Friedkin's SORCERER coming to Blu-Ray and DVD in April

Yeah, it's somewhat inaccessible, especially when you first see it. The movie doesn't give you much of an idea where it's going, so it can be pretty off-putting.

Plus, the trailer was so vague and impressionistic that audiences wouldn't have had much of a clue what to expect:

 

It didn't help that it came out shortly after "Star Wars" and audiences preferences had changed. It's pretty good, didn't deserve the bad press it got, but the original is better. But worth seeing.

 

Just 35 days left to street date on SORCERER.

 

I may have to watch this film again. I saw a pre screening of it before it's official release and before the final cut. I hated it. Expected more after the exorcist. But never saw the official released version but I didn't hear good things anyway

 

Yeah baby! I've never seen the movie, have always wanted to since I first heard the soundtrack.

 

I find the french original movie much better than Friedkins version - Friedkins' "Sorcerer" is not a bad movie by any means, but "Wages of fear" has that absolutely stunning b/w cinematography style and is more "existential" - whereas "Sorcerer" is a good suspense flick.

 

I've done a screencap comparison between my old DVD and the shots that Gary Tooze posted at DVDBeaver from the Blu-ray. They're posted over at the HTF.

Harry

 

Looks great! Can't wait to replace my old DVD.

 

I'm disappointed the BD includes almost no supplements, but it looks/sounds terrific!

http://www.dvdmg.com/sorcererbr.shtml

 

Cool. Thanks for the info. I hadn't heard of either the original or the remake. I've ordered the Criterion of the original and will order the remake when it's released. Sounds like a good film. Cheers,

 

I like this movie more than you do, considering it a "lost classic" of the '70s "Golden Era" of American cinema.

I ran into it a couple times on regular broadcast television, on the sort of "Saturday Afternoon Matinee" showings that were heavily censored, interrupted for interminable, mood-killing commercial breaks for floor cleaners, and presumably chopped into near-incoherence for time. Even given these limitations, I was always hypnotized by this film. But come videotape rental shops, I could never remember the title!

When I finally viewed the DVD, the film was as good as I remembered, with the extended prologue -- presumably the section that suffered the most edited-for-TV slashing -- explaining why these guys can't simply walk away from their predicament. This gave the action sequences more weight and logic.

You mentioned one possible lift from SORCEROR, but I have a definite 'nother. I'm pretty sure the final shot of Walter Hill's SOUTHERN COMFORT is a homage to SORCEROR. Which would make sense, since both films have a similar setting.

 

My copy of this arrived last week and it looks and sounds amazing. Great film that I'd not seen before after avoiding that old pan and scan DVD for more than a decade.

 

Have you watched it recently? I think it actually surpasses the first film and it isn't so much a remake as a new adaptation of the same novel that was the basis for the first film.

It's a pity that there are no big supplements. I would have loved a commentary track from Friedkin at the very least but, I imagine, it was fairly expensive to restore and secure the rights so the budget for such things might have been limited.

Happy this has finally arrived on BD.

 

I was a kid when I saw this in the theaters when it first came out. Based on the title I thought it was going to be a fantasy tale ala King Arthur or Jason and the Argonauts. Instead the movie scared the crap out of me.

 

My wife was so freaked by the bridge scene she had to leave the room.

 

I wonder how much the odd title has to do with its relative obscurity.

 

That is a scary, scary scene... my memory is that a friend of mine and I had sweaty palms for the whole thing when we saw it in the 1970s. Really nerve-wracking movie.

I'd bet the studio is still miffed that director Friedkin had to sue them in order to get them to release it on Blu-ray, so they opted to do zero interviews or extra bits. It's a shame, because the director has a ton of stories about it, and I believe a documentary was shot concurrently with the film (because Friedkin was so hot in Hollywood after The Exorcist).

 

Saw a screening in Toronto tonight. The film looks fantastic. I'm glad I saw it on the big screen.

Here's an excellent interview with William Friedkin. Interesting comments about the score - the Tangerine Dream score may be reissued with unused music.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-simon/william-friedkin-why-sorc_b_5129714.html

 

WARNING: While the Blu-ray is apparently a fine transfer based on early reviews, the DVD being issued the same day is merely a port of the old UNIVERSAL DVD.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-sorcerer-roy-scheider/3622448?ean=883929383047

Look at the back cover: It says "STANDARD VERSION" Modified to fit your screen.

Same report on a reviewer on Amazon.

Harry

 

gee ,while Billys commentaries are pretty Bad ,he sounds like a hard of hearing track never telling you anything, just stuff like "here he comes in the room" a documentary would have been nice

 

WTF???????

 

Wow. This looks great!

Warner released this and it was a Universal property as I recall. I suspect he couldn't get the rights to the documentary though. I seem to recall some of that footage showing up on one of those promotional featurettes they used to show on TV.

If you're referring to the lack of cooperation from Universal, that's possible and would go a long way to explaining the lack of special features as I'm sure it's possible there were outtakes or unused footage that might still exist from the film.

Friedkin goes to great pains to thank Warner for their restoration efforts although, luckily, the negative is in exceptionally good shape (it has faded) which, given the location shooting in South America surprises me. The excerpt from Friedkin's book is quite good and he owns up to some of his own bad behavior as well as pointing out that Roy Scheider was still bitter over being passed over for the role of Father Karass in "The Exorcist" after having appeared in "The French Connection".

I suspect that whatever budget they had for this release was spent on the restoration and getting the movie out of limbo for this release (hence no additional funds for any special features) although a commentary moderated by someone else with Friedkin (when he's by himself he tends to narrate what we see on the screen--very annoying) that could ask him questions would be great. Too bad it didn't happen.

Got to love the ad on the back of the Blu-ray release for Friedkin's memoir.

No sure WHY we got the original DVD transfer for the new DVD. That truly is bizarre.

 

They didn't just do a downconversion of the HD transfer for the standard-def DVD? That's ridiculous. It takes zero effort to do that.

 

Yeah, according to William Friedkin he also didn't authorize a DVD release of the title.

It's a bit bizarre I agree. If this is Friedkin then it's truly bizarre--see below:
1.0 out of 5 stars Sorcerer DVD, April 21, 2014
By
William Friedkin - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sorcerer [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
This is William Friedkin. I did not authorize ANY dvd's. Only the blu ray.
The DVD is just awful. Avoid.
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Is the DVD recent or old? I'd agree with him: there's no point to buying standard-def anything if the Blu-ray is available, unless the DVD has extra features unavailable anywhere else.

I got to talk to Friedkin for about 1 minute at a lecture a year or two ago, and he's still very chipper, extremely articulate, and looks about 15 years younger than he really is. Very energetic guy.