- Furie was originally in line to direct The Godfather (1972) for Paramount. Producer Albert S. Ruddy had just come off Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1970) with Furie, and was handed the task of producing "The Godfather" after "Little Fauss" had been brought in under-budget and under-schedule. Ruddy personally requested Furie to direct the picture, but Francis Ford Coppola's Italian heritage won the day.
- Stanley Kubrick was a big fan of The Boys in Company C (1978) and cited that film as the direct inspiration for Full Metal Jacket (1987). Many critics have identified similarities between the two films including, not least of all, the casting of R. Lee Ermey who plays Marine Drill Instructor Sgt. Joyce in Furie's film and Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Kubrick's.
- Directed one Oscar-nominated performance: Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues (1972).
- Was instrumental in helping John Boorman get hired to direct Point Blank (1967).
- Cites seeing Captains Courageous (1937) as a young boy as having been the formative movie-going experience growing up in Canada. He told his mother about wanting to make movies after seeing it.
- He originally had a budget of $36 million for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Just before filming was to begin Cannon Pictures, which was starting to suffer financial problems, slashed the budget to $17 million. As a result, Furie had to cut corners by doing things like reusing special effects.
- He was personally asked by Rodney Dangerfield to direct My 5 Wives (2000). Dangerfield had a rocky history with most of his directors, and left many sets in disgust, never to return to many of them. Furie was Dangerfield's favorite directing collaborator.
- Walter Shenson offered Furie the chance to direct A Hard Day's Night (1964) because of his success with the Cliff Richard pictures Wonderful to Be Young! (1961) and Swingers' Paradise (1964). Furie declined.
- Lady Sings the Blues (1972) was inducted into the Classic Cinema Hall of Fame at the 2006 Black Movie Awards. Furie was given a trophy as the film's director.
- His favorite films are Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and John Ford's They Were Expendable (1945).
- When meeting cinematographer Vittorio Storaro on the set of Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart (1981), Storaro was reported to have exclaimed to Furie, "You don't have to tell me who you are! I've stolen from you!" He explained that when The Ipcress File (1965) was released in Italy, it was one of the most influential films for Italian cinematographers just getting started.
- In 2009 Martin Scorsese placed Furie's The Entity (1982) on his list of the 11 Scariest Horror Films of All Time. It placed #4 on the list, above Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980) and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).
- Was originally hired to direct The Defender (2004), but left due to illness during the prep period. Leading actor Dolph Lundgren directed the film.
- Attended Carnegie Institute of Technology, or Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh in the early 1950s.
- He developed the films Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966) and Eye of the Devil (1966) but left both projects early on.
- In Time magazine, Richard Corliss named Furie's Lady Sings the Blues (1972) as one of the Top 25 Important Movies on Race.
- He was fired from The Jazz Singer (1980) and quit Night of the Juggler (1980). Of the former, he claims that he wanted to get fired from that production.
- Mentioned by name in Motown the Musical (2014).
- Both parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants who arrived in Canada in 1930. The name "Furie", however, has French roots.
- His college classmates at Carnegie Tech included Alan Oppenheimer and legendary Beverly Hills Playhouse director/acting teacher Milton Katselas.
- In 1999 his espionage thriller The Ipcress File (1965) was included at #59 on the BFI's list of the 100 greatest British films of the 20th century.
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