David Frank Friedman (December 24, 1923 – February 14, 2011) was an American filmmaker and film producer best known for his B movies,

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...

nudie cuties In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scen ...

, and sexploitation films.

Life and career

Friedman first became interested in entertainment after spending part of his childhood in Birmingham and Anniston, Alabama, traveling carnival sites. He worked as a film projectionist in Buffalo before serving in the US Army during the Second World War. He met

pioneer

Kroger Babb Howard W. "Kroger" Babb (December 30, 1906 – January 28, 1980) was an American film producer and showman. His marketing techniques were similar to a travelling salesman's, with roots in the medicine show tradition. Self-described as "America's ...

during his

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

service. This encounter got him interested in films. He then worked as a regional marketing man for

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

, and sensed the money in independent distributing. He started his own company in the 1950s, which mainly produced so-called

nudie cutie In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scen ...

films such as '' Goldilocks and The Three Bares'', shot in nudist colonies, films that were the closest thing to pornography legally available at the time. This trend was followed by the sexploitation and " roughie" genres, depicting simulated sex with a more violent edge, often horror- or crime-related. Examples of Friedman's roughies are '' The Defilers'' (1965), ''

The Lustful Turk ''The Lustful Turk, or Lascivious Scenes from a Harem'' is a pre- Victorian British exploitation erotic epistolary novel first published anonymously in 1828 by John Benjamin Brookes and reprinted by William Dugdale. However, it was not widely kno ...

'' (1968), '' The Head Mistress'' (1968) and '' The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide'' (1971, directed by

Byron Mabe George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

). Helming one of those movies, Friedman started his working relationship with Chicago-based teacher and filmmaker

Herschell Gordon Lewis Herschell Gordon Lewis (June 15, 1926 – September 26, 2016) was an American filmmaker, best known for creating the " splatter" subgenre of horror films. He is often called the "Godfather of Gore" (a title also given to Lucio Fulci), though hi ...

. Friedman went on to produce the latter's 1963 film ''

Blood Feast ''Blood Feast'' is a 1963 American splatter film. It was composed, shot, and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, written by Allison Louise Downe from an idea by Lewis and David F. Freidman, and stars Mal Arnold, William Kerwin, Connie Mason, ...

'', an American exploitation film often considered the first "gore" or

splatter film A splatter film is a subgenre of horror films that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of wikt:gore, gore and graphic violence. These films, usually through the use of special effects, display a fascination with the vulnerability of the h ...

. He was also the producer of two of the first

Nazi exploitation Nazi exploitation (also Nazisploitation) is a subgenre of exploitation film and sexploitation film that involves Nazis committing sex crimes, often as camp or prison overseers during World War II. Most follow the women in prison formula, only re ...

films, ''

Love Camp 7 ''Love Camp 7'' is a 1969 American women-in-prison Nazisploitation B-movie directed by Lee Frost (credited as R.L. Frost) and written by Wes Bishop and Bob Cresse, the latter of whom also portrays a sadistic camp commandant. Plot Two American ...

'' (1969) and '' Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS'' (1974), for which he wouldn't use his real name and was credited as Herman Traeger. With the advent of hardcore porn as a commercial factor in the mid-1970s, Friedman began to slow down his output. His motto was "Sell the sizzle not the steak" and he would not allow actual intercourse to be shown in his films. Still, he was president of the

Adult Film Association of America The Adult Film Association of America (AFAA) was the first American association of pornographic film producers. It fought against censorship laws, attempted to defend the industry against prosecution for obscenity, and held an annual adult film ...

, a trade association for hardcore porn producers. In the early 1990s Seattle's Something Weird Video, owned by Mike Vraney, started to re-issue much of Friedman's work on videocassette, getting him the attention of a new generation of exploitation and b-movie collectors. He can be heard on the audio commentary track of some of the company's releases. In 1997, Friedman appeared in a lengthy segment of the feature-length documentary '' Hollywood Rated "R"'' and in the half-hour documentary '' David Friedman, Portrait of an Exploiteer'', in the both of which he goes over his entire career and the history of exploitation films in America. In 2000 Friedman was featured alongside cult filmmakers

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

, Doris Wishman, Harry Novak and others in the documentary '' SCHLOCK! The Secret History of American Movies'', a film about the rise and fall of American exploitation cinema. In 1990 Friedman published his autobiography, A ''Youth in Babylon: Confessions of a Trash-Film King''.David F. Friedman. ''A Youth in Babylon: Confessions of a Trash-Film King'', Prometheus Books, 1998. . He remained proud of his cinematic oeuvre: “I made some terrible pictures, but I don’t make any apologies for anything I’ve ever done. Nobody ever asked for their money back.” In 2001 he co-starred with longtime business partner Dan Sonney in the documentary '' Mau Mau Sex Sex''
IMDb entry
. Friedman died in

Anniston, Alabama Anniston is the county seat of Calhoun County in Alabama and is one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 23,106. Acc ...

on February 14, 2011, at the age of 87.Obituary: David Friedman
''Daily Telegraph'', February 16, 2011

References

External links

*
David F. Freidman
at BhamWiki.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, David F. 1923 births 2011 deaths American film directors American film producers Businesspeople from Birmingham, Alabama United States Army soldiers 20th-century American businesspeople

Life and career

Further reading

References

External links