Rating: 
Summary: The truth is found
Review: Finally the truth;
Sorcerer was filmed at 1.66:1 aspect ratio.
The DVD is 1.33:1 ratio.
Come on Mr. Freidkin how about a 25year anniversary
issue of SORCERER for next year?
Rating:
Summary: The truth is out there
Review: I first seen Sorcerer in it's initial release in 1977 and couldn't beleive the bad press it received. Maybe that was because at that time we had hero movies like Rocky and Luke Skywalker and Sorcerer was a hero's story with no hero's or redeaming charactors. I think the movie was definatly ahead of it's time. Maybe the movie can now be recieved for what it is, a masterpeice of film noir where mens evil deeds never get redeemed. It's a 5 star movie but don't watch it if your feeling depressed.
WIDESCREEN/FULLSCREEN
When I first heard Sorcerer was comming to DVD I was thrilled. DVD is the next best thing to sitting in a theater, and I couldn't wait to buy it, but then seeing the full frame aspect on the label I balked.I assumed all current films were shot in widescreen. I then read another reviewer who say's it was filmed full screen, so I was ready to purchase it again. Another reviewer say's no,the charactors are cut off in an obvious pan an scan version.
One of the beauties of DVD is watching a movie exactly as the director envisioned it. I don't want a full screen movie if it was filmed in widescreen, and vise versa. I know it sounds nit-picky, but that's just me. What to do.
I went to Amazon's IMDB and under lazerdisk version of Sorcerer, it read that Freidkin purposly requested that the lazerdisk not be made in widescreen because apparently he doesn't like the format. I assume the DVD was made the same way. ....
Rating: 
Summary: A 2nd note on widescreen
Review: One... claimed that this movie was filmed in 1:33/1 and that this is why there is not a widescreen version. Anyone who has purchased this DVD knows that is a load... It says right before the movie starts that they reformatted the film to fit the 1:33/1 aspect ratio of your TV. This means pan & scan. Plus, you can even tell images are getting cut off on the sides of the screen, escpecially during scenes shot inside the truck cabs... The truth of the matter is that it costs a lot of money to restore a widescreen print for tranfer to video and this movie just isn't popular enough. I love the movie and hope maybe one day it will be remastered for a special edition.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece, pure and simple
Review: Clouzot's "Wages of Fear" is a fine piece of French existentialism - well worth seeing. But Friedkin's "Sorcerer" is a much greater film in every respect. The "backstory" segments, where we get to see how each of the men ends up in his desperate situation, are absolutely astonishing - the grittiest and most convincing examples of "documentary" realism in fictional film-making that I've ever seen. No joke: these scenes make Sidney Lumet seem like Baz Luhrman. The truck journey is simply punishing - probably the most intense cinematic suspense ever filmed. And the ending is unforgettable - a shattering experience.I'm not sure why this film and Friedkin's other overlooked gem, "To Live and Die in L.A.", have yet to receive the acclaim they deserve. (That Friedkin is, by his own admission, a prize jerk may have something to do with it.) But you owe it to yourself to see this movie. It's one of the great ones.
Rating: 
Summary: Incredible
Review: Awesome! The Movie contains Tangerine Dream, bad 70's fashion and Nitro! William Friedkin kicks major arse with this remake of Wages of fear. As with most Friedkin movies there is no hero just interesting characters inhabiting the incredible action. Utilizing techniques similar to those used in The Exorcist the director uses surreal dream sequences to represent the characters state of mind. And to leave the movie open to many interpretations.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, surreal and absolutely wonderful, GEM of a movie!
Review: Movies don't get any better than this. The convergence of seemingly different stories into one thrilling and compelling adventure is Friedkin at his best. If you're not glued to the screen as you watch it then you probably don't have a pulse.
Rating:
Summary: Another quick note on widescreen
Review: A commentator mentioned above that there is no widescreen version of this film. Well, that may be true in one sense and not in another. A note on there not being a widescreen version of "Sorcerer". While it is true that Friedkin may have FILMED "Sorcerer" "full screen", it certainly was not presented that way in theaters. If he did film it at 1.33:1, then it was matted at the top and bottem when screened in theaters, creating a widescreen look. This is a fairly common way for filmmakers even today to get a widescreen look without having to use the cumbersom and expensive anamorphic cameras and lenses that produce a real widescreen image. I can imagine that Freiedkin chose this mainly because he was working in the jungle. Smaller equipment is better equipment in such a situation. So, unless Friedkin had the power to specify, as Kubrick did, that his matted movies be presented in full-frame when on video, the non-existence of a widescreen formatted "Sorcerer" is simply the distributor's laziness.
Rating:
Summary: "Sorce" of Greatness
Review: I had never seen or even knew about "Wages of Fear," the film on which "Sorcerer" is based. When I rented "Sorcerer" on LD in late 1998, I did so strictly out of curiosity about Friedkin's career at that point and my interest in Roy Scheider. I had known a bit about the film's reputation: winning director goes bonkers after major successes, loses perspective, blows lots of money and makes forgettable, silly picture. But "Sorcerer" is nothing of the sort. From the tropical, natural locales in Latin America and the absolutely gripping tension maintained throughout the film's final hour to the electronic music score and the rich characterizations provided by Scheider and the rest of the cast, this film is a wonder to behold. It has its own unique dreamy/nightmarish quality, reminiscent of classics like "Black Narcissus" and "Blade Runner" in that you are transported to another world as foreign and bizarre as any you can imagine, yet it is right here on earth (albeit in a faraway country). Of course, the storyline, which is built around the hopelessness and greed of a small group of desperate thugs, gives the film a noir flavor that is essential to maintaining the tension and adding to the mystique. I don't know that the film is Friedkin's best ("The French Connection" might take top honors in my book), but I think "Sorcerer" is certainly one of the '70s' best and most-interesting entries.
Rating:
Summary: An old favorite
Review: When I was a teenager I first saw the trailer for this movie before a screening of John Frankenhiemer's Black Sunday and thought is was so cool I went back to see Black Sunday again just to see the tremendous Sorcerer trailer (which is included on the DVD). When Sorcerer did come out I saw it three or four times and went to see it at every retrospective I could find. (In the days before video, kids.) I, for one, know that Sorcerer should be letterboxed and I look forward to that version. For a long time the Paramount/Universal dual production held Sorcerer from going anywhere. What makes me come back to watch Sorcerer over and over is the excellent intensity of the piece (especially the second hour), Freidkin's riveting direction, Owen Roizman's superb cinematography (greens, blues, tans), and Roy Scheider; always good in my book. (Except 52 Pickup, steer clear.) The international cast is excellent as well, especially Bruno Cremer. Too bad they don't make 'em like this anymore. Great soundtrack from TD, too. Most suspenseful scene in any movie I can think of (at the bridge). Just as good everytime you watch it. Buy it, but hope it comes out in the original letterbox. Grown-up and riveting!
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing production
Review: There are actually two versions of this film attributed to William Friedkin: this is the longer (and more tedious) of the two and is probably the truer 'Friedkin cut'. It contains almost 40 minutes of additional material on the front of the main action, providing explanatory background material for each of the film's main protagonists. It also contains a final twist at the end, which was cut from the other version, released under the story's original title of "Wages of Fear". The later ("Wages of Fear") cut was an altogether grittier version than this earlier ("Sorcerer") one, with all scenes shorter and tighter than their equivalents here and with some reordered to keep the story moving along faster. (The explanatory material from the beginning was edited heavily, and used in bursts of flash-back during the journey scenes, for example.) It also contains a couple of scenes which never made it into this version, which provide an interesting alternative sequence of events from those portrayed here! Sadly, the other version suffers heavily from over-sanitisation (all of the political terrorist connotations have been expunged, for example) and has truly dreadful over-dubbing of all non-English dialogue: a great pity as otherwise the remade "Wages of Fear" would have been an altogether better film than this is. That said, this version has some truly gripping moments, wonderfully enhanced by the haunting Tangerine Dream soundtrack and it is well worth a watch. It is just such a shame that this DVD has been mastered from such a poor quality copy of the print, and a standard 3:2 format one at that. It has had a better job of panning and scanning applied to it than the TV copy of the later "Wages of Fear" received, but it still loses much in this format. Disappointing, overall.
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