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Movies / On DVD / The Wages of Fear
The Wages of Fear

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The Wages of Fear (1952)

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Reviews Counted:35

Fresh:35

Rotten:0

Average Rating:8.8/10

Consensus: An existential suspense classic, The Wages of Fear blends nonstop suspense with biting satire; its influence is still being felt on today's thrillers.

Runtime: 2 hrs 28 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Synopsis: Henri Georges Clouzot directed this tense and suspenseful drama about four men so desperate for freedom that they willingly risk their lives to deliver a dangerous cargo. In a small, isolated, hot... Henri Georges Clouzot directed this tense and suspenseful drama about four men so desperate for freedom that they willingly risk their lives to deliver a dangerous cargo. In a small, isolated, hot and dusty Central American village, there's only one thing to do: dream of getting out. An opportunity for escape presents itself -- but only to those with nerves of steel. An American oil company has offered to pay big bucks to get two trucks filled with nitroglycerin over to a well fire. The catch: the unpaved terrain contains enough bumps and crags to make the unstable material explode... and instantly kill the driver. Nonetheless, the company has many applicants hungry for work, and a quartet of the coolest are chosen. But even these stalwart men will discover that fear of their deadly payload can ignite even the most frozen emotions. [More]

Starring: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Vera Clouzot, Peter Van Eyck

Starring: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Vera Clouzot, Peter Van Eyck, Folco Lulli, William Tubbs

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Screenwriter: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Producer: Raymond Borderie, Henri-Georges Clouzot
Composer: Georges Auric

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Apr 21, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

Blu-ray Disc Features:

  • Region [unknown]
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono - English
  • Subtitles - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Comparisons: Censored - Analysis Of Cuts Made For 1955 U.S. Film Release
  • Documentary: Henri-Georges Clouzot: The Enlightened Tyrant - 2004

Interviews:

  • 1. Yves Montand, Actor - 1988
  • 2. Michel Romanoff, Assistant Director
  • 3. Marc Godin, Henri-Georges Clouzot Biographer

Additional Products:

  • Booklet - Dennis Lahane, Novelist - Essay
 
 
 
 

Reviews for The Wages of Fear

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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When contrabandists become businessmen and human life is blown away as simply as the tobacco in a half-rolled cigarillo, heroism and grace are notions that wither in the heat

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
09/25/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

An extraordinarily gripping thriller from Henri-Georges Clouzot that establishes and maintains a level of tension rarely equalled elsewhere in cinema.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
04/24/09
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Now seems much less like Salt of the Earth-as-a-potboiler and a lot more like the spiritual godfather to every testosterone-fuelled thrill ride since.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
04/20/09
Eric Henderson
Eric Henderson
Slant Magazine

A classic suspense film...also the screen equivalent of a classic existentialist drama...The chemical reaction Clouzot gets from these genres is pure dynamite. [Blu-ray]

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
04/19/09
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

"Wages of Fear" is an uncompromising parable about money, greed, and man's jealous desire for that which he can never have. Yves Montand is outstanding in this gritty and unrelentingly suspenseful picture.

Full Review Source: Daily Radar | comment Comment
04/13/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
Daily Radar

One of the best existential thrillers ever made, Clouzot's 1952 film, which won the Cannes Fest Palme d'Or, is just as fresh, suspenseful, gritty and haunting today as it was decades ago; good companion piece to Clouzot's Diabolique.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
04/06/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

A nail-biting drama that's a must-see.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
03/01/07
Patrick Peters
Patrick Peters
Empire Magazine

A significant influence on Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, this grueling pile driver of a movie will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
03/01/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A harrowing odyssey of four derelicts inching two trucks loaded with nitro-glycerine over a tortuous terrain puts this in the strong meat department with a downbeat theme of fear and its manifestations.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/01/07
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A perfect blend of suspense and social satire.

comment Comment
12/12/06
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

A reeking bandana movie, with all the expected thrills, but a vision of men as scurrying insects with no redeeming features.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[An] existential suspense classic.

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
10/29/05
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

The Wages of Fear is a frantic, vicious, existentialist howl that still manages to laugh; it goes grinning into the void.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
10/17/05
Chris Barsanti
Chris Barsanti
Filmcritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
10/06/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

Clouzot's camera captures the suspense as visually as Hitchcock

Full Review Source: Old School Reviews | comment Comment
09/09/05
John A. Nesbit
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews

One of the all-time great exercises in tension

comment Comment
09/10/04
Jon Niccum
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World

No review available.

comment Comment
06/26/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

No review available.

comment Comment
06/03/04
Arthur Lazere
Arthur Lazere
culturevulture.net

No review available.

comment Comment
05/14/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
 
 
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