sunheadbowed William Friedkin's colossal money-draining box office failure follow-up to the astronomical success of 'The Exorcist' is actually not that bad. The film is a muddied, confusing, macho affair that condenses a three-hour film into two, but fits comfortably alongside other tense, post-Vietnam films of the period, such as 'The Deer Hunter' and 'Apocalypse Now' (both of which are far superior, admittedly) -- all of them dealing with a damaged, fearful American psyche, reeling from feverish foreign defeat.The story is predictable (there are two jeeps, so one of them is getting blown up, and we know it won't be the one with American Roy Scheider at the wheel) and it's hard to like any of the characters, but as visual spectacle, the film feels authentic and powerful, and at times it is eerily beautiful in its tense malignancy. Tangerine Dream provide the synthy, proto-80s action/horror film soundtrack, which is enjoyable.

bob the moo Like several others here, it was the high praise from Mark Kermode that brought me to this film on its reissue. A remake of the Wages of Fear (as opposed to the Goon Show's "Fear of Wages"), the plot is simple in the way it introduces us to a collection of men fleeing something, who end up in a distant country, and take a job driving two trucks full of unstable nitroglycerine across the mountains.The plot sounds stripped back, but it allows for several very tense set-pieces along the way. The manner of shooting adds to the tension, but the cast in particular really sell the tension, the stakes, and the desperation. These elements work really well, and it is a shame then that they sit within a film which is otherwise surprisingly superficial and offering little else to engage with. The introduction to the men is fairly run-of-the-mill exposition which doesn't do much to set character so much as establish reason for their position. Likewise the film plays out with the men being raw tension rather than people. This limited it a lot for me, and stopped me really caring beyond any specific gripping moment - it felt a bit pat and flat.No argument on the tension and great work by the cast to paint it over every inch of their presence, but there isn't much behind it in terms of plot, character, or engagement.

Scott LeBrun Veteran filmmaker William Friedkin was in a quandary in the mid-70s. He just wasn't sure how he could possibly follow "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist", rightfully regarded as legendary films in their respective genres. He hadn't made a film in a few years, and knew he didn't want to tread familiar ground. Ultimately, he decided on an existential change of pace, remembering a renowned French picture he'd seen two decades previously and admired, "The Wages of Fear".Friedkin decided to make a (mostly) English language adaptation of that novel his next project, and assembled some first rate collaborators on both sides of the camera.The international cast includes Roy Scheider as a New Jersey mobster, Francisco Rabal as a hit-man, Bruno Cremer as a crooked French banker, and Amidou as a Middle Eastern terrorist. All fugitives from justice, they end up together in an unspecified Latin American hellhole. They step up to the plate when the call goes out to transport nitroglycerin over some VERY rough terrain, to help battle a massive oil fire.Intelligent and utterly riveting, "Sorcerer" is the kind of experience that genuinely makes you catch your breath and sit bolt upright, and does it often. Very well shot on various striking Mexico locations (as well as Jerusalem, Paris, and the Dominican Republic), it's lovely to look at. Tangerine Dream supply some of their best, most haunting and atmospheric music for a motion picture.The actors are excellent, especially Scheider. You can really feel his frustration when the four main characters have to deal with a major roadblock. Adding strong support are Ramon Bieri, Peter Capell, Karl John, and Friedrich von Ledebur. The great character actor Joe Spinell has a "blink and you might miss it" minor role.The unqualified highlight is when the two trucks must cross a bridge in the rain - a rickety, flimsy looking thing that doesn't look like it can support their weight.Essential viewing for cinephiles, and proof of how masterful that Friedkin can be when he's working on a passion project.Eight out of 10.

tomgillespie2002 Due to its catastrophic failure at the box-office and underwhelming reception from critics, William Friedkin's Sorcerer will always find itself linked to the that floppiest of flops, Heaven's Gate. Yet while Michael Cimino's over-ambition caused costs to skyrocket (taking down iconic studio United Artists in the process) and the thought of a bum-numbing, slow-burn western proving rather unappealing to audiences, Sorcerer's failure is often chalked down to the timing of its release - alongside Star Wars, which, of course, rapidly became a pop culture phenomenon and a box-office smash. On paper, a remake of French classic The Wages of Fear seems like a terrible idea, but Friedkin's gruelling and visceral thriller has quite rightly received a critical re-evaluation of late, with many recognising it as The Exorcist director's greatest achievement.Other than the basic set-up, Sorcerer shares little in common with Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic. It spends a lot of time establishing the four main characters and the sins that will eventually bring them together. In Mexico, Nilo (Francisco Rabal) casually assassinates a man using a gun with a silencer; in Israel, Kassem (Amidou), an Arab terrorist disguised as a Jew, causes a deadly explosion in Jerusalem; in France, businessman Victor (Bruno Cremer) is rumbled for fraud and given 24 hours to pay back an unrealistic amount of money otherwise he'll be turned into the authorities; and in the U.S., Irish gangster Jackie (Roy Scheider) sees a robbery go tits-up and a price placed on his head by a powerful mob boss. Their destiny lies in Porvenir, a remote village in Latin America. Following an oil well explosion, a lucrative job becomes available for four lucky men. Only the work entails transporting damaged dynamite containing unstable nitroglycerin across 200 miles of jungle, mud roads, crazy locals, and a broken down rope-bridge.It takes a while for the unsavoury foursome to shift into gear, but when the engines start rumbling, backed by Tangerine Dream's hypnotic score, Friedkin takes us on a punishing journey into the heart of darkness. Like Herzog's Aguirre, The Wrath of God and Klimov's Come and See, Sorcerer makes the experience seem physically draining. The troubled shoot is etched on the character's faces; sun-scorched, sleep-deprived and eyes bulging with madness, you can really feel their torment. The scene that adorns the poster, in which the two bulky trucks must navigate across a rotten and flimsy rope-bridge in hammering rain, is truly one of the most nail-biting set-pieces ever made. It's a miracle they even managed to film such a complicated and dangerous-looking sequence, and this adds a real physicality to the action. There are pacing issues as the film over- milks its introductions, but the international cast are a pleasure to watch during these early vignettes. The Exorcist will always remain at the very top of the pile, but Sorcerer is certainly Friedkin's most misunderstood work, and one that deserves recognition as one of the last great movies from the New Hollywood era.