Has anyone seen Friedkin's Sorcerer?
 

I have read that this movie was pretty much the cause of William Friedkin's fall from grace after making The Exorcist & The French Connection.

Can anyone comment as to how good of a film this is and if it is out on dvd?

Thanks!!!

I've seen it. Nothing extraordinary. It's a remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot's "Wages of Fear." 2 stars out of 5, imo. The dvd sucks: full screen, poor audio and video quality.

I haven't seen this in a long time, but as painkiller said, nothing extraordinary - in fact, rather dreary.

I love it, but a great deal of my admiration is focused solely on the movie from the point just before the truck journey begins. (Some of those shots are among the most jaw-dropping I've ever seen - and they're real!) The opening scenes are unfortunately rather ham-fisted, and go on far too long.

Both Sorcerer and Wages of Fear have their strengths and weaknesses. I don't know if I prefer one over the other.

I enjoy it. And the sound track is great.

I saw this theatrically on release, and I REALLY liked this film. As Audrey mentioned, the soundtrack by Tangerine Dream is great! I'd love to see it again, but refuse to watch the FS DVD. (I own, but have not yet viewed "Wages of Fear" for comparison. )

I'm with shill66 on some pionts! Both have thier strength's and weakness'. I will admit I prefer Sorcerer better. Without giving anything away, I think Roy Schieder was a more likable character even though he was a "BadGuy" as opposed to the original guy (Yves Montand) who I just thought he was more of "abuser" who I didn't really like then a "BadGuy." In terms of quality of the DVD. I rented both from Netflix and actually watched Wages Of Fear last night. Both have a lot of scratches and dirt of the film and are full frame editions (RKNDKN might not be watching WOF then..ooops!). True the original was made in 52' but it was put out by the Criterion Collection and I thought it would get a better treatment ( But maybe thats all they had to work with) If you like them get them its not fantastic but ithier slightly better than a VHS version because I doubt it will ever be re-released.

Sorcerer is a favorite of mine, and I'd love to see a new DVD; this one is distinctly mediocre. The reason the movie failed at the box office was a terrible marketing campaign - the trailer led you to believe it was about the supernatural when it really is an adventure movie.

I have. too bad the current dvd is full screen :(

One of my favorite films. William Friedkin's style is all over this movie. Dark, gritty, unpretentious, and full of suspense. From the opening minutes, to the classic Friedkin " downbeat/open ended " ending, this movie just does not let up.4 great personalities are created by Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Amidou, and Francisco Rabal in their central roles. You can feel just how desperate and dirty these 4 characters are to escape the hell they call daily life. Tight direction, great script, excellent performances, a couple dynamite action scenes, and a haunting soundtrack. I've never seen the DVD for sale anywhere in my area. Eventhough its in full screen, I would be compelled to buy it on the spot. Grade: A

is this a case where the film on the dvd is just un-matted...or does it actually look cropped/panned & scanned?

haven't seen it in a while (the remake), but i always enjoyed it more than the original.
in no way deserves the tomatos slung its way over the years.

I'm pretty sure it was a 1.66:1 film, at least the laserdisc sleeve would have me believe that...

I don't know what the original aspect ratio is exactly, and I just don't remember if it looked cropped or un-matted. However, I do remember a few scenes looking awfully crowded.

I've always thought Sorceror to be a really well put together, tough as nails action film with a lot of Friedkin's considerable style layered into it. There are some truly fascinating shots in the film. And the soundtrack is excellent.

I personally love this film. saw it in the theater back in the day and many times since. the dvd is crap...but does not make me love the film any less. I own it...I'll keep it. I'll upgrade if ever the chance. I also have a framed poster, original 1 sheet.

I'm pretty sure it's unmatted, but a digitally remastered ANAMORPHIC 1.66:1 transfer with a Friedkin/Scheider commentary track would be really great!

YES!

Personally, I love the film. One of the most underrated 70s movies, IMO. The Tangerine Dream score is fantastic!

This film will never be released OAR because Friedkin, (unless he has a change of heart), has gone on the record that he prefers it to be seen full screen (he personally supervised it's transfer).

I love this film and I'm able to not let my love for The Wages of Fear influence my opinion. There are 1 or 2 set pieces in this film that are astounding.

I've only seen it once, and all I really remember is that it had one of the tensest scenes I've ever seen in a movie (I think involving a bridge).

You guys have made me REALLY want to see it again, even if it is FS.

I like Sorcerer. There are a quite few sequences that are worth watching by themselves.

I haven't seen the Clouzot, and I kick myself for that. Every time I'm browsing through some DVD titles, I'm always itching to pick up Wages of Fear. But I never do. Hell, I've made much worse blind purchases.

And you won't make many better than WAGES!

Okay, now I gotta weigh in on this.

I like Sorcerer, it's got some good moments in it, but IMO Wages of Fear is a f***in' masterpiece. Any tension in Sorcerer was completely devised by Clouzot in Wages. That was one Frenchy who could direct!

Surely some of it would have come from the novel?

One other reason for the film's failure is the fact that it opened one week after Star Wars. In fact after SW played one week at the Chinese in Hollywood, Sorcerer was the next film. It was a resounding flop and the next week Sorcerer was gone and Star Wars was back for an extended run.