A fine actor.
William Friedkin blames Star Wars for the failure of Sorcerer. I’m not sure if he has a point in literal terms, although Sorcerer did come out right as Star Wars fever was gripping the nation, debuting a month after Luke first blew up the Death Star, but he’s certainly right in a larger sense. Star Wars heralded the end of the 70s Golden Age of film, and Sorcerer was the last movie of that wave to make it through, but when it was released it found the entire movie landscape had changed.
Maybe some of the problem came from the title; despite being called Sorcerer the movie has nothing to do with magic. Audiences could have been confused, thinking that the director of The Exorcist was back in the paranormal world and, seeing that it’s a movie about driving trucks in the jungle, been turned off.
But most of the problem, I think, came from the changing times. Friedkin’s movie is tough and smart, expertly crafted and thrillingly shot, but it doesn’t capture the feel-good matinee theatrics of Star Wars. After a decade of rough-edged movies about difficult men and existential crises, America had enough. Sure, Sorcerer is an adventure movie set in the jungle, but audiences wanted a lighter kind of adventure, and they’d happily visit the jungle with Indiana Jones in a few years, but they didn’t want to take this death trip with Roy Scheider.
Thanks for the link. :)
I am amazed by this post. At thirteen I was dropped off at the local theater with some friends to see Star Wars... It was SOLD OUT. So, nothing else to do we decided what the hell? Sorcerer was AWESOME. I can STILL remember the scenes like nitro-blasting the 20 foot in diameter fallen tree so the convoy could continue... Building the transport trucks (had to be three to make sure at least one made it)... Knowing that at ANY moment any of the three nitro-carrying trucks could just explode if it hit a pothole to hard! Sorcerer is in my top ten of all time.
A fine actor.