Sorcerer

Sorcerer(1977) - William Friedkin

Sorcerer is an adaptation of a French novel about men driving trucks full of nitroglycerin through the mountains in South America(also adapted into the French film Wages of Fear). Much like another one of my favorite films from this era, Apocalypse Now, Sorcerer is a sort of bleak adventure film. A film that feels like a journey to hell, probing the darkest corners of the human soul. For a film that has been almost entirely forgotten It has a surprising amount of scope and production value. Sorcerer is filled with gorgeous widescreen compositions, aerial photography, and pyrotechnics. But for all the production value, there is a constant sense of foreboding, and it’s easy to see why a film this dark was destroyed by Star Wars which opened the same week. I truly believe that if this had been released a year earlier it would be at least as well known as say The French Connection or possibly Apocalypse Now. It's possible that I am overselling it because I was so surprised how good it was, and I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but I think a lot more people should check this one out.