Sorcerer

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Sorcerer

PG

1977

2h 1m

Adventure

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

84%

Tomatometer

56 Reviews

83%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

In the small South American town of Porvenir, four men on the run from the law are offered $10,000 and legal citizenship if they will transport a shipment of dangerously unstable nitroglycerin to an oil well 200 miles away. Led by Jackie Scanlon, the men set off on a hazardous journey, during which they must contend with dangerously rocky roads, unstable bridges, and attacks from local guerillas. The four fight for their lives as they struggle to complete their dangerous quest.

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Critics Consensus

Sorcerer, which obstinately motors along on its unpredictable speed, features ambitious sequences of insane white-knuckle tension.

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Rex Reed

New York Daily News

10/26/2021

I don't know if there's an audience for this kind of grueling, depressing experience, but Sorcerer might bring back the kind of moviegoer who used to cheer Humphrey Bogart. It's tough and unyielding as a pair of brass knuckles.

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Vincent Canby

New York Times

02/28/2021

For moviegoers who are convinced that more is more, "Sorcerer" is a big, fat, satisfyingly shapeless spectacle. For the rest of us it's a walnut of a movie-a good little melodrama surrounded by thick pulp.

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Peter Keough

Boston Globe

02/28/2021

The director at his most brilliant and original.

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Michael J. Casey

Boulder Weekly

Jul 11

5/5

Bleak as hell but so expertly made it’s hard not to sit in awe.

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Rudie Obias

Battleship Pretension

Jul 9

Overall, Sorcerer is William Friedkin’s masterwork, as a storyteller and filmmaker.

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James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

Jul 4

4/4

a masterful evocation of human desperation and the most intense and compelling depiction of mankind battling the elements to his own destruction not directed by Werner Herzog

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Max M.

@Househuntermax Feb 28

I love this movie so much. Why they didn’t name it ‘The wages of fear’ I will never know but maybe if they did it would have more of a following. Unfortunately,that and being released on the same weekend as Star Wars, kind of tanked Freidkins career for a while after making the exorcist and the French connection. Who knows how good his fourth movie could’ve been if this one had done better at the box office.? Anyways, this movie is freaking great! Super tense, a pretty straightforward story that still throws in some twists. The fact that it’s shot on location and the actors did a lot of their own driving and some stunts makes it worth watching alone. But the individual set pieces like the bridge crossing and the tree you can see how hard everyone worked to get this movie made. Another must see for 70s movies fans.

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Kenneth T.

@ktiranno Feb 21

Tense. Well made and thrilling. Highly underrated. Freidken is at the top of his game. Too bad it opened at the same as a little movie called Star Wars.

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Stephen K

@Ethnreehtsn Feb 8

A lot of work went into this film. Hard work. It certainly does a good job showing a showing the squalor of a dirt poor country being exploited by Big Oil. But unfortunately for me, there’s almost no tension in the main plot with no main character with whom I could identify or feel any connection. Maybe it’s the way it was edited. Or maybe it’s just me.

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tm11999 M

@tm11999 Feb 6

great film. chief brody gets the job done, then.....you can watch this.

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michael C.

@MichaelC2 Jan 24

Sorcerer is a masterpiece. Very suspenseful. The music is very cool as well. Loved it. Too bad it got buried by the juggernaut that was Star Wars that came out about the same time.

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Greg K

@GregZ Jan 14

All the location filming, setpieces and grime do not make up for the shallow characters and the useless prologue. Could have more drive by beeing 30min shorter.

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William Friedkin

Director

Roy Scheider

Jackie Scanlon

Bruno Cremer

Victor Manzon

Francisco Rabal

Nilo

Amidou

Kassem

Ramon Bieri

Corlette

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Synopsis

In the small South American town of Porvenir, four men on the run from the law are offered $10,000 and legal citizenship if they will transport a shipment of dangerously unstable nitroglycerin to an oil well 200 miles away. Led by Jackie Scanlon, the men set off on a hazardous journey, during which they must contend with dangerously rocky roads, unstable bridges, and attacks from local guerillas. The four fight for their lives as they struggle to complete their dangerous quest.

Director: William Friedkin
Producer: William Friedkin
Screenwriter: Walon Green
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures, Film Properties International N.V., Universal Pictures
Rating: PG
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 24, 1977, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 5, 2014
Runtime: 2h 1m

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