William Friedkin Filmography

40x15

Bug

Crew: Director

Actors: Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Lynn Collins, Brian F. O'Byrne, Harry Connick, Jr.

Synopsis: Academy Award-winning Exorcist director William Friedkin scuttles deep into the darkest recesses of the traumatized human psyche with this tale of a lonely bartender haunted by the long-ago disappearance of her young son, and the paranoia that emerges when she enters into a tentative relationship Read More

The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo [D]

Actors: Sid Levin, Andy Sidaris, Haskell Wexler, William Friedkin, Georgiana M. Alonzo

Synopsis: Axel Schill's non-fiction work The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo joins Light Keeps Me Company, Tell Them Who You Are, and other recent documentaries in paying homage to one of the world's great cinematographers. Active from the early 1960s until just before his death Read More

A Decade Under the Influence

Actors: Steven Soderbergh, Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Peter Bogdanovich, Ellen Burstyn

Synopsis: In the late '60s, American culture experienced a period of change as the youth movement challenged conventional attitudes about politics, sex, drugs, and gender issues, while the advancement of the Vietnam War found many citizens questioning the actions and wisdom of their government for the first Read More

The Hunted

Crew: Director

Actors: Tommy Lee Jones, Benicio Del Toro, Connie Nielsen

Synopsis: A rogue special-forces soldier is tracked down by his former mentor in this action thriller from director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist). In his first role since winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2001, Benicio del Toro stars as Aaron Hallam, one of the U.S. Read More

Rules of Engagement

Crew: Director

Actors: Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Guy Pearce, Bruce Greenwood, Blair Underwood

Synopsis: In this drama, two U.S. Marines who stood side by side on the field of battle are reunited in a court of law. Attorney Hayes Hodges (Tommy Lee Jones) once aspired to a career as an officer, but a serious injury in Vietnam put an end to his military future, leaving him bitter and resentful. Col. Read More

12 Angry Men

Crew: Director

Actors: Jack Lemmon, Courtney Vance, George C. Scott, Mykelti Williamson, Armin Mueller-Stahl

Synopsis: A jury argues a case in a stuffy room on a hot summer's day. Eleven say "guilty!" But one holdout (Jack Lemmon) is convinced of the defendant's innocence and stubbornly argues "reasonable doubt." This tense courtroom drama is a remake of Sidney Lumet's 1957 favorite and was produced for the Read More

Howard Hawks: American Artist

Actors: Lauren Bacall, Angie Dickinson, Peter Bogdanovich, William Friedkin, Walter Hill, Todd McCarthy

Synopsis: This British-produced documentary offers an insightful portrait of American filmmaker Howard Hawks, whose remarkable five decade long career encompassed some of Hollywood's best loved movies. Hawks' personal and professional life is recalled by such friends and co-workers as Todd McCarthy (the Read More

Jade

Crew: Director

Actors: David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Biehn, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: An investigator seeking the truth behind the death of a noted art dealer uncovers a web of sexual deception in this erotic thriller. David Caruso plays David Corelli, a San Francisco District Attorney who faces a potential conflict of interest when he learns that the prime suspect in the murder is Read More

The Directors: William Friedkin

Synopsis: A poster boy of the American new wave, William Friedkin directed such classics as The French Connection and The Exorcist. This video profile focuses on Friedkin's life and career. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide Read More

Blue Chips

Crew: Director

Actors: Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, J.T. Walsh, Ed O'Neill, Alfre Woodard

Synopsis: Blue Chips examines greed, cheating, and "winning at all costs" in the world of college basketball. Nick Nolte plays the stressed-out coach on the verge of his first losing season, who hits the road in search of new players not already signed by a bigger school. He finds three prospects: a Read More

Jailbreakers

Crew: Director

Synopsis: A 15-year-old cheerleader named Angel (Shannon Doherty) falls for Tony, a dope-smoking, leather-clad punk (Antonio Sabato Jr.). He robs two stores, making her a local pariah. Her family moves to Bakersfield to make a new beginning, and she falls in love with a local jock. But Tony breaks out of Read More

Rampage

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Michael Biehn, Alex McArthur, Nicholas Campbell, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, John Harkins

Synopsis: This bloody thriller is based on the real-life story of Richard Chase, the notorious "Vampire of Sacramento." William Friedkin's film soft-pedals Chase's gruesome crimes, although the gore content may still be a bit hard to take for most viewers. Alex McArthur gives a noteworthy performance as the Read More

The Guardian

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jenny Seagrove, Dwier Brown, Carey Lowell, Brad Hall, Miguel Ferrer

Synopsis: The Exorcist director William Friedkin made a return to the horror genre with this blend of straightforward suspense and Druid myth-inspired horror-fantasy. The idyllic lives of yuppie couple Phil and Kate (Dwier Brown and Carey Lowell) seem complete when they select the winsome young Camilla (Jenny Seagrove Read More

C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf

Crew: Director

C.A.T. Squad

Crew: Director, Executive Producer

Synopsis: William Friedkin, a product of television, returned to the small screen to direct the made-for-TV feature C.A.T. Squad. The titular acronym stands for Counter Assault Tactical. The heroes and heroines are fitted out with state-of-the-art hardware and weaponry that would make the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Read More

To Live and Die in L.A.

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: William L. Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow, Debra Feuer, John Turturro

Synopsis: William Friedkin's crime thriller, based on a book by U.S. Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich, concerns an arrogant Secret Service official who wants to get his man at any price. Willem Dafoe plays Eric Masters, an ultra-smooth counterfeiter who has managed to sidestep the police for years. He Read More

Deal of the Century

Crew: Director

Actors: Chevy Chase, Sigourney Weaver, Gregory Hines, Vince Edwards, William Marquez

Synopsis: The humor in this Chevy Chase comedy lies solely in the eyes of the beholder. The comic plays Eddie Muntz, an arms dealer looking to make a big sale of war planes to a South American dictator. In order to do so, his girlfriend (Sigourney Weaver) has to sleep with the dictator and his friend (Gregory Hines Read More

Cruising

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox, Don Scardino

Synopsis: New York City detective Steve Burns Al Pacino receives orders from Captain Edelson Paul Sorvino to solve a series of brutal murders in the gay community. Steve scours the gay bars that caters to same-sex sadomasochism in a desperate attempt to solve the crime. As he infiltrates the scene, he Read More

The Brink's Job

Crew: Director

Actors: Peter Falk, Peter Boyle, Warren Oates, Gena Rowlands

Synopsis: In 1950, a Brink's armored truck in Boston was robbed by a highly organized gang decked out in Halloween masks. The Brink's Job is an occasionally humorous account of that "perfect crime." Peter Falk stars as the mastermind behind the robbery, who assembles a bunch of two-bit hoods who in any Read More

Sorcerer

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal, Ramon Bieri, Peter Capell

Synopsis: The plot of William Friedkin's suspense thriller originated with the same Georges Arnaud novel that inspired Henri-Georges Clouzot's French suspense classic The Wages of Fear (1953). Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal, and Amidou play four men who, for various reasons, cannot return to Read More

The Exorcist

Crew: Director

Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, Kitty Winn

Synopsis: Novelist William Peter Blatty based his best-seller on the last known Catholic-sanctioned exorcism in the United States. Blatty transformed the little boy in the 1949 incident into a little girl named Regan, played by 14-year-old Linda Blair. Suddenly prone to fits and bizarre behavior, Regan Read More

The French Connection

Crew: Director

Actors: Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi

Synopsis: This gritty, fast-paced, and innovative police drama earned five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (written by Ernest Tidyman), and Best Actor (Gene Hackman). Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Hackman) and his partner, Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider), are New York City police Read More

The Boys in the Band

Crew: Director

Actors: Kenneth Nelson, Frederick Combs, Leonard Frey, Cliff Gorman, Reuben Greene

Synopsis: "The Boys in the Band is not a musical" read the film's original advertisements. The film is set in the apartment of Michael (Kenneth Nelson), a homosexual who holds a birthday party for his friend Harold (Leonard Frey). As Michael and his gay buddies prepare for Harold's arrival, Michael's old Read More

The Night They Raided Minsky's

Crew: Director

Actors: Jason Robards, Jr., Britt Ekland, Norman Wisdom, Forrest Tucker, Harry Andrews

Synopsis: Narrator Rudy Vallee announces that he knows we are a "real high class audience," thus he has "some swell story to tell." Thus begins The Night They Raided Minsky's, set in the rarefied world of burlesque in the 1920s. Quaker girl Rachel Schpitendavel (Britt Ekland) comes to New York in hopes of Read More

The Birthday Party

Crew: Director

Actors: Robert Shaw, Patrick Magee, Dandy Nichols, Sydney Tafler, Moultrie Kelsall

Synopsis: Harold Pinter's theatrical piece The Birthday Party was committed to celluloid in 1968 by future Exorcist director William Friedkin. Robert Shaw plays a boarder in a sleazy British seaside-resort rooming house. The landlady (Dandy Nichols) holds a cheerless birthday party for Shaw, which is Read More

Good Times

Crew: Director

Actors: George Sanders, Norman Alden, Larry Duran, Kelly Thordsen

Synopsis: Pop singers Sonny and Cher are featured in this fluffy film that chronicles the popular duo's ideas for the film in which they are to make their cinematic debut. Much of the story centers around Sonny's movie fantasies as he tries to convince the studio head to use a more interesting script than Read More

The Thin Blue Line

Crew: Director

The Bold Men

Crew: Director

Pro Football: Mayhem On a Sunday Afternoon

Crew: Director, Producer

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Off Season

Crew: Director

Actors: John Gavin, Dody Heath, Indus Arthur, Tom Drake, Richard Jaeckel

Synopsis: Alfred Hitchcock's long-running suspense anthology wraps up its ten seasons on the air with its 361st episode, directed by a pre-French Connection, pre-Exorcist William Friedkin. John Gavin heads the cast as Johnny Kendall, a trigger-happy cop who is suspended from the force after killing a Read More

The People vs. Paul Crump

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Based on a true story, The People Vs. Paul Crump embodies an impassioned plea for mercy and justice. In 1953, five young black men robbed a food plant in Chicago. During the incident, a security guard was shot to death and several employees were brutally beaten. Five men were arrested within a Read More