Read more
William Friedkin's film Sorcerer (1977) has been subject to a major re-evaluation in the last decade. A dark re-imagining of the French Director H.G. Clouzot's Le Salaire de la Peur (The Wages of Fear) (1953) (based on George Arnaud's novel); the film was a major critical and commercial failure on its initial release. Friedkin's work was castigated as an example of directorial hubris as it was a notoriously difficult production which went wildly over-budget. It was viewed at the time as th end of New Hollywood. However, within recent years, the film has emerged in the popular and scholarly consciousness from enjoying a minor, cult status to becoming subject to a full-blown critical reconsideration in which it has been praised a major work by a key American filmmaker.
List of contents
Chapter 1: William Friedkin, New Hollywood, and 'Auteurial' Filmmaking
Chapter 2: Sorcerer - The Film's Production History and the 'Politics' of Hollywood System
Chapter 3: Sorcerer - From Source Novel to Friedkin's 'Reimaging' of H. G. Clouzot's La Salaire de la Peur (The Wages of Fear) (1953) - Fate and Entrapment
Chapter 4: Sorcerer - Sub-Textual Disorder, Global Economics, Geo-Politics and Magical Realism
Chapter 5: A Commercial and Critical Failure - The Impact on William Friedkin and New Hollywood
Chapter 6: The Resurrection of Sorcerer - From a Lost Film to a Masterpiece
About the author
Mark Wheeler is professor of Political Communications at London Metropolitan University.
Summary
William Friedkin’s film Sorcerer (1977) has emerged in the popular and scholarly consciousness from enjoying a minor, cult status to becoming subject to a full-blown critical reconsideration in which it has been praised a major work by a key American filmmaker.
