Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin, longrecognized for his technical brilliance, has had a career marked by tremendoussuccesses and great failures. Among his successes are The French Connection and The Exorcist, both now considered classics of their respectivegenres. Friedkin, who worked his way up in a Chicago television station frommailroom employee to director of local live broadcasts while still in histeens, began directing features in 1967. Among his films are TheNight They Raided Minsky’s, screenadaptations of Pinter’s The Birthday Party and the popular off-Broadway play The Boys in the Band, Sorcerer, The Brink’s Job, Cruising, To Live and Die in L.A., The Guardian, Rampage, Blue Chips, Jade, and Rules of Engagement. This well-written, insightful study of Friedkin’sfilms, which pays particular attention to the evolution of his cinematic styleand choice of subject material, is based on nearly 100 interviews with Friedkinand his colleagues.