It's debatable whether William Friedkin is a great director. Like Hal Ashby, who I think is a great director, he had a string of good movies (?) - The Excorcist, French Connection, The Scorcerer - with great commercial success. I came across this piece on Jim Webb by William Friedkin recently on Huffington Post. Now we can judge Friedkin's prose skills in addition to his moviemaking.
My wife Sherry and I have been invited to attend Jim Webb's swearing-in as the new Senator from Virginia, the result of an unexpected, come-from behind victory over the Republican incumbent -- and former potential presidential candidate -- George Allen. We've known Jim since 1999 when he wrote an original screenplay called Rules of Engagement, which I directed. We remained friends in spite of numerous "creative differences" -- often heated, sometimes bitter.I came away from that experience feeling that Jim Webb is the most complex, principled man I've ever known. He came away feeling good about what I had done with the finished film -- though he still refers to me as the only man in the country with a temper worse than his. I accept this as a compliment.
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