SCFZ poll: William Friedkin

[flip]

Polling the films of William Friedkin

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half* of the Friedkin films you've seen, up to a maximum of 8. So if you've seen 6 films, you can vote for 3, and if you've seen 20, you can vote for up to 8.

* If you've seen an odd number, you can round up when deciding the length of your ballot -- e.g if you've seen 7, you can vote for 4, and if you've seen 15, you can vote for the maximum of 8.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Tuesday, in seven days, whatever day that is

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

[flip]

again chose this poll by using a random number generator. i'd say friedkin belongs on a (fairly long) list of "best-known directors no one at scfz ever seems to talk about", so maybe this will be an interesting poll.

reminder also we're using 'extended rules' for every poll from now on, so feel free to post a long ballot if you've seen a lot of friedkin

[flip]

Sorcerer
Killer Joe
To Live and Die in LA
Deal of the Century
The People vs Paul Crump
Bug
The French Connection
The Brink's Job


seen 13, but only one in the last maybe 6-7 years, his remake of 12 angry men, which was almost unwatchable

edit: seen 14

edit again: seen 15

[greennui]

8.

Cruising
To Live and Die in LA
Sorcerer
Conversation with Fritz Lang

[wba]

Great director, from whom I haven't seen much, though I enjoyed all his films that I HAVE seen...

I love love love TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. - almost feels like a Michael Mann movie (but much much darker and bleaker)

01. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
02. The French Connection (1971)
03. Cruising (1980)

Friedkin seen: 6

[ofrene]

Seen 6

Sorcerer
To Live and Die in L.A.
The French Connection

[brian d]

seen 2

the french connection

[nrh]

The Hunted
Cruising
To Live and Die in LA
The Exorcist

Deeply weird director - such impeccable formal control but at some points just seems to be completely undone by his material. that his passion project rampage is one of his most shapeless is probably telling, and almost everything he touches for a decade after that is just a disaster, culminating in rules of engagement which might be one of the most politically vile films to ever come out of this country. then he immediately makes one of his very best movies...

[Silga]

Seen 11

To Live and Die in L.A.
The French Connection
Killer Joe
Blue Chips
The Brink's Job

[deepbluefunk]

seen 6

i'm going pretty straightforward

The Exorcist
To Live and Die in LA
The French Connection

[St. Gloede]

Seen 8:

The French Connection
Killer Joe
The Exorcist
To Live and Die in L.A.

[oscarwerner]

seen 15.
good director, who made many good movies. But everybody expect only masterpiece from him:)
1-The French Connection
2-The Exorcist
3-Cruising
4-Sorcerer
5-Killer Joe
6-To Live and Die in L.A. (Can`t understand if Friedkin is similar to M.Mann here or Michael Mann is similar to Friedkin)
7-The Hunted-great action scenes

[Roscoe]

SORCERER
BOYS IN THE BAND
NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY'S
KILLER JOE
BUG

Seen enough to rate more. These are the good ones. I can't take THE EXORCIST as seriously as it takes itself, and CRUISING isn't quite a total botch, the parts are greater than the whole, but it comes damn close.

[Monsieur Arkadin]

Seen 6

Sorcerer
Killer Joe
To Live and Die in LA

[Curtis, baby]

seen 2

the people vs paul crump

[john ryan]

seen 7

1. The Exorcist
2. The French Connection
3. Bug

[flip]

i find these polls interesting when two films made 40 years apart both make the top five. by our voting at least, friedkin had a pretty dire period from 1986 to 2002 -- only blue chips from that period got a vote, and of his post-1968 feature length films, the only ones that got no support were from that period (rampage, jade, the guardian, rules of engagement, 12 angry men, cat squad) but his three feature films made after that period all made our top ten:


results
1. To Live and Die in LA (1985) — 22.5 pts
2. The French Connection (1971) — 20.3 pts
3. Sorcerer (1977) — 20 pts
4. Killer Joe (2011) — 15 pts
5. The Exorcist (1973) — 13 pts
6. Cruising (1980) — 11 pts
7. The Hunted (2003) — 4.3 pts
8. The Boys in the Band (1970) — 4 pts
9. The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968) — 3 pts
10. Bug (2006) — 2.5 pts
11. The People vs Paul Crump (1962) — 2 pts
11. Deal of the Century (1983) — 2 pts
11. Blue Chips (1994) — 2 pts
14. The Brink’s Job (1978) — 1.1 pts
15. Fritz Lang Interviewed by William Friedkin (1974) — 1 pt

[...]

I really wanted to give a vote to C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf just for the truly awful title, but the rules don't allow for voting voting on titles alone unfotunately.

[flip]

up at letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-295/