SORCERER
After the success of THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THE EXORCIST, William Friedkin became possessed by the demon of ambition and set off in to the jungle to compete with his contemporary Francis Ford Coppola on who could better endure "the horror" of descending into madness while capturing it on film.
SORCERER is the tale of four different criminal outcasts on the run who find themselves in a god forsaken outpost in Latin America ruled by martial law, oil conglomerates, and desperation. In an attempt to escape this purgatory and resurrect their lives, they accept a job as "suicide jockeys" and transport highly volatile dynamite 200 miles through an unpaved jungle in two trucks, named Sorcerer and Lazaro, that they have cobbled together through scrap parts so they can close off a burning oil well.
Like his previous two films, Friedkin starts the film with a prologue set across the world, but once the plot kicks in, the action is full throttle. You wonder how the filmmakers pulled off these insane action shots, and with a little research you learn in was just insanely reckless 70s cinema! There are fantastic set pieces throughout the film, most notably the bridge crossing featured on the poster, but clunky editing prevents you from loosing yourself in the story.
Roy Schieder does a great job as the lead, Jackie Scanlon, as he goes through ambition, a quite desperation, madness, and fatalistic indifference as he fights with his fate. And as Friedkin believes "fate is waiting around the corner to kick you in the ass." Friedkin also believes strongly that "action is character" (from The Great Gatsby), so Scanlon's words are reserved, and the film never feels like a true character study.
This film is begging for a feature length making of documentary! Filming lasted 10 months, and had a ballooning budget. Friedkin lost 50lbs, and lost 50 crew members due to" injury, gangrene, food poisoning and malaria." More crew members had to be replaced when undercover federal agents discovered they were in possession of drugs. And "Marvin The Torch" had to be flown in from Queens, NY when they needed extra firepower. Do yourself a favor and read the full wikipedia article!
The troubled production, also met a troubled release due to the misleading title, the opening scenes are in multiple foreign languages, studios didn't want to promote it since Friedkin burnt threw their money in the jungle and, most significantly, STAR WARS was released the month before and completely changed the film industry. The box office flops of Sorcerer, Heaven's Gate, and New York, New York are considered the death of New Hollywood, and the rise of Lucas and Spielberg put the nail in the coffin.
Despite all this, many consider SORCERER a lost classic and is a favorite film of Stephen King, Benjamin Safdie, and Quentin Tarantino.
For Fans Of / Further Viewing
Wages of Fear - the classic film based on the same source material
Hearts Of Darkness - the documentary on the chaotic production of Apocalypse Now
Aguirre, the Wrath of God and also Fitzcarraldo - Werner Herzog's films about ambitious men losing their minds in the jungle