Sorcerer

Sorcerer is directed by William Friedkin and adapted to the screen by Waldo Green from Georges Arnaud's novel Le Salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear). It stars Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Raba and Amidou. Music is scored by Tangerine Dream and cinematography by John M. Stephens and Dick Bush.It bombed famously at the cinema, was a location shoot nightmare with rows aplenty between cast and director, and even recently a court case erupted over the film as Friedkin sued Paramount and Universal over ownership of the picture. A film with such a mystical sounding title, could it be cursed? All the shenanigans surrounding Sorcerer have sort of had it hovering around the "forgotten" bin, where were it not for the Friedkin purists and 1970s movie aficionados it would have dropped in and had the lid put on it. However, if ever a movie from 1977 deserved to be revisited and treated better on home formats, then Sorcerer is the one. Where in its complete two hour form plays out as a lesson in skilled story formation, letting us know how these guys came to be in the situation they find themselves in, which in turn gives way to utter suspense as desperate men fight nature's jungle whilst perched on the precipice of explosive doom.There are a number of factors put forward on why Sorcerer failed at the box office. The title itself is a classic case of misdirection, the name given to one of the trucks in the story, it conjured up images of mystical and magical dalliances, it's safe to say that the film is a million miles away from that sort of genre. It also went up against the box office monster that was Star Wars, in comparison, and Friedkin readily admits this, it's dwarfed in production scope and cross demographic appeal. Then there is the matter of the "cut" version that did the rounds, where almost thirty minutes were chopped to allow more showings in theatres, without Friedkin's permission, the resulting film was a travesty of Friedkin's vision. Lead man Scheider, who is terrific, didn't want to promote the film, such was his anger at Friedkin cutting a subplot involving his character being shown in a sympathetic light. Have to say the director was right in keeping it grim.Also there's the Clouzot's factor and his version of the Arnaud novel released in 1953. Much beloved by many a critic as some sort of sacred cow of French cinema, Clouzot's The Wages of Fear is a very good film, but hardly a masterpiece. Looking back at some of the reviews upon Sorcerer's release, it seems that some big critics of the day wanted to appear cool by lauding from the roof tops about a foreign movie and how it shouldn't be remade. Weird really since Sorcerer isn't a remake, it's an interpretation on Arnaud's source. Inspired by Clouzot? Undoubtedly, but it's not remaking his movie. They moaned about the good hour of build up, calling it slow, but I'm sure I remember it rightly that Clouzot's movie does the same thing, and that didn't have Friedkin's fluid camera and Tangerine Dream laying hypnotic synthesisers all over it.Though the current Region 1 DVD of the film is full frame and grainy in print, the skill of the director, photographer and actors really comes to the fore. Film is often gritty and realistic and playing better now thematically than it did back in the 1970s. The locations are real and you are easily transported into the character's world, you feel the danger as nature and human bandits enter the fray; as if it wasn't bad enough with the case sensitive explosives in the back! There are risks at almost every turn, breath holding the order of the day, and the famous bridge scene is as good a sequence as 70s cinema has to offer (a logistic nightmare for Friedkin that required take after take to finish). All this only works because we have had the hour of build up previously. True, we may hanker for deeper character interaction as they traverse the perilous terrain, but this isn't about bonding, it's about men risking their lives for freedom and redemption. It beats a black heart and never once cops out. A truly great film crying out to be rediscovered by old and new film lovers alike. 8.5/10

Sadly underrated, why isn't this film available on Region 2?Odious & unnecessary comparisons with Wages of Fear have led to this movie being shunted into a siding.In fact it's very much a film of & about our time, as 4 men on the run from corruption, terrorism, the Mob & their past seek escape, money & perhaps redemption in a South American hell-hole.Like an updated Treasure of the Sierra Madre it walks the existentialist backwaters of B Traven, with breath-taking action sequences as trucks loaded with nitro-glycerine attempt to cross flooded rivers(ripping away villages & trees) via ramshackle bridges. You really feel the actors are living through this, just as Coppola pushed his cast to the limit in Apocolypse Now or Fassbinder in Fitzcarraldo. No CGI here, only human suffering.It speaks of the chaos of our times, of random terrorist violence, rival gangsterism, financial corruption, the rape of the landscape by big business. The extreme poverty of the exploited locals is graphically portrayed. This is no paradise peopled by noble savages.As pollution & mining scar the landscape, this becomes like a like an action movie version of Powaqqatsi. Occasionally Friedkin(in as good a film as he's made)draws back(together with the camera) from the heat & sweat of the action & underlines its insignificance in the wider scheme of things. An explosion becomes a puff of smoke on the horizon.The film stars Roy Scheider, one of the most interesting & undervalued Hollywood stars of the 70s. A strange mix of Kirk Douglas & Jean Paul Belmondo, he is the ideal anti-hero for this movie, combining a believable toughness with a realistic sense of human frailty & character defect.

This is an underrated gem with a good soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and a fine performance by Roy Scheider as one of four crooks who volunteer to drive heavy trucks with deadly case sensitive explosives across two hundred miles of dangerous jungle roads and terrain.The irony of this movie is that hardly anyone wanted to see it, mainly because everyone in the year of its release preferred to see Star Wars instead. The reason this film failed, i believe, was due to its background of some of the characters and the fact that the film has a sense of dread hanging over it just like the director's previous effort The Exorcist. By the late seventies, people were seeing films which were changing cinema forever like Jaws and Close Encounters, however if Sorcerer were released in the cinema today it might have had serious potential at the box office given today's current Political climate in the middle east and just who to trust nowadays. Today, this stands as an overlooked and underrated gem.

Might be one of my new favourites! I really enjoyed this film and would suggest to everyone that they watch it at least twice

Great ancient film. Good viewing and sound. All is include : action, story, etc... Only happiness. Thanks

La película, aunque viejita, y un fracaso de taquilla en su tiempo, sigue siendo un clásico con un grado de tensión y suspenso muy alto durante todo el desarrollo de la historia. La música de Tangerine Dream ayuda bastante. Es este un magnífico film que no sale mal librado al compararlo con el film original El Salario del Miedo, producción francesa bastante anterior. Recomendada! Envío y estado del producto excelentes.

Confirmo yo también que el bluray americano de esta joya del gran Friedkin es de región libre y trae subtitulos en español, aunque el doblaje en castellano es latino. Ya tenía la edición de Carga maldita editada en dvd aquí, se ve bien y trae el trailer pero el formato es distinto, cuadrado, mientras que la edición usa es en escope. Friedkin restauró hace unos años esta película, después de pleitear por sus derechos en tribunales. Dicha versión fue proyectada en el festival de Sitges en su momento y se me hace la boca agua con las ediciones que pululan por el extranjero... En fin, estamos ante una de las grandes obras de William Friedkin y debería referenciarse y gozar del estatus de Apocalipse Now o Encuentros en la tercera fase. Y ya va siendo hora de dejar la absurda manía de asociar a un autor cansinamente con una sola obra. Friedkin a hecho más que French Connection y El Exorcista, Joe Dante más que Gremlins , etcéteraaa... Y encima en muchos casos ni siquiera esas hipermencionadas creaciones son las mejores de sus directores.

This is a white knuckle piece of suspense based on a remake of the french classic WAGES OF FEAR.Set in a South American back water toilet community as four desperate men from around the world fall into one of the most down and out town working for an American oil company with secrets to hide and survive.Roy Scheider leads the pack trying to avoid retribution from gangsters. A Palestinian escaping Israel for a bombing in Tel Aviv. An assassin hiding for a hit that took place in Europe, and a French businessman empire leading to fraud and bankruptcy as he escapes french police to this unfortunate Hispanic lawless town.These individuals are assigned to drive two trucks of volatile dynamite over 200 kilometers of hostile terrain to the oil company to put out a blazing inferno. The suspense is nail-biting, raw and visceral in it's suspense. One slight bump and it's a monumental explosion with no one surviving.Director William Friedkin best and most gifted directing to come out of '70's cinema. The imagery is overwhelming and hypnotic. Friedkin's best film followed by THE EXORCIST, THE FRENCH CONNECTION and TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA.There's a director's cut to this film with 20 minutes of missing footage. Criterion should do a restoration of this powerful piece of cinema!