Sorcerer (1977)

Four unfortunate men from different parts of the globe agree to risk their lives transporting gallons of nitroglycerin across dangerous Latin American jungle.

Director:

William Friedkin

Writers:

Walon Green (screenplay), Georges Arnaud (novel)

Stars:

Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Roy Scheider	...	Scanlon / 'Dominguez'
Bruno Cremer	...	Victor Manzon / 'Serrano'
Francisco Rabal	...	Nilo
Amidou	...	Kassem / 'Martinez'
Ramon Bieri	...	Corlette
Peter Capell	...	Lartigue
Karl John	...	'Marquez'
Friedrich von Ledebur	...	'Carlos' (as Fredrick Ledebur)
Chico Martínez	...	Bobby Del Rios (as Chico Martinez)
Joe Spinell	...	Spider
Rosario Almontes	...	Agrippa
Richard Holley	...	Billy White
Anne-Marie Deschodt	...	Blanche (as Anne Marie Descott)
Jean-Luc Bideau	...	Pascal
Jacques François	...	Lefevre (as Jacques Francois)

Storyline

A gangster, a crooked banker, a hitman and an arab terrorist are stranded and on the run in a small village in South America. Their only chance of escape is to drive two trucks filled with unstable nitroglycerin up a long and rocky mountain road in order to plug an escalating oil refinery blaze. With their deadly cargo likely to explode at the slightest bump, the four men must put aside their differences and work together to survive.

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Plot Keywords:

dynamite | remake | remake of french film | building explosion | blowing out a tire | 

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Taglines:

The only wages worth running for...dying for...killing for...are the wages of fear.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The only actor who was William Friedkin's original choice was the French-Moroccan Amidou, who played the Palestinian terrorist, Kassem. Friedkin was so impressed with his performance in La vie, l'amour, la mort (1969) that he wrote down his name immediately upon seeing the movie, expecting to collaborate with him one day.

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Goofs

One of the soldiers killed by Nilo is seen breathing and moving after dead.

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Quotes

Scanlon: Where am I going?
Vinnie: All I can say is it's a good place to lay low.
Scanlon: Why?
Vinnie: It's the kind of place nobody wants to go looking.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the film as the last of the end credits scroll up, the music fades away and is replaced by the sound of an idling truck.

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Alternate Versions

The European version of the film was re-edited and shortened by CIC, the European distributor, without director William Friedkin's permission. The prologue sequences set in New York, Paris, Vera Cruz and Israel that show what happened to the main characters and why they had to flee to South America, were changed to flashbacks running throughout the film.

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Connections

Referenced in The Directors: The Films of William Friedkin

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Soundtracks

Spheres (Movement 3)
Performed by Keith Jarrett
Used under license from Polydor Incorporated and through the courtesy of ECM Records

User Reviews

Friedkin's Swan Song before Sinking into Mediocrity

A remake of Henri-George Cluzot's 1953 film The Wages of Fear (also on DVD in a lovely Criterion Disc), this William Friedkin film stars Roy Scheider (at his weary, doomed finest) as one of four men exiled to an unnamed South American country by their mistakes and crimes. Trapped in squalor (and it's damn convincing looking squalor, too, far beyond the sunbaked black-and-white compositions of Wages of Fear; this film looks like it's leaving mud on your shoes), unable to return to the lives they abandoned, they're driven by circumstance to accept a normally unthinkable job. They have to drive old, unstable dynamite from its storage site hundreds of miles over mountain terrain and washed-out roads to the location of an oil well fire so the blaze can be snuffed out. The pay is exorbitant -- but it's commiserate to the danger. The risks are colossal ... and they ultimately have no choice.

Sorcerer is tense, suspenseful film-making at its finest; you become physically uncomfortably during this film thanks to the incredible sense that at any minute our heroes would literally be blown to hell. (I mean, we all walk around with the philosophical knowledge we could die at any moment, but talk about your concrete metaphors ... ) Friedkin creates a palpable sense of place, and Scheider is immensely powerful as a man whose every move suggests that he knows he's doomed. Taut with suspense, completely convincing and breathtakingly human, Sorcerer is an unfairly maligned film that delivers in every way.

And the Score is unique and nightmarish. A new DVD would be welcome to many happy fans.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish French German

Release Date:

24 June 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wages of Fear

Filming Locations:

66 Avenue Foch, Paris 16, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$22,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,972

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Properties International N.V., Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min 92 min (international)

Sound Mix:

Mono 4-Track Stereo

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1