I watched
Sorcerer yesterday for the first time after becoming aware of it due to mentions on this site. The apparent lack of connection between the title and the subject matter certainly pulled me in and in this respect it reminded me of the unmade-for-TV
Doctor Who story
Leviathan, which begins in a medieval setting and involves Herne the Hunter. As with
Sorcerer the meaning of the title takes time to be revealed.
I was expecting something like a Werner Herzog film, chiefly
Aguirre, the Wrath of God and
Fitzcarraldo. Although there are some very impressive sequences, especially crossing the bridge, the comparison with Herzog's brilliance got the better of me and I started to wish he had made it instead. I actually found the lead-in prior to South America more interesting than the ultimate journey.
Having read a little about the production I was surprised to see that Friedkin thought he'd have had a better film with Steve McQueen as originally planned. I concluded it would have been weaker without Roy Scheider – as usual very engaging and interesting to watch.
My favourite part of
Sorcerer ended up being the master typography of the end titles. I really enjoyed seeing that kind of confidence and ability with type writ large
.
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