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

[B-ROLL]

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...

...If only those Seven(ish) Samurai realized it was the same group of bandits, they could have caught them from behind and it would be a much shorter film !

 

[JoshZ]

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.

Yeah, he actually did it to The Boys in the Band DVD first, as his test-run of the process. But, as you say, that movie is generally obscure. Not many people noticed until he did the same thing to The French Connection and started boasting that he was going to do it to The Exorcist next and all his other movies afterward. That's when the public outrage erupted and Owen Roizman stepped in to smack Friedkin's hand.

Unfortunately, The Boys in the Band was never "corrected" as The French Connection was, and the later Blu-ray from Kino Lorber recycled the DVD master. It seems unlikely anyone will have enough interest to remaster it again now.

 

[Stefan Andersson]

Discussion about the soundtracks and the re-edited international version:

1267 Sorcerer - criterionforum.org

See posts 14 and 28 for discussion of a new gunshot/backfire sound effect added to the end of the film.

More on the re-editing of the film:

“Hey brudda – we’ve been hit!” How an influential American film critic helped banish Sorcerer to a parallel universe.

During late August US director William Friedkin chose to show a restored version of his 1977 masterpiece Sorcerer when he collected the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2013 Venice Film …

sorcerer1977.wordpress.com

Original stereo and 5.1 remix compared:


Also:

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

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

It's been a while since I have watched this as well. I have the Blu-ray of it and what I recall about how it looked was how the greens of the jungle really pop off the screen.

I do believe, as Peter said, there is an explanation of why they can't use helicopters to transport the explosives. I think it is twofold, in that yes, they are concerned about turbulence but also I think there was a second aspect of the helicopter and pilot being too valuable to risk blowing up. So, instead they have these expendable guys driving beat up expendable trucks to the fire instead.

To me the film is a clinic on how to build tension in a film. Plus, I mean, the bridge crossing scene alone is one of the most brilliant and ballsy things ever put on film. That is cinema heaven and is the work of an absolutely brilliant filmmaker. I sit in awe of that every single time I see it and it wows me even more with each new watch because THERE IS NO CGI.

Just so much dramatic weight to it because it is really happening and you sit there going "How the hell did they shoot this?"

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Discussion about the soundtracks and the re-edited international version:

1267 Sorcerer - criterionforum.org

See posts 14 and 28 for discussion of a new gunshot/backfire sound effect added to the end of the film.

More on the re-editing of the film:

“Hey brudda – we’ve been hit!” How an influential American film critic helped banish Sorcerer to a parallel universe.

During late August US director William Friedkin chose to show a restored version of his 1977 masterpiece Sorcerer when he collected the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2013 Venice Film …

sorcerer1977.wordpress.com

Original stereo and 5.1 remix compared:


Also:

On the interview with Friedkin, I have to say, he is absolutely correct, had Steve McQueen played that part it would have been amazing. McQueen was an actor that had totally mastered playing a role and selling it completely without having to say a word. The part suited him to a T, nothing against Roy who I really think does a great job, but McQueen would have owned that role and probably elevated this to one of the greatest films of all time and it likely would be in the conversation as perhaps Steve's greatest performance.

McQueen could make you feel every nuance of what was happening in his character's mind without saying anything. Just one of the greatest expressive faces to ever grace a movie screen. Nothing at all against Scheider and the picture is still awesome with him, but yeah, McQueen missed the boat here and should have done this. It was written for him and he was born to play it.

I probably should say, not just the face, he knew how to use his entire body to distill the essence of a character. Just maybe the greatest physical film actor ever.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I probably should say, not just the face, he knew how to use his entire body to distill the essence of a character. Just maybe the greatest physical film actor ever.

Steve is one of my favorite actors but there are also other physical film actors that were just as good if not better than McQueen such as Burt Lancaster and even Kirk Douglas.

 

[Derrick King]

Regarding the audio, a poster over at the Blu-ray.com forum said they got the following from email from Criterion

Our release features two soundtracks - the original 1977 2.0 surround soundtrack and the 2013 5.1 surround remix, both of which were approved by director William Friedkin.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I would assume the 2.0 surround is just a fold down of the original three-track.

 

[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.

Amazon.com

 

[Worth]

Criterion can be pretty liberal in its use of the word “new.” Is this a new new master or the same 4K master from ten years ago that Friedkin supervised, which, to be fair, looked good, except the colour was cranked way up.

 

[HDVizion]

Criterion can be pretty liberal in its use of the word “new.” Is this a new new master or the same 4K master from ten years ago that Friedkin supervised, which, to be fair, looked good, except the colour was cranked way up.

It's new.

 

[JPCinema]

When I start to watch SORCERER, I switch to THE WAGES OF FEAR

 

[Stephen_J_H]

My wife will kill me if I get this.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

My wife will kill me if I get this.

May I have your disc afterwards?

 

[Sam Posten]

I’ve never seen this, that will change. Looks gorgeous

 

[Konstantinos]

Oh, it's a digipack, right?
I don't like digipacks. They wear down in time...

 

[Stephen_J_H]

My Digibook of the WB Blu-ray is just fine.

 

[Konstantinos]

My Digibook of the WB Blu-ray is just fine.

Digibooks and digipacks are different things.

 

[JohnRice]

It’s an unconventionally thrilling one. The iconic bridge scene really is an all-time great of cinema.

I meant to quote @Sam Posten ’s post. I hate posting with an iPad.

 

[Harry-N]

I love the movie - since first seeing it on HBO back around 1980, and I've watched the various incarnations since then. Recently, something occurred to me that may be very old news to some of you, or it could be a revelation, like it was to me.

You know the opening titles? You know, the one where the movie title appears over this somewhat monstrous stone image?

I was recently stricken with the idea that that image is a stylized version of the image of the truck!

DISCLAIMER:
Both of those images above are taken from the the ancient Universal DVD, with only the color of the second one altered in Photoshop to help emphasize the similarity.