Rating: 
Summary: An Intense, Underlooked Film....
Review: I agree with most that this is a underlooked classic.....extremely intense, with scenes that really make you wonder...how did they do that??? Way before special digital effects were ever used...this stuff was staged to make your jaw drop......I always loved this movie, have the Laserdisc copy....and am going to get the DVD...it was framed at 1.66:1 on laserdisc, which was how Mr. Friedkin wanted it shown (according to laserdisc), so a full frame version is not missing very much picture.....buy this movie if you liked the original it is based on "Wages of Fear", or just want to be rivetted to your seat for a few hours.......this is great storytelling, done my a master......
Rating: 
Summary: I am not alone!
Review: This has been one of my all time favorite films since I first saw it in the theater decades ago. I saw it once, but its music and images have haunted me since. I am surprised how many other people feel as I do. Until this moment, I thought I was the only one who even remember this movie[...] Of all the new horrible movies out there, can't we save this one classic!One last thing, am I the only one who has noticed how much Apocalypse Now borrowed from this film?
Rating:
Summary: best sleeper hit ever!
Review: This movie has got to be the best sleeper hit ever! The music the effects its all top notch. I would really like to know how they filmed the bridge sceen, the things they do with the trucks are just plain remarkable! I wish there was a making of feature on the disk. maybe sometime in the future they will make a special edition disk and even if they don't I will still be happy with what I have.
Rating:
Summary: This flick is one of a kind!
Review: wow! this is some movie! there was hardly any script (talking). it's more of a adventure per se. a real life kind of thing without all the drama added to it, (yet the drama was created solely off the adventure). the first 40 minutes is more of a 10 minute brief on establishing each of the 4 characters, and the rest of it is the adventure! the best part is the truck riding over the rope bridge as you can see on the video jacket. all of it is good anyway! they don't make movies like this anymore. by the way, i liked this movie so much, i rented the original french flick called "le salarie de la peur" aka 'the wages of fear'. in this version, you'll have more drama and character development. i enjoyed this one as well, but the ending is different and very unexpected, and i found it to be quite hilarious.
Rating:
Summary: Proof that "Sorcerer" WAS shot in widescreen!
Review: Yes, 5 stars is for the film itself. It is arguably THE MOST nerve-wracking cinematic experience ever filmed. Now with that said, here is the proof that "Sorcerer" was shot in widescreen: 1. Look at the picture of all five men on the back of the DVD cover. You can see only a trim of the German's face on the right side, and the man to the far left side has his head in full view. Now watch that sequence on this full-frame DVD and you cannot see the German at all, and you can only see half of the man's head on the left. Then after the man tells the others that they leave in four hours, it cuts back to them again, AND YOU CANNOT SEE THE MAN ON THE LEFT SIDE ANYMORE, AND THE GERMAN MAN IS IN FULL VIEW. 2. When you watch the original theatrical trailer, there is a shot from the sequence when the hitman and Domiguez are being questioned about the contents of their truck at gunpoint by a terrorist group. When the two first see the group, there is a shot where you see three men pointing automatic guns at the screen. BUT THIS IS ACTUALLY ONLY SEEN AS TWO MEN IN THE FULL-FRAME FILM. THE MAN YOU SEE TO THE RIGHT IN THE THEATRICAL TRAILER IS CUT OFF. 3. Supposedly, there was a Laserdisc version of "Sorcerer" presented in it's original 1.66:1 ratio. So please, don't gimmie any bull about this film being shot in full-frame. Friedkin may have his wishes to keep this movie in a 1.33:1 ratio, but I say that Universal Pictures is just being lazy in keeping the movie this way. ...
Rating:
Summary: "Wages of Fear"... II
Review: Long before I went to the public library and read "The Wages of Fear"-- a fantastic book-- I became intrigued with "Scorcerer".
It had an edgy soundtrack and an edgy look. Much of the tension and suspense was understated... and being plugged in to a more international view of the cinema, I loved the grit.
The characters are rock-hard and chisled tough. You feel their intensity with a look or a phrase. The setting is the stuff only B. Traven, and the guys from "Treasure of Sierra Madre" would be proud of... I could see Bogart playing Scanlon,the New York hood, Belmondo, Omar Sharif, and many other fantastic international actors in these parts.
The way the jungle [stinks] you in might seem, outwardly hokey, but Frankenheimer is masterful at using incliment weather and 3rd world rotting structures (like the rope bridge) to heighten the effect of man versus nature... and man is small in this.
How greed and ambition overcomes seemingly hopeless odds is amazing. You root for the main characters, despite the fact that they are seedy criminals. Amazingly enough... a great sense of humanity is defined, and you are transported into another world.
"Scorcerer" does not have the aires of "Agguire, Wrath of God" or its presumption. These men are not fools or blustering dreamers... just desperate souls seeking some sense of practical salvation.
What a stroke of genius to have "Tangerine Dream" modulate the soundtrack... the mix of electronic moog musak and a dark, hungry jungle are magnetic.
BUY THIS DVD... they have really cleaned up the negatives and it looks great!
Rating:
Summary: Intense
Review: The title is misleading and probably one of the reasons it didn't do well at the box office. People may have been expecting another grossout like "The Exorcist". The only thing these two shows have in common is the same director. This movie tells the story of four men who have escaped imminent danger in their own country and fled to a jungle hell in South America. Still, this beats the alternative. They are all in big trouble and are facing prison or death. Their escape is to a place where no one wants to look for them. This place of exile is nearly as bad as what they ran away from though. There is nothing to do but sweat and live in squalor. They get a chance to make enough money to escape this hell but it is a dangerous drive through the jungle on poorly maintained roads to say the least. They are carrying nitro and have to travel something like 200 miles to reach their destination. But these are desperate men willing to gamble with their lives because their lives have become hopeless anyway. The soundtrack by Tangerine Dream is as intense as the movie. And don't miss the last song, "Betrayal (Sorcerer Theme)". This song alone makes the soundtrack worth buying.
Rating:
Summary: cult classic
Review: Forget the fact that this film was one of the biggest commercial and critical bombs in the history of cinema, as it has achieved cult status (just look at all the positive reviews on this website), with the likes of Stephen King and Harlan Ellison expressing their admiration for it. Why the studio has decided to release a shoddy version on DVD is beyond me-- perhaps Friedkin's personality (not unlike that of James Cameron) has made him too many enemies. Nevertheless, this is a gritty grimy film with some outstanding sequences that could never be equalled by computer generated imagery (the suspension bridge crossing is definitely one of the most suspenseful scenes in all of cinema) and a truly stand-out score by Tangerine Dream (which turned me into a life-long fan of the group). Performances and editing are superb, though the film does have its rough edges (some awkward camerawork, too-obvious details like the bride with the black eye). Still, it is a memorable viewing experience. They just don't make 'em like this anymore.
Trivia footnote: Friedkin put a portrait of Charles Bludhorn, chairman of Gulf + Western (parent company of Paramount) on the wall of the oil company. G+W had many investments in South America, and Bludhorn was not pleased (to say the least) when he saw his picture in the film.
Rating: 
Summary: STUNNING REMAKE OF "THE WAGES OF FEAR" BADLY FORMATTED
Review: DVD COMMENT BY GANGARUNNER: One of the most intensely realistic thrillers ever made and William Friedkin's greastest work. Also the greatest REMAKE ever made. But is it formatted in WIDESCREEN with extras and maybe COMMENTARY? Heck no, it's FULLSCREEN with no extras. This movie would get 5 STARS but I give 1 STAR to the STUDIO for releasing this MASTERPIECE in FULLSCREEN. If ever a film begged to be LETTERBOXED, it's this one. I know this film did not do well in it's initial release, but it's obviously a CULT CLASSIC, now. I guess Friedkin is too busy doing another EXORCIST REISSUE- THE VERSION YOU HAVEN"T PAID FOR YET. What a crime. Maybe Criterion will redo this the way it should have been done. Don't fail to check out their version of the original classic, THE WAGES OF FEAR. A WORD OF WARNING-it's in French.
Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps we will never see a proper version
Review: I hate giving this masterpiece a 2 out of 5 but it is the DVD that is in qeustion...not the film. Will a full aspect ratio version of this gritty film ever come out? Will we ever see a remastered copy? A Friedkin commentary? Probobly not. We see mounds of BAD films filling the shelves with dir. commentary and making of's. They have transfers that are impecable, yet worthy films are set aside, mastered from rotting prints. We know that Sorcerer is NOT a marketable DVD, the profit margins are too low. But when we see special editions for forgettable films that made little to no money at the boxoffice, it makes one wonder how these companies view their provocative films, what their scale of worth is.
Maybe, it only adds to the film's flair; forgotten, but wicked, wicked cool.
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