Sonny and Cher. He continued to make artistic films, such as the adaptation of Mart Crowley’s “The Boys in the Band,” as well as “The Birthday Party,” based on an unpublished screenplay by Harold Pinter, which he adapted from his own play. However, Friedkin aimed to establish himself as a director of action and serious drama, exploring themes of crime, hypocrisy, the occult, and amorality within the...
In 1965, Friedkin relocated to Hollywood and released his debut feature film, “Good Times,” featuring Sonny and Cher. He continued to make artistic films, such as the adaptation of Mart Crowley’s “The Boys in the Band,” as well as “The Birthday Party,” based on an unpublished screenplay by Harold Pinter, which he adapted from his own play. However, Friedkin aimed to establish himself as a director of action and serious drama, exploring themes of crime, hypocrisy, the occult, and amorality within the...
- 8/7/2023
- by Movies Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
It’s not a movie chase scene so much as the movie chase scene: a breakneck race against time between a criminal on an elevated subway and a cop in a commandeered car, careening through the streets of Brooklyn at ridiculous speeds.
Related William Friedkin, Oscar-Winning Director of 'The French Connection' and 'The Exorcist,' Dead at 87 Flashback: 'The Exorcist' Gets a Face Full of Pea Soup Vomit No Sympathy for the Devil: 'The Exorcist' Director William Friedkin Looks Back
The bad guy...
Related William Friedkin, Oscar-Winning Director of 'The French Connection' and 'The Exorcist,' Dead at 87 Flashback: 'The Exorcist' Gets a Face Full of Pea Soup Vomit No Sympathy for the Devil: 'The Exorcist' Director William Friedkin Looks Back
The bad guy...
- 8/7/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
For the director who gave cinema the ultimate car chase in “The French Connection,” William Friedkin was remarkably at ease with films set in a single room, bringing several plays to the screen over the course of his career. The director — who died August 7 at age 87 — will have his final film screened out of competition in the Venice Film Festival next month, fittingly an adaptation of Herman Wouk’s play “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.”
Friedkin made his name (and won an Oscar) for “The French Connection,” followed immediately by the instantly iconic “The Exorcist,” but he never lost an abiding interest in live performance, even directing operas off and on for the last 25 years.
In fact, Friedkin was so taken with the 2004 Off-Broadway premiere of Tracy Letts’ play “Bug” that he phoned Letts directly to say he’d like to adapt it into a film — with star Michael Shannon. In one fell swoop,...
Friedkin made his name (and won an Oscar) for “The French Connection,” followed immediately by the instantly iconic “The Exorcist,” but he never lost an abiding interest in live performance, even directing operas off and on for the last 25 years.
In fact, Friedkin was so taken with the 2004 Off-Broadway premiere of Tracy Letts’ play “Bug” that he phoned Letts directly to say he’d like to adapt it into a film — with star Michael Shannon. In one fell swoop,...
- 8/7/2023
- by Mark Peikert
- Indiewire
Oscar-winning director William Friedkin, legendary filmmaker behind the 1971 crime thriller The French Connection, and 1973’s The Exorcist, among many others, died Monday in Los Angeles at the age of 87.
Identified closely with the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s, Friedkin began his career in documentaries prior to embarking on one of his most well-known works, The French Connection, a film which earned five Academy Awards out of eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Gene Hackman, Best Directed Screenplay and Best Director for Friedkin. Considered one of the greatest films ever made, The French Connection appeared in the American Film Institute’s list of the best American films in 1998 and again in 2007. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Related: William Friedkin: Hollywood Remembers A Legend
Friedkin’s 1973 film The Exorcist...
Identified closely with the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s, Friedkin began his career in documentaries prior to embarking on one of his most well-known works, The French Connection, a film which earned five Academy Awards out of eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Gene Hackman, Best Directed Screenplay and Best Director for Friedkin. Considered one of the greatest films ever made, The French Connection appeared in the American Film Institute’s list of the best American films in 1998 and again in 2007. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Related: William Friedkin: Hollywood Remembers A Legend
Friedkin’s 1973 film The Exorcist...
- 8/7/2023
- by Robert Lang and Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
William Friedkin, one of the great directors of the New Hollywood era who helmed classics like The Exorcist and Oscar-winner The French Connection, died Monday, The New York Times reports. He was 87.
Sherry Lansing, a former head of Paramount Pictures, and Friedkin’s wife, confirmed his death. She said the cause was heart failure and pneumonia.
Rising to prominence in the Seventies, Friedkin came to specialize in gritty, white-knuckle thrillers, often shot through with a healthy dose of practically documentary-style realism. The French Connection, his breakthrough film, won five Academy Awards,...
Sherry Lansing, a former head of Paramount Pictures, and Friedkin’s wife, confirmed his death. She said the cause was heart failure and pneumonia.
Rising to prominence in the Seventies, Friedkin came to specialize in gritty, white-knuckle thrillers, often shot through with a healthy dose of practically documentary-style realism. The French Connection, his breakthrough film, won five Academy Awards,...
- 8/7/2023
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
William Friedkin, subject of a Cannes master-class this year, pictured here with his wife Sherry Lansing at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Photo: Courtesy of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, The French Connection, Rules Of Engagement and more, died today at the age of 87, according to his wife, the producer Sherry Lansing.
Born in Chicago to a Jewish Ukrainian immigrant family, Friedkin fell in love with Citizen Kane in his mid twenties and became entranced by the idea of filmmaking. He worked his way up through a TV studio, focusing on documentaries before firmly establishing his artistic credential with the first screen adaptation of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, followed in 1970 by The Boys In The Band.
Friedkin had a long and complicated career, in which he constantly pushed at the limits of what cinema was willing to take on. In 1980 he made Cruising with Al Pacino,...
William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, The French Connection, Rules Of Engagement and more, died today at the age of 87, according to his wife, the producer Sherry Lansing.
Born in Chicago to a Jewish Ukrainian immigrant family, Friedkin fell in love with Citizen Kane in his mid twenties and became entranced by the idea of filmmaking. He worked his way up through a TV studio, focusing on documentaries before firmly establishing his artistic credential with the first screen adaptation of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, followed in 1970 by The Boys In The Band.
Friedkin had a long and complicated career, in which he constantly pushed at the limits of what cinema was willing to take on. In 1980 he made Cruising with Al Pacino,...
- 8/7/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
William Friedkin, the Oscar-winning director behind The Exorcist, The French Connection, To Live and Die in L.A., The Boys in the Band, and more, is dead at 87. Friedkin died in Los Angeles, said his wife, former producer and studio head Sherry Lansing.
Born on August 29, 1935, in Chicago, Friedkin started directing television before disgusting audiences with projectile pea soup and dealings with demons. In the mid-’60s, Friedkin shot an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Hour and helmed various telefilms. Before the era was over, he got behind the camera for features like Good Times (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), and The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968).
He started the ’70s off with a band by directing The Boys in the Band. With his name already on the lips of executives everywhere, he moved on to The French Connection, a show-stopping thriller starring Gene Hackman as Detective Popeye Doyle. The French Connection won multiple Oscars,...
Born on August 29, 1935, in Chicago, Friedkin started directing television before disgusting audiences with projectile pea soup and dealings with demons. In the mid-’60s, Friedkin shot an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Hour and helmed various telefilms. Before the era was over, he got behind the camera for features like Good Times (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), and The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968).
He started the ’70s off with a band by directing The Boys in the Band. With his name already on the lips of executives everywhere, he moved on to The French Connection, a show-stopping thriller starring Gene Hackman as Detective Popeye Doyle. The French Connection won multiple Oscars,...
- 8/7/2023
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
One of the all-time great filmmakers, Oscar-winner William Friedkin has passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 87, Bloody Disgusting has learned this afternoon.
William Friedkin won “Best Director” at the Academy Awards in 1972 for The French Connection, and he was nominated in the same category just two years later for The Exorcist.
Released in theaters in 1973, The Exorcist has been terrifying audiences across generations ever since, widely considered to be one of the best – and scariest – movies ever made.
William Friedkin got his start directing the documentary The People vs. Paul Crump in 1962, and a few years later he directed an episode of the TV series “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.” From there, Friedkin directed films including The Thin Blue Line, Good Times, The Birthday Party, and The Boys in the Band, before winning an Oscar for The French Connection in 1972.
In the wake of The Exorcist, which ended...
William Friedkin won “Best Director” at the Academy Awards in 1972 for The French Connection, and he was nominated in the same category just two years later for The Exorcist.
Released in theaters in 1973, The Exorcist has been terrifying audiences across generations ever since, widely considered to be one of the best – and scariest – movies ever made.
William Friedkin got his start directing the documentary The People vs. Paul Crump in 1962, and a few years later he directed an episode of the TV series “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.” From there, Friedkin directed films including The Thin Blue Line, Good Times, The Birthday Party, and The Boys in the Band, before winning an Oscar for The French Connection in 1972.
In the wake of The Exorcist, which ended...
- 8/7/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
William Friedkin, who won an Oscar for directing The French Connection, scored a nomination for The Exorcist and also helmed The Boys in the Band, Cruising, To Live and Die in L.A., Rules of Engagement and many others, died today in Los Angeles of heart failure and pneumonia. He was 87.
His death was confirmed by CAA via his wife, Fatal Attraction producer and former studio chief Sherry Lansing.
Friedkin beat out some serious heavyweights to win the Best Director Academy Award for The French Connection at the 1972 ceremony. Also up for the statuette that year were Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange), Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) and Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof). He would go up against more heavy hitters with The Exorcist two years later. George Roy Hill won that year for The Sting, also besting Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris), Ingmar Bergman (Cries & Whispers...
His death was confirmed by CAA via his wife, Fatal Attraction producer and former studio chief Sherry Lansing.
Friedkin beat out some serious heavyweights to win the Best Director Academy Award for The French Connection at the 1972 ceremony. Also up for the statuette that year were Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange), Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) and Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof). He would go up against more heavy hitters with The Exorcist two years later. George Roy Hill won that year for The Sting, also besting Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris), Ingmar Bergman (Cries & Whispers...
- 8/7/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
William Friedkin, the Oscar-winning director of “The French Connection” and legend behind “The Exorcist,” has died at age 87. His death in Los Angeles was first reported by Variety, and the news was confirmed by Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway, a friend of Friedkin’s wife, former studio head Sherry Lansing.
Friedkin’s sensational 1971 “The French Connection” earned five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. Friedkin’s 1973 “The Exorcist” changed the game for horror, earning Best Picture and Director nominations.
Friedkin is regarded as a maverick of the New Hollywood school of filmmakers alongside the likes of Peter Bogdanovich and Francis Ford Coppola. His other features include his breakout “The Birthday Party,” “The Boys in the Band,” “Sorcerer,” “Cruising,” “To Live and Die in L.A,” “Bug,” and most recently “Killer Joe” — all films that garnered controversy in one way or another.
Friedkin’s latest film, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,...
Friedkin’s sensational 1971 “The French Connection” earned five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. Friedkin’s 1973 “The Exorcist” changed the game for horror, earning Best Picture and Director nominations.
Friedkin is regarded as a maverick of the New Hollywood school of filmmakers alongside the likes of Peter Bogdanovich and Francis Ford Coppola. His other features include his breakout “The Birthday Party,” “The Boys in the Band,” “Sorcerer,” “Cruising,” “To Live and Die in L.A,” “Bug,” and most recently “Killer Joe” — all films that garnered controversy in one way or another.
Friedkin’s latest film, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,...
- 8/7/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Director William Friedkin, best known for his Oscar-winning “The French Connection” and blockbuster “The Exorcist,” died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 87.
His death was confirmed by Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway, a friend of Friedkin’s wife Sherry Lansing.
His final film, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” starring Kiefer Sutherland, is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Along with Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola and Hal Ashby, Friedkin rose to A-list status in the 1970s, part of a new generation of vibrant, risk-taking filmmakers. Combining his experience in television, particularly in documentary film, with a cutting-edge style of editing, Friedkin brought a great deal of energy to the horror and police thriller genres in which he specialized.
“The French Connection” was an incredibly fast-paced and morally ambiguous tale, shot in documentary style and containing one of cinema’s most justifiably famous car chase sequences. “Connection” won several Oscars including best picture,...
His death was confirmed by Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway, a friend of Friedkin’s wife Sherry Lansing.
His final film, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” starring Kiefer Sutherland, is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Along with Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola and Hal Ashby, Friedkin rose to A-list status in the 1970s, part of a new generation of vibrant, risk-taking filmmakers. Combining his experience in television, particularly in documentary film, with a cutting-edge style of editing, Friedkin brought a great deal of energy to the horror and police thriller genres in which he specialized.
“The French Connection” was an incredibly fast-paced and morally ambiguous tale, shot in documentary style and containing one of cinema’s most justifiably famous car chase sequences. “Connection” won several Oscars including best picture,...
- 8/7/2023
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Julia Jacklin has released a cover of the Boys Next Door’s — Rowland S. Howard and Nick Cave’s band — “Shivers,” written by Howard.
Her spin evokes its namesake with its shimmery, harmonic arrangements, and Jacklin’s gorgeous, emotive vocals reflecting the yearning of the original song while giving it a fresh take. “My heart is really on its knees/But I keep a poker face so well/That even mother couldn’t tell,” she sings. “That my baby’s so vain/She is almost a mirror/And the sound...
Her spin evokes its namesake with its shimmery, harmonic arrangements, and Jacklin’s gorgeous, emotive vocals reflecting the yearning of the original song while giving it a fresh take. “My heart is really on its knees/But I keep a poker face so well/That even mother couldn’t tell,” she sings. “That my baby’s so vain/She is almost a mirror/And the sound...
- 6/13/2023
- by Althea Legaspi
- Rollingstone.com
While the lineup of Cannes Film Market’s newly launched initiative Cannes Investors Circle has remained under wraps, Variety has learned about four of the nine projects which were pitched during the invitation-only event.
The initiative was created by the film market’s new executive director Guillaume Esmiol to connect VIP private investors with select filmmakers and producers boasting a stellar track records. Curated by experts such as Medici’s Tamara Tatishvili, Arte Cinema’s Rémi Burah and financier Serge Hayat, the nine projects are budgeted between €2 million and €12 million. Among these are “Dracula: The Second Coming” directed by Radu Jude; “Rivo Alto,” directed by Clément Cogitore (“The Wakhan Front”) and produced by Jean-Christophe Reymond at Kazak Productions (“Titane”); “The Girl” directed by Marina Ziolkowski (“But You Look So Good”) and produced by Philippe Gompel (“Cherry”) at Manny Films; and “The Birthday Party” directed by Miguel Angel Jimenez (“Chaika”) and...
The initiative was created by the film market’s new executive director Guillaume Esmiol to connect VIP private investors with select filmmakers and producers boasting a stellar track records. Curated by experts such as Medici’s Tamara Tatishvili, Arte Cinema’s Rémi Burah and financier Serge Hayat, the nine projects are budgeted between €2 million and €12 million. Among these are “Dracula: The Second Coming” directed by Radu Jude; “Rivo Alto,” directed by Clément Cogitore (“The Wakhan Front”) and produced by Jean-Christophe Reymond at Kazak Productions (“Titane”); “The Girl” directed by Marina Ziolkowski (“But You Look So Good”) and produced by Philippe Gompel (“Cherry”) at Manny Films; and “The Birthday Party” directed by Miguel Angel Jimenez (“Chaika”) and...
- 5/22/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The lineup for the 2023 Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) at Cannes has been announced. See also the lineup of the Official Selection and Critics' Week.Creatura.Feature FILMSThe Goldman Case (Cédric Kahn)Agra (Kanu Behl)The Other Laurens (Claude Schmitz)Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Thien An Pham)Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (Elene Naveriani) Blazh (Ilya Povolotsky)She Is Conann (Bertrand Mandico)Creatura (Elena Martín Gimeno)Déserts (Faouzi Bensaïdi)In Flames (Zarrar Kahn) Légua (Filipa Reis and João Miller Guerra)The Book of Solutions (Michel Gondry)Mambar Pierrette (Rosine Mbakam)Riddle of Fire (Weston Razooli)The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something has Passed (Joanna Arnow)The Sweet East (Sean Price Williams)A Prince (Pierre Creton)A Song Sung Blue (Zihan Geng)In Our Day (Hong Sang-soo)Short FILMSThe House Is on Fire, Might as Well Get Warm (Mouloud Aït Liotna)A Storm Inside (Clément Pérot)The Birthday Party (Francesco Sossai...
- 4/18/2023
- MUBI
The Cannes Directors’ Fortnight lineup has been unveiled ahead of this year’s festival.
Set for May 16 through May 27, the Directors’ Fortnight will debut 20 feature films and 10 short films this year.
Cédric Kahn’s “The Goldman Case” is the opening night selection. The film centers on the 1976 trial of left-wing revolutionary Pierre Goldman who was convicted of multiple armed robberies and later murdered.
Korean director Hong Sangsoo’s “In Our Day” will conclude the festival. The feature stars Kim Minhee and Ki Joobong in parallel stories of cat owners grappling with their felines’ respective mortality.
Directors’ Fortnight highlights also include Oscar winner Michel Gondry’s French comedy “The Book of Solutions,” starring Pierre Niney as a filmmaker with writer’s block. The film marks “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” director Gondry’s first feature in seven years.
“Good Time” director of photography Sean Price William makes his directorial feature...
Set for May 16 through May 27, the Directors’ Fortnight will debut 20 feature films and 10 short films this year.
Cédric Kahn’s “The Goldman Case” is the opening night selection. The film centers on the 1976 trial of left-wing revolutionary Pierre Goldman who was convicted of multiple armed robberies and later murdered.
Korean director Hong Sangsoo’s “In Our Day” will conclude the festival. The feature stars Kim Minhee and Ki Joobong in parallel stories of cat owners grappling with their felines’ respective mortality.
Directors’ Fortnight highlights also include Oscar winner Michel Gondry’s French comedy “The Book of Solutions,” starring Pierre Niney as a filmmaker with writer’s block. The film marks “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” director Gondry’s first feature in seven years.
“Good Time” director of photography Sean Price William makes his directorial feature...
- 4/18/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
After Cannes Film Festival announced its main lineup last week, the Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week sidebars have unveiled their slates. Now in its 55th edition, Directors’ Fortnight features Hong Sangsoo’s second feature of the year, In Our Day, while Sean Price Williams’ The Sweet East, Michel Gondry’s The Book of Solutions, Bertrand Mandico’s She Is Conann, and more.
“The Directors’ Fortnight was born when a community of directors came together with the desire to create an independent space that would encourage the emergence of free filmmaking regardless of geographical provenance or any other limiting criteria,” said Julien Rejl, Artistic Director of the Directors’ Fortnight. “At the heart of the creation of the Directors’ Fortnight was the singular quality of a work of art and the impossibility of pigeonholing it. We have chosen to present 30 films to you which, through their own unique language, embody a spirit...
“The Directors’ Fortnight was born when a community of directors came together with the desire to create an independent space that would encourage the emergence of free filmmaking regardless of geographical provenance or any other limiting criteria,” said Julien Rejl, Artistic Director of the Directors’ Fortnight. “At the heart of the creation of the Directors’ Fortnight was the singular quality of a work of art and the impossibility of pigeonholing it. We have chosen to present 30 films to you which, through their own unique language, embody a spirit...
- 4/18/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Is Dynasty throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks?
Dynasty Season 4 Episode 7 was another frivolous installment that made me question whether we're supposed to take any part of the show seriously or if we're just to treat it as a procedural and forget everything before the next episode.
Adam will never be my favorite character, and an episode centered on his birthday should have had much more drama than what we were served.
Adam's connection to his mother has been highly concerning since he arrived on the series, and Alexis solidified why anyone should be worried about them.
Alexis may be about making up for lost time, but trying to ice Kirby out of the party, only to fly her ex-boyfriend to Atlanta, bordered on ridiculous.
Many TV shows manage to drive a wedge between mothers and their daughters-in-law effortlessly, but Dynasty is going about it in such...
Dynasty Season 4 Episode 7 was another frivolous installment that made me question whether we're supposed to take any part of the show seriously or if we're just to treat it as a procedural and forget everything before the next episode.
Adam will never be my favorite character, and an episode centered on his birthday should have had much more drama than what we were served.
Adam's connection to his mother has been highly concerning since he arrived on the series, and Alexis solidified why anyone should be worried about them.
Alexis may be about making up for lost time, but trying to ice Kirby out of the party, only to fly her ex-boyfriend to Atlanta, bordered on ridiculous.
Many TV shows manage to drive a wedge between mothers and their daughters-in-law effortlessly, but Dynasty is going about it in such...
- 6/19/2021
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri in Let's Talk About The Rain Photo: UniFrance One of French cinema's most beloved actors (as well as script writer and director) Jean-Pierre Bacri died earlier today after a long struggle with cancer.
Bacri who was 69, often appeared in tandem with his constant companion of many years Agnès Jaoui whom he met in 1986 during rehearsals for Harold Pinter’s play The Birthday Party. It was a starting point for an enduring personal and professional collaboration including the script written jointly for first the theatre and then cinema of Cuisine et dépendances. It was followed by the adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn’s Intimate Exchanges, Smoking/No Smoking (directed by Alain Resnais), in 1993, for which they won a César, and followed by Cédric Klapisch’s Family Resemblances(also a César winner) in 1996. He scored a reputation outside France for Same Old Song (1997), also by Alain Resnais.
The...
Bacri who was 69, often appeared in tandem with his constant companion of many years Agnès Jaoui whom he met in 1986 during rehearsals for Harold Pinter’s play The Birthday Party. It was a starting point for an enduring personal and professional collaboration including the script written jointly for first the theatre and then cinema of Cuisine et dépendances. It was followed by the adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn’s Intimate Exchanges, Smoking/No Smoking (directed by Alain Resnais), in 1993, for which they won a César, and followed by Cédric Klapisch’s Family Resemblances(also a César winner) in 1996. He scored a reputation outside France for Same Old Song (1997), also by Alain Resnais.
The...
- 1/18/2021
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
I’m a sucker for a good scary song. Just throw in some eerie wind effects, a creature howling, a zombie or two gibbering, and you’ve got my attention. Halloween is to me what Christmas is to Mariah Carey fans: an excuse to listen to thematic songs all month long. (Oh, and to hoard pumpkins like a squirrel preparing for winter.)
Not all of these songs are outright spooky — we’ve all heard “Thriller” one too many times. Instead, they’re a collection of creepy character studies, atmospheric tunes,...
Not all of these songs are outright spooky — we’ve all heard “Thriller” one too many times. Instead, they’re a collection of creepy character studies, atmospheric tunes,...
- 10/19/2020
- by Brenna Ehrlich
- Rollingstone.com
The 1975 visit a digital detox center in the animated video for “The Birthday Party.” The song will appear on their upcoming album Notes on a Conditional Form.
For the 3D animated video, the band teamed up with director Ben Ditto and co-director/animator Jon Emmony to create the world of Mindshower, a place where people can take a break from technology. There, the band encounters various internet characters from Reddit, 4chan and more. The band’s movements were scanned and used to create their digital avatars. Singer Matty Healy performs the soft ballad throughout.
For the 3D animated video, the band teamed up with director Ben Ditto and co-director/animator Jon Emmony to create the world of Mindshower, a place where people can take a break from technology. There, the band encounters various internet characters from Reddit, 4chan and more. The band’s movements were scanned and used to create their digital avatars. Singer Matty Healy performs the soft ballad throughout.
- 2/19/2020
- by Brittany Spanos
- Rollingstone.com
Vendetta star Danny Dyer, Sherlock’s Martin Freeman and Episodes’ Tamsin Greig are set to star in a season of one-act Harold Pinter plays in London.
The season will mark the 10th anniversary of Pinter’s death with 20 plays over six months at his eponymous theater.
Dyer and Freeman will star in The Dumb Waiter, the 1957 play about two hitmen, while Tamsin Greig will star in A Kind of Alaska, inspired by Oliver Sacks’ supernatural book Awakenings.
Other actors appearing incuding Jane Horrocks, Celia Imrie, Emma Naomi, Tracy Ann Oberman, David Suchet and Abraham Popoola. Directors include Patrick Marber, Lyndsey Turner, Ed Stambollouian and Lia Williams.
London-born playwright Pinter was best known for his theater work but he also wrote 27 screenplays including adaptations of his own work such as William Friedkin-directed The Birthday Party and Kenneth Branagh-directed Sleuth.
Dyer was particularly close to Pinter, who said he was...
The season will mark the 10th anniversary of Pinter’s death with 20 plays over six months at his eponymous theater.
Dyer and Freeman will star in The Dumb Waiter, the 1957 play about two hitmen, while Tamsin Greig will star in A Kind of Alaska, inspired by Oliver Sacks’ supernatural book Awakenings.
Other actors appearing incuding Jane Horrocks, Celia Imrie, Emma Naomi, Tracy Ann Oberman, David Suchet and Abraham Popoola. Directors include Patrick Marber, Lyndsey Turner, Ed Stambollouian and Lia Williams.
London-born playwright Pinter was best known for his theater work but he also wrote 27 screenplays including adaptations of his own work such as William Friedkin-directed The Birthday Party and Kenneth Branagh-directed Sleuth.
Dyer was particularly close to Pinter, who said he was...
- 5/10/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Decades have passed since William Friedkin directed box office hits “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection,” but the 81-year-old filmmaker isn’t exactly pining for a return to the commercial arena. “In America, I would not want to be an active filmmaker now,” he told an audience at the Lumiere Festival in Lyon on Thursday, shortly after delivering a masterclass at the classic film festival. “When I started, there were greater opportunities to make many different films in America. Now, it’s reduced to blockbusters, with very few exceptions.”
Appropriately, he was making that assertion in an introduction to a 4k screening of his under-appreciated 1977 masterpiece “Sorcerer,” a meticulous thriller that famously got buried by “Star Wars” when it hit theaters just one month after George Lucas’ sci-fi phenomenon. Friedkin’s Paramount production — a reimagining of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1953 “The Wages of Fear,” adapted from the same novel — involves a...
Appropriately, he was making that assertion in an introduction to a 4k screening of his under-appreciated 1977 masterpiece “Sorcerer,” a meticulous thriller that famously got buried by “Star Wars” when it hit theaters just one month after George Lucas’ sci-fi phenomenon. Friedkin’s Paramount production — a reimagining of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1953 “The Wages of Fear,” adapted from the same novel — involves a...
- 10/20/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Where to begin with William Friedkin? Our title would suggest at the end. But really this video essay stems from the beginning—rather, from the early biography of this most idiosyncratic of mainstream directors. In fast and short Chicago-l.A. documentaries about stuntmen, lion-tamers, and death-row inmates, Friedkin cultivated a taste for action and physicality. His first film, The People vs. Paul Crump (1962), recreates from the ground up the bank job that the titular inmate took the fall for, a precursor to the present-tense quality of Friedkin’s later, more famous movies; while The Bold Men (1965) is a forgotten television special about tough-guy characters sticking out their necks for their own glory. (The latter was sourced from real life by Friedkin after a producer handed him just the proposed title and offered him a tiny budget to shoot it on.) By the time he was celebrated—or derided—for terse...
- 5/1/2017
- MUBI
Twenty years after it was first staged, Tracy Letts’s play Bug has much to say about the character and tone of our times. Its fatalism and frantic pitch, brilliantly translated to the screen by film director William Friedkin in 2006, captures widely felt personal and political anxieties in a culture that craves comfort but fears control.In connecting a symbol of surveillance with a synonym for illness, the title of Letts’s play neatly points to a pathology: rabid suspicion towards the state, epitomized in extreme terms in the character of Peter Evans—a paranoid schizophrenic and conspiracy theorist. Neither justifying nor condemning the moral and legal implications of surveillance, Bug stands out among recent work dealing with the subject, in leaving open to question the very fact that its main characters, Peter and Agnes, are being watched by unseen parties. The rising, feverish anxiety of Letts’s work is...
- 12/13/2016
- MUBI
The French Connection 45th Anniversary Screening in Los Angeles
By Todd Garbarini
The Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a 45th anniversary screening of William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning 1971 crime drama The French Connection. The 102-minute film will be screened on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at 7:30 pm. Starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Fernando Rey, Marcel Bozuffi, and the two real-life detectives who broke the actual case: the late Eddie Eagen and Salvatore “Sonny” Grosso, The French Connection is a New York movie of the first order and paved the way for gritty crime dramas like The Seven-Ups and The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3.
Director Friedkin is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session following the film.
From the press release:
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
45th Anniversary Screening
This gritty and gripping police thriller won five...
By Todd Garbarini
The Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a 45th anniversary screening of William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning 1971 crime drama The French Connection. The 102-minute film will be screened on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at 7:30 pm. Starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Fernando Rey, Marcel Bozuffi, and the two real-life detectives who broke the actual case: the late Eddie Eagen and Salvatore “Sonny” Grosso, The French Connection is a New York movie of the first order and paved the way for gritty crime dramas like The Seven-Ups and The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3.
Director Friedkin is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session following the film.
From the press release:
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
45th Anniversary Screening
This gritty and gripping police thriller won five...
- 6/11/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Editor's Note: RogerEbert.com is proud to reprint Roger Ebert's 1978 entry from the Encyclopedia Britannica publication "The Great Ideas Today," part of "The Great Books of the Western World." Reprinted with permission from The Great Ideas Today ©1978 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
It's a measure of how completely the Internet has transformed communication that I need to explain, for the benefit of some younger readers, what encyclopedias were: bound editions summing up all available knowledge, delivered to one's home in handsome bound editions. The "Great Books" series zeroed in on books about history, poetry, natural science, math and other fields of study; the "Great Ideas" series was meant to tie all the ideas together, and that was the mission given to Roger when he undertook this piece about film.
Given the venue he was writing for, it's probably wisest to look at Roger's long, wide-ranging piece as a snapshot of the...
It's a measure of how completely the Internet has transformed communication that I need to explain, for the benefit of some younger readers, what encyclopedias were: bound editions summing up all available knowledge, delivered to one's home in handsome bound editions. The "Great Books" series zeroed in on books about history, poetry, natural science, math and other fields of study; the "Great Ideas" series was meant to tie all the ideas together, and that was the mission given to Roger when he undertook this piece about film.
Given the venue he was writing for, it's probably wisest to look at Roger's long, wide-ranging piece as a snapshot of the...
- 2/12/2015
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Cph Pix will give William Friedkin a unique retrospective tribute on April 3, when Tangerine Dream will perform their score from 1977’s Sorcerer live at Tivoli’s Concert Hall in Copehnagen.
It marks the first time the influential band has played the score live, and the concert will also include 30 minutes of music that wasn’t included in the finished film. Tangerine Dream has never performed before in Scandinavia.
Friedkin’s 12-film retrospective at Cph Pix will also include The Exorcist, Cruising, The French Connection, To Life and Die In La, The Birthday Party, The People Vs. Paul Crump and The Night They Raided Minskys.
The restored Sorcerer premiered in Venice.
Cph Pix runs April 3-16 and will screen 150 features.
It marks the first time the influential band has played the score live, and the concert will also include 30 minutes of music that wasn’t included in the finished film. Tangerine Dream has never performed before in Scandinavia.
Friedkin’s 12-film retrospective at Cph Pix will also include The Exorcist, Cruising, The French Connection, To Life and Die In La, The Birthday Party, The People Vs. Paul Crump and The Night They Raided Minskys.
The restored Sorcerer premiered in Venice.
Cph Pix runs April 3-16 and will screen 150 features.
- 2/9/2014
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Miscasting in films has always been a problem. A producer hires an actor thinking that he or she is perfect for a movie role only to find the opposite is true. Other times a star is hired for his box office draw but ruins an otherwise good movie because he looks completely out of place.
There have been many humdinger miscastings. You only have to laugh at John Wayne’s Genghis Khan (with Mongol moustache and gun-belt) in The Conqueror (1956), giggle at Marlon Brando’s woeful upper class twang as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and cringe at Dick Van Dyke’s misbegotten cockney accent in Mary Poppins (1964). But as hilarious as these miscastings are, producers at the time didn’t think the same way, until after the event. At least they add a bit of camp value to a mediocre or downright awful movie.
In rare cases,...
There have been many humdinger miscastings. You only have to laugh at John Wayne’s Genghis Khan (with Mongol moustache and gun-belt) in The Conqueror (1956), giggle at Marlon Brando’s woeful upper class twang as Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and cringe at Dick Van Dyke’s misbegotten cockney accent in Mary Poppins (1964). But as hilarious as these miscastings are, producers at the time didn’t think the same way, until after the event. At least they add a bit of camp value to a mediocre or downright awful movie.
In rare cases,...
- 1/24/2014
- Shadowlocked
In honor of "Betrayal"'s Broadway opening, the Film Society of Lincoln Center has fashioned a Pinter-centric program, presenting some of the best adaptations of the Englishman's work, in addition to his own screenplays. Pinter's career as a playwright began with a production of "The Room" in 1957, and eventually spanned more than 50 years, netting him the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature and the French Légion d'honneur in 2007. His best-known plays include "The Birthday Party" (1957), "The Homecoming" (1964), and "Betrayal" (1978), each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include "The Servant" (1963), "The Go-Between" (1970), "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), "The Trial" (1993), and "Sleuth" (2007).“The Broadway production of one of Harold Pinter’s masterpieces, 'Betrayal,' is sure to be one of the theatrical events of the year, and provided the perfect occasion for us to revisit Pinter’s body of work for the cinema” said Gavin...
- 10/29/2013
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Indiewire
Harold Pinter tellingly did not title it “The Betrayal.” Unlike earlier works like “The Homecoming” and “The Birthday Party,” he eschewed the article “the” for his 1977 play, “Betrayal,” which opened Sunday at the Barrymore Theatre in a starry revival directed by Mike Nichols. There are so many betrayals in “Betrayal,” the least of which is the one Emma (Rachel Weisz) commits against her husband, Robert (Daniel Craig), by engaging in a long-running affair with his best friend, Jerry (Rafe Spall in a remarkable Broadway debut). It’s as if Pinter is playing a game – to see how many betrayals he.
- 10/28/2013
- by Robert Hofler
- The Wrap
If you’ve ever heard high-culture appreciating television viewers lament the fact that Bravo used to air operas while now it airs Andy Cohen, those same folks might be equally disheartened to see this one act play directed by Robert Altman in 1987 for ABC, the network that is now home to 17 seasons of “The Bachelor.” Altman directed a two-part special entitled “Basements,” with both halves being adaptations of English playwright Harold Pinter’s one act plays “The Room” and “The Dumb Waiter.” “The Room” surfaced online recently in the form of a VHS rip, and it’s a thoroughly bizarre 48 minute experience that fans of the celebrated Altman (“Gosford Park,” “The Player,” “M*A*S*H*”) or Pinter (“The Birthday Party,” “The Homecoming,” “Betrayal”) might want to check out. The story centers on a woman (the dimunitive Linda Hunt) living in...
- 2/12/2013
- by Tess Hofmann
- The Playlist
Photo Flash: In Rehearsal with Austin Pendleton and More in Steppenwolf Theatre's The Birthday Party
Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member Austin Pendleton directs The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter in the Upstairs Theatre, at the helm of a Pinter play for the first time. The theater has been newly reconfigured by Pendleton with scenic designer Walt Spangler to bring the audience closer to the story by moving the stage to the center of the room. The Birthday Party begins previews January 24 Opening night is February 3, 2013 Press performances are February 2 at 3pm and February 5 at 730pm and runs through April 28 in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre 1650 N Halsted St. Check out photos of the cast in rehearsal below...
- 1/11/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
"From the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made." —Immanuel Kant.
Even before I knew what a cinephilic sensibility was, mine was being shaped by the evolving filmic projects of William Friedkin and their focus on humanity's crooked timber. As a participatory member of the Gay Movement of the early 70s, I resisted the scriptural representation in Friedkin's The Boys In the Band (1970) and—a decade later—Cruising (1980), but was undeniably swept up in the Catholicized hysteria surrounding The Exorcist (1973), which I managed to catch at its Bible Belt premiere in Little Rock, Arkansas. The French Connection (1971) challenged Peter Yate's earlier Bullitt (1968) with its iconic car chase and Sorcerer (1977) dazzled me with its suspenseful virtuosity and has continued to intrigue me with its court battle over copyright. To Live And Die in L.A. (1985) introduced me to the talent of such actors as William Petersen and Willem DeFoe; but,...
Even before I knew what a cinephilic sensibility was, mine was being shaped by the evolving filmic projects of William Friedkin and their focus on humanity's crooked timber. As a participatory member of the Gay Movement of the early 70s, I resisted the scriptural representation in Friedkin's The Boys In the Band (1970) and—a decade later—Cruising (1980), but was undeniably swept up in the Catholicized hysteria surrounding The Exorcist (1973), which I managed to catch at its Bible Belt premiere in Little Rock, Arkansas. The French Connection (1971) challenged Peter Yate's earlier Bullitt (1968) with its iconic car chase and Sorcerer (1977) dazzled me with its suspenseful virtuosity and has continued to intrigue me with its court battle over copyright. To Live And Die in L.A. (1985) introduced me to the talent of such actors as William Petersen and Willem DeFoe; but,...
- 8/13/2012
- MUBI
William Friedkin‘s latest, Killer Joe, is a gritty, trailer-trash madhouse that builds to a climax that is superbly sudden and unexpected. The SXSW premiere was filled with gasps and lots of dark laughter. The following day I was able to sit down for roundtables with the cast and crew and below you can find the results from our talk with Matthew McConaughey and Tracy Letts, as the film heads into limited release this week. We discuss fight sequences, inspirations, the way Friedkin likes to use one shot and move on, and much more.
The Film Stage: We were talking a little bit in the previous conversation about the difference in terms of screening here versus screening in Toronto and Venice. Were you both at those screenings as well?
Matthew McConaughey: I was not.
Tracy Letts: I was at all three, and it’s played very differently at all three places.
The Film Stage: We were talking a little bit in the previous conversation about the difference in terms of screening here versus screening in Toronto and Venice. Were you both at those screenings as well?
Matthew McConaughey: I was not.
Tracy Letts: I was at all three, and it’s played very differently at all three places.
- 7/26/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
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