Sorcerer 4K 1977 Ultra HD 2160p

An American fugitive (Shayder) flees justice to Latin America. He tries to buy his way to a free life by agreeing to transport a deadly cargo of nitroglycerin in a truck, but at every turn of the road, all kinds of dangers lie in wait for him. The explosives, needed to extinguish a fire at an oil field, are transported by drivers Bruno Kremer, Amidu, and Francisco Rabal. The narrative has a strong existentialist feel. Friedkin certainly put a lot of effort into creating the film, which is admirable, but the adaptation of Georges Arnaud's classic French novel “The Price of Fear” lacks the expected tension. The first 70 minutes are devoted to describing the characters' violent and cruel past. Production took 10 months and took place mainly in the jungles of the Dominican Republic and central Mexico. The cinematography is magnificent. Filming also took place in Paris, Jerusalem, New Jersey, and New Mexico. The budget reached $21 million. The music by Tangerine Dream is magnificent. For lovers of adventure and the exotic.

User Review

By a strange coincidence, William Friedkin's best film not only flopped at the box office (which is hardly surprising), but also ended up overshadowed by his more famous works. Even the banal “To Live and Die in L.A.” somehow receives praise, while there is a gaping void surrounding “Sorcerer” on the internet. The few texts that can be found are dripping with curses.

This is Friedkin's most unpleasant and naturalistic film. Even the nasty scenes in The Exorcist are not as depressing. In the cramped, stuffy space of Sorcerer, violence has the effect of a sudden blow to the face. The pseudo-documentary nature of the events, honed by Friedkin in The French Connection, reaches an unprecedented level of viewer involvement in Sorcerer. It feels like you are peeking around the corner, in the wind and rain, rather than sitting on the sofa in your living room. The hyperrealism of Sorcerer balances somewhere on the edge of cinema as such.

Just to remind you, this is a remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic film The Wages of Fear. (Grand Prix at Cannes in 1953.) Most of the criticism of Friedkin's film comes from comparisons with Clouzot's film. But despite the fact that Sorcerer almost verbatim repeats the 1953 original, these are completely different films, like fire and water. The directors themselves look at the same things from diametrically opposite positions. Friedkin is one of the few filmmakers capable of portraying animalistic, physiological horror on screen. Where Clouzot has suspense and subtle psychological nuances, Friedkin's viewers are scared out of their wits.

Yet Friedkin himself considered this film his most successful work in terms of directing. It is no coincidence that the film has a rating of 7.5 out of 10 on IMDb. He was simply unlucky to release this film in the year of Star Wars' triumph.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (91.7 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Info Audio

#English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
#English: FLAC 2.0
#Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
#French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0

Info Subtitles