How about William Friedkin's "SORCERER"

[JaySound55]

William Friedkin was riding the wave of his popularity from "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist" and had the opportunity to remake the 1953 French thriller "The Wages of Fear" directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. That film was heavily censored when it was released in the U.S. as it was deemed "anti-American" by the powers that made those decisions, probably the Hayes office. A recent, gorgeous transfer has been released on Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection. See it!

Anyway in 1977 Friedkin directed and released "Sorcerer" after a very troubled shoot. The script was co-written by Georges Arnaud, the author of the original book "The Wages of Fear". It was co-produced by Universal and Paramount and had a huge budget at the time of over $22 million. Unfortunately it was a commercial flop at the box office, taking in only about $12 million, not even recouping its production costs. One factor was that it opened at about the same time as the first "Star Wars". Also, the title confused audiences because there is nothing about magic or sorcery in the movie. It’s an exciting, beautifully filmed thriller starring Roy Scheider and several other internationally known actors as expatriated criminals on the run, hiding out in a small South American town. The final sequence with two trucks carrying nitroglycerin across the South American jungle will have you on the edge of your seat.

The German band Tangerine Dream contributed the fantastic electronic soundtrack and as a result scored a number of other Hollywood movies.

This film deserves the full Blu-ray treatment with extensive extras (if any exist) and interviews with Friedkin and surviving cast members. Unfortunately Roy Scheider died last year and there is a story that he was angry at Friedkin for cutting a scene that he particularly cherished, so he rarely if ever commented on the film.

There was a full-frame 1.33 DVD release of the film in 1998 in Dolby Digital 2.0 that came nowhere close to giving this movie the restoration and handling that it deserved. The DVD was an MCA/Universal release so lets hope that the new NBC/Universal will do it right if they finally decide to release it on Blu-ray.