A local film nerd here in Wichita arranged for a screening of this movie a few years ago and contacted Friedkin to see if he would shoot a little intro video for the occasion - but Friedkin demurred, offering instead to do a live Skype Q&A session with the audience. He was incredibly generous, engaging and sharp as a tack. I will never forget it. 😊
@@elmerglue21Old Town Warren before it closed, heroic local film nerd Leif Jonker (director of indie vampire classic “Darkness”) organized it. There is video of the Q&A on TH-cam: th-cam.com/video/dO3WunuTMFg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=N3ow0Cb2Ag1Fgf7U
I love me some Sorcerer! Sorcerer is one of those films that does not get nearly enough recognition, and that’s an understatement. I was deployed to Afghanistan as a combat infantry soldier and this film takes me back to many of my experiences in ways I can’t not express. We would drive our humvees along mountain trails, a sheer cliff on one side and a wall of rock on the other, often times with barely enough path for all four tries to maintain contact with the trail. The anxiety I felt driving along those mountain trails, fearing that we would slip off and plummet to our deaths, simply indescribable, and of course we were ambushed on one as well, L shaped, attacked from the front as well as up along the ridge to our flank. Sorcerer is one of the most intensely realistic films I have ever seen, I can not recommend it enough!
Wow, thanks for sharing that with us Tacoma. It lends even more credence to a film that is already ranked (by me and many others!) as one of the best of all time.
My experience is totally different from yours but somehow shares something with it. My family is from Reunion Island. This place is all about the mountain (active volcanic island) and although my vacations over there were nice, travelling by car on those narrow, winding roads, and seeing here and there carcasses of cars at the bottom of ravines, with all that luxuriant green landscape around and most of all, the waterfalls and overall humidity of the place... I always made a connection between this movie and where we used to spend our time during summer. I'm glad you're still here to talk about your time in Afghanistan, take care.
I was 17 in 1977 and literally was the person described in the opening: I had zero interest in seeing Star Wars and bought a ticket for Sorcerer instead. And I wasn't disappointed. Over the next year I saw it another 3 times. The original theater experience was stunning and I knew then it was something special.
yep same. i had zero interest in star wars. i didnt see this at the movies but as it tanked it quickly appeared on this new at the time media delivery invention called cable tv. 😂🎉
This film is in a class all its own. I put it up there with the greatest films of all time. I found the soundtrack on vinyl first in 1991 at a used books and records store in college. The cover was so cool. After listening I liked it so much I had to see the movie and found it on VHS at the same store. It was not what I was expecting at all and I couldn't stop watching it. I tried to get everyone I knew to watch it. Masterpiece.
I love the brutal, nihilistic atmosphere of the piece. Ya know that Scheider ain't gonna survive at the end. If this were to be remade, the Scheider character would blow away the mafia goons and survive. Just about my fave sequence is the montage where they fix up the trucks. Love the way that's put together.
Hear hear PraireDog - that sequence where they fix the trucks is also one of my very favorite sequences of all time in any film. It’s in good company too, others being the “Surfin’ Bird” sequence in Full Metal Jacket, and the first dream-sequence when Rosemary is falling asleep in Rosemary’s baby because Polanski somehow manages to capture what it’s like to fall asleep - on film! Anyway, all these are filmic gems!
@@musicalBurr Surfin Bird! Love that bit, too. But it's true. If it were remade, it would be a slow motion bloodbath at the end, and the Scheider character would murder a dozen Mafia dudes. There's a clip of the remake of The Jackal, and it's hysterical. They choose to blow away Jack Black, the dude who builds the gun, and saying it's gratuitous doesn't do it justice. And, of course, Bruce Willis is doing his 'I'm the coolest dude on the planet' acting. There's another remake of a classic that does the same thing. Bad Day At Black Rock was remade, more or less, with Val Kilmer. In this remake, he's a bad ass, special forces dude, of course, and he blows the F out of the bad guys and the town at the end. Hysterical.
"Wages of Fear" was a great film in it's own rite, I believe the same guy did "Diabolique", also an epic French film. Freidkin basically said the film was a metaphor for life: an endless series of challenges , and you can be blown up at any time .
Sometimes I really feel like you're tracking my film journey with these uploads. Loved Sorcerer, the pinnacle of suspense. Great video, keep it up with the long uploads. Cheers
Great fuckin movie. I can’t believe something so awesome and uncanny, by such a polarizing, groundbreaking artist, could go so unrecognized and unappreciated for so long.
I saw Tangerine Dream in concert in the late 1980's and thought they were amazing live. Not just synthesizers, but actual musical instruments too. An incredible band to see live!
AMAZING MOVIE. Pretty sure tarantino said it was one of the best ever made. Pure tension and a fever dream ending. Very big risk and unfortunately got crushed at the box office.
I had never seen it all the way through. Watched it with some good friends on their 200 inch projector. It wasn't at all what we were expecting, and I mean that in a good way
I don't know Josh Safdie but Sorcerer is a fantastic suspense adventure movie. P.S. "Sorcerer" is the name of one of the trucks at the center of the story. It flopped at release because (a) American audiences were expecting a horror film like The Exorcist, and (b) it was a non-American art film like nothing else in theaters.
I desperately need new or interesting movies to watch, thank you very very much for this. I just watched it and man was it a good freaking time. also, if anyone is perusing the comments and see's this and you have any great movies to reccomend off the top of your head please do. foreign movies, auteur and it doesnt need to be those, can be box office stuff. thank you for your time!
I just happen to making a list for friend today, so here's a copy/paste job... but keep in the mind, this list was specifically offering suggestions for more "ethereal/abstract/aesthetic" style of film making... heady, dream like at times etc.. The American The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Badlands Cold in July Collateral The Counselor Days of Heaven Drive The Fountain Heat A Hidden Life Hostiles Lighthouse Infinity Pool The Keep Killing Them Softly Lawless Live by Night Lost River Miami Vice Monster's Ball The Neon Demon The New World City of Ghosts Out of the Furnace Public Enemies Song to Song Sorcerer Syriana There Will Be Blood The Thin Red Line Too Old to Die Young The Tree of Life Under The skin You Were Never Really Here
Friedkin was very clear that this was not a remake of the Clouzot film but a re-adaption of the book. This is why the movies are so different despite the core of the movies being the same (transporting dangerous material through wild terrain). My blu-ray of Sorcerer has an extensive interview with Friedkin on this very matter.
1977 was a great year with many great movies but Sorcerer was tops. It’s Friedkin’s best movie. The action, suspense and music are spine-tingling. It had the misfortune of opening a few weeks after Star Wars.
It's sort of got the same type of nightmare structure as Heart of Darkness where you're on a tour through hell, and it just gets worse and crazier the further in you travel.
I saw this movie during a deep depression in my life. I consider it pne of my current top 10s. Brutal message of fate and destiny in a time when directors would have full artistic freedom until mr.cimino messed that up.
I got into an argument with a 6 year old over the film's title. It ended when I realized he thought I said, "Sewer." We argued about the correct title, as well.
It was a tragedy how this movie bombed because it's not even one of those fancy film buff kind of movies where you have to have a Rick and Morty IQ to be able to appreciate its brilliance, it's just brutal and wild and insane and crazy and freaky, and ANYONE can love it. The fact that Friedkin somehow topped The Exorcist and French Connection is even more tragic that this movie went unseen for decades until the recent (well, early 2010s) revivals and restorations.
Reminds me of when I went to see Virgin Suicides and walked into Battlefield Earth by accident. Or was it the other way around?... Rough movie watching week regardless. Love Sorcerer, too.
I really like this movie. My only complaint is the beginnings sequences. They are well done but I think they could have been compressed or rearranged. By time we get to them all in the town they are nobodies. So those beginning portions almost don’t matter. You can almost start the movie in the village and throw a couple more lines for each of them and we’d know these guys (like how John Boorman cut the first third of Dickie’s novel in the movie Deliverance, we didn’t need all that backstory. In 5 minutes we know all those characters).
dude. to call that film tense is accurate but it's not even close to as strong enough word.. your asshole will seal up for a portion of it. you will stop breathing during parts. it's a masterpiece. one of my favorites - i show it to every person who tells me "i like movies" and havent' seen it.. plus that soundtrack? next level.
Loved Roy in this! But Friedkin was desperately trying to get Steve McQueen for that role. Didn’t work out, obviously. But I think if McQueen plays that role the movie would have been a smash hit and endured a more favorable legacy.
I dig the movie but can't reconcile how a multinational oil firm with helicopters decides to move leaky TNT 200 klicks overland instead of flying in a fresh batch straight to the well site. But I was kinda faded the only time I watched it so maybe I missed the set-up
As a French, I think this movie pisses on Clouzot's version.It's one of my best childhood memories. Extremely dark, like a fever dream. Also, if there has to be a good opportunity to get acquainted with Bruno Cremer, well this is one. The only thing missing in Friedkin's version is VERA CLOUZOT haha
Technically, Sorcerer is not a remake but a different adaptation of the book. Like Friedkin said, there´s no remake of Hamlet, just different adaptations. And the title Sorcerer means that fate is like a wizard. Because Sorcerer is about the mistery of fate and world nations in conflict.
Friedken's best movie, and one of the greatest films of all time Always laughed when fellow film buffs would say "Wages of Fear" was superior, lofl. Friedken is easily up there with Kubrick, in my opinion.
Love this film, but Friedkin's ego destroyed it by giving it a nonsensical title and not giving in to Steve McQueen's small demand to give Ali MacGraw a job.
@@tonypine3434 Don't know if Scheider is better than McQueen. He certainly doesn't do the film any injustice. Not having McQueen and Mcgraw may have been bad for promotional reasons and for studio backing.
Great film! Terrible introduction... Seems like one of those things where Mr. Safdie looked at his google calendar one afternoon and realized he had to present a film in two hours and hoped the gods smiled on him. They did not. It's actually fitting, considering the film.
A local film nerd here in Wichita arranged for a screening of this movie a few years ago and contacted Friedkin to see if he would shoot a little intro video for the occasion - but Friedkin demurred, offering instead to do a live Skype Q&A session with the audience. He was incredibly generous, engaging and sharp as a tack. I will never forget it. 😊
Amazing!
Wichita KS? Where was the screening
@@elmerglue21Old Town Warren before it closed, heroic local film nerd Leif Jonker (director of indie vampire classic “Darkness”) organized it. There is video of the Q&A on TH-cam: th-cam.com/video/dO3WunuTMFg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=N3ow0Cb2Ag1Fgf7U
Can you upload the Q&A?
🧐
I love me some Sorcerer!
Sorcerer is one of those films that does not get nearly enough recognition, and that’s an understatement.
I was deployed to Afghanistan as a combat infantry soldier and this film takes me back to many of my experiences in ways I can’t not express. We would drive our humvees along mountain trails, a sheer cliff on one side and a wall of rock on the other, often times with barely enough path for all four tries to maintain contact with the trail. The anxiety I felt driving along those mountain trails, fearing that we would slip off and plummet to our deaths, simply indescribable, and of course we were ambushed on one as well, L shaped, attacked from the front as well as up along the ridge to our flank.
Sorcerer is one of the most intensely realistic films I have ever seen, I can not recommend it enough!
Wow, thanks for sharing that with us Tacoma. It lends even more credence to a film that is already ranked (by me and many others!) as one of the best of all time.
My experience is totally different from yours but somehow shares something with it. My family is from Reunion Island. This place is all about the mountain (active volcanic island) and although my vacations over there were nice, travelling by car on those narrow, winding roads, and seeing here and there carcasses of cars at the bottom of ravines, with all that luxuriant green landscape around and most of all, the waterfalls and overall humidity of the place... I always made a connection between this movie and where we used to spend our time during summer. I'm glad you're still here to talk about your time in Afghanistan, take care.
One of my all time favorite movies. Nothing beats it.
It´s a masterpiece. Don´t care about what he thinks, but its Stephen King´s favorite movie.
Love this film. Amazing score too by Tangerine Dream.
Their soundtracks for The Soldier, Risky Business, and Firestarter and this movie are the tits.
@@postmodernrecycler I just watched Thief by Michael Mann. Tangerine Dream on the score. Throw that one atop the pile too.
I didn’t know that, thank you! ❤
This is random but another great soundtrack by a band / band member how about “The Burning” didn’t a YES band member do the soundtrack ?
The Keep is another excellent TD soundtrack.
I was 17 in 1977 and literally was the person described in the opening: I had zero interest in seeing Star Wars and bought a ticket for Sorcerer instead. And I wasn't disappointed. Over the next year I saw it another 3 times. The original theater experience was stunning and I knew then it was something special.
Wow, impressive young man you were.
yep same. i had zero interest in star wars. i didnt see this at the movies but as it tanked it quickly appeared on this new at the time media delivery invention called cable tv. 😂🎉
This film is in a class all its own. I put it up there with the greatest films of all time. I found the soundtrack on vinyl first in 1991 at a used books and records store in college. The cover was so cool. After listening I liked it so much I had to see the movie and found it on VHS at the same store. It was not what I was expecting at all and I couldn't stop watching it. I tried to get everyone I knew to watch it. Masterpiece.
My fav Billy Friedkin Flick!!! The opening scenes alone are so brilliant. Especially that ending... "May I have this dance?"
Astonishing flick. I get something new out of it with every viewing. Roy Scheider was such a compelling actor. And yeah, that soundtrack...
I love the brutal, nihilistic atmosphere of the piece. Ya know that Scheider ain't gonna survive at the end. If this were to be remade, the Scheider character would blow away the mafia goons and survive. Just about my fave sequence is the montage where they fix up the trucks. Love the way that's put together.
Hear hear PraireDog - that sequence where they fix the trucks is also one of my very favorite sequences of all time in any film. It’s in good company too, others being the “Surfin’ Bird” sequence in Full Metal Jacket, and the first dream-sequence when Rosemary is falling asleep in Rosemary’s baby because Polanski somehow manages to capture what it’s like to fall asleep - on film! Anyway, all these are filmic gems!
@@musicalBurr Surfin Bird! Love that bit, too. But it's true. If it were remade, it would be a slow motion bloodbath at the end, and the Scheider character would murder a dozen Mafia dudes. There's a clip of the remake of The Jackal, and it's hysterical. They choose to blow away Jack Black, the dude who builds the gun, and saying it's gratuitous doesn't do it justice. And, of course, Bruce Willis is doing his 'I'm the coolest dude on the planet' acting. There's another remake of a classic that does the same thing. Bad Day At Black Rock was remade, more or less, with Val Kilmer. In this remake, he's a bad ass, special forces dude, of course, and he blows the F out of the bad guys and the town at the end. Hysterical.
"Wages of Fear" was a great film in it's own rite, I believe the same guy did "Diabolique", also an epic French film.
Freidkin basically said the film was a metaphor for life: an endless series of challenges , and you can be blown up at any time .
Yeah that was Clouzot. I do prefer Friedkin's take on it.
Yes clouzot did both films. I need to rewatch diabolique.
One of the greatest movies ever made. Williams finest work.
An absolute masterpiece
Sometimes I really feel like you're tracking my film journey with these uploads. Loved Sorcerer, the pinnacle
of suspense. Great video, keep it up with the long uploads. Cheers
Perfect background montage. I can clearly imagine the scene on stage. Thanks! 👍
Both versions are masterpieces in their own right. "Sorcerer" is in my top 10 or 15 movies.
I just watched this movie, _Sorcerer_ only a few months ago on Criterion (maybe?).
It's fantastic.
the original french film is just absolutely terrific definitely watch that first before diving into this one, but both are just stunning.🎉
Great fuckin movie. I can’t believe something so awesome and uncanny, by such a polarizing, groundbreaking artist, could go so unrecognized and unappreciated for so long.
I saw Tangerine Dream in concert in the late 1980's and thought they were amazing live. Not just synthesizers, but actual musical instruments too. An incredible band to see live!
Great video bro
The scene when they’re driving the truck on the “monkey bridge” is so nerve wracking ! Love me some Roy Scheider too.
One of my favorites of all time.
Both Sorcerer and Wages of Fear are must watch movies
AMAZING MOVIE. Pretty sure tarantino said it was one of the best ever made. Pure tension and a fever dream ending. Very big risk and unfortunately got crushed at the box office.
Who gives a s ht about what Tarantino thinks ??? Is he an authority or something except from stealing from other filmmakers ?
@@MrCarpen7er Forgive the lad, the youth don't know anything but him. Taratino is a degenerate thief at best.
I had never seen it all the way through. Watched it with some good friends on their 200 inch projector. It wasn't at all what we were expecting, and I mean that in a good way
This film is his masterpiece.
Gorgeous flick.
It's a great movie, no doubt.
As a big fan of Star Wars I can definitely say that Sorcerer is a damn good film
I don't know Josh Safdie but Sorcerer is a fantastic suspense adventure movie.
P.S. "Sorcerer" is the name of one of the trucks at the center of the story.
It flopped at release because (a) American audiences were expecting a horror film like The Exorcist, and (b) it was a non-American art film like nothing else in theaters.
Safdie brothers did some awesome movies. Uncut Gems, Good Time were bad azz
@@christopherfoy6668 Ah okay, I've been wanting to see Uncut Gems
@@tinderbox218 Good Time is actually very similar to Sorcerer in a lot of ways. I'd definitely recommend both of those Safdie brothers movies.
@@tinderbox218please watch Good Time first, it has a lot of Sorcerer’s DNA
Sorcerer, not Sorceror. And it´s all about the mistery of fate.
I desperately need new or interesting movies to watch, thank you very very much for this. I just watched it and man was it a good freaking time.
also, if anyone is perusing the comments and see's this and you have any great movies to reccomend off the top of your head please do. foreign movies, auteur and it doesnt need to be those, can be box office stuff.
thank you for your time!
I just happen to making a list for friend today, so here's a copy/paste job... but keep in the mind, this list was specifically offering suggestions for more "ethereal/abstract/aesthetic" style of film making... heady, dream like at times etc..
The American
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Badlands
Cold in July
Collateral
The Counselor
Days of Heaven
Drive
The Fountain
Heat
A Hidden Life
Hostiles
Lighthouse
Infinity Pool
The Keep
Killing Them Softly
Lawless
Live by Night
Lost River
Miami Vice
Monster's Ball
The Neon Demon
The New World
City of Ghosts
Out of the Furnace
Public Enemies
Song to Song
Sorcerer
Syriana
There Will Be Blood
The Thin Red Line
Too Old to Die Young
The Tree of Life
Under The skin
You Were Never Really Here
@@Paradis80 there are a few here i havent seen, i really apreciate it! thank you for taking the time
Sorcerer is one of the trucks.
Friedkin saw, when they got beat up trucks, that locals would name the trucks and paint the names on the side.
This movie I think might have worked better had it been called "Purgatory".
Friedkin was very clear that this was not a remake of the Clouzot film but a re-adaption of the book. This is why the movies are so different despite the core of the movies being the same (transporting dangerous material through wild terrain). My blu-ray of Sorcerer has an extensive interview with Friedkin on this very matter.
There's a big landscape shot in this film that's real, but is the strangest landscape you ever saw.
1977 was a great year with many great movies but Sorcerer was tops. It’s Friedkin’s best movie. The action, suspense and music are spine-tingling. It had the misfortune of opening a few weeks after Star Wars.
God i love this movie.
Sorcerer is a underrated masterpiece 📽 🎞
I have the soundtrack on vinyl it's Epic 🎹
This film is fucking incredible. If you havent seen it yet watch it now.
It's sort of got the same type of nightmare structure as Heart of Darkness where you're on a tour through hell, and it just gets worse and crazier the further in you travel.
I saw this movie during a deep depression in my life. I consider it pne of my current top 10s. Brutal message of fate and destiny in a time when directors would have full artistic freedom until mr.cimino messed that up.
Tangerine Dream also did the music for "The Keep".
I got into an argument with a 6 year old over the film's title. It ended when I realized he thought I said, "Sewer."
We argued about the correct title, as well.
It was a tragedy how this movie bombed because it's not even one of those fancy film buff kind of movies where you have to have a Rick and Morty IQ to be able to appreciate its brilliance, it's just brutal and wild and insane and crazy and freaky, and ANYONE can love it. The fact that Friedkin somehow topped The Exorcist and French Connection is even more tragic that this movie went unseen for decades until the recent (well, early 2010s) revivals and restorations.
"Nothing like it" buddy I can think of one movie just like it, and it's called GOOD TIME!!
Reminds me of when I went to see Virgin Suicides and walked into Battlefield Earth by accident. Or was it the other way around?... Rough movie watching week regardless.
Love Sorcerer, too.
I really like this movie. My only complaint is the beginnings sequences. They are well done but I think they could have been compressed or rearranged. By time we get to them all in the town they are nobodies. So those beginning portions almost don’t matter. You can almost start the movie in the village and throw a couple more lines for each of them and we’d know these guys (like how John Boorman cut the first third of Dickie’s novel in the movie Deliverance, we didn’t need all that backstory. In 5 minutes we know all those characters).
"So those beginning portions almost don’t matter" ??? You clearly don´t know much...
@ you should read what I said fully before commenting. You have sub 60 IQ.
First clip from this channel over 2min?
👍👍👍
Do more 10 min videos
dude. to call that film tense is accurate but it's not even close to as strong enough word.. your asshole will seal up for a portion of it. you will stop breathing during parts. it's a masterpiece. one of my favorites - i show it to every person who tells me "i like movies" and havent' seen it.. plus that soundtrack? next level.
Bought the blu-ray in 2016 for $8 Canadian
Filmed in the Dominican Republic
Give me 4k
Purgatory is the real deal as far as plot. Cool flick.
The world would be a better place if Star Wars tanked and Sorcerer was a huge success.
The biggest negative of "Sorcerer" is that it isn't "La Salaire de Peur".
Perhaps the worst movie title ever for one of the best films ever😂
The film's working title was "Ballbreaker," which would have been a less confounding title for audiences expecting a magic or fantasy movie.
Sounds like a prequel to The Exorcist.
Who is Josh Safdie?
He’s one half of the Safdie brothers, film directors. The last film they did was Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler
You guys all have a seat to use, you will only be using a piece of it
Loved Roy in this! But Friedkin was desperately trying to get Steve McQueen for that role. Didn’t work out, obviously. But I think if McQueen plays that role the movie would have been a smash hit and endured a more favorable legacy.
I dig the movie but can't reconcile how a multinational oil firm with helicopters decides to move leaky TNT 200 klicks overland instead of flying in a fresh batch straight to the well site. But I was kinda faded the only time I watched it so maybe I missed the set-up
Sorcerer means “picked by lot” ie
drawn at random
I never loved sorcerer. I also never loved wages of fear either.
Like how old is this guy wtf
He's josh safdie. One of the safdie brothers. Filmmakers. He's like 40
Friedkin's _Aguirre_ . 🤭
Eventually Re-Remade as "Vertical Limit", that rock climbing gone wrong Chris O'Donnell movie vehicle...
Hmm Do yourself a favor and watch the original..."Wages Of Fear"
Such a shame. It's so brilliant, but It had the bad luck to come out at the same exact time as Star Wars. Just sayin.
The critics at the time weren’t favorable either, which didn’t help.
As a French, I think this movie pisses on Clouzot's version.It's one of my best childhood memories. Extremely dark, like a fever dream. Also, if there has to be a good opportunity to get acquainted with Bruno Cremer, well this is one. The only thing missing in Friedkin's version is VERA CLOUZOT haha
Technically, Sorcerer is not a remake but a different adaptation of the book. Like Friedkin said, there´s no remake of Hamlet, just different adaptations. And the title Sorcerer means that fate is like a wizard. Because Sorcerer is about the mistery of fate and world nations in conflict.
Uncah CHAms
Friedken's best movie, and one of the greatest films of all time
Always laughed when fellow film buffs would say "Wages of Fear" was superior, lofl.
Friedken is easily up there with Kubrick, in my opinion.
Love this film, but Friedkin's ego destroyed it by giving it a nonsensical title and not giving in to Steve McQueen's small demand to give Ali MacGraw a job.
Scheider is better than McQueen
@@tonypine3434 Don't know if Scheider is better than McQueen. He certainly doesn't do the film any injustice. Not having McQueen and Mcgraw may have been bad for promotional reasons and for studio backing.
Great film! Terrible introduction... Seems like one of those things where Mr. Safdie looked at his google calendar one afternoon and realized he had to present a film in two hours and hoped the gods smiled on him. They did not. It's actually fitting, considering the film.
Probably the greatest movie with a stupid title
Him calling a score a soundtrack irks me.
Cause you’re a nerd
Stupid ass comment