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Post date: Jul 4, 2020 3:07:23 PM
"Sorcerer" is a 1977 movie directed by William Friedkin. This movie is unique in my favorite movies. First, it is a remake which I consider better than the original.
The original movie was "Wages of Fear" made in 1953 and directed Henri-Georges Clouzot. The plot revolves around four men that could dies at any time. I thought for such tense situation, the movie doesn't grip the viewer. The problems are the film is very slow moving and the four men are not really introduced so the viewer is not invested in them. This, of course, is a minority opinion held just by me.
The other unique thing about the movie is that was directed by William Friedkin who I consider a bad director. I always think of him as the anti-Hitchcock. Whereas Hitchcock would have everything in his movie under control, Friedkin would wing it. Hitchcock was known for only shooting exactly what he needed in the movie. As opposed to Friedkin who did over 20 takes on a shot involving just a teacup!.
He is known for two popular movies, "The Exorcist" and "The French Connection". I feel that both of these movies are not viewed as complete movies but for some scenes in the movies that people really like. If anyone talks about "The French Connection" it is always about the car chase nothing is mentioned. If anyone talks about the Exorcist, it is always about a head spinning all the way around and vomiting pea soup. I loved the scene in "Beetlejuice" where his head spins around the way and he makes fun of it. The exorcist has the reputation of the scariest movie ever. I think a group of viewers that believe in the devil and hell, the ideas are the scariest ever.
Friedkin's idea for Sorcerer was to take the framework of "Wages of Fear" and make it more gritty. He fleshed out the characters of the four men better and did a much better editing job.
The film did not do well at the box office which was attributed to having to compete with "Star Wars"
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