The 1970's were referred to collectively as 'the American New Wave' for a reason: beginning with "Bonnie and Clyde" in 1967 and ending (roughly) in 1980 with "Heaven's Gate" and "Raging Bull", some of the best films ever made were committed to celluloid, fueled by decades of anger and resentment of Cold War-era America. For a wide variety of reasons, these movies were allowed to push previously untouched envelopes, and one of the most stationary averse of these was William Friedkin's "The Exorcist", which to this day remains one of the nastiest films to gross more than $500 million (until "Transformers 4" came along, that is). Frankly, the success of Friedkin and his grotesque horror film is astounding, and gave the young director enough Hollywood credit to do whatever film he wanted. That film was "Sorcerer".
