Hurricane Billy: The Stormy Life and Films of William Friedkin

by Nat Segaloff

Who is the person responsible for the millions of nightmares brought on by The Exorcist, To Live and Die in L.A., Cruising and Boys in the Band? Friedkin's films conjure some of the darkest images ever put on-screen. Photographs.

Genres: Film

Hardcover

First published February 1, 1990

About the author

Nat Segaloff is a writer-producer-journalist. He covered the film industry for The Boston Herald, but has also variously been a studio publicist (Fox, UA, Columbia), college teacher (Boston University, Boston College), and broadcaster (Group W, CBS, Storer). He is the author of twenty books including Hurricane Billy: The Stormy Life and Films of William Friedkin, Arthur Penn: American Director and Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors in addition to career monographs on Stirling Silliphant, Walon Green, Paul Mazursky and John Milius. His writing has appeared in such varied periodicals as Film Comment, Written By, International Documentary, Animation Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, Time Out (US), MacWorld and American Movie Classics Magazine. He was also senior reviewer for AudiobookCafe.com and contributing writer to Moving Pictures magazine.

In 1996 he formed the multi-media production company Alien Voices with actors Leonard Nimoy and actor John de Lancie and produced five best-selling, fully dramatized audio plays for Simon & Schuster: The Time Machine, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Lost World, The Invisible Man and The First Men in the Moon, all of which feature Star Trek casts.

Reviews

[Matthew W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although out-of-date (it ends when Friedkin was working on THE GUARDIAN) and less interesting and insightful than Friedkin's own memoir, this bio is worth a read for any somewhat serious Friedkin fans. Still, you'll learn more about Friedkin's personality from Peter Biskind's EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS. Of course, his greatest films (e.g. THE FRENCH CONNECTION, CRUISING, THE SORCERER, KILLER JOE) reveal more about his essence than any text could, at least on the purely visceral level.

[John Bleasdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm biased (the author's a friend) but I find this a solid biography of a notable American filmmaker. Although no longer up to date (Friedkin's done a few films since the book was published), his most important films -- "The French Connection," "The Exorcist," "Sorcerer" -- are well covered.

[Think-On-It]

If you'd like to know what I thought of this book, please contact me directly and I'd be happy to discuss it with you.

All the best,

- TB