This is the type of film that I guarantee where the only noise you may have heard in the theater when this was released was a very quiet munch of popcorn, and even then, the audience was doing their best to be quiet. Every sound, every word that comes from the screen in this thriller is worth hearing, from the sounds of the many explosions, blasts of gunfire, the chopping of trees and the sound of a rope tightening that has the viewer's fists tightening in anticipation of how the situation will turn out. From within the first few minutes, even not knowing what was going on, I could tell that this would be a classic, and certainly, I knew at the end that it wasn't just a classic, but a film that topped director William Friedkin's two earlier blockbuster triumphs, "The French Connection" and "The Excorcist".
A South American jungle is the main setting for this thriller, but the opening sequence goes from Brazil to Jerusalem to Paris where the back stories of some of the main characters are given Freedom fighters, terrorists and simple adventurers are gathered together to get a posse of trucks carrying nitroglycerin through the rain forest. The differences in cultures only creates minor conflict, but it is the job which brings on the real tension, lead by the American Roy Schneider, coming off the hit of "Jaws", and dealing with something equally as deadly as the great white. A rickety bridge becomes a tense situation as the trucks attempt to cross over during a major deluge, rocking and twisting, and threatening to topple over at any minute as the rope pulling it begins to fray. It's a nail biting moment that is just one of many, and a key scene I will never forget.
While the jungle setting promises to be beautiful, there's deadliness in that beauty only accelerated by the danger of the possibility of the men being blown up without any warning. Blocked roads within the jungle becomes another obstacle, and individuals truly risk everything to get a huge tree off of the road so they can continue. An amusing moment comes from a fun-loving jungle native who taunts Schneider and his passengers as they drive through where he resides, constantly disappearing and popping up just as they think he's moved on to something else. It is a brief rest from the tension even though the cargo they are carrying could take out this native as well. There are hints of what the political climate of the world was in the mid 1970's in various parts of the world, and that makes this 40+ year old film still seem timely today as the world still turns with the same issues as they did back in the 1970's.
A South American jungle is the main setting for this thriller, but the opening sequence goes from Brazil to Jerusalem to Paris where the back stories of some of the main characters are given Freedom fighters, terrorists and simple adventurers are gathered together to get a posse of trucks carrying nitroglycerin through the rain forest. The differences in cultures only creates minor conflict, but it is the job which brings on the real tension, lead by the American Roy Schneider, coming off the hit of "Jaws", and dealing with something equally as deadly as the great white. A rickety bridge becomes a tense situation as the trucks attempt to cross over during a major deluge, rocking and twisting, and threatening to topple over at any minute as the rope pulling it begins to fray. It's a nail biting moment that is just one of many, and a key scene I will never forget.
While the jungle setting promises to be beautiful, there's deadliness in that beauty only accelerated by the danger of the possibility of the men being blown up without any warning. Blocked roads within the jungle becomes another obstacle, and individuals truly risk everything to get a huge tree off of the road so they can continue. An amusing moment comes from a fun-loving jungle native who taunts Schneider and his passengers as they drive through where he resides, constantly disappearing and popping up just as they think he's moved on to something else. It is a brief rest from the tension even though the cargo they are carrying could take out this native as well. There are hints of what the political climate of the world was in the mid 1970's in various parts of the world, and that makes this 40+ year old film still seem timely today as the world still turns with the same issues as they did back in the 1970's.