William Friedkin’s run in the 1970s showed a director unafraid to handle taboo and controversial material. Much of his films either galvanized an audience or sent them into shock, causing controversy and problems for people from film to film. That said, he was always ahead of the curve. He was part of the American New Wave, where young artists were pushing mainstream film in a new direction. His incredible run started in 1970 with The Boys In The Band casting mainly gay actors to portray gay life and continued on with his groundbreaking use of documentary aesthetics in Hollywood films like The French Connection and The Exorcist.
Update August 9, 2023: This article has been updated following the recent passing of legendary filmmaker William Friedkin.
Even in the 1980s, Friedkin was a king of chaos. He was a renegade and an artist aware of the history he was participating in. He mastered the chase and took the audience's thrills to new heights. Friedkin was one of the best, and his filmography was loaded with classics, which says all you need to know about his abrasive style. His recent passing days ago represents a good opportunity to celebrate his legacy by going through the best films of his career. He was one of the most accomplished filmmakers of all time, who helped changed cinema forever, and he will be greatly missed.
13 Jade
A beautifully grotesque crime thriller that acts as a springboard for all the sleaze that made its way through William Friedkin’s other crime thrillers, Jade isn't the best of his oeuvre but one of his most fun. The film is more attuned to the B-movie antics of Joe Ezrhaus's (Basic Instinct) script. Friedkin shows the San Francisco social circles of politics as a place of perversion, lust, and violence. Jade has a hilarious incompetent DJ Caruso as the lead detective, navigating affairs and corruption to solve the case. But, Friedkin finds a space in the unique landscape of San Francisco to stage a very cool chase scene.
12 Blue Chips
A film rife with intensity, although it never hits the levels of William Friedkin’s best work, Blue Chips is a welcome entry into the sports genre from a filmmaker who typically stays away from material that covers the pop culture spectrum. Featuring an all-consumed Nick Nolte as the grisly, hardened coach and a charismatic turn from basketball star Shaquille O’Neal, Blue Chips is a classic college basketball film about the corruptions of super boosters and the poorly aged trivial nature of NCAA recruiting.
11 The Hunted
A ghost story of a chase. The Hunted stars Tommy Lee Jones in a familiar role as an expert tracker looking to hunt down a killer. However, William Friedkin’s version of the one-man-hunt is the anti-Fugitive. Favoring a minimalist approach that feels less choreographed for the often bombastic approach filmmakers take to a blockbuster film, The Hunted is about how you can trace trauma. Featuring devastatingly brutal fight scenes between Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro amidst an ever-changing Pacific Northwest landscape, Friedkin’s film shows how the military creates a killing machine apparatus without a reset button.
10 Cruising
Another film in the long line of Friedkin controversies, Cruising, sparked an uproar in the gay community of New York. Nevertheless, what came through was another cat-and-mouse game of life or death. Starring Al Pacino in all of his bug-eyed mad glory. Friedkin takes the film to the leather-clad, underground gay dance parties of New York, where a serial killer has been running amok. A dark, tense, and psychological thrill ride that’ll leave the viewer with a cold detachment, Cruising was once again a showcase for the master of the chase.
9 Rampage
A serial killer film that takes place mostly on a trial, thus turning into a legal drama that goes back and forth with its commentary about a justice system that relies heavily on mental health as a factor beyond reasonable doubt, Friedkin didn't like this one that much, but weirdly it's one of the best films in his career that never drifts away from its genre. Rampage is an underrated crime thriller starring Michael Biehn that's very hard to find in physical media. Good luck finding a copy.
8 12 Angry Men
12 Angry Men is a film made for TV that feels like a refreshing take on Sidney Lumet's film from decades back. This version, directed by Friedkin, is a solid retelling of the original teleplay, starring a bunch of familiar faces like James Gandolfini, Tony Danza, George C. Scott, and more. However, the major star here is Jack Lemmon, who plays the juror who plants the seed of doubt among the group set on a guilty verdict during the murder trial.
In the Golden Globe Awards of that year, Ving Rhames got the award for Best Actor in a Television Film. However, Rhames refused to accept the award as he thought Lemmon's role deserved it more than his. This is a fascinating character study directed by a man who really knew how to get under your skin with simplicity.
7 Killer Joe
With a script full of black humor courtesy of playwright and now character actor stalwart - Tracy Letts - Killer Joe was a return of form for William Friedkin. Originally cut for an NC-17 rating, Killer Joe was right up the alley of the director, who never shies away from controversy, the film relishes violence. Friedkin honed in on the dark swagger of Matthew McConaughey as the cruel and mysterious bounty hunter as he handles a bumbling, dimwit family of southern trash led hilariously by Thomas Haden Church. Killer Joe has the craft of a master while touching on themes of human desperation and people slowly combusting, a familiar ground to tread for Friedkin.
6 Bug
Chances are you have never seen a film like Bug. And you probably never will. This one tells the story of a man and woman who get isolated in a motel room and enter a psychological plane of paranoia, hallucination and self-mutilation. All due to the effect of drugs in their system. Starring Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, it's one of Friedkin's most underrated films. Are there bugs in it? Well, it depends on who you believe.
5 The Boys In The Band
A painful reminder of how oppressive being in the closet is to gay men and how a world hell-bent on keeping you there manifests in violence. William Friedkin was ahead of the curve, depicting the life of gay men, all played by gay actors, groundbreaking even to this day. A whirlwind of emotions as witty, clever, and depressed men slowly combust in reaction to a life of silence. Fifty years down the line, Friedkin's work still holds relevance, while the film is also underscored by the fact that many of the cast members of The Boys In The Band would die from AIDS years later.
4 The French Connection
Groundbreaking at its time for the documentary-style director William Friedkin shot in and for its hard-hitting, anti-hero cop Jimmy Doyle (Gene Hackman). Friedkin’s depiction of gritty '70s street life and how international drug dealers flood the concrete jungle with narcotics, the film was a shock upon release. Featuring one of the great car chases of all time, The French Connection feels timeless because of Friedkin’s modern aesthetics and the loose nature of the film's ensemble.
3 Sorcerer
Part of William Friedkin's legacy is his reputation as a problematic renegade and his timely use of documentary aesthetics. Sorcerer combined those elements of Friedkin’s artistry. In this remake of the French film The Wages of Fear (Friedkin denied this), the director takes his camera and crew to the depths of hell. It tells the story of four convicts from across the globe that meet in South America to transport high-grade nitroglycerin that could explode at the slightest misstep or bounce. It’s a film covered in paranoid machismo and dirty hysteria. One of the best from the chaotic auteur.
2 To Live and Die In L.A.
A crime approach that paints the entire, complex landscape of Los Angeles as one cruel battleground of criminals and cops - wherein Friedkin's film shows the cops as driven, dirty, and egotistical. To Live and Die In L.A. is a masterpiece of ordered chaos. With the relatively unknown at the time, Willem Dafoe stepped into the fray as the leather-clad, cool artist counterfeiter and a determined William Petersen on his trail. The film is a tight and epic 120 minutes of cat and mouse. Featuring an iconic score from Wang Chung, To Live and Die In L.A. is an '80s crime scorcher. It also makes expert use of master cinematographer Robby Muller to frame the cops and criminals in violent bursts of neon and bright pastels.
1 The Exorcist
A masterclass of craft and technical know-how, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist shocked audiences upon release in 1973 and is still finding new audience members to terrify today. A haunting, suffocating, and relentless piece of horror that examines the borders of faith, conviction, and evil. A film that slowly mounts the horrors of possession and how an institution like religion is not without its cruelties and flaws. The climax concludes with the legendary exorcism scene where the possessed girl Regan (Linda Blair) rises to the air as priests douse her in holy water. The Exorcist will live forever as the greatest horror film ever made.