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Sorcerer: Wages of Fear
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Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1977
Original Running Time:
120
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
116
Time Cut:
4
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
Wages of Fear improves the original structure of Sorcerer by introducing the prologue vignettes in a complimentary way, that feels more meaningful and purposeful, to help move the story along whilst also revealing important information about key characters, as their story in the present unfolds. Wages of Fear remains faithful to the original film in terms of editing style, music and overall pace but also layers some much-needed TLC over areas of the original edit that felt rushed or were jarring.
Intention:
Sorcerer is an incredible piece of cinema, suspenseful, tense and gritty like no other film. Often hailed as a masterpiece… Sorcerer falls short of this in my eyes.
The key problem for me is the start of the film. The prologue vignettes feel like they were edited in a slapdash manner and look like an afterthought that was bolted onto the start of the film. Additionally, there are a few shortcomings in the original edit such has hard or out of place cuts (and some comically bad ones), some exposition during the Paris vignette is needlessly long and doesn’t add to the story or progress it along.
Sorcerer Wages of Fear tries to address this issue. Three of the prologue vignettes are now viewed as flashbacks during the film. The editing of the vignettes has been reworked to make them feel less ‘haphazard’ and are now more cohesive with the rest of the film. These backstories are now revealed to help the story unfold in a less rushed way.
The key problem for me is the start of the film. The prologue vignettes feel like they were edited in a slapdash manner and look like an afterthought that was bolted onto the start of the film. Additionally, there are a few shortcomings in the original edit such has hard or out of place cuts (and some comically bad ones), some exposition during the Paris vignette is needlessly long and doesn’t add to the story or progress it along.
Sorcerer Wages of Fear tries to address this issue. Three of the prologue vignettes are now viewed as flashbacks during the film. The editing of the vignettes has been reworked to make them feel less ‘haphazard’ and are now more cohesive with the rest of the film. These backstories are now revealed to help the story unfold in a less rushed way.
Additional Notes:
Creative direction
• Scanlon is the key character and the film leads with his vignette.
• The remaining vignettes are now introduced at moments where the characters past appears to be haunting them. This also reinforces the idea that you can’t escape your past.
• The vignettes no longer contain references to the city/location. Instead Porvenire, Chile has been added to the ‘present’, to help ground the story in specific place, leaving a little mystery to the backstories.
• Some J cuts added however overall the existing ‘harder’ cut style used in films of this era have been kept to retain the feel and style of the original film.
• Added a small amount of stabilisation to some shots that were extremely shaky and felt a little out of place or were very jarring.
• Master audio gain increased.
• Tweaked some audio levels to be a little more viewer friendly.
Main characters
• Roy Scheider: Scanlon, ‘Dominguez’
• Bruno Cremer: Victor Manzon, 'Serrano'
• Amidou: Kassem, 'Martinez'
• Francisco Rabal: Nilo
Special Thanks:
Thank you to Futon88 who showed an interest in this edit and provided feedback. Thank you to ArtIsDead for producing the excellent cover art.
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
My approach to a fanedit starts with the initial seed of an idea and visualising what the edit might look like. This is almost entirely in my mind’s eye, by watching the source material over and over to understand if the seed of the idea has merit. Once I feel the edit is viable, I start to document the original story, isolating key plot points, setup’s and dialogue that are potential issues for the edit. Next there’s a more detailed analysis of the film using Premiere Pro to assist me with rapid prototyping of the edit and the ability to isolate audio and scrub quickly through the film to produce a rough draft. If the rough draft has merit, finally I commit to producing the edit, focusing in on graphical changes, audio work, masking, tightening up the cuts and the fine detail that goes into producing a finished edit.
Cuts and Additions:
1. Added Home of Fanedits text.
2. Added Faneditor info and usage warning text.
3. Added ‘Wages of Fear’ to Sorcerer title text.
4. Changed title music to solely use Hymns Spheres 3rd movement, with a longer build up and ending.
5. First vignette is Scanlon and his goons, armed robbery and escape.
6. Removed initial pan out of Bingo sign. Now starts with Scanlon driving up to the church.
7. Small stabilisation to Scanlon walking up to the wall to tie his shoe laces.
8. Removed initial getaway car scene due to awfully implemented hard cut and out of place sped-up footage of the car in the original film.
9. Removed one of Scanlon’s goons comical reaction to the truck pulling out in front of them.
10. Full stabilisation of one of Scanlon’s goons lying on the road.
11. Small stabilisation of mobsters walking through the restaurant to meet their boss.
12. Small stabilisation of Scanlon and his friend discussing the trouble Scanlon is in.
13. Porvenire, Chile text added to the start of the Porvenire sequence.
14. Second vignette of Victor Manzon.
15. Trimmed initial pan of Paris to start with a pan up to Victor’s balcony.
16. Shorten scene with Bank president for pacing reasons and the extra exposition wasn’t needed.
17. Reworked suicide scene for pacing reasons.
18. Removed scene of Victor ‘comically’ running away from the restaurant.
19. Back to Porvenire, Chile.
20. Removed crash zoom to wall picture of Chile’s president during oil manager and his boss discussing the bombing.
21. Third vignette of Kassem, 'Martinez'
22. Shorted initial intro to Jerusalem to start with Kassem and his acquaintances leaving a bomb outside the doorway.
23. Back to Porvenire, Chile.
24. Forth vignette of Nilo
25. Shortened initial sequence and removed lift scene.
26. Removed flashback of Scanlon goons comical reaction.
27. Added ‘Wages of Fear’ to Sorcerer outro text.
28. Added Faneditor info to outro text.
29. Added BBC sound effects copyright info to outro text.
2. Added Faneditor info and usage warning text.
3. Added ‘Wages of Fear’ to Sorcerer title text.
4. Changed title music to solely use Hymns Spheres 3rd movement, with a longer build up and ending.
5. First vignette is Scanlon and his goons, armed robbery and escape.
6. Removed initial pan out of Bingo sign. Now starts with Scanlon driving up to the church.
7. Small stabilisation to Scanlon walking up to the wall to tie his shoe laces.
8. Removed initial getaway car scene due to awfully implemented hard cut and out of place sped-up footage of the car in the original film.
9. Removed one of Scanlon’s goons comical reaction to the truck pulling out in front of them.
10. Full stabilisation of one of Scanlon’s goons lying on the road.
11. Small stabilisation of mobsters walking through the restaurant to meet their boss.
12. Small stabilisation of Scanlon and his friend discussing the trouble Scanlon is in.
13. Porvenire, Chile text added to the start of the Porvenire sequence.
14. Second vignette of Victor Manzon.
15. Trimmed initial pan of Paris to start with a pan up to Victor’s balcony.
16. Shorten scene with Bank president for pacing reasons and the extra exposition wasn’t needed.
17. Reworked suicide scene for pacing reasons.
18. Removed scene of Victor ‘comically’ running away from the restaurant.
19. Back to Porvenire, Chile.
20. Removed crash zoom to wall picture of Chile’s president during oil manager and his boss discussing the bombing.
21. Third vignette of Kassem, 'Martinez'
22. Shorted initial intro to Jerusalem to start with Kassem and his acquaintances leaving a bomb outside the doorway.
23. Back to Porvenire, Chile.
24. Forth vignette of Nilo
25. Shortened initial sequence and removed lift scene.
26. Removed flashback of Scanlon goons comical reaction.
27. Added ‘Wages of Fear’ to Sorcerer outro text.
28. Added Faneditor info to outro text.
29. Added BBC sound effects copyright info to outro text.
User reviews
2 reviews
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
10.0(2)
Visual Editing
10.0(2)
Audio Editing
10.0(2)
Narrative
10.0(2)
Enjoyment
9.0(2)
(Updated: May 09, 2023)
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
9.0
Never seen the theatrical cut but have watched the 1953's Wages of Fear once before, so some parts were not the surprise they would be to a viewer going in fresh. That takes nothing away from the tension, nor is there any distraction from as a result of the audio or video re-editing.
Am not sure whether I prefer it over Clouzot's adaptation, vague memories of which made me wish that this film ran longer. I can't remember where the extra 37 minutes in Wages of Fear are placed (before or after starting the drive) but I think the earlier film had a more "epic" feel with this one feeling almost a bit brief in comparison. That may be just because of the different approaches to pace and editing, would have to rewatch the older one again to say for definite.
None of that is the fault of FrameSniffer though, this edit is certainly my favourite of the few Friedkin films I have seen so far, and it will be interesting to see how the 1977 original holds up.
Am not sure whether I prefer it over Clouzot's adaptation, vague memories of which made me wish that this film ran longer. I can't remember where the extra 37 minutes in Wages of Fear are placed (before or after starting the drive) but I think the earlier film had a more "epic" feel with this one feeling almost a bit brief in comparison. That may be just because of the different approaches to pace and editing, would have to rewatch the older one again to say for definite.
None of that is the fault of FrameSniffer though, this edit is certainly my favourite of the few Friedkin films I have seen so far, and it will be interesting to see how the 1977 original holds up.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
9.0
Unequivocally better than the original, in my opinion.
I watched the original a short time before watching this edit, and I think this new narrative structure is superior. We start with Scanlon, end with Scanlon, and we're transported to Chile just before the 10 minute mark.
The plot resolves at a pace that feels more modern and deliberate, while the other characters are seamlessly introduced through well-executed flashbacks that help us understand the "why" of their predicament.
The original had me asking, "Ok, where is this going?" for the first half hour, and without some foreknowledge of the story that unfolds in Chile I likely would have disconnected. Some of that's on me, but then this is a personal review.
The trims to the pre-Chile threads are tidy and smart.
If you enjoyed the original and are interested in revisiting it, I definitely recommend this.
I watched the original a short time before watching this edit, and I think this new narrative structure is superior. We start with Scanlon, end with Scanlon, and we're transported to Chile just before the 10 minute mark.
The plot resolves at a pace that feels more modern and deliberate, while the other characters are seamlessly introduced through well-executed flashbacks that help us understand the "why" of their predicament.
The original had me asking, "Ok, where is this going?" for the first half hour, and without some foreknowledge of the story that unfolds in Chile I likely would have disconnected. Some of that's on me, but then this is a personal review.
The trims to the pre-Chile threads are tidy and smart.
If you enjoyed the original and are interested in revisiting it, I definitely recommend this.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
F