William Friedkin's Sorcerer is finally headed to Blu-ray! (1 Viewer)

[Jon Hertzberg]

Any other news you can share Jon?

Should be publicly announced soon. I don't want to spill the beans any further lest I piss off my source.

 

[Harry-N]

Some more official-type news in recent days:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/william-friedkins-misunderstood-1977-sorcerer-getting-re-release-exclusive-81966

William Friedkin's Misunderstood 1977 'Sorcerer' Getting Re-Release (Exclusive)

Published: March 21, 2013 @ 2:38 pm


EXCLUSIVE
William Friedkin's "Sorcerer" -- a film that fell victim to shifting tastes when it opened more than three decades ago -- will be remastered and released in theaters and for the first time on Blu-ray, the director told TheWrap.

The film, a remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot's "The Wages of Fear," nearly sank Friedkin's career when it hit theaters in 1977. He was riding high on the success of "The Exorcist" and "The French Connection," but as he recounts in his upcoming memoir "The Friedkin Connection," the release of "Star Wars" that same year made it a film out of time and place.

"The zeitgeist had changed by the time it came out," Friedkin said.

The director told TheWrap that a "major studio" has gotten involved in creating a new recolored, digital print and that he hopes it will be ready in time for the Venice Film Festival this August. He said he will have a formal announcement within roughly a week and that the re-release will include all media.


"We’re working off the original negative, which is in pretty good shape, but without changing the original concept we have to bring it back in terms of color saturation, sharpness and all the stuff," he said.

The film cost the then enormous sum of $22 million to produce but grossed $12 million and failed to make back its production budget. Along with "Heaven's Gate" and "One From the Heart," it is sometimes brought up as an example of the directorial hubris that ended the period of personal and challenging filmmaking that characterized 1970s Hollywood.

Yet the picture and, in particular a bravura sequence [5] of a truck carrying "sweating" nitroglycerin while crossing a rickety wooden bridge, has grown in the estimation of critics. Stephen King went so far as to write in an Entertainment Weekly [6] column that "Sorcerer" was superior to "Wages of Fear."

But it hasn't been released on DVD since the late 1990s, and Friedkin said the rights have been tangled up for roughly 30 years between Paramount and Universal, which co-distributed the picture. He sued the two studios [7] in 2012 to try to clarify who owned the picture.

Friedkin said he dropped the suit, but that the discovery process was essential to discovering who controlled the rights.

"It's been in a legal whirlpool for 30 or 35 years," Friedkin said "And a lot of people have come and gone from the studios during that time, so it just takes awhile to unravel everything, but we're very close to announcing a premiere date."

A 35 MM print of the film will be shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on May 2 as part of a retrospective of Friedkin's work. He will answer questions as part of the event. The same print will be shown on May 9 at American Cinematheque Los Angeles.

"I screened it recently and it hasn't dated," Friedkin said. "It's set in a kind of limbo and neither the haircuts nor the wardrobes nor the sets have aged poorly."

"The Friedkin Connection" will be released on April 16.

Harry

 

[Number 6]

This news (and thread here) seriously made my day. I've been waiting, hoping, for any kind of decent release of Sorcerer for what feels like forever. And to be able to see it on the big screen as well? Wow.

I find the criticism that Sorcerer's setup/opening sequences take too long to be interesting. Wages of Fear really takes it's sweet time to get those guys into the trucks as well. A very long time. Not arguing for one or the other, mind you--I love them both--but I would say that Sorcerer provides very intriguing, maybe even necessary, background information on the characters. We see just what terrible choices brought them to that hell-hole in the first place and, in a nice philosophically relevant way, how the undertaking of the 'mission' is a penance of sorts, with possible absolution for their 'sins' (so well illustrated by the 'slow' sequences at the opening) upon making it there successfully.
Both are great--obviously Wages of Fear earns its place in film history--but Sorcerer, for me, wins out due to the philosophical elements.

And, let's face it, the actual journey through the jungle--particularly the rope-bridge sequence--is far more white-knuckle inducing than 'Wages...'.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I'm very excited about this release as well and I'm glad it is finally happening with Friedkin's participation.

 

[Professor Echo]

Here's hoping they include the Friedkin conceived and directed original trailer, one of the best trailers ever made.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

This is the same exact article that was linked to at the beginning of this very thread 10 days ago.

Some more official-type news in recent days:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/william-friedkins-misunderstood-1977-sorcerer-getting-re-release-exclusive-81966



Harry

 

[cineMANIAC]

I rented this film and was completely enthralled by it. I haven't been this mesmerized by a film in a long time - can't wait for the Blu-ray. Really hope it's a full-fledged SE and restoration - that DVD was abysmal.

 

[Harry-N]

This is the same exact article that was linked to at the beginning of this very thread 10 days ago.

Sorry. Brain fart, I guess.

Harry

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Here's hoping they include the Friedkin conceived and directed original trailer, one of the best trailers ever made.

Is this the one you mean?

 

[Professor Echo]

YES!!!!

A wonderful trailer, beautifully cut and scored, showing just enough to whet your imagination, but unlike today's trailers, not showing everything. They would never make a trailer like this today since they no longer have any trust that anyone wants to see a movie which doesn't immediately reveal the beginning, middle and end before you see it.

When I interviewed Friedkin years ago I praised him for his work on this trailer, but also wondered if maybe it was too obscure from a commercial standpoint. How might the movie have fared if he had been more obvious and just said upfront that here is an adventure about four guys who have to drive two old trucks of nitro through the worst jungle on Earth? He said I might be right, but that my question presupposes that anyone really cares about trailers and if they truly do inspire viewers to go see a movie.

 

[Number 6]

I have what may be the greatest William Friedkin story--well, the greatest bit of advice for filmmakers--ever. (After the private screening at NYU film school, of his film The Guardian.)

It's amazing and SO Friedkin. Maybe the powers that be here should let me know if I can post it--it's pretty 'blue'.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

I think as long as you warn NSFW or something i know I'd be i the rested to hear it.

 

[Ruz-El]

Yeah, mark it not safe for work and put it in a quote thing. I don;t think the quotes show in email notifications.

 

[Number 6]

I teach screenwriting at The University of British Columbia and I still use this anecdote/tale of Friedkin for every introductory screenwriting course I teach. (That and the great one-on-one I had with Friedkin; learned more from that conversation than I did in some of my courses.) As much as the language of it earns an 'R' rating, I regularly have students come to me and tell me that, hilarious as it was, it ended up being one of the most valuable lessons I 'taught' in the class. I always tell them that it was Friedkin, not me, that taught them in that lesson.

Will wait to see if the moderators give the thumbs-up. Well worth it, but might want to keep this forum family-friendly. (And, really, it doesn't nearly have the impact--entertainment-wise or pedagogically speaking--without Friedkin's colourful vocabulary. Trust me, the language makes this 'lesson'.)

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Maybe I'm mistaken but I always got the impression that we're all adults around here *shrug*

 

[Number 6]

Maybe I'm mistaken but I always got the impression that we're all adults around here *shrug*

I agree, for sure, but this anecdote might offend some people. And it would not nearly have the same effect if I censored it--while still likely offending anyone that would have been offended in the first place.

 

[Professor Echo]

Of all the film personnel I have ever interviewed, Friedkin remains the most articulate and compelling story teller and anecdote spinner. For all of his alleged flaws as a filmmaker and human being, his observations and deductions continually make for exceptional listening. DePalma was the exact opposite, but that's another story. Bring on the Friedkin quote!

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Yes tell the story...just put a "The following story contains content some people may find offensive, so if that's you go away and read no further." above it.

Or use the

Spoiler

spoiler code so people that don't wish to see it can choose not to read it.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Does this story have anything to do with The Guardian, which remains probably his worst effort and it would seem there probably is some story behind why it was such a mess.

 

[Number 6]

Not a Guardian story. But will post it by this evening--with 'viewer discretion advised' warnings.