The Friedkin Connection

A Memoir

By: William Friedkin

Narrated by: William Friedkin

""[This book] captures the gut-wrenching shifts of a filmmaker’s life—the bizarre whipsaw from success to disaster.”—Variety

An acclaimed memoir from William Friedkin, a maverick of American cinema and Academy Award–winning director of such legendary films as The French Connection, The Exorcist, and To Live and Die in LA. The Friedkin Connection takes listeners from the streets of Chicago to the suites of Hollywood and from the sixties to today, with autobiographical storytelling as fast-paced and intense as any of the auteur's films.

In this book, William Friedkin, offers a candid look at a thrilling era of Hollywood cinema, when traditional storytelling gave way to the rebellious and alternative; when filmmakers like him captured the paranoia and fear of a nation undergoing a cultural nervous breakdown.

©2013 William Friedkin (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

First hand details about movies from the source.

Heretofore unknown details of Freidkin's movies and life from the source. Wonderful narration by the Director himself.

Exorcist, French Connection Director Insightful, Truthful in Memoir

Oscar-winner William “Billy” Friedkin never sugar coated his many movies and he remained honest, truthful and real in his powerful memoir completed before he died in 2023. During a notable career over more than half a century he delivered tough minded, realistic and mostly memorable movies that largely stand the test of time. His most famous are the original “Exorcist” (1973) and “the French Connection” (1971) which earned him Best Picture and Best Director Oscar’s and set the standard for car chase thrillers forever after. His many other movies never quite reached the same level of acclaim but still were well done, usually exciting and intriguing. His story starts in Chicago where he began in local TV and became excellent at crafting documentaries-skill he brought to his best movies. In 1965 he began his Hollywood career in Tv with a memorable episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He went on to a career influenced by European new wave filmmakers like Fellini, matching that kind of vision with the unrelenting realism that marked his documentary roots. Along the way he had the good fortune to marry the beautiful, brilliant Sherry Lansing just as she became head of movies at Paramount Picture. She was his fourth wife but the longest lasting and most influential during their union that last about 30 years until his death. This is an entertaining, honest, important book especially for movie lovers and those who dream of making great entertainment. Whatever Hollywood is today it is poorer for not having Friedkin as a guide star.

Friedkin shows humility

This man lived a fascinating life plagued with hubris. I wanted to learn more about his final decade.