SORCERER
William Friedkin made his intense, ferociously frightening "Sorcerer" (⋆⋆⋆⋆ out of four stars, amazingly rated PG) after "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist" made him the king of 1970s American cinema. He was given complete control of his next wildly expensive extravaganza, and made it an unforgettable epic. Yet it was a box-office flop in 1977, a fact that makes as much sense as if "Taxi Driver" failed because it contained too much sex or "The Shining" showed too much drinking. Friedkin adapted a celebrated European classic about four amoral antiheroes from across the globe. They form an untrusting team, risking their lives to drive two trucks of a South American oil company's explosive nitroglycerin. They must carry it across 200 miles of cliffs and crumbling roadways to extinguish a disastrous fire. The men, runaway criminals staying out of sight in the humid hell hole, must cross rain-soaked jungle and aged bridges on the brink of collapse. And all it would take is a sudden flat tire to blow them into jaguar chow. Roy Scheider, fresh from adorable stardom in "Jaws," plays his American guy as a completely unprincipled thug, whose only virtue is his fear-be-damned commitment to earn the cargo fee and get to a better hiding place. The survival adventure is amazing, packed with moments and elements designed to horrify, and each is followed by something tougher. The demonic soundtrack by the German electronic experimental band Tangerine Dream adds a level of sonic anxiety for those moments when you close your eyes. (Midnight Fri. & Sat. Uptown Theater, Mpls.)
COLIN COVERT
