Rating: 
Summary: Gritty, rugged,
Review: It's kind of neat to see so many rave reviews of this film that I was afraid was becoming forgotten. Initially, I simply knew this film to be one that scared the [heck] out of me as a kid. Later, on cable, after finally getting used to the scenes with graphic gore, I wistfully lamented that they truly don't make films like they used to. This film is echt-70's in its ruggedly authentic portrayal of working men and third-world environments. It's really too bad we don't see any of this "celebrated" in film anymore. Even the films inspired by the 70s genre of auto race and chase films make a garage look like an MTV video, as if there's only money, and no work, going into the labors. By contrast, Sorcerer is at once artistically elegant, beautifully filmed, and yet extremely true to the class of man it portrays. It is similarly impressive in portraying its third-world environments. The only drawback for me is that one of the critical action scenes (which most viewers consider outstanding) strikes me as stretching and stretching the bounds of credibility. It's intense, yes, but some shots make me think that the laws of physics had been temporarily adjusted. I wonder if the filmmakers lost a truck or two on that bridge... Another little drawback was that a minor character from early in the film needs to be recognized in order to identify how the film ends. Those who aren't strong at memorizing faces may have a problem here, but this is a minor complaint since the film is worth watching at least two times anyway so as to better place everything into the overall direction of the story, once you've identified it. What was the rule? At least 3 good scenes and no bad ones to make a great movie? The existential sequence at the end certainly qualifies. It is weird! I'm also a fan of the truck-repair sequence in the middle. Unfortunately, the key truck-driving scene later on seems to me to stretch credibility and interfere with the otherwise pervasive realism. Maybe it's not quite a great film... I couldn't say that the oil explosion and charred bodies scenes that so horrified me in my youth deserve to be called great. Effective, anyway...Definitely the kind of unique film that made 70s cinema so distinguished from the surrounding decades. Long live the decade of the everyman! And this film will definitely grow on you (or with you, as in my case!)
Rating: 
Summary: a hauntingly brilliant film
Review: i only have very recently seen this film.I'm not going to talk about the technical side of it all I can say is that it's a fantastic film.It's gripping,captivating and mesmerising from start to finish;plus,I have never seen Roy Scheider looking so good....unshaven,dirty,sweating and totally gorgeous
Rating: 
Summary: Grainy, but great soundtrack
Review: Not much extra on the DVD- text cast bios and the trailer. Lots of dirt on the film used for transfer. If you like this movie, you may as well get the tape version.
Rating:
Summary: A SOPHISTICATED FILM AHEAD OF ITS TIME
Review: Inspired in part by the many Strangers-brought-together-by-a- mastermind type of heist film that was quite popular in the seventies and came back as Quentin Terentino's Reservoir Dogs in the nineties, this is the angle which Friedkin adopted for the retelling of the Wages of Fear, a novel made into a French film which achieved world wide renown. The film is short on dialogue because Friedkin chooses to tell the story cinematically, and what dialogue is included, is there as part of natural surroundings. The characters are not acting on the stage for the audience, they are dealing with and are reacting to each other. Among this films's many strengths is that it is shot on location and does not have the feel of a stage production. Sorcerer is a naturalistic filming at its best that shows both, how man can triumph over the environment through endurance and inventiveness, and it also shows how trials can rehabilitate and beautify character. Friedkin does a marvelous job illustrating this point with Scheider's moral transformation in the end, when he helps the cleaning woman off the floor. The film's abrupt ending isjarring, unrealistic, an afterthought and no doubt an influence of Friedkin's past horror films. Friedkin focuses on off the road driving as his dramatic stage, at a time when SUV's were not yet invented and such driving was not a form of rugged recreation, but dangerous necessity. In the real world it could have been life saving medicines for an isolated tropical region for valuable cargo, as to the road hazards, it could have been anything from flash floods and avalanches in mountainous regions to the attack aircraft on the Ho Chi Mihn trail. The trucks are represented quite poetically in this film, almost like the sentinent beings in their quiet menace and restrained power. Men driving them are mere bugs by comparison as they try tricking each other and grovel over as yet unattained spoils, even as the trials of the journey are about to transform and destroy them. This spiritual dimension of the film is added to by the ultra modern for its day music score by Tangerine Dream, a CD that holds its ground even today as solidly original electronic music. If this film was a commercial failure, then it must have been a marketing failure, because this is one great film however you look at it.
Rating:
Summary: Widescreen!
Review: This is not a review. I personally love the film. I want to help clear up some misleading comments from an earlier reviewer who states this film is not available in widescreen. This film was shot in 35mm with an aspect ratio of 1.66-1. The first time I saw it was in '93 or '94 on VHS and that WAS widescreen. Amazon even offered a widescreen VHS version before the selection was unavailable for a time, to be replaced by the version they sell now. These are not speculations, they are facts. Why the distributors choose to release the DVD and the newest video in fullscreen format is beyond me. Perhaps the same people who are responsible for the "Eyes Wide Shut" release mess had a hand in this mediocrity.
Rating:
Summary: We Need Widescreen!!
Review: Roy Scheider plays a Mafia gang member who participates in a botched hold-up of a rival crew's operation. As the getaway car crashes, Scheider's character, forced to abandon the money, is left to escape the police who are fast closing in. This is how "Sorecerer" opens - at a point where you'd think less ambitious movies would usually end. Scheider, now hunted by the Mob and the law, and with time running out, accepts a hurriedly arranged escape-plan to flee the country that's fraught with unanswered questions. From this point on, every step he takes, however expedient or desperate, to extricate himself from his dire circumstances, takes him deeper into a nightmarish world where events are ever-increasingly beyond his control - all the way up to a shattering, surreal conclusion. I hadn't seen "Wages Of Fear" before this movie, but "Sorcerer" left a tremendous impression on me. It's as convincing as any "descent-into-hell" picture I've ever seen, like "Apocolypse Now", "Deliverance" or "Angel Heart". Friedkin's universe here is devoid of heroes - everyone is a villain. And trust is viewed with suspicion, even when it's a matter of survival. The acting is convincing and, yes, I even like the directing. The script, what there is, is good and the score is phenominal, but, it's really about how they (along with the various plotlines) all converge to create such a singularly gritty, horrifically surreal and numbingly Noir-ish universe - the sheer force of which is a little hard to shake off, even after it's over. In fact, one critic called it: "The toughest, most relentless American film in a long time". Other critics panned it as some sort of monumental directorial failure, but personally, I actually enjoy it when a filmmaker makes demands on my attention span. If it's a failure, then it's one of my favorite kinds. The union of film and music in this movie is outstanding. Almost unbelievably, Friedkin, paying homage to Tangerine Dream, writes in the liner notes for the CD: "One day in the middle of a primeval forest in the Dominican Republic, about six months into the shooting, a tape arrived from The Dream, containing ninety minutes of musical impressions. It is from this tape that the film is scored, though the musicians had not then nor even now as this is written seen any of the footage". I can only ponder the degree to which the music must have impacted the remaining production and post-production, but I can't imagine the synergy of this film/music combo having been improved upon. According to at least one source, this film was shot in Panavision. That scope is always 2.35:1. And from looking at the compositions on the full-frame DVD, I'd say that's a safe bet. It's true that Friedkin dictated the laserdisc to be pan&scan. I suppose that he may have felt, on the small screen anyway, that facial expressions were more important than vistas in this film, but, that's just my speculation. Maybe it was done for art-direction concerns, I dunno. Even so, things have changed since the original LD release and video display devices (mine among them) have increased in size and resolution steadily over the years and I (the above art-direction concerns notwithstanding) would jump at the chance to own an anamorphic DVD of this unforgettable movie.
Rating:
Summary: Who is the Sorcerer?
Review: Who do you think the Sorcerer is? If you don't know, be gentle in your critisism of the movie - it's possible you just don't understand the concept and, hence, the beauty of it...
Rating:
Summary: A REAL movie for REAL men.
Review: This movie is unique in the sense that it is NOT a typical, run of the Hollywood mill, saturated in sensationalism, unbelievabley witty, action flick. This movie demands the audience's attention in order to fully appreciate it, but the rewards are great. Driven forth by fear and by greed, four men attempt to drive 2 decrepit 6 x 6 trucks loaded with highly unstable dynamite over 200 gruelling miles through some of the most inhospitable terrain South America has to offer. The trials they face are relentless...agony and sheer determination are written on the expressions on their faces, and very little dialogue is needed. This is not about feelings or emotions -it's about survival and getting the job done, no matter what the cost. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and have viewed it several times.
Rating:
Summary: Better than "Wages of Fear"
Review: Yes, it's true. I enjoyed this film more than I did "Wages of Fear". I think it's much more suspenseful, for one thing, especially the rickety bridge scene. That was some incredible movie making.
Rating:
Summary: Widescreen please
Review: Yes the film has obviously been reformatted to fit the television format, as has been stated. It is badly cropped, and makes the film look ugly and ill concieved. I saw Sorcerer at the BFI cinema in London in October 1997, and to see the film in its full aspect ratio is the only way to see it and fully appreciate it. Come on Mr. Friedkin, how about a special edition reissue in its correct aspect ratio, anamorphic of course, and with tons of extras to boot?
At the moment it's a 5 star film, but only a 2 star DVD
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