The Wages of Fear (Original title: Le salaire de la peur, 1953) is considered one of the greatest films of all time. It is on the IMDb top 250.
In a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
In my opinion, it is still quite watchable today, both as a fascinating time capsule and as a legitimate thriller.
The same story has been remade into two major motion pictures. William Friedkin remade it as Sorcerer in 1977, and Julien Leclercq remade it as The Wages of Fear in 2023.
* Sorcerer is a good film. It’s rated 7.7 at IMDb, and Quentin Tarantino called it “one of the greatest movies ever made.”
* The recent remake was not received as well. In fact, critics took a hearty dump on it. It does include a tiny bit of nudity from Ana Girardot.
The director of the 1953 classic was Henri-Georges Clouzot, whose career output was small, but important. Alfred Hitchcock considered him a peer and a rival. Hitchcock specifically wanted the film rights to the novel “Les Diaboliques,” but Clouzot beat him to the punch, and filmed it as Diabolique (1955), which has the same high rating on IMDb as The Wages of Fear (8.1). According to IMDb, “Psycho (1960) was put into production because Hitchcock specifically intended to outdo Diabolique (1955).”
Here is the IMDb mini-bio of Clouzot:
Beginning his film career as a screenwriter, Henri-Georges Clouzot switched over to directing and in 1943 had the distinction of having his film Le Corbeau (1943) banned by both the German forces occupying France and the Free French forces fighting them, but for different reasons. He shot to international fame with The Wages of Fear (1953) and consolidated that success with Diabolique (1955), but continuous ill health caused large gaps in his output, and several projects had to be abandoned (though one, Hell (1994), was subsequently filmed by Claude Chabrol). His films are typically relentless suspense thrillers, similar to Alfred Hitchcock’s but with far less light relief.
The not-quite-nudity in The Wages of Fear was provided by Vera Clouzot, the director’s wife.
I heard about the film Sorcerer this week on a Canadian podcast called The Couch Potatoes. Apparently it’s just got some special release. The film generated some negative attention when it was released in theatres in 1977 because it wasn’t a fantasy film as the title led people to believe and many people walked out on the film. I believe the podcast said that the theatres tried to respond by placing a warning on the poster, but that didn’t work either.
Odd title.
I saw Sorcerer in the theaters first-run, but since then have come across it maybe once on cable. Excellent movie, but I can’t remember exactly why it has that title. I think maybe it was painted on one of the trucks?
Recently they put out the original cut of a French classic Le Jour se Leve/Daybreak with a full body nude in a bathroom, & that one came out in 1937!
We know that European cinema didn’t have a great deal of nudity either for a long time, but the pruditry has always been unique to the United States.
Scoop neglected to mention Henri-Georges nephew, who was a famous Parisian policeman.
Diabolique and Wages of Fear are both Pantheon-level films and Henri-Georges Clouzot is an exceptional director, not as appreciated today as he should be. I saw Sorcerer in the theaters first-run as well, a very good film but not quite as good as the original (it took the 40 minutes to establish WHY the characters were in the jungle; the original started at that point and just assumed it didn’t matter, they are where they are….very existential, very 50’s French). Many thanks for your comments and posting these stills, Scoop.