Sorcerer (1977) review

Four men living in Columbia under assumed names - Irish mobster Scanlon (Roy Scheider), banker Victor (Bruno Cremer), assassin Nilo (Francisco Rabal) and terrorist Kassem (Amidou) - accept a suicidal mission to transport leaky nitroglycerin across exceptionally hazardous terrain in rusted trucks in order to extinguish an oil well fire.  According to Friedkin, it's based on the Georges Arnaud novel The Wages of Fear and not the 1953 film adaptation by Henri-Georges Clouzot, except the initial "set up" is choppy and vague - there's very little dialogue - and it takes a full hour before it gets to what really motivates Billy: watching vehicles almost fall off of cliffs and flimsy bridges during a torrential rain storm.  Despite being a flop when first released (and the cast and crew apparently hated the director) it has undergone a critical re-assessment as the years have passed by, but I personally feel the Clouzot version is a richer experience.  And no offence to Mr. Scheider, but he's no Yves Montand ... but then again, none of us are.