Running Time: 141 minutes
Directed By: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Written By: Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jerome Geronimi, from novel by Georges Arnaud
Main Cast: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, Folco Lulli, Vera Clouzot
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A DOUBLE SHOT OF CLOUZOT: 1 of 2
Well it was a rough couple of work days, but I finally made it to vacation and for the next week I hope to bang out a handful of reviews. I kick off my week off with a "Double Shot of Clouzot", taking a look at the two Henri-Georges Clouzot films from the book. First, we head back to 1953 and "The Wages of Fear".
The film starts out slow, to be honest, zooming in on a small South American town, where nearly all of the residents are poor - too poor in fact to get out of the town, which is what nearly all of them want to do. The only employment opportunity in town is the Standard Oil Company, an American corporation, which falls under heavy scrutiny from the townspeople for it's unethical labor practices. Standard Oil Company (or SOC) owns and operates several nearby oil fields and when one of them goes up in flames, they figure the only way to extinguish the fire is to use a nitroglycerine explosion to cap the well. The problem is is that the explosion is 300 miles away and in order to get the nitroglycerine to the explosion site, they'll have to cross 300 miles of rough, rocky mountain terrain. For the unaware, any sudden bump or jolt and the nitro could blow the trucks transporting it sky high. Bill O'Brien, company foreman, considers the job of driving the trucks too risky for his own workers and turns to the townspeople, who he knows will jump at the chance for employment. He vows to pay them well, because any driver skilled enough to make it the 300 miles will deserve a healthy reward. He offers $2000 per man, riding together in two man teams and offers four positions (two trucks, two men on each truck). After a little, self administered driving test, O'Brien hires his men: Mario (Montand), Bimba (van Eyck), Luigi (Lulli) and Jo (Vanel), the latter of which replaces a previous, more experienced applicant who doesn't show up.
SPOILER ALERT!
It was slow to start, but I'll be damned if this picture didn't get damn good after the trucks pulled away. In fact, when the picture kicked off, I had it pegged for a low rating. It's nearly an hour into the picture before the trucks begin their 300 mile journey and I wish they'd chopped that beginning down by about twenty-thirty minutes and this movie could've been looking a a '10' rating. However, you nearly forget that incredibly slow ending - the only good part of which is the beautiful Vera Clouzot (wife of Henri-Georges), wearing loose hanging dresses, barefoot and scrubbing floors in the local pub - when those trucks pull away and the suspense & tension meter is cranked to eleven...yes, it goes ALL THE WAY TO ELEVEN! The journey itself reminded me a little bit of "Le Trou", in that it showed EVERY aspect of what it took for two trucks to transport dangerous nitroglycerin across 300 miles of rocky terrain. Clouzot threw in obstacle after obstacle and made sure to keep his viewers on the edge of their seats. There were moments where I literally spoke to the television screen (something I never do), trying to will characters that existed sixty years ago. I kept saying to myself, "When one of these trucks blow up" because I knew one of them would "it needs to be sudden and it needs to be at a moment when we really think they both have a chance at survival". And, by God, it was the most sudden moment in the whole film, when Jo is rolling a cigarette only to have the blast blow the loose tobacco off his paper and a few flashes light up his face. I had to rewind and watch it again, it was that out of nowhere.
So, I spoke about the below average beginning, but what about that ending? Hey, there's no bigger advocate in the world for a sad ending than me, but I have to admit that I HATED the ending to "The Wages of Fear". The whole movie was such a downer anyway, the least they could've done is let the thing end on a high note. After over two hours of biting your nails, we the audience needed to breathe that sigh of relief and damn it, we deserved a happy ending where Linda and Mario embraced and he vowed to use his $4000 reward to get him and her out of town. But no, we get some silly, almost tacked on, ending where Mario, for some ungodly reason, drives his truck erratically down the hill, because apparently when Mario gets really happy he drives his truck in figure-eights and he ends up wrecking it over a hill and dying. WHAT THE FUCK!? Really? I mean, I almost hate to condemn such an unhappy ending, because I like them that much, but I just felt this ending was so unnecessary and I had all the heartbreak I needed for one picture. The lovable Luigi had already died, you had Jo get his legs crushed and then die in the truck, while he and Mario breathed in the rotting flesh of his mangled limb. Prior to that you even tease us with the death of Luigi and following everything you even tease us with the death of Mario, when he falls down, after finally arriving at the site. If I'd had a pacemaker, it would've been shocking me senseless!
RATING: 7.5/10 Forget the beginning and the pointless ending, the rest of the film, however, deserves at least a '7.5' and the title of "must see". Cannot wait for "Les Diaboliques".
MOVIES WATCHED: 613
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 388
February 13, 2012 11:57pm
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