Little Movie Review: The Wages of Fear
June 29th, 2009 by Colin Panetta in Arts, Film
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
Starring Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Véra Clouzot
France/ Italy, 1953
NR, 131 min
live action, black and white
It seems weird to claim that a genre peaked so early in it’s development, but the 1953 French film The Wages of Fear is the most intense action thriller I’ve ever seen. Remarkably, some even claim it to be the first action thriller. The set up is tailor-made: The protagonists are a cast of grifters who are indefinitely trapped in a fictional South American town due to the fact that the only way out of the town, by plane, costs more money than they have or can make. Out of desperation they take a dangerous, but highly profitable job from the government to drive some supplies out to a damaged stretch of oil pipeline 70 miles away. The catch? They’re transporting trucks full of nitroglycerin, the slightest jostle of which would replace their trucks with a smoldering crater. What this means is thrilling, high-tension automotive madness at 5 miles per hour. The audacity of the premise aside, the film’s pacing and characterization make this one of the most effective pieces of intense cinema ever, and it’s a slap to the face of modern actioners who lazily rely on their large scope and ADD editing to provide their thrills. 4.5 stars
June 29th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
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