The Wages of Fear (1953)
Janus Films | Release Date: December 9, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
85
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
EmpireKim NewmanJul 1, 2020
Clouzot achieves an analysis of the human condition at least as bleak as Huston's The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre but without the grandstanding speeches and with more subtle performances. Read full review
100
The New YorkerPauline KaelJul 1, 2020
An existential thriller--the most original and shocking French melodrama of the 50s.
100
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloJul 1, 2020
Deriving endless anxiety from brawny men moving as gingerly as possible, it’s a riveting anti-action movie, one of the most memorable high-concept pictures ever made in Europe. Read full review
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)Jul 1, 2020
Excellent, but nasty stuff. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJul 1, 2020
The film's extended suspense sequences deserve a place among the great stretches of cinema. Read full review
100
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 1, 2020
Wages of Fear is the kind of motion picture for which commonplace phrases like "white-knuckle tension ride" have been coined. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfDec 7, 2011
Here's where it's easiest to see Clouzot's advantage over his more famous peer, as he combines nail-biting action scenes - calibrated to the millimeter - with a Hawksian command of earthy performances. Read full review
90
The GuardianDavid ThomsonJul 1, 2020
The inspired calculation of action and agonised human reaction is irresistible and inescapable. It is a film that leaves the audience shattered and exhausted. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneDave KehrJul 1, 2020
One of the most deeply and disturbingly nihilistic films ever made, as well as one of the most heart-pounding thrillers. [06 Mar 1992, p.C2]
80
Washington PostRita KempleyJul 1, 2020
A precursor of The Wild Bunch, it is an expertly directed, personally felt film. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKathleen MaherJul 1, 2020
This film, the inspiration for the less successful Sorcerer, is a textbook case of how to handle suspense. It has also been called the cruelest movie ever made and it certainly earns that title by the film's end. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineEric HendersonJul 1, 2020
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear now seems much less like Salt of the Earth-as-a-potboiler and a lot more like the spiritual godfather to every testosterone-fueled thrill ride since. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBosley CrowtherJul 1, 2020
The excitement derives entirely from the awareness of nitroglycerine and the gingerly, breathless handling of it. You sit there waiting for the theatre to explode. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumJul 1, 2020
A significant influence on Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, this grueling pile driver of a movie will keep you on the edge of your seat, though it reeks of French 50s attitude, which includes misogyny, snobbishness, and borderline racism. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAndrew SarrisJul 1, 2020
Wages of Fear rides for a cheap fall. Clouzot has copped out with cheap irony. [25 May 1967, p.31]
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