Sorcerer

Name: Sorcerer
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Released: June 24, 1977
Duration: 121 min
Rating: 68
Cast: Bruno Cremer, Roy Scheider

1977

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 13 Ratings

See All

8.6

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8.6	Your Score
8.6	User Score Universal acclaim based on 13 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Sorcerer

Now Playing: Sorcerer

Movie Details & Credits

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: June 24, 1977 | PG

Starring: Bruno Cremer, Roy Scheider

Summary: Four unfortunate men from different parts of the globe agree to risk their lives transporting gallons of nitroglycerin across dangerous South American jungle.

Director: William Friedkin

Genre(s): Adventure, Drama, Thriller

Rating: PG

Runtime: 121 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Peter Keough

Perhaps the elusive, uncanny soundtrack of Tangerine Dream brings this about, or maybe it’s Friedkin’s juxtapositions of close-ups and stark long shots of the tiny trucks lost in jungle or desert landscapes, but Sorcerer eventually seems to be happening someplace not of this world. Not hell, exactly; maybe Limbo. Read full review

100

Clayton Dillard

Rather than a fleeting image of violence, however, Friedkin’s cyclical, almost Kafkaesque insistence that politics revolves around now globalized, corporate power delegating hired guns to do under-the-table bidding across national boundaries announces itself through the soundscape, with Tangerine Dream’s electronic basslines substituting for bloodshed. No one escapes the suffocating corrosion of Sorcerer’s polysemous diegesis—not even Friedkin himself, as audiences and industry would have it. Read full review

Sam Adams

A defiant, mad gesture of a film that features some of the most exhilarating sequences in movie history. Read full review

Jack Kroll

This lean, hard, ruggedly acted film is hardly ingratiating, but its clenched power has a cruel and compelling beauty. [04 July 1977, p.77]

Dave Kehr

William Friedkin's remake of the French thriller Wages of Fear represents an above-average effort by the director of The Exorcist—meaning it's marginally watchable. Friedkin senselessly complicates the simple story—four men drive a truckload of nitro through a South American jungle—with a lengthy exposition and some unfortunate existential overtones. The rhythms are all off—it's either too fast or too slow—but most of the set pieces are effective. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

William Friedkin's Sorcerer is a painstaking, admirable, but mostly distant and uninvolving suspenser based on the French classic The Wages of Fear [from the novel by Georges Arnaud]. Friedkin vividly renders the experience of several men driving trucks loaded with nitro through the South American jungle, yet the characters are basically functional. 'Sorcerer' is merely the name of one of the trucks. Read full review

Richard Schickel

Friedkin's pretensions do not entirely defeat the film, and his craftsmanship often rescues him from self-betrayal. But Sorcerer lacks the kind of low cunning — the sorcery — that is Friedkin's strong suit. Read full review

SEE ALL 13 REVIEWS

Write a Review

Negative:

User Reviews

DanielGrimes94

Sep 5, 2023

Usually Blockbusters tends to have a "Happy Go Lucky" vibe...this movie was heavy! Plague with misery and gut wrenching scenes, masterfully directed by William Friedkein where the suspense is the main character rather than the actual Actors...

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

asgrrr

Oct 2, 2021

Old school movie, slow buildup, slow start for the main story, gritty road scenes, genuine feelings for the drivers because they have been set up so carefully before. Very satisfying watch.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Compi24

Aug 11, 2019

Based more on the 1950 George Arnaud novel "The Wages Of Fear" and less on the 1953 Henri-Georges Clouzot film "The Wages Of Fear" (according to the director, that is) "Sorcerer" follows that same, legendary premise from beginning to end, but with a few twists here and there to keep even theBased more on the 1950 George Arnaud novel "The Wages Of Fear" and less on the 1953 Henri-Georges Clouzot film "The Wages Of Fear" (according to the director, that is) "Sorcerer" follows that same, legendary premise from beginning to end, but with a few twists here and there to keep even the more learned audience members on their proverbial toes. I just still can't get over the brilliance of the premise here. There's almost no other logline in the history of filmmaking that's as simple, yet pregnant with inherent tension and unease. Except for "Speed," of course. Now, did Friedkin somehow manage to mess up a story idea that was simply good from the get-go? Not at all. Yes, the second half is a revelation of stress and horror, but even the first act exhibits such a deft narrative hand. Everything is staged so authentically, leaving you wondering how the hell Friedkin managed to capture certain moments safely and without any anxieties of his own. But back to that second half, nearly every minute of it features some of the most intense, knee-jerk terror and strain you'll ever see in any movie, let alone one from the director of "The Exorcist." An absolute must-see, all quibbles aside.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 3 REVIEWS