Continuing my coverage on the films of William Friedkin I got round to watching Sorcerer (1974) last night. The Sorcerer was Friedkin's first film after the huge international success, and do not forget controversy, of the The Exorcist (1973). Apparently upon it's first screenings in the US people were frantically queuing up to see it but unfortunately these queues were all but gone in the second week of release. This is no doubt due to Sorcerer being a completely different film to The Exorcist. But this is not necessarily a bad thing.

After a heist goes badly wrong Jackie Scanlon (Roy Scheider) is forced to leave the US and start a new life in South America. When a large fire breaks out at the local oil plant the owner hires Scanlon and three other outcasts to drive two trucks containing extremely volatile nitroglycerin 200 miles to assist in extinguishing the fire.

Though the pacing is uneven during the first thirty minutes it soon picks up in the second half of the film as the four characters encounter different obstacles when trying to drive the trucks through a jungle. The scene when they are driving the trucks over a worn rope bridge is particularly tense. One cannot help but feel that if this was released after The French Connection (1971) instead of The Exorcist it would have received much greater recognition.

The region one DVD from Universal features an acceptable full-frame transfer but the original 1.66:1 framing would have been welcomed. Disappointingly there are no special features present. Like a number of Friedkin's other films, there is another edit of this film in existence and considering it's chequered past, poor reception and Friedkin's own high regard for the film it would have been nice to have had an audio commentary at least.

This forgotten film is another quality entry in Friedkin's canon and like the recently re-released Cruising (1980), which I intend to review next, deserves to be lavished with greater attention.

UPDATE

I spoke to soon, a special edition DVD of Sorcerer, and possibly HD-DVD, is being prepared for release late 2007/early 2008.

A few weeks back I posted that I had found a DVD of William Friedkin's rarely seen film Rampage (1988) available in Poland. The DVD arrived last week amidst all of the flooding and I was very happy to find that despite my concerns it was not a bootleg but a genuine, official release. For those who are unfamiliar with the film it was released in two different versions - the original 1988 European cut and the 1993 American Miramax recut. A thorough breakdown of the differences between these two versions can be found in a Mark Kermode essay published in issue 13 of Video Watchdog. The version offered on this Polish DVD is the 1993 Miramax recut which runs at approximately 87 minutes.

Rampage is based, albeit very loosely, on the serial killer Richard Chase who was known as the 'Vampire of Sacramento' because of him drinking the blood of his victims. Anthony Fraser (Michael Biehn) is a District Attorney prosecuting serial killer Charlie Reece (Alex McArthur) and seeking to have him sentenced to death row. The film is a clever discussion on the ethics of the death penalty and issues of insanity - on what grounds can a killer be deemed legally insane. It also suggests a change in Friedkin's perspective on the death penalty. His first film, The People vs. Paul Crump (1962) was a television documentary that was made to help free a prisoner from death row. So in Rampage is Friedkin trying to construct an argument for the death penalty? Perhaps, but there are a number of many interesting things happening in this film. It may not be his best work but it is certainly a film worthy of greater attention.

The DVD is an acceptable presentation of this rare film. Unfortunately the transfer is not in the original widescreen aspect ratio but is presented in 4:3. It looks to be open-matte but when I zoomed in on the image on my widescreen television it did look a little tight in some scenes. Picture quality is fine, much better than I had expected in fact, as is the audio quality. I have included some screenshots below for those who might be interested in purchasing this rarity:

The DVD can be ordered from the Polish website Merlin.pl or alternatively can be found on eBay from seller 'ulinus'. Hopefully, like Friedkin's Cruising (1980), this will receive the special edition DVD treatment soon offering both edits and a Friedkin commentary. Until now, this Polish DVD will have to suffice and is a welcome release of this forgotten film.

One look at eBay and you will notice that the word 'rare' is ubiquitous. By simply adding the word 'rare' items suddenly become attractive. A quick search on the term 'rare dvd' in eBay generates 2815 results. But the amusing thing about this is that a number of these 'rare DVDs' are readily available at other online vendors for usually cheaper prices and therefore not at all rare.

But there are a large number of rare out-of-print DVDs that fetch extortionate amounts of money on auction and marketplace websites. Details of these rare titles can be found on the Rare and OOP DVD website. As a collector of DVDs locating, purchasing and owning rare titles brings an unusual satisfaction. Several years ago I found myself purchasing a DVD just for its rarity. Whilst I am no longer this devoted I still enjoy locating rare titles on DVD.

Recently I was reading issue 13 of Video Watchdog which contains essays on Manhunter (1986) and Rampage (1988), two films on serial killers that exist in different versions. I have never seen Rampage, though I do recall seeing it on the shelves of video rental shops in the late eighties and early nineties. Like William Friedkin's other controversial film Cruising (1980), which incidentally is being released uncut on DVD this fall, Rampage, though made in 1988 and released in Europe, was not released in America until 1991 due to a number of unfortunate legal entanglements. The version released in America differed greatly to the one released in Europe. Both versions were available on Laserdisc but have never made it to DVD.

After reading the Video Watchdog I did a bit of online detective work and found that the film has been officially released on DVD in Poland. The DVD presentation might be flawed, no anamorphic widescreen transfer unfortunately, it still offers fans of Friedkin a chance to view this rare classic. The DVD can be ordered from the Polish website Merlin.pl or alternatively can be found on eBay. I ordered a copy early in the week and expect it to arrive next week. I will try and post a review when I get round to watching it. It makes one wonder how many other rare films are available in some of the more unexpected countries of the world.

According to High-Def Digest Warner will eventually be releasing the misunderstood cult film Cruising (1980) on both HD formats. Directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino, Cruising is a film I have heard a lot about but have never had the chance to see it. It created a lot of controversy upon it's initial theatrical release and was labelled as being homophobic in it's depiction of gay culture. Cruising has since disappeared into obscurity having never been released on DVD and is hard to find on VHS. A restored uncut version was shown recently at the Cannes Film Festival projected from a new HD master. It is expected that this version will make its way to both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray in the near future.