SORCERER is one of the toughest films I've ever seen, and I've seen plenty over the years. It's a film by William Friedkin which marks the last and best of his 1970s trilogy of incredible filmmaking that began with THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THE EXORCIST. The story is a remake of the French hit THE WAGES OF FEAR and involves a quartet of mercenaries who are hired to transport a quantity of volatile nitroglycerine through an unnamed South American country. It's a simple premise, but this is a film made for those who love film, with every aspect of cinema perfectly conveyed: the remorseless direction, the incredibly tough characters and tougher performances from the actors who play them (particularly Roy Scheider, who should have been an Oscar winner after this and JAWS), the eerie Tangerine Dream soundtrack, the refusal to give up a moment's suspense. The first hour is all slow build up but nonetheless full of the appropriate tension, while the last hour is as good as cinema gets and that bridge set-piece one of the best I've ever seen. A technical masterpiece, this one.
Review of Sorcerer
