Sorcerer: Wages of Fear

[FrameSniffer]

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• ArtisDead
• Mar 30, 2023

The Sniffer Masterpiece
Art by ArtisDead

Sorcerer is an incredible piece of cinema, suspenseful, tense and gritty like no other film. Often hailed as a masterpiece… Sorcerer falls short of this in my eyes.

The key problem for me is the start of the film. The prologue vignettes feel like they were edited in a slapdash manner and look like an afterthought that was bolted onto the start of the film.

Wages of Fear tries to address this issue. The prologue vignettes are now viewed as flashbacks during the film. The editing of the vignettes has been reworked to make them feel less ‘haphazard’ and are now more cohesive with the rest of the film. These backstories are now revealed in a more intelligent way, at moments where an insight into the motives and personality of the characters is needed, the idea being that we are peering into their souls at important moments for the characters. This is also a mechanism to highlight that they can’t escape their past. Some J-Cuts have been introduced the make the cuts throughout the film less jarring. The score has been reworked to fit with the flashback vignettes and create subtle impacts elsewhere in the film.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

I watched Sorcerer shortly after Wages of Fear and I felt it fell short too. I actually quite liked the opening though. it was the drive itself that didn't work for me. Wages of Fear emphasises the danger of even small mistakes from the beginning, whereas Sorcerer rushes past this and puts too much emphasis on the "big" problems too quickly.

 

[FrameSniffer]

I watched Sorcerer shortly after Wages of Fear and I felt it fell short too. I actually quite liked the opening though. it was the drive itself that didn't work for me. Wages of Fear emphasises the danger of even small mistakes from the beginning, whereas Sorcerer rushes past this and puts too much emphasis on the "big" problems too quickly.

The drive should seem a little more interesting now. I’m being carful not to take away from the tension with the timing of the back stories.

 

[ArtisDead]

This could be very interesting. I have a very good version of Sorcerer that has a messed up beginning.

 

[FrameSniffer]

This could be very interesting. I have a very good version of Sorcerer that has a messed up beginning.

What version do you have? My source is the 40th anniversary UK Blu Ray.

 

[ArtisDead]

I believe that it's a film restoration. Not sure where it came from. I always wanted to fix the beginning.

 

[FrameSniffer]

I believe that it's a film restoration. Not sure where it came from. I always wanted to fix the beginning.

Glad I’m not the only one The vignette in France has been trimmed too

 

[TM2YC]

There is a rare but official international theatrical cut of this movie called "Wages of Fear". It's about 90 minutes. A low quality PAL version is on youtube (but a rough 35mm fan scan is out there):

Might be worth watching for editing ideas.

 

[FrameSniffer]

There is a rare but official international theatrical cut of this movie called "Wages of Fear". It's about 90 minutes. A low quality PAL version is on youtube (but a rough 35mm fan scan is out there):

Might be worth watching for editing ideas.

Thank you for the pointer! I’ll try and track down a decent original copy of this. My concept is basically the same as the intonational release but the execution will be different in my edit. I’m hoping the international release has some extra footage I can use, especially the assassination scene, which is really short in the normal cut of this film.

 

[FrameSniffer]

The edit is ‘finished’. Just need to review the entire film in one session on a big tv now. Change list in progress 😊

 

[ArtisDead]

Another poster to consider.

12.jpg

• ArtisDead
• Mar 30, 2023

The FrameSniffer Masterpiece
Art by ArtisDead

 

[ArtisDead]

13.jpg

• ArtisDead
• Mar 30, 2023

The Sniffer Masterpiece
Art by ArtisDead

12.jpg

• ArtisDead
• Mar 30, 2023

The Sniffer Masterpiece
Art by ArtisDead

 

[futon88]

Very nice, Art. I liked the first batch, but this second group is stunning. They would all pop pretty well in their 200px box on the home page. 14 is probably my favourite

 

[ArtisDead]

I like 13 best. But I like all of them for one reason or another.

 

[Gieferg]

This thread gave me some inspiration and now I am considering some kind of grindhouse tratment for this movie.

 

[FrameSniffer]

This thread gave me some inspiration and now I am considering some kind of grindhouse tratment for this movie.

Would be great to see Sorcerer getting another fanedit!

 

[jon1980]

Just watched frame sniffers re-edit of what is possible my fravorit film ,and i have to say for a movie that I'd consider to be a 5 star classic he has somehow went and improved on it ,the first 40 mins were always slow especially to people that were new to the movie ,no slow isint always a bad thing , but the standard 121 min directors cut did seem to to have a few rough edits and things that friedkin could have tweeked here and there ,but i guess he had such a hard time getting an official release for the public in general,now for me his version is a flawed masterpiece and after watching frame sniffers re-edit it's much more of a less flawed masterpiece,to think that someone could take a masterpiece and make it even better is something to really appreciate and admire,the overly long introductions are rearranged and now some are shown in flashback ,which the butchered international 90min version also did ,but that version was done in a sloppy fashion but also left a feeling that the directors cut could have been improved on somehow and this version seems to answer both versions a d also the original french version perfectly ,anyone who enjoys sorcerer either directiors cut or truncated international cut will get the best of both worlds here in an expertly edited way ,I guess one very minor complaint would be that the butcher's 90min international cut did have some extra scenes and some great editing choices that never made the directors cut ,such as the way the second truck has a lucky escape on the classic bridge scene and for me the extra footage of the rebels shooting out the tyre ,and a few other bit and prices,but these are minor nit picking and the picture quality would have changed drastically had those scenes been inserted ....so to have the directors cut improved in quite a few important ways and a general feeling that the film is now more watchable and entertaining from start to finish is an amazing achievement.....so if you've never seen it or would like to see a new take on a classic piece of American cinema then i can't rate this any higher....5+ stars and a big thanks to frame sniffer for such a professional job


Well done and may thanks

Jon

 

[FrameSniffer]

Just watched frame sniffers re-edit of what is possible my fravorit film ,and i have to say for a movie that I'd consider to be a 5 star classic he has somehow went and improved on it ,the first 40 mins were always slow especially to people that were new to the movie ,no slow isint always a bad thing , but the standard 121 min directors cut did seem to to have a few rough edits and things that friedkin could have tweeked here and there ,but i guess he had such a hard time getting an official release for the public in general,now for me his version is a flawed masterpiece and after watching frame sniffers re-edit it's much more of a less flawed masterpiece,to think that someone could take a masterpiece and make it even better is something to really appreciate and admire,the overly long introductions are rearranged and now some are shown in flashback ,which the butchered international 90min version also did ,but that version was done in a sloppy fashion but also left a feeling that the directors cut could have been improved on somehow and this version seems to answer both versions a d also the original french version perfectly ,anyone who enjoys sorcerer either directiors cut or truncated international cut will get the best of both worlds here in an expertly edited way ,I guess one very minor complaint would be that the butcher's 90min international cut did have some extra scenes and some great editing choices that never made the directors cut ,such as the way the second truck has a lucky escape on the classic bridge scene and for me the extra footage of the rebels shooting out the tyre ,and a few other bit and prices,but these are minor nit picking and the picture quality would have changed drastically had those scenes been inserted ....so to have the directors cut improved in quite a few important ways and a general feeling that the film is now more watchable and entertaining from start to finish is an amazing achievement.....so if you've never seen it or would like to see a new take on a classic piece of American cinema then i can't rate this any higher....5+ stars and a big thanks to frame sniffer for such a professional job


Well done and may thanks

Jon

Thank you very much for taking the time to leave such a glowing review. Getting feedback is one of the things I really look forward to after releasing an edit. Agree is would be nice to have the alternate / extended footage in this edit. I'm keeping an eye out for that source material and potentially upscaling it to 1080P. However upscaling has its limits and can look pretty poor coming from SD sources. With that in mind, I would only add it if the quality is comparable.

With regarding to the audio score, you marked this as an 8. Like most editors, we are always looking to improve the edit, so if there was a specific audio issues / something that didn't work, I would love to know, so that I can look to address it if possible. The restaurant scene is something that I'm not 100% satisfied with audio wise and might look to rework this from the original quirky music to a Tangerine Dream track. I would love you're thoughts on this, as you're a big fan of the film.

Thanks again and welcome to the forum. I hope you stick around and enjoy the other editors work.

 

[jon1980]

Minor spoilers::::Well editing of photography is a true art unique to cinema ,so it's a real talent and passion to be able to go ahead and beat the professionals at there own game ,my fravorit editor is Frank mazzola who did 'easy rider , performance with Mick Jagger and a great western with Peter Fonda the hired hand ,so i appreciate the hard work that goes into the the editing,and your version of sorcerer was excellent,it definitely suited the robbery at the beginning then the flashback structure throughout,which the 90min international version tried but in most parts failed ,I'd say the 90min version had a better edit at the end of the bridge scene and the bit with scanlan carrying the case was really well done in the short version ,but the picture quality is poor ,old tv recordings and the wrong aspect ratio,I think the Blu-ray should have included these extra bits as a bonus feature tho .....with the audio it might be down to my 5:1 amplifier,I wasn't in the mood for Messing with the settings because i was keen to watch it so that might be my system,some bits were loud some bits like the gun shot at the end was very quiet ,but it was cranked up because I love the tangerine dream score ,but over all id rather watch your fan edit than the standard directors cut ,the edit with Bruno creamer looking out the scruffy window in south America then chopped to him looking out the French apartment window was an excellent choice ,so again thanks alot ,must have took lots of time and care to make a great film better 👍

 

[jon1980]

Also I'm divided between the rebels having more to do with the story in the short version,the tire blow out was possibly better without the rebels soldiers involved ,the sudden bang was more of a wtf moment in the fan edit and directors cut ,so if there is ever a hd version of the 90 min version personally I'd leave the rebel subplot out ,it distracts from the mission the men are on,then when they do appear when they ambush scanlan and the Mexican hitman it's more of a suprise rather than them lurking in the background of the short version,it's almost as tho most the rebel scenes are from a different movie ,again interesting for fans ,but better left out ,I think another good choice Frame sniffer made was to shorten some of the French backstory, going from the scanlan robbery into the jungle was more of a thrill ride from beginning to end