Solid Snake

seeing this thread back today and Hulu having WoF for free today. I decided to watch WoF. Wow. I loved it pretty much immediately. Great stuff. My ONLY annoyance w/ it is the ending. I get it. But...probably would've ended when Mario passes out. Afterwards it feels kind of rushed. Fucking masterpiece of a movie only hindered, IMO, by the last 3 mins or whatever of it. I'd love to get the CC BD of it.

I've NEVER seen Sorcerer. I only wanted to see it originally cuz of that fucking badass poster. I saw the trailer today. Kind of weird in it's editing of exposition but goddamn does that track (the one posted above) really get you in a way. They really need to figure out the rights to it cuz I'd love to see it in 1080p.

JumpCutz

Dude, seek it out immediately!! It oozes style and the production values are a marvel. Friedkin directs the fuck out of this thing. If you think the poster is badass...prepare to wet yourself when you finally see the film.

islandclaws

Same here. Amazing film, and then that ending had me scratching my head. I understood why they had it end that way, but it felt totally rushed and incongruent with the character's actions up to that point.

Solid Snake

Grah! I was so close to seeing Sorcerer today. But it's the European cut. Fuck that.

also this is interesting, from May:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Cl-So0Kqbkk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Mabuse

What case? Why is he sueing them?

Solid Snake

Strevlac

Wow, great info. Thanks for posting that!

Mabuse

That was very interesting. Friedkin also points out the often overlooked fact that Vincent Van Gough didn’t make any money on his films.

I watched Violent Road last night on TCM. Did anyone else catch it? Strange film. It surprised me what they kept versus what they got rid of or could not duplicate. I assumed that American filmmakers would jettison Clouzot's misogyny and not have so much tough guy machismo, but they definitely kept it. On the other hand I figured the Hollywood version would get to the action faster, and it does, but it still spends a significant time establishing the lives of the characters before getting to the deadly driving.

It must have been unusual at the time to see a movie that seems to be anti-space race.

Instead of an evil oil company there is an evil aerospace/rocket company that is moving from one town to another. It's a "company town" and everyone in town will lose their jobs when the company leaves. The company is depicted as being reckless. In the first scene a missile test launch crashes into a school. Instead of dynamite the truckers are hauling highly explosive volatile chemicals to be used to make rocket fuel. They hire drivers to take the fuel over the mountains to the new town where the company is relocating to.

It seems that everything in the 1950's was pro-space, but this film depicts an aerospace company as reckless and endangering people’s lives.

The biggest problem with the film is that the filmmakers completely lack the mastery of suspense that Clouzot possessed. The driving scenes are often exciting but never suspenseful. Clouzot has you on the edge of your seat most of the film and at key moments you want to shout at the screen, but this is mostly routine.

The dumbest mistake the film makes is that (spoiler for Violent Road and Wages of Fear)

Lastly, I have to highlight the dialogue between the main character and his "dame". It's the weirdest fucking dialogue I've ever heard. I suspect they wanted them to talk filthy dirty to each other, but the Hayes Code wouldn't allow it, so the dialogue is written, and performed, like it's dirty, but the words are a meaningless collection of phrases that vaguely sound dirty.

I'm just making this up but it goes something like this:
Man: "Thanks for giving me a ride."
Woman: "After that I think I need to take a walk."
Man: "I bet you do. I bet you walk right along."
Woman: "You should see me serve a casserole."
Man: "I'd like to but I bet you'd slam the door in my face."

I kept thinking this sounds like double entendre, but it doesn't have any actual second meaning. It's just nonsense!

Oh, and the film seems to be some kind of prototype for the 80's "tough guy who's the best at something and swaggers around like an asshole about it" like Roadhouse or Top Gun. Unlike Wages of Fear’s hero who is stuck in a town and accepting a dangerous job is the only way out, the main character in Violent Road drives across the country because he heard there was an especially dangerous trucking job.

"I'm the best there is. I only take the most dangerous jobs because I'm so good." Like that makes any fucking sense.

"I called your previous employer; he said you're a cocky loose cannon who plays by his own rules. He said I'd be crazy to hire you.....then he said I'd be crazy NOT to hire you!"

Also, a character describes the route they'll be driving thusly, "We'll be taking the old road that they banned after the new highway was built." That's right, they're taking a road so dangerous it's fucking banned! Not closed...BANNED!

inri222

Interesting :

http://www.money-into-light.com/2011...dkin-1977.html

Solid Snake

cool read.

oh wow...I love the Spanish title, I'd get solely cuz of that.

wm lopez

That's what I thought back in 1977 when I saw the trailer on t.v. that it was a supernatural scary movie.
Why is the movie called SORCERER?
Did TANGERINE DREAM ever put out a movie soundtrack best of on cd?

inri222

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076740/trivia

Friedkin has stated that the strange title of "Sorcerer" refers to the evil wizard of fate.

Friedkin tried to get Clint Eastwood or Jack Nicholson but neither wanted to travel away at that time.
He stated that casting Roy Scheider in the lead was the worst casting decision he has ever made.
Although he felt Scheider is a good actor who did a great job he is only interesting in a film as a "second or third banana, he's not a star."
The actor Amidou who played the Arab Kassem/"Martinez" was his only real first choice all the other actors according to Friedkin were "fourth, fifth and even sixth choices."

Friedkin talked to both Gene Hackman and Kris Kristofferson to find out if they were interested in starring.
Hackman declined, saying the script was too violent.
Kristofferson also declined, as he was not convinced he had the acting chops to carry a movie of this size and budget.
He made Convoy instead, which he felt was safer.

Nick Nolte, a relative unknown at the time except for Rich Man, Poor Man, tried to get the leading role that went to Scheider.
Later, he made Blue Chips with William Friedkin.

Paul Newman turned down the leading role.

JumpCutz

Scheider is perfect in the role. It would have been interesting to have seen Friedkin's first choice Steve McQueen in the role though.

RagingBull80

Not that I know of. The Sorcerer soundtrack finally came back into print a few months ago. Unfortunately several of the soundtracks they composed are out of print. Risky Business and Thief are still available and along with Sorcerer make up the best of their soundtrack work in my opinion.

RagingBull80

I agree with both of those.

RagingBull80

Agreed that was a good read.

What does the Spanish title translate to?

Solid Snake

translates to "Damned Cargo", not as cool as The Wages of Fear or mysterious as "Sorcerer" but it's cool to me at least.

RagingBull80

That's cool, I like it.

Speaking of, Snake have you seen Sorcerer yet?

Solid Snake

I JUST finished seeing it in it's Full Screen glory on DVD. I broke down and got it for 2 bucks at a book store. Ugh. That movie made me want to throw up. I was goddamned nervous. Fucking great movie.

I actually like it more than WoF.

Friedkin did indeed direct the shit out of it. Tense as shit. I'm not sure which is better. They're very alike obviously but...that ending for WoF just bothers me like crazy. Just doesn't fit it. The Music for Sorcerer is great shit. I loved everything about it, the visuals are fucking unreal. It's just...so goddamned well done. And...it's all real. Right there. It's A+.

That bridge, man. That fucking bridge. Ugh. And then that WTF moment w/ one of the trucks.

I'd love for Criterion to get this film from whomever has the fucking rights to it, Universal or Paramount, Pack that bitch w/ features. Put it back in it's OAR, clean it up, etc.

RagingBull80

I too would love for Criterion to get ahold of this flick.

Solid Snake

Yeah. It's so crazy..the film was very grand in it's scope and it was real. Was a huge bitch to make as well from what I've read. I'd love for there to be a book on this film. Reading Easy Riders, Raging Bulls gives a very small taste of it. Also it's unfortunate release timeframe as well. Around the time that Star Wars hit. Film had no fucking chance. Also wasn't really popular when it was out either way.

This film really needs a book on it's making of and Criterion to get ahold of it.

inri222

I would also include The Keep & Near Dark as some of their best.

RagingBull80

I've never seen The Keep and never heard the soundtrack. I need to though. I really like Near Dark and thought the soundtrack was good but I haven't spent anytime with the soundtrack alone and that's usually how I come to really love the music is by itself.

GreenVulture

If you have Netflix streaming, it's on there.

JumpCutz

I'm glad you finally saw this masterpiece, Snake.

Couldn't agree more that this deserves the CC treatment and a book about the making of/the aftermath would be a cherry on top.

I'm interested in checking out the European release just to see the missing footage and the different opening credit sequence.

Nice to see Sorcerer getting all the kind words and respect it rightfully deserves from you guys in this thread.

Anyone interested in books on William Friedkin, I can recommend these...entire chapters covering Sorcerer and each of his other films. Both are excellent reads and pretty exhaustive in detailing his career.


http://www.amazon.com/William-Friedk.../dp/1879505614



http://www.amazon.com/Hurricane-Bill.../dp/0688078524