Qt3 Movie Club movie #1: Sorcerer

Movies
41

They weren’t at the bridge yet. It was a fork in the road and Scanlon wanted to take the higher path, but Serrano insisted that they follow the map. I think it was ultimately the map that won the argument and not Serrano’s expertise at banking. :)

This is pretty cool, but it doesn’t fit. Nilo clearly wants to be chosen as one of the drivers. If he’s just there to kill Marquez, the German, he would have done it without the movie showing us that he hopes to be selected as a driver. The implication is that he kills Marquez because he knows they’ll need him to fill Marquez’s slot.

For some reason, Nilo bribes his way into this hell and then needs to drive one of the trucks to make money to get out. It makes no sense to me.

I don’t think that works because I don’t think Serrano actually sold the watch. He showed it to the dealer, who told him he could get him out of town for the watch and 1000 pesos. Serrano says he only has the watch and I’m pretty sure he takes it back. I could be wrong about that. Also, that’s not Agrippa in the room with the dealer is trying to sell the watch, is it?

My guess is that, like Nilo’s motivation, whatever Agrippa gives Serrano is some tidbit that didn’t survive the editing. The watch would make sense, but I don’t think it fits into the story as presented.

Dude, did you just hate on Tangerine Dream? Whoa. (You know what score doesn’t hold up? Carter Burwell’s “I Just Got a Casio!” soundtrack for Raising Arizona.)

Very nice, Mayer! I think that helps explain why I keep wanted to compare this to Treasure of the Sierra Madres!

I think I read in the IMDB trivia (which I don’t trust…) that the structure wasn’t part of the original script. According to this bit of apocrypha, Freidkin shot the backstories to be inserted as occasional flashbacks. But in the editing, it took its current shape.

I get your complaint, but I think the narrative structure is one of the things that’s special about Sorcerer. The idea of four completely unrelated stories coming together is kind of hip these days in a Pulp Fiction way, but back then, it was pretty wild. I love narrative WTFs, like the shift in the beginning of Psycho or at the end of Limbo. I put Sorcerer up there with those.

Holy cats, Mordrak, that’s an awesome catch! That’s one of those things where I’ve seen a movie ten times and it takes another pair of eyes to blindside me with something beautiful and obvious.

Also, I think you’re confusing Scanlon (Roy Scheider) and Serrano (Bruno Cremer, the French guy). Agrippa, the old woman, gives Serrano something the night before the trucks leave.

Yep, it’s the only place without a title card. And excellent point about how we have no reference for how long they’ve each been there. This place exists outside of normal geography and time, and it’s home equally to murderers, frauds, thugs, terrorists, and Nazis (?).

Wait, weren’t Serrano and Kaseem in the lead at that point? I’m pretty sure Scalon and Nilo wouldn’t have turned around and gone back. Because that certainly isn’t consistent with Scalon’s “They’ll never make it across that bridge! We’re sitting on double shares!” attitude from earlier. I got the impression they had to drive through the debris because it was in front of them.

Tim, as I pointed out in my first big Sorcerer post, it’s not a name. The men paint the Spanish word for danger on the truck.

-Tom
42

Well I just mailed netflix back today so can’t watch it again to confirm, but I’d swear when the explosion happens, they look back down the road they just came from. Someone who either is going to watch or has the dvd can confirm.

43

I think Serrano and Kaseem were in the lead when their tire blows (is shot) out. They switched places appearently when everyone was backing up to get away from the nitro tree bomb. Is never made explicit, but there must have been a turn out or something because Serrano and Kaseem’s truck is the first to arrive at the explosion site.

Also Nilo and Schneider are ambushed where Serrano’s truck blew up. They can see a body (probably Serrano) and after the fight with the terrorists Serrano’s very unlucky watch - serious, his business collapses, his brother in law kills himself and he ultimately gets killed after his wife gives it too him - is covered in blood

44

Yeah, I thought Serrano and the Arab were in the lead when they blew up. The camera seems to fly back across the hills and you can see the smoke from a distance and then you’re in the truck with Schneider and Nilo.

Blue, That’s a nice detail about Serrano’s watch. The inscription lends itself nicely to the idea the place in South America is outside of time and space and his letter will never get delievered. I think it was something like “The Tenth Year of Forever.”

As for the attack, I thought there Schneider and Nilo drove a little ways and came to the scene of the accident when the terrorists attacked. There was a shot of a pipeline running along the side of the road and then it looked like the road had been damaged (the pipe was covered with dirt, some of the road itself seemed to have been blown away) and the camera pans down the hill to the wrecked remains of Lazzero and a managled body.

Tom, thanks for pointing out about the name/warning. I should probalby read the entire thread over now that I’ve seen the movie, but Nazis? I didn’t notice any Nazis. Where were the Nazis?

45

Serrano says that the German bartender was a “reichsmarshall”, I think. Which is a rank in the Nazi party held only by Herman Goering, so it was obviously a joke. But what else is a German dude that age doing running a bar in this place? :)

BTW, it’s interesting that Kaseem, a Palestinian, calls Nilo a “jew” when he pulls a knife on him. Who knows whether Nilo is, but it’s interesting bit of character development for at least one of the two characters.

And speaking of character development, I love how the driving tests with the bottle of liquid in the cab tell you something about the characters. When Kaseem almost runs over the children in the road, it’s not just because he’s dedicated to getting the job. He’s a guy who puts bombs in public places and has probably come to terms with the fact that he’s killed children.

And the little exchange between the oil company guy and Scanlon is great regardless of whether Scanlon is telling the truth:

Oil company guy (noting that Scanlon can handle the truck): “Teamsters?”
Scalon: “Greyhound.”

-Tom

46

See, I think Raising Arizona worked. Especially the squalling angry choir of strangled cats as downsampled through a chain of low-end consumer Casios each sampling the one before it. Because–and this is crucial–I can believe that’s what the inside of Nicholas Cage’s head sounds like all the time. It lended a strong air of immersion to the entire affair.

47

I keep thinking about Desslock’s post. It’s hard to imagine this movie could have cost so much money. Where did they spend it? Maybe I’ve just become too used to modern special effects, but these – especially the fade over montage at the end – didn’t seem that impressive. Roy Scheider is the only actor I recognize and it looks like this came after Jaws/French Connection, so he probably cost something, but I can’t imagine he alone broke the bank.

I can see the problem of putting this up against Star Wars. Sorcerer is so introspective and broody. How unfortunate. Not to compare the two as better/worse, but the Star Wars phenomenon would have been difficult for any movie to come up against.

48

I will mostly compare this to the original French movie “Le Salaire de la Peur” [consider this a SPOILER warning]. Both movies unsurprisingly have a lot in common, but also differ on some key points.

The most important difference is in the character relationships. They are much more developed in the original. Friendships are born and gone, feelings hurt and generally there is much more interaction. This is in big contrast with the alienation and indifference in Sorcerer. Which is obviously very well suited to the detached filming style of Friedkin, not much different here than The French Connection and The Exorcist. This also explains the dialog, or more precisely its scarcity.
Now, while neither approach is better or worse in itself, a few opportunities are missed in the latter. Namely, Montand driving over Vanel in a very strong and memorable scene in La Salaire. This couldn’t happen in Sorcerer, or rather, it could, but lacking the impact, because there is zero relationship development between Scheider and Rabal’s characters. (This might seem a nitpicking, but I deem this scene essential to the original, and its theme).

Some other notable points of interest where the original movie worked better for me:

  • slower and more elaborate building of suspense in the original – Sorcerer’s truck sequences were tighter; a bit of a surprise, considering Friedkin’s previous movies.
  • some plot elements are more subtly conveyed in the original – for example, the truck explosion (only shown from the perspective of the second truck in La Salaire); or the murder of the fourth driver.
  • Scanlon’s mental breakdown towards the end, while understandable, detracts from the obsession. Scanlon is not nearly as driven as Montand’s character.
  • Tangerine Dream’s music doesn’t work very well on a few occasions (most notably the heavily documentary-like sequence at the beginning of the truck voyage); I like the motivated-music-only approach of the original better.

And now for the reverse:

  • no analog of Linda in Sorcerer, she was pretty useless in La Salaire, so that’s good.
  • the ending – it is more consistent in Sorcerer; the ending of the original certainly made a point, but felt a bit arbitrary nevertheless.
  • the final on-foot delivery of the eplosives was a nice touch.
  • no high speed sequence.

It might seem like a lot of criticism, but actually I liked Sorcerer. It had to live up to the original, but managed to be different enough and to stand on its own, probably due to Friedkin’s distinctive style.

49

i meant two separate arguments: arab guy vs banker at the bridge (the one not over water) and schneider vs banker about the low road.

schneider takes the low road after yelling with the banker.

in the other argument the banker says he is going to guide and then the arab guy is screaming that he is going to guide. then the terrorist gives in to the banker and drives.

how does he wind up winning these arguments? schneider didn’t seem to be too swayed with about the map when the banker first brought it up.

50

His ability to persuade his brother-in-law to keep going back to his father is what gets the banker in trouble in the first place. So perhaps this is meant as a theme for this character?

51

Good write-up, Scourge, but I take issue with this point. The ending of Wages Of Fear is arbitrary in strictly in terms of plot, but it is absolutely essential to not only the theme of Wages Of Fear, but to Clouzot’s films in general. The idea that somebody could “cheat death”, or that by doing something extraordinary you could somehow become free from the cruel nature of the universe, is completely at odds with Clouzot’s deep-seated existentialism. Thus, the fact that Montand feels cocky and triumphant at the end carries no special weight in Clouzot’s nasty, mean world - he dies just as meaninglessly and terribly as the other drivers did.

Contrast this with the ending of Sorcerer. Sure, it’s ironic that he survives the harrowing journey only to be popped off (we assume) by some gunmen, but that can be considered almost fair and just, especially in the morally neutral movie world of the 70s. Clouzot’s world is darker and more misanthropic than that.

52

Oh, I completely understand that (this is why I said it certainly made a point). But still for me a more consistent ending would have been a death of exhaustion after the delivery: Montand drops dead in front of the fire, Fin.

Also, the unimposing existentialism is one of the interesting nuances of the original. And it is dark and misanthropic, sure (and partly due to the ending, which might be consistent with the intentions of the director, but not rooted very well in the story), but it also seems much more varied in themes and viewpoints compared to the uniformity of Sorcerer.

53

Man, I’m glad there’s someone here who looks good in a beret besides me. :) Good going, madkevin!

Tim, I imagine the cost was a factor of shooting in six different locations (the four intros, the Dominican Republic, and a reshoot of the bridge sequence in Mexico), most of them without any infrastructure for a Hollywood production.

Russell M. Zoo, about the arguments: I didn’t mind Kaseem getting into the cab to drive over the bridge, because there’s a sense of resignation there. If the nitro goes off, I think they both know it doesn’t matter who’s actually driving and who’s standing ten feet in front of the truck.

And I think Scanlon agreeing to take the low road as the map says is just a matter of Serrano’s cool head prevailing over Scanlon’s fear and desire to do the safe thing and take the higher road. He realizes they have no idea where the high road goes.

-Tom

54

Nice. More than anything else I’ve read, this makes me want to rewatch Wages of Fear.

-Tom
55

Hey, man, I majored in English with a minor in film. I have a whole closet full of those things.

56

The cost was due to two factors: coping with the inclement weather and hostile environment – the difficulty those trucks had moving through that crap wasn’t entirely artificial; and spending a ton of money indulging a director who was given complete creative freedom in light of his prior successes, which meant a ton of takes, film, etc.

To put it in perspective since you mentioned Star Wars, its production budget was twice as large as Star War’s, more than 3 times Jaw’s, and almost 4 times as large as French Connection’s - but at the time Friedkin was coming off producing what was (at the time Sorcerer was commissioned) the biggest box office hit ever, the Exorcist. Sorcerer had an uber-blockbuster budget yet was essentially an art film, which was so disturbing to watch that it was crazy to think it could ever come even close to recouping its costs.

57

Per cost - in addition to 4 locales, I saw in the production notes they moved & re-assembled (piece by piece) that derrick into the middle of nowhere. It was also a 10 month shoot, which is gargantuan by today’s standards.

58

Just finished watching. Don’t think I have much to say that hasn’t already been said.

Favorite truck: Sorcerer.

Favorite character: Serrano. Of all the four he was the one I felt bad for in all the setup scenes.

Favorite scene: Probably the execution of the tree removal plan. I realize the rope bridge is the big showpiece scene, but I’m a sucker for that A-Team/MacGuyver type stuff.

Least favorite scene: I loved the crazy moonscape bit towards the end, but the hallucinatory flashback montage was a tonal mistake.

Unanswered questions: What’s Serrano’s hot wife’s phone number? Why did no one talk Friedkin out of that terrible title?

59

Okay, bonus round question: You’re trying to get a re-make of Sorcerer greenlit! Knowing what you know now about commercial success, what do you have to do to make this happen? What changes have to be made to the script? What actors do you attach to the project? What director?

Remember, your objective isn’t to make a good movie, it’s to make a commercially viable movie. Go!

-Tom
60

First, you need a hero for the audience to identify with. Sure he can be a bad guy, but he needs something to go back to, that we want to see him return to.

That could easily be the Scanlon character. Instead of implying that he gets gunned down, turn 10-15 of the last 20 minutes into a shoot out where Scanlon finally purges himself of his demons (past) and is allowed to return. I’d probably make him a family man who had once before moved out of a shady past, but tough times pulled him back into doing “one last job” as a driver.

You’d also probably have to use the other characters’ back stories to inform the audience why Scanlon should survive and not them. What makes him worth saving? Perhaps in the opening segments give each character a moral choice or test that differentiates them.

I’d probably keep the same basic structure, but still see if I couldn’t work it into flashbacks (so it starts out in the mysterious South American country). I’d also probably have to shorten the truck sequence (Boo!) to fit all that in.

I’ll have to get back to you on director and cast, but I’m sure I’d probably try to get Clive Owen as Scanlon.