Tangerine Dream

Rumour has it that the director William Friedkin has completed a directors commentary for the film 'Sorcerer', so fingers crossed we'll get a decent DVD of this TD soundtracked film to look forward to soon.

No idea which cut of the film it would be (if and when it hits the shops).

This will be (a slightly late) 30th anniversary edition DVD.

24db wrote:Rumour has it that the director William Friedkin has completed a directors commentary for the film 'Sorcerer', so fingers crossed we'll get a decent DVD of this TD soundtracked film to look forward to soon.

No idea which cut of the film it would be (if and when it hits the shops).

This will be (a slightly late) 30th anniversary edition DVD.

I love this film, so atmospheric, and perfectly complemented with the TD soundtrack.
I would certainly welcome this as a release, perhaps they will issue both the long and short versions in a double pack - Dreaming !

it's a very underated film, with a great performance from Roy Scheider

I have never seen this film but I will certainly get it if it comes out on DVD

timer wrote:

24db wrote:Rumour has it that the director William Friedkin has completed a directors commentary for the film 'Sorcerer', so fingers crossed we'll get a decent DVD of this TD soundtracked film to look forward to soon.

No idea which cut of the film it would be (if and when it hits the shops).

This will be (a slightly late) 30th anniversary edition DVD.

I love this film, so atmospheric, and perfectly complemented with the TD soundtrack.
I would certainly welcome this as a release, perhaps they will issue both the long and short versions in a double pack - Dreaming !

Interview : William Friedkin

It’s been an uncultivated couple of years for Veteran director William Friedkin. An acclaimed master of thrills and trepidation, as voted by his peers and pane, he’s been treated to an almost impromptu second coming with many of his premature classics in receipt of the all too infrequent re-release treatment. First his paramount and easily most lucrative film, “The Exorcist” was re-released – albeit in it’s directors cut structure – to much acclamation; and recently, he was lucky enough to have one of his minor classics, the thriller “Sorcerer” – now screening in it’s re-issued form in selected cinemas across Australia – unleashed to Australian audiences the way he intended it to be before the film’s distributor took a pair of scissors to it some 19 years before. We talk to the illustrious director about an unparalleled bonanza career, the aforesaid “Sorcerer” and his upcoming “The Hunted”, one of 2003’s most anticipated thrillers starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro.
The story of four convicts voluntarily surrendering their services to deliver nitrogenised bombs across some jagged jungle terrain, “Sorcerer” initially did nothing on it’s release – Director Friedkin says he partly blames that on the Australian distributor at the time, CIC. “The original version, the way I made it, never played Australia. It was cut at the time by a guy who was running distribution for CIC – which is now U.I.P – and he was subsequently fired for doing the same thing to a number of films. He was re-editing them to shorter running ti he could get more screenings in and he’d said ‘this film’s two hours, we’d make more money if we could take say half an hour out of it’ – and didn’t matter if you had final cut we didn’t even know this was going on until later”.

“I still don’t know the extent – I understand they quit the first half of it but I only found that out about a year ago when Jim Sherlock started to talk to me about re-releasing it over here (in Australia) in it’s original form.

“Sorcerer” was made at a time before computers – so Friedkin says audiences may appreciate they hand to do it all perfunctorily. “There were no any effects or optical’s in those days. It was extremely difficult and hazardous. If I knew it would be such a hassle – endanger people’s lives and my own – and then meet the sort of fate that it met in some parts of the world I wouldn’t have done it. But it is the favourite of all my films”, says Friedkin.

One possible reason “Sorcerer” may not have been successful at the outset is it’s disingenuous title. “The Sorcerer is an evil wizard and in this case the evil Wizard is fate, it’s more a film about fate and about the mystery of fate. The fact that somebody can walk out of their front door and a hurricane can take them away, an earthquake or something falling through the roof or something. And the idea that we don’t really have control over our own faits, neither our births nor our deaths, it’s something that has haunted me since I was intelligent enough to contemplate something like it”.

Friedkin says there’s nothing about the movie he’d like to change but he dearly wished his first choice, Steve McQueen, had headlined the film. “We’d sent him the script and he read it and called me back and said ‘this is the best script I’ve ever read – let’s do it’. Unfortunately, McQueen had just begun a relationship with Ali McGraw at the time and didn’t want to re-locate to South America where the film was to be shot. Although Friedkin said McQueen was quite welcome to bring along his new actress girlfriend for the shoot – McQueen wanted more: he wanted his girlfriend to receive an associate producer credit on the film. Friedkin says he superciliously discarded the command – and lost McQueen. “I think Scheider (Roy) is terrific. I think he’s wonderful, but McQueen is a genuine movie star that could have made the film more…user friendly?”

“A lot of my films have a way of coming back – as The Exorcist recently did – they’re re-releasing “To Live and Die in L.A” again and shortly, “Cruising”. In many ways there’s certain timeless specific qualities about them (my movies) in that it’s not in a specific period.

Friedkin says through DVD audiences have been able to re-visit or ‘discover’ his films. The DVD of “Sorcerer” is due out here next year. “We made a new DVD. But this release is not for that. It’s been out in the states for about two years, but I love DVD. I love it as a format, It’s a great way to see a film because you can go in and clean the print, time it perfectly and it’s not going to be destroyed every time you run it through a projector – it’s the best way to deserve film right now. I finished a DVD of “To live and Die in L.A” about three months ago – It’s a pristine beautiful copy and I did re-did the soundtrack – remixed it – so it’s now in digital stereo – it was originally in mono all track – and so we mixed it differently and we timed the picture in a way that I could never get a print.”

Btw: a little know fact, when Sorcerer was orginally screened in the states, it was presented with a Overture suite of TD music...BEFORE the movie was shown (Friedkin also wanted the audience raised up level with the screen at some showings...I've no idea if he got his way)

SydneyFC wrote:I have never seen this film but I will certainly get it if it comes out on DVD

you check out the original 'the Wages of Fear'...one of my all time favourite films

Although Sorcerer isn't one of my fave TD albums I would still love to see the movie. I can still remember buying the album way back about 84 and being very dissapointed with it. I still give it a spin now and again but maybe seeing the movie would make listening more interesting.

sparrow wrote:Although Sorcerer isn't one of my fave TD albums I would still love to see the movie. I can still remember buying the album way back about 84 and being very dissapointed with it. I still give it a spin now and again but maybe seeing the movie would make listening more interesting.

that reminds me, I need to scan my lobby cards and front of house stills for this film

I was going to get a copy of this but think I'll hang back and try to pick up the new release....should it ever be released.

I hope it on Wide-Screen Format.

widescreen would be good peter.....


as I always say, the film is ok, the original far better....but the tangsoundtrack, is as ever, one of the finest pieces of 1970's electronic music; eerie, gothic, weird and beautifully focussed

Excellent news. Been hoping for this to be released.

I've been wanting to see this film for ages. Saw it when I was a lad, vague memory.

Love the album cant wait to see how it fits in with the film



PS Epsilon totally forgot about your kind offer btw, this will save any hassle for you

A good enough movie when taken on its own merits, but the original movie, "The Wages of Fear," is a far superior film (TD's soundtrack in the remake notwithstanding). Then again, it's been decades since I've seen the movie, so I'm probably going to have to give it another look-see.

har wrote:Excellent news. Been hoping for this to be released.

I've been wanting to see this film for ages. Saw it when I was a lad, vague memory.

Love the album cant wait to see how it fits in with the film



PS Epsilon totally forgot about your kind offer btw, this will save any hassle for you

No problem har now you can see it in top quality vision