French Idioms: AllÂ¿s Â¿FaireÂ¿ DVD

Studio: Educational Video Network, Inc.
Product Type: DVD

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Henri-Georges Clouzot's gripping 1953 thriller throws four men into a primal struggle against the jungle armed with modern machinery and their own nerves and endurance. The squalid, isolated South American town of Las Piedras is a veritable refuge turned prison for criminals from all over the world. When an oil fire ignites 300 miles away, dozens of desperate volunteers apply for the dangerous job of driving highly volatile nitroglycerin across rugged jungle roads--for a $2,000 payday. The bulk of the film charts the slow, grueling trek over bumpy, pothole-dotted dirt roads and worse. A dangerous cutback forces the trucks to back over a rotting wooden platform built over a cliff, a boulder in the road must be blasted away, and a river of oil (gushing from a broken pipeline) must be forded--all with one ton of explosive nitro resting in the back of each truck. The ordeal forges a tough-guy trust between German Bimba (Peter Van Eyck) and Italian Luigi (Folco Lulli) but tears apart Frenchmen Mario (Yves Montand) and Jo (Charles Vanel). Former gangland hotshot Jo finds his once-fearless exterior cracked, while Mario discovers in himself a new grit and tenacity. Clouzot's stark, simple imagery and painstaking attention to detail create a riveting tension that never lets up, intensified by the ruthless drive of Mario, who proves he will do anything--anything--to get his truck through. William Freidkin remade the film in 1977 as the stylish Sorcerer. --Sean Axmaker

Description

In the squalid, impoverished South American town of Las Piedras, desperate men and women from all over the world scrape out a living and dream of escape, under the watchful eye of the ruling Southern Oil Company.

Customer Reviews:

Are we having fun, yet ?.......2007-06-03

My favorite line in it: "By the way, there are no shocks on these rigs. Our trucks don't have none of those modern conveniences."
After all, what's life but a ticket to the theatre in the Pigalle that you neither use or ever get to cash in? But you carry it with you, to hell, thru hell, and back.

Another LOST tie in........2007-06-02

I rented and watched this movie becuse the two main creators of LOST mentioned it in a discussion on a podcast. They described Bimba as similar to John Locke. I agree.

This is probably one of the most suspenseful vintiage movies I have ever seen so far. Not that I have seen too many of them. Nevertheless, the movie draws you in as you get closer to the delivery that the four men are taking. Although the beginning shows why these men made their decision it is a bit slow and shows it's age by some of the "classic" acting.

I'm not the best reviewer of movies, but I know what I like. This is one of the best and I can see why the creators of LOST are drawn to it.

The slow descent........2007-05-27

The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953)

Widely considered Henri-Georges Clouzot's finest film, The Wages of Fear is the story of four poverty-stricken men hired by a rapacious oil company to transport two trucks full of nitroglycerin over three hundred miles of very bad road to an oil well fire. And for what it's worth, the film is very good at what it does; the problem, from the point of view of someone watching it over half a century after its original release, is that it would be very hard to see this film without having heard much of the hype about it beforehand. (One would have to avoid most reviews of the movie, as well as the copy on the DVD case. This is, of course, well nigh impossible.) While it is, in fact, a thriller, it takes more than a few minutes to get rolling (in fact, in the 148-minute restored edition, the guys aren't hired by the oil company for over an hour). Because of this, it seems there are actually two movies here-- one about life in poverty in a nameless South American town (and we've seen that one before, except it was called The Treasure of the Sierra Madre), and one about transporting nitroglycerin. The second is the better work by far, an interesting and engaging portrait of four friends and how the stress of the job tests their friendship as much as their nerves. I'm not terribly sure I'd call it a thriller as much as a simple drama; still, it's well worth your time if you're looking for a good, long movie to get yourself absorbed in. *** ½

A gripping action film and a powerful study of failure.......2007-04-21

"The Wages of Fear" was awarded by unanimous verdict the Grand Prix at 1953 Cannes Film Festival where it won over 27 films, some of which were made by Jacques Tati, Alfred Hitchcock, and Luis Buñuel. Cluozot's own screenplay (based a novel by George Arnaud) focuses on four down-and-out European adventurers (Yves Montand, Folco Lulli, Peter Van Eyck, Charles Vanel) who stuck nearly penniless in a festering town in an unnamed South American country. An oil company need a load of highly dangerous and explosive nitroglycerin to be delivered to a remote well fire 300 miles away burning out of control. The route is through jungles and over crude and treacherous mountains and those men are desperate enough to take the chance. None of these men is heroic or generous, they are in for the money. The four were chosen by the managers of oil company because "if something happens to them, no one would care, they have nobody to worry about them". Henri-Georges Clouzot's view on humanity is not particularly optimistic but he finds a way to make a viewer care about disenchanted but desperate characters. Thanks to Clouzot's ability to create not only a gripping action film but a powerful study of failure, the four men will stay for long time in our memory.

4.5/5

this classic got the WOW......!!!! effect.......2007-04-05

this 'Salaire de la peur, Le' is a fantastic super suspenseful thriller. viewers would feel they are not sitting on couches or in the theatres but actually in the same truck with these on-the-edge desperate bunch. two often used sentences so rightfully fit into this great black and white action-packed movie:
-when the going gets tough, only the tough gets going.
-if you can't walk the walk, don't talk the talk.
what a thrill ride!!!

The Wages of Fear - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

Are we having fun, yet ?
Another LOST tie in.
The slow descent.
A gripping action film and a powerful study of failure
this classic got the WOW......!!!! effect

The Wages of Fear - Criterion Collection
Starring: Yves Montand , Charles Vanel , Folco Lulli , Peter van Eyck , and Véra Clouzot
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Le Samourai - Criterion Collection
Diabolique - Criterion Collection
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Sorcerer
Pickpocket - Criterion Collection

ASIN: 0780021932
Release Date: 1999-01-26

Amazon.com essential video

Description

One of the most nerve-wracking and exciting films ever made, Henri-Georges Clouzot's masterpiece won the Grand Prize at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. An American oil company enlists four tough drifters for a high-paying suicide mission-transporting explosives across the rough terrain of Central America. Criterion is proud to present Wages of Fear in its original 148-minute version.

Customer Reviews:

Are we having fun, yet ?.......2007-06-03

Another LOST tie in........2007-06-02

The slow descent........2007-05-27

A gripping action film and a powerful study of failure.......2007-04-21

this classic got the WOW......!!!! effect.......2007-04-05

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