William Friedkin Left Behind A Legacy

Of Classic Crime Films and Thrillers

The late director William Friedkin, who passed away August 7, was a key figure in New Hollywood cinema, the movement that began in the mid-1960s and included such filmmakers as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Of all his peers from this era, Friedkin was perhaps the most skilled at crafting thoughtful thrillers, and his best work—reflected in both The French Connection and The Exorcist—remains remarkably effective today. As Luc Haasbroek wrote in Collider last week, Friedkin got his start making documentaries in the early 1960s, before switching to narrative features with 1965's Good Times starring Sonny and Cher (a film Friedkin later called "unwatchable"). His big break came in 1970 with The Boys in the Band, and from there he delivered a string of critical and commercial successes, a few of which influenced later filmmakers. As a tribute to his body of work, Haasbroek compiled a list of his best movies, ranked (sort of) according to cinephiles on IMDb. From Rules of Engagement to The Brinks Job to To Live And Die in L.A., these are not only some of Friedkin’s best, but also classic American filmmaking.

Did Jeffrey Epstein Blackmail

Wall Street Titan Leon Black?

Why is Leon Black, billionaire financier, blue-chip art collector, and close friend of the late Jeffrey Epstein’s suddenly facing a new rape accusation and questions from the Senate Finance Committee? That’s a question posed—and essentially answered—by Air Mail correspondent Johanna Berkman. In the weeks and months after Epstein’s arrest and apparent suicide in a Metropolitan Correctional Center cell downtown, Black became the subject of intense scrutiny—from the media, investors at his financial management firm known as Apollo Global Management, and ultimately the Apollo board. A subsequent investigation found that, in January 2021, Black had paid the uncredentialled Epstein $158 million between 2013 and 2017, allegedly for tax and estate planning. Fast forward to July 25, when an autistic woman who was allegedly an Epstein trafficking victim filed a federal lawsuit alleging that when she was just 16 years old she was “passed directly to Black’s hands from the hands of Jeffrey Epstein” and then was raped by Black in the massage room of Epstein’s Upper East Side town house. Earlier that same day, Senate Finance Committee chairman Ron Wyden revealed that the committee has been investigating Black and his “financial dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.” Check out Berkman's podcast here.

Eight Reasons The Jason Bourne

Film Franchise "Ruined" Action Movies

Don’t let the headline fool you…the Jason Bourne film franchise is one of the most influential modern action series in recent memory, and has changed the action-adventure genre in numerous ways. Upon its release, the 2002 action-thriller The Bourne Identity was an instant hit. The gripping film followed the titular Jason Bourne, an amnesiac whose attempt to discover the origin of his own identity and particular set of skills made him the target of a shadowy intelligence agency. It was a taut, endlessly re-watchable movie that spawned a critically acclaimed trilogy, a standalone spinoff, and a legacy sequel. And therein, says Screen Rant’s Seb Flatau, lies a problem. “The [Bourne] franchise’s profitability and cultural resonance made a significant impact on the action genre as a whole,” he recently wrote. “Not only did Bourne Identity reinvigorate the spy thriller, but its graphic fight scenes featured a then-unprecedented physical intensity. Even its car chases set a new standard. However, any franchise that influences the cinema landscape as heavily as Bourne was bound to have unintended consequences, and some of its lasting impacts are a direct result of the ways in which it reconfigured cinematic language." With that in mind, he offers this list of eight ways Jason Bourne ruined action movies. All of which, in reality, are a genuine compliment.

The Red Right Hand: Peaky Blinders

And The Looming Shadow Of Fascism

With the benefit of hindsight, the 1920s seem like an odd reprieve from the rest of the last century. Following on the heels of the most devastating war the world had ever known, and before a global economic cataclysm that was followed by an even more devastating war, the U.S. and western Europe saw a brief golden age of glamorous parties, economic prosperity, and flourishing arts and culture. As Zack Budryk wrote last week in Crime Reads, however, the reality was not quite that simple. “Even before the Wall Street crash that closed out the decade, the economic have-nots remained, even if they were largely glossed over,” he says. “The fascist ideology that spread through Europe and threatened the globe didn’t come from nowhere, and was waiting in the wings for much of what we consider the good times, as crime dramas set in 1920s Europe make clear.” One of these series is the near-perfect Peaky Blinders, starring Cillian Murphy as Thomas Shelby [and currently in theaters as Oppenheimer], the self-proclaimed head of the eponymous Birmingham gang, who suffers from severe and untreated PTSD, as does his older brother Arthur and practically every man they know. “Peaky Blinders is merciless in its indictment of the “good guys” of the 20th century for their complicity in the rise of fascism,” Budryk writes. “The tension of the show derives from the conflict between the Shelbys and their enemies, but also from our knowledge in the 21st century of just how charmed western civilization was by fascism, and how close we came to inviting it in the front door like a vampire.”

Seven Dutch Crime Dramas You

Can Start Binge-Watching Tonight

Okay…I’ll confess right now: I had no idea that Dutch crime drama was a thing, let alone a subgenre to binge watch. Thanks to Murder-Mayhem’s Kelsey Christine McConnell, however, I feel I have been enlightened about everything from scandalous extramarital intrigue to global conspiracies, all highlighted in this list of seven “must-see” thrillers from the Netherlands and Belgium. For starters, there’s Women of the Night, which follows the lives of a happily married husband and wife living in Amsterdam, both of whom have buried the secrets of their respective pasts: high-end escorts, big money, sex, drugs, and politics. Then there’s the Belgian series Salamander, which features a violent robbery of a private bank in Brussels in which no money is taken, but plenty of sensitive personal documents have gone missing. While the crime isn't reported, Inspector Paul Gerardi (Filip Peeters) of the Belgian Federal Police finds his way onto the baffling mystery anyway. And don’t miss The Adulterer, in which photographer Iris Hoegaarde (Sylvia Hoeks) meets attorney Willem Steenhouwer (Fedja van Huêt), resulting in an instant and undeniable attraction. The downside is that both of them are already married, a fact that doesn’t seem to matter much as they sink under their passionate feelings and drag themselves and their families into a tangled web of corruption and murder.

Coming September 12:

INDIGO ROAD

“Indigo Road is a beautifully wrought, hard-biting story with elements of classic noir presented through a prism of modern sensibilities. A fantastic read.” –S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of Razorblade Tears 

While still slinging drinks fulltime at The Sandbar in Folly Beach, Jack Connor works a side gig as a licensed bounty hunter. One afternoon, as he's transporting his latest bail skip named Willis Ronson back to jail, his SUV is ambushed by a team of gunmen, killing Ronson instantly and seriously injuring his court-appointed attorney, Alisha Dupree. Connor can’t help but poke around the edges of the deadly incident and quickly learns that Ronson was a man of many secrets, including a mysterious woman from his past who has caused him to be sucked into a domestic terrorist fringe group.