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

B movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

s, nudie cuties, 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 during his

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

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. **Paramount Picture ...

, and sensed the money in independent distributing. He started his own company in the 1950s, which mainly produced so-called nudie cutie 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 A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, Low-budget film, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition o ...

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

. Friedman went on to produce the latter's 1963 film '' Blood Feast'', 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 gore and graphic violence. These films, usually through the use of special effects, display a fascination with the vulnerability of the human body a ...

. He was also the producer of two of the first Nazi exploitation films, '' Love Camp 7'' (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, a trade association for hardcore porn producers. In the early 1990s Seattle's

Something Weird Video Something Weird Video is an American film distributor company based in Seattle, Washington. They specialize in exploitation B to Z films, particularly the works of Harry Novak, Doris Wishman, David F. Friedman and Herschell Gordon Lewis. ...

, 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 A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

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 (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

, 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 of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

Anniston, Alabama Anniston is a city and the county seat of Calhoun County, Alabama, Calhoun County in Alabama, United States, and is one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston–Oxford metropolitan area, Anniston–Oxford Metropo ...

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

References

External links

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

Life and career

Further reading

References

External links