Legendary director William Friedkin stopped by the Criterion offices and DVD closet! Shop William Friedkin's Closet Picks! www.criterion.com/shop/collec...
@@helvete_ingres4717 what a horrible, needlessly argumentative thing to say- something only an argument-seeking, triggered, horrible person would say. What is wrong with just accepting a nice sentiment on its face, exactly?
His Criterion mentions: - Sunday Bloody Sunday (Schlesinger, 1971) - The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (Cassavetes, 1976) - Vampyr (Dreyer, 1932) - Pickpocket (Bresson, 1959) - Umberto D. (De Sica, 1952) - The Devil and Daniel Webster (Dieterle, 1941) - M (Lang, 1931) - Brute Force (Dassin, 1947) - Rififi (Dassin, 1955) - 81/2 (Fellini, 1963)
I would love to know your favorite films, and your favorite filmmakers... if willing to share. Also thank you for listing the director/year next to each film.
This guys must be on some amazing diet and have a stress free life. He looks fucking amazing for 80 years old. I thought he was around early 60's. Fucking full head of hair too.
+myautomobilefunk really ?! i have yet to read Hurricane Billy.. i mean i know he could be very direct and he would do things to get the most out of people's acting etc. I know he was i guess bold but heartless ? idk. do you have a source of him stating that ?
Can't rememeber where but i read information about people who keep intensive intellectual work in old age, like composers, professional mathematics, chessmasters, they look younger.
This is one of the best DVD Picks videos. Only wish it was longer, because I can listen to Friedkin for hours. He and Scorsese always talks so passionate about films.
The moment I heard the news I immediately thought of this video. Rest in peace Mr. Friedkin. Thank you for all the emotions you gave us and for your incredible love for cinema, which is on full display here.
I was very fortunate to meet him about 20 years ago at a rerelease screening of Sorcerer. What an absolute joy to talk to. One of the greatest American directors.
Sorcerer is probably the most underrated movie ever in the history of filmmaking. It's still pretty obscure and almost never talked about after nearly 50 years, partly thanks to it being released next to Star Wars in 1977, but people are rediscovering it.
One of my favorite directors. Nobody talks about film as eloquently and with as much love and passion as Friedkin does, I could've listened to him talk for hours! R.I.P a legend.
Mr. Friedkin made some of the coolest films back in the day, especially street crime movies. Cant believe he's going to be 80 years old, the man looks fantastic.
Friedkin is one of the great American filmmakers. To me, he's right up there with Scorsese, Coppola, etc. He had some serious balls to do what he did. His films went places that few other directors in the world would have the courage to go to. Very happy to see him in this series.
That’s one of the things I admire the most about Friedkin: he’s really never played it safe. The entire car chase sequence and the ambiguous ending of “The French Connection,” having a little girl say all of the heinous shit that she does while possessed in “The Exorcist,” pretty much all of “Cruising,” suddenly killing off the protagonist toward the end of “To Live and Die in L.A.,” refusing to cut “Killer Joe” for theaters which resulted in it getting an NC-17 rating… I could go on but you get the point. Whether you love or hate his movies, the guy deserves credit for having a vision for all of his films and seeing it through to the end.
RIP Mr. Friedkin, always inspiring generations of cinephiles and filmmakers, always a pleasure to see his films, his masterclasses, just to see him talking about cinema is already a great school - Rest In Power
I love 8 1/2.. haunting, beautiful... but as far as Fellini goes ...La Dolce Vita takes it for me ... La Strada and Nights of Cabiria are great as well
Hands down one of the best closet vids y'all have posted. A true legend. I love how much he appreciates the sheer amount of cinematic preservation being done by Criterion.
What a grand list!! His love of film reminds of a Frank Capra quote that I love "Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream, it takes over as the number one hormone; it bosses the enzymes; directs the pineal gland; plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to film is more film."
It's beautiful to see and hear Mr. Friedkin truly savor these films that catch his eye and heart. As we get older may we all the more deeply appreciate the Art and Beauty humanity has contributed for all of us to enjoy. His ending comments on "8 1/2" and that he won't look at any more titles, how leaving with it on Blu-Ray has made his day, week, possibly his year, brought tears to my eyes. Thank you, sir. R.I.P.
Friedkin's passion of film shines through here, regardless what you think of his movies or the kind of movies he loves there's no doubt he knows his stuff.
Friedkin was impressively reverent in the Criterion closet! Give me ten minutes in that closet...Criterion should offer that to a "regular" movie lover. I would definitely watch a contest winner choose movies!
You have to earn an invite to the closet. Not that I don't like the idea of a regular movie lover getting a chance in the closet but those invitations are awarded to achievers who have enriched the culture.
It's like he's still here through these appearances on RU-vid. ❤ so generous and open about his profession. Life is mostly about extending ourselves to others like Friedkin is doing; "why live otherwise," I can almost hear him saying. ❤
I think when I hear William Friedkin talk about film I feel that he is happy. I know he had troubles and was always controversial in his filmmaking and in his conversations but he is one of the last filmmakers who truly loved doing what he did and keeping film alive.
I've watched many of these . this is one of the loveliest for sure . Whatta cool well spoken Gentleman! thanks for making these . Criterion, Janus and Eclipse? Just FANTASTIC magic!
This is one of the best informal pieces with Billy Friedkin I've ever seen. He seems so humble, yet is so inspiring - you just gotta love this guy who brought us The Exorcist and The French Connection - in spite of the stories of how nasty he was on set so many years ago.
For me his The Exorcist and Sorcerer is the oscar worthy creation. Although exorcist got that. But after watching sorcerer i was numb for a moment...What a film.....And what a director he is.
Rest in peace Mr Freidkin, you and your films will live forever and be spoken about in the way you speak about the films and directors here for generations to come. Thank you for your masterworks, truly one of the greats, documentarian style, master of exposition and visual narrative, your style and technique will be seen, surely, in many films for decades to come. Thank you sir, rest in eternal peace.
Often overlooked, how brilliantly he translated “The Boys In The Band” from a stage play to the big screen, all the while capturing the pathos of the original cast and script, in a powerful, claustrophobic way that stands the test of time. RIP one of Cinema’s Best.
The first time i watched this one it urged me to see more of the gentleman,i've watched Friedkin uncut, great interview/documentary, check it out with A decade under influence if you never heard, both important outlines on the last greatest decade a cinema of which Mr Friedkin is an important part.
I always enjoy conversations with Billy Friedkin, whatever the topic, but especially on film. A pleasure to see him do his tour of the Criterion closet. Well earned, indeed. Cheers to you, Billy.
Exploring William Friedkin and many filmmakers responding to '8 1/2' (1962). It concerns the degree to which filmmakers -- and audiences familiar to Fellini's early career -- will relate to it. Out of that context, it resonates little, if not not at all. Just as 'Citizen Kane' or 'Psycho' are landmarks not to see first in their respective directors' canon, the wonder of '8 1/2' in Fellini as a creator comes into play. Fellini's 1962 success came after a career spanning about ten years. 'White Nights', 'La Strada' and 'Nights of Cabiria', each conveying a legitimate sense of social awareness, came out in rather quick succession in the early-to mid 1959s, to great and well-earned acclaim in award ceremonies. After about a two-year pause, social concerns as the immediate subject matter in his movies became the unconventional observations of the life of celebrities and leisure in 'La Dolce Vita' in 1959 broke all expectations in Europe and earned Fellini a second Academy Award in 1960. The tribulations of success immediately became inescapable. On both sides of the Atlantic, the media and admirers voraciously demanded a new masterpiece from him. Fellini experienced the expectations that successful artists in art, literature, theater, or in any such fields have known -- filmmakers included -- but cannot deliver. Two more years and, as it was told, nothing came to him, until he conceived exploring the concerns of "Guido", an alter ego with a similar creative quandary. What to do and how to go about making art from it. Mindful of it all, the brilliance of '8 1/2' is how unexpectedly honest it us. Fortunately for Fellini, the cinema allows for more manners of expression than do other arts, with the possible exception of music. It became all about Maestro Federico/Guido living through recollections or projecting unfulfilled fantasies, banal or meaningful. The earliest sequence allows us to find Guido unintentionally suspended in mid air. Further along, it will matter little if places and people are real, because to the artist, they all are authentic: the sum part of his existence, personal or artistic, through a career spanning eight and a half features through 1961. Which might be the reason for which the best in movies are genuinely grateful (and envious) of Maestro Fellini's inspiration out of the creative void.
I could listen to him talk about cinema for hours. What an amazing knowledge and quite a cool demeanor, I might add! I was so surprised he pulled Daniel Webster.
Delightful video. I might not agree with some of Freidkin's radical methods as a director, but the man knows film and loves it with a clear grace and passion. Great to hear this man talk so lovingly about these classics. I say get Michael Mann in there. That "Thief" Blu Ray was awesome!
Tango In The Night Yes. He's my favourite filmmaker of all time. His works are so different even from his French colleagues. It makes me glad to see that Mr. Friedkin acknowledges his contributions to cinematic art.
It is stunningly sad and ironic to hear the great Friedkin praise Criterion for showing films as they meant to be seen - only to have Criterion follow Disney's lead and trim a scene showing Popeye Doyle's bigotry from the streaming version of the French Connection. I wonder what William would have said about that.
I don't think that was Criterion's decision. Disney owns the rights to the film. Criterion just shows whatever is given to them by the rightsholders. It's quite possible no one even noticed the changes before putting up. No one has the time to go through every single movie on the platform and make sure it's an exact recreation of the original. That's what physical releases are for.
OMG You can't go wrong with "8 1\2" I couldn't put it in better words!!! It is indeed what of the grandest movie experiences. He should've taken a bag like Cuarón.
Strange sort of time compression can be experienced by looking at so many great films on a shelf. Decades of evenings spent in the local cinematheque, at film festivals and repertory theatres all brought back to mind by boxes on a shelf.
