Sorcerer
Another one of those Letterboxd discoveries, but I was still surprised that I'd never really heard of this movie until about 6 months ago. It turns out there's a really interesting reason (or a few really interesting reasons) why I - and many people - hadn't really heard of it until about 10 years ago, almost 40 years after it debuted in cinemas.
Perhaps the biggest issue was that Sorcerer was released the week before Star Wars, meaning that any chance this - or any movie - had of gaining a word of mouth following was eclipsed by Lucas' behemoth release. Sorcerer is also cited as one of four movies that brought about the end of the 'auteur' movement in 70s cinema. This, along with Heaven's Gate, New York New York, and One From the Heart - all flops from big directors, meant studios dropped movies like this entirely in favour of galaxies far, far, away.
It was also pretty negatively reviewed at the time, only saw three weeks in theaters, didn't make it onto home video until 17 years later (and even then it was a crappy pan and scan), and basically changed the course of director William Friedkin's career from the hugely successful one-two punch of The French Connection and The Exorcist to a cautionary tale of over-budgeted hubris.
This was Friedkin's masterwork. He poured his life and his heart and his soul into this production. For better or worse (most often worse for the cast and crew) Friedkin pushed harder and further than he ever had or will again to get this picture released. The budget spiralled, conditions on set were hell, prominent cast members left the production before filming even started, and whole sets were built, dismantled and rebuilt due to the changing environments or the real world locations they were filming in.
All of this is to say that the story behind the story is equally fascinating as what's on screen. It's the very definition of an underdog picture, one which fought against the odds to drag itself up from the mud and muck and demand it to be seen. Friedkin oversaw the restoration of the original film back in 2014, when it saw release onto blu-ray and the reevaulation of this long-lost masterpiece began.
And that's what it is, at least to me (and thankfully many others now): a masterpiece. In fact, it could easily become one of my favourite movies of all time. I always shy away from saying that due to recency bias, but as soon as it finished I was looking at which movie I could bump from my top four!
I've seen the criticism around the structure of the movie, the pacing specifically being mentioned as offputting. The whole premise of the movie is about these four criminals from all over the world hiding out in the same south american village, and being recruited to transport highly volatile explosives through 200 miles of jungle. The thing is though, that journey doesn't start until over an hour into the movie. We get four sort of prologues which explore, in various length, the circumstances of the four men and how they came to reside in the hellish town of Porvenir. Then we get some time seeing their living and working conditions in Porvenir, and only then does it start to go into the main thrust of the movie.
But it's so brilliant. It's thoughtfully paced, and never spoon feeds you anything. It's hard to know what you're watching and why you're seeing it, but when I finally realised that I'm seeing these four men before they come together, it was an indescribable feeling, like I was on a journey and uncovering this story for myself.
Of course, once it does get into the mission, Sorcerer comes into its own. It's the kind of movie I'd have loved to have sat down and watched with my grandad, and may try and watch with my father-in-law. It's a classic adventure story that still feels modern. It's genuinely got some of the most intense scenes in movie history (including the infamous bridge scene from the poster), and it's got an all-timer of an ending.
It's a bleak movie. It's a cynical movie. It's nihilistic. It explores the futility of life and the inevitability of death. It also has some of the most amazing moments of humanity and overcoming the odds. It's an unflinching treatise on the callous nature of capitalism, and of the people it chews up and spits out along the way. It's heart-breaking. It's frankly incredible filmmaking and it's a crime that it's not more widely known and loved. A must-see movie.