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Le Salaire de la peur (1953)

Rate: 3
Viewed: 5/21

WagesFear
5/21: Having seen Sorcerer plenty of times, I was hoping it wasn't a rip-off of Le Salaire de la peur which is otherwise known as The Wages of Fear.

Now, I can rest easy because it's an insanely long, bad film. The first forty minutes is terrible because it's nothing but fluff. I've been kept waiting for the conflict to begin. Once it does, I'm on the 300-mile trip. Then, the unbelievable occurs: not much happens...just a lot of tension over nothing significant.

I don't understand what the four guys, who are barely fleshed out, are doing on a certain road that's bound to produce vibrations or why they have to drive alongside the edge of an incomplete bridge. The ending, which feels multiple, is stupid, and I blame Mario's death on his low-IQ behavior. Jo keeps complaining all the time when Mario should've kicked him off for good.

William Friedkin took several concepts from Le Salaire de la peur and then redid the whole thing by establishing how and why these four characters ended up in a desolate Central America town. Then, he outlined the problems they faced during the road trip. The fate of each person was sad because I got to know them better and "impossible" wasn't part of their vocabulary.

Born with Humphrey Bogart looks and first making his mark as a popular cabaret singer, Yves Montand saves the film from being a total clunker. It's the one that made him a huge international movie star. Henri-Georges Clouzot may have won a bunch of awards at Cannes, but his next film Les diaboliques is much better. Performing all of the stunts, Véra Clouzot makes her screen debut but has done only three films in total which are directed by her husband.

All in all, Sorcerer is everything that Le Salaire de la peur is not.