William Friedkin directed The Exorcist and The French Connection. If you ask him which film he considers to be his magnum opus, his will proudly name his biggest box office failure, Sorcerer!
Sorcerer (1977) is a film about four desperate men stuck in third world South America forced to truck unstable explosives through the jungle. Confused yet? There's nothing supernatural about this movie, unless you count the two trucks - a pair of 1951 GMC M211's named Lazaro and Sorcerer.
Sorcerer failed in the box office because many factors: It's misleading name, people being confused since the first 15 minutes are not in English, and it just happen to hit the theaters at the same time as Star Wars.
It's a shame because this movie is awesome. Joining us to soak in the awesomeness is script writer, film buff and comedian Jeff Davis. We discuss the craziness behind the scenes of this film, the nature of the trucks, and how to bring great films like this one to a wider audience.
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Paul Newman was a fixture in the car racing universe. How did it happen? Winning. Newman saw the script for the 1969 movie about a car racer and his love life and decided to make sure it was elevated from movie-of-the-week status to big budget box office picture.
Winning was about a race car driver who focused on succeeding at Indianapolis at the expense of his marriage. And it kind of sucked. Joining us is Heyward Wagner, Director of Experiential Programs for the Sports Car Club of America. Heyward has first hand knowledge of Newman's impact on the SCCA racing scene and agrees with James and Sid that the movie kind of sucked.
How accurate was its portrayal of various forms of racing? What good came from the movie? (Spoiler: Lots of good came from the movie) Can a "great" racing movie be made today?
Follow @ReelsandWheels and subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes. Find Sid and James- @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames on social media. Interested in all the great things Heyward is doing for the SCCA? Find out more here! https://www.scca.com/