The recent Blu-ray release of Clouzot’s ever-great The Wages of Fear prompts some pinkish musings on the film and its contemporary context, over at The Auteurs’.
"Fear" is a man's best friend
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I had never seen this film until recently. I don’t have a Blu-Ray player, but the standard def DVD was still magnificent.
Ah, “The Wages of Fear”, both a great thriller and victim of one of the worst remakes ever made.
Aaaah.. another chance to piss on Friedkin. I love it.
I respectfully disagree, Dan. “Sorcerer”, by replacing Yves Montand’s “Dean Martin of the jungle” swagger with Roy Scheider’s hollowed determination, Friedkin sends his remake one step beyond, wrapping it up in the grimiest of patinas. The Tangerine Dream score still pulsates, the moon crater surfaces still haunt, and the bridge storm sequence is a still a doozy.
Have to disagree respectfully with both Dan (it’s far one of the worst remakes ever made) and Mike (it ain’t that great, either).
While I’m a big fan of Scheider (may he rest in peace) and that haunting, lovely, goosepimpling score by Tangerine Dream, I’d have to say for my money that “Wages” is still the much, much, much better film and that none of the sequences in “Sorcerer” can even begin to compete with any of those in “Wages”.
Of course, I’m resolutely not a Friedkin fan while I’m positively ga-ga for Clouzot.
So, when’s Criterion going to give a Blu-ray/DVD re-issue to Diabolique? The original release is…certainly not one of their best transfers.
I’m not taking an opportunity to piss on Friedkin; if I really wanted to do that, I’ve got better targets than “Sorceror”, but, hey, the guy can still make a good movie, God bless him (yes, I liked “Bug” quite a bit).
I dislike “Sorceror” because I think it’s by and large a missed opportunity. Schneider is great (he works hard enough for it, it’s hard for me not to feel Friedkin had left him adrift), and the score is great, separate from the film, but that’s where the greatness ends. It’s just kind of awkward and completely lacking in suspense when it’s not being cheesy (a rope bridge? You maybe also want to throw in some hostile natives? Oh wait, you had those too). It’s kind of like the Hollywood remake of “The Vanishing”, the remake should have been a chip shot and they STILL screwed it up.