Press Release Criterion Press Release: Sorcerer (1977) (4k UHD Combo) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

​

A hallucinatory journey into the heart of darkness, William Friedkin’s pulse-pounding reimagining of the suspense classic The Wages of Fear was dismissed upon its release, only to be recognized decades later as one of the boldest auteur statements of the New Hollywood. In a remote Latin American village, four desperate fugitives—a New Jersey gangster (Roy Scheider), a Mexican assassin (Francisco Rabal), an unscrupulous Parisian businessman (Bruno Cremer), and an Arab terrorist (Amidou)—take on a seemingly doomed mission: transporting two trucks full of highly explosive nitroglycerin through the treacherous jungle. Aided by Tangerine Dream’s otherworldly synth score, Friedkin turns each bump in the road into a tour de force of cold-sweat tension—conjuring a hauntingly nihilistic vision of a world ruled by chance and fate.

FILM INFO​

• United States
• 1977
• 121 minutes
• Color
• 1.85:1
• English, Spanish, French, Arabic, German
• Spine #1267
  
  
  

  4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES​

  • New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack approved by director William Friedkin
  • Alternate 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
  • Friedkin Uncut (2018), a documentary by Francesco Zippel featuring interviews with Friedkin; screenwriter Walon Green; filmmakers Wes Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, and Quentin Tarantino; and others
  • New conversation between filmmaker James Gray and film critic Sean Fennessey
  • Archival audio interviews with Green and editor Bud Smith, from the collection of Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, author of William Friedkin (2003)
  • Conversation from 2015 between Friedkin and filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn
  • Behind-the-scenes footage of Friedkin on set
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Justin Chang
    
    New cover by Nessim Higson
    
    
    June 24, 2025

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. As an Amazon Associate HTF earns from qualifying purchases. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

https://www.amazon.com/Sorcerer-Cri...1742591092&s=movies-tv&sr=1-10&srs=2901953011

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

This is just an incredible film. Truly a masterpiece. I think it grows in stature year after year as more people discover it.

Bill Burr can't pronounce Friedkin's name and seems to know little about him but he was blown away when he saw this.

 

[Lord Dalek]

The fact that Friedkin apparently wasn't alive to supervise this transfer should be cause celeb for some people here.

 

[SD_Brian]

• New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack approved by director William Friedkin

Does "approved by director William Friedkin" refer just to the 5.1 soundtrack (presumably the same one that was done for the original Blu-ray release), or is it referring to the "New 4K digital restoration" as well? If it's referring to both, it would obviously indicate the picture restoration was completed before Friedkin's death in 2023.

 

[TravisR]

This is just an incredible film. Truly a masterpiece. I think it grows in stature year after year as more people discover it.

Agreed. I've turned people on to this movie for years now and they always love it whether they're movie fans or just a casual viewer. I don't think any of them had even heard of it so it always makes me look like I'm a genius.

 

[JoshZ]

The fact that Friedkin apparently wasn't alive to supervise this transfer should be cause celeb for some people here.

I demand a transfer of this very gritty movie with a purple tint and "pastel" colors, just like the director wanted!... How we wanted it 30 years after he made the movie, that is...

Does "approved by director William Friedkin" refer just to the 5.1 soundtrack (presumably the same one that was done for the original Blu-ray release), or is it referring to the "New 4K digital restoration" as well? If it's referring to both, it would obviously indicate the picture restoration was completed before Friedkin's death in 2023.

Criterion seems to be playing coy here. The way the statement is worded with a comma before the "with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack approved by director William Friedkin" suggests to me that only the soundtrack was approved by Friedkin.

 

[SD_Brian]

This is just an incredible film. Truly a masterpiece. I think it grows in stature year after year as more people discover it.

My problem with Sorcerer is that I have a hard time suspending my disbelief that the oil company wouldn't just use a helicopter to transport the nitro to the site or get some more stable explosives flown in from the mainland. Granted, if they did that there wouldn't be a movie...

 

[TravisR]

Criterion seems to be playing coy here. The way the statement is worded with a comma before the "with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack approved by director William Friedkin" suggests to me that only the soundtrack was approved by Friedkin.

Agreed. I tend to think that they're taking the route that Arrow took with the Cruising UHD where now that Friedkin's dead, they're putting it out in a way that's not altering the original color.

 

[JoshZ]

Agreed. I tend to think that they're taking the route that Arrow took with the Cruising UHD where now that Friedkin's dead, they're putting it out in a way that's not altering the original color.

On the one hand, that's kind of disrespectful to Friedkin. Especially given Criterion's mission statement of always presenting movies as their filmmakers want them presented - which has led to disaster on occasion, such as the cropped version of The Last Emperor.

On the other hand, Friedkin really lost his marbles over this whole "pastel" nonsense (and the mess he made of the Cruising Blu-ray as well), and it's kind of fortuitous that he's not around to muck around with his old movies anymore.

 

[Lord Dalek]

On the one hand, that's kind of disrespectful to Friedkin. Especially given Criterion's mission statement of always presenting movies as their filmmakers want them presented - which has led to disaster on occasion, such as the cropped version of The Last Emperor.

On the other hand, Friedkin really lost his marbles over this whole "pastel" nonsense (and the mess he made of the Cruising Blu-ray as well), and it's kind of fortuitous that he's not around to muck around with his old movies anymore.

Sadly this means I'm going to have to live with my existing blu-ray of The Exorcist.

 

[JoshZ]

Sadly this means I'm going to have to live with my existing blu-ray of The Exorcist.

Friedkin wanted to give The Exorcist his "pastel" treatment, but cinematographer Owen Roizman took him to task for what he did to The French Connection. They had a very public battle about this until Friedkin finally relented. The eventual Blu-ray credits approval by both Friedkin and Roizman, and was spared the pastel nonsense. I don't have the 4K, but as far as I'm aware, it's free of that as well.

Nonetheless, Friedkin continued to mess with his old movies whenever he felt he could get away with it. The problematic Cruising Blu-ray was well after that French Connection debacle.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Friedkin wanted to give The Exorcist his "pastel" treatment, but cinematographer Owen Roizman took him to task for what he did to The French Connection. They had a very public battle about this until Friedkin finally relented. The eventual Blu-ray credits approval by both Friedkin and Roizman, and was spared the pastel nonsense. I don't have the 4K, but as far as I'm aware, it's free of that as well.

Nonetheless, Friedkin continued to mess with his old movies whenever he felt he could get away with it. The problematic Cruising Blu-ray was well after that French Connection debacle.

I mean everyone seems to hate the UHD for being excessively green.

 

[Derrick King]

I demand a transfer of this very gritty movie with a purple tint and "pastel" colors, just like the director wanted!... How we wanted it 30 years after he made the movie, that is...



Criterion seems to be playing coy here. The way the statement is worded with a comma before the "with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack approved by director William Friedkin" suggests to me that only the soundtrack was approved by Friedkin.

Yes, for example, compare with how they worded Brazil

New 4K digital restoration of Terry Gilliam’s director’s cut, supervised and approved by Gilliam, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

My problem with Sorcerer is that I have a hard time suspending my disbelief that the oil company wouldn't just use a helicopter to transport the nitro to the site or get some more stable explosives flown in from the mainland. Granted, if they did that there wouldn't be a movie...

They explained why helicoptering the old dynamite wouldn’t work (too much turbulence). Regarding your second point, I imagine both a time crunch and the political situation in the country prevented it (this, of course, is only my speculation).

 

[SD_Brian]

They explained why helicoptering the old dynamite wouldn’t work (too much turbulence). Regarding your second point, I imagine both a time crunch and the political situation in the country prevented it (this, of course, is only my speculation).

I must have missed the explanation(s). It's been a long time since I watched it.

 

[TravisR]

Does "approved by director William Friedkin" refer just to the 5.1 soundtrack (presumably the same one that was done for the original Blu-ray release), or is it referring to the "New 4K digital restoration" as well? If it's referring to both, it would obviously indicate the picture restoration was completed before Friedkin's death in 2023.

I might be looking too closely here but if you compare the specs for The Wiz, it says

• New 4K digital restoration, approved by producer Rob Cohen, with Dolby Atmos soundtrack

which clearly means that it's the picture that has been approved by him. Meanwhile, the Sorcerer specs say

• New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack approved by director William Friedkin

That reads to me that it's the soundtrack that is approved by Friedkin but I suppose it could be both.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

 

[John Gilmore]

Friedkin wanted to give The Exorcist his "pastel" treatment, but cinematographer Owen Roizman took him to task for what he did to The French Connection. They had a very public battle about this until Friedkin finally relented. The eventual Blu-ray credits approval by both Friedkin and Roizman, and was spared the pastel nonsense. I don't have the 4K, but as far as I'm aware, it's free of that as well.

He did the same purple/pastel thing with The Boys in the Band. Unfortunately, that is such an obscure film, we may never get a correct transfer. The 4k of The Exorcist went to the other extreme: the color values are mostly "natural," but the color and contrast are pumped up, giving some scenes (notably Fr Karras in the subway) a neon glow that is unreal. But he left the exorcism scenes a blue, blurry mess (there is a thread here where someone who saw a 2023 screening of an original 35mm print reported that the exorcism scene was very neutral). Hopefully, WB will correct the color timing on the next anniversary release.

Back to Sorcerer: Its my hope that the transfer was NOT approved by Friedkin.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I mean everyone seems to hate the UHD for being excessively green.

Not everyone, just the vocal minority.