Sorcerer

Time has been kind to Sorcerer. Released the same year as Star Wars, the film fizzled out commercially and was seen as an expensive flop. But over the decades, its many champions have made a case for it being Friedkin’s masterpiece. Remaking Henri-Georges Clouzot’s classic The Wages of Fear (1953), Sorcerer follows four seedy criminals who’ve been recruited to drive across remote and treacherous Central American landscapes in unreliable trucks stocked with explosives, all in hopes of capping an oil-well fire. Full of white-knuckle set pieces, the film also features one of Roy Scheider’s best performances and a cult favorite soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. (121 mins., DCP)