Wages of Fear

Pros: Brilliantly assembled and directed. Greatish performance from Yves Montand.
Cons: The pace of the first hour is a bit leisurely for modern audiences.

Joseph sent me the final contracts for Goodfollies today. I wasted no time at all in signing and returning them to ensure my getting the plum role of lady mobster, Toni Soprano. I dropped off the contracts at Federal Express, treated myself to a...

Pros: Strong script with a couple of twists, excellent character development, excellent performances, some thematic depth
Cons: Subtitles (if that’s an issue for you)

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1952 suspense thriller Wages of Fear (La Salaire de la Peur to the French) is one of his most highly regarded masterpieces, along with D iabolique (1955). The action is ...

Pros: One of the most thrilling movies ever.
Cons: Final sixty seconds are absurd. Subtitles, if those count as a "con".

Imagine going to see a movie with someone on what might be a first date. The uncertainty about whether this is anything more than two new friends getting together is compounded by not knowing much about the person you're with. Is she a saint? Is he a...

Pros: Good construction, character development, absorbing scenes
Cons: Beginning is slow, downbeat ending

Wages of Fear starts off boring, favoring character development over story. To say the least, the first forty five minutes are so are actually kind of boring. focusing on the eventual four men who will take on a very dangerous journey. Now, the thing ...

Pros: Superb, white-knuckle action scenes.
Cons: None

I love discovering a new great film. Preferably, I have just discovered the great film in a revival on a big screen (“Rififi” anyone?), but video will do in a pinch. I just had the experience of viewing “Wages of Fear” for the first time. This is easily...

Pros: Incredibly suspenseful; a classic thriller
Cons: long running time, unsatisfying ending

Hitchcock once tried to define suspense using an example. In his sample scene, two characters sit at a table, reading the morning paper while chattering inanely. In the context of a movie, this is a ridiculously boring scene. Then, suddenly, the table...

Pros: Photography, Pacing, Excitement!
Cons: Doesn't have Arnold Shwarzenegger

This 1953 gem by Henri-Georges Clouzot starts off slowly, introducing us to a group of European ex-patriots living in a Central American slum town. There is no work, everything is filthy, and there is a complete lack of hope. The hopelessness of the...