IMDb RATING
8.2/10
67K
YOUR RATING
In a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.In a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.In a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
- Won 1 BAFTA Award
- 7 wins & 1 nomination total
Peter van Eyck
- Bimba
- (as Peter Van Eyck)
Véra Clouzot
- Linda
- (as Vera Clouzot)
Darío Moreno
- Pepito Hernandez
- (as Dario Moreno)
Antonio Centa
- Camp Chief
- (as Centa)
Charles Fawcett
- Bradley
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaYves Montand and Charles Vanel both suffered from conjunctivitis after filming in a pool of crude oil and being exposed to gas fumes.
- GoofsAs the truck leaves town, when Linda is seen from inside the truck cab, she casts a shadow on the projection screen behind her that is showing the passing houses.
- Alternate versionsThe film was cut for U.S. distribution in 1954, in part due to scenes that denounced crooked U.S. business interests in Latin America. The Criterion Collection laserdisc restored the film to its uncut version with 21 minutes of footage removed from other versions of the film.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Montand à la rencontre de Pagnol (1986)
- SoundtracksThe Blue Danube
Composed by Johann Strauss
Featured review
Watching a truck drive at 6 mph will have your pulse going 120 bpm
My title is not an exaggeration. If you thought OJ Simpson's slow speed chase was insane, you need to change the batteries in your pacemaker and check out "Wages of Fear". This 1953 French classic tells the story of a bunch of guys who are stuck in a squalid South American village--a sort of Casablaca-esque purgatory--and will do anything to get out, even if it means getting themselves blown sky high. Slow and lazy for the first half (deliberately), the plot eventually reveals itself to be about a suicide mission to haul a zillion gallons of nitroglycerine across 300 miles of harsh terrain that would make the Coyote & Roadrunner take an early retirement.
Yes, nitro is that stuff that you don't want to look at the wrong way or it may send you to the moon. "Wages of Fear" ultimately reveals itself to be a gripping character study of how people keep their wits, or come unravelled, when subjected to pure terror... with of course the reward of heaven dangling just out of reach. So again we see this subtle allegory of purgatory, hell and heaven which I'm sure was the intent of director Henri-Georges Clouzot.
An interesting point of historical note is that when this film was released in the USA, around 15 minutes of its 150 min running time were cut. According to the Criterion mini-documentary "Censored", these cuts were largely due to the "anti-American" themes (the tyrannical oil corporation that exploits the lives of locals for the sake of a buck) as well as subtle themes of spiritual cynicism (the beautifully poetic "fence" monologue which symbolizes the absence of God/afterlife). By today's standards these censored scenes are prime time tv, but back in the 50s this movie was feared by US censors as being godless pinko propaganda. That might put a smirk on your face as you're watching this flick. But definitely look for the full 150ish minute version of this film, not the 130 min censored cut.
But really, for the entire second half there will be no smirking, only tense gritting of teeth as you watch these rolling nuke trucks inch across the South American jungle. The hazards they encounter, as well as their ingenious attempts to survive them, are extremely creative and expertly filmed with the sort of suspense that would make Hitchcock lose his breath.
Content advisory stuff: There's a scene in the beginning where a fine tarantula specimen gets squashed. After rewinding and rewatching the scene in slo-mo a dozen times, I'm almost certain that our unfortunate arachnid was a fake prop. If anyone knows differently please mention it in a review. The same scene shows a naked woman from behind, at a distance. Later in the film is a scene that shows a topless native woman from a distance--it's very artistic. Language is tame throughout the movie with maybe 1 or 2 instances of "merde" (the sh- word). While there is violence, none of it is shown explicitly on camera (some of it is disturbing, though). And unless you're a 1950s American censorship bureaucrat, there's nothing politically incendiary other than the notion that the almighty dollar is the root of much misery.
"Wages of Fear" is a well crafted, poetic, suspenseful film that certainly deserves its classic status in the history of cinema. Not unlike the classic Bogart/Lupino film "They Drive by Night" (1940), this film proves that a seemingly simple story about a bunch of truck drivers can really get your gears going.
Yes, nitro is that stuff that you don't want to look at the wrong way or it may send you to the moon. "Wages of Fear" ultimately reveals itself to be a gripping character study of how people keep their wits, or come unravelled, when subjected to pure terror... with of course the reward of heaven dangling just out of reach. So again we see this subtle allegory of purgatory, hell and heaven which I'm sure was the intent of director Henri-Georges Clouzot.
An interesting point of historical note is that when this film was released in the USA, around 15 minutes of its 150 min running time were cut. According to the Criterion mini-documentary "Censored", these cuts were largely due to the "anti-American" themes (the tyrannical oil corporation that exploits the lives of locals for the sake of a buck) as well as subtle themes of spiritual cynicism (the beautifully poetic "fence" monologue which symbolizes the absence of God/afterlife). By today's standards these censored scenes are prime time tv, but back in the 50s this movie was feared by US censors as being godless pinko propaganda. That might put a smirk on your face as you're watching this flick. But definitely look for the full 150ish minute version of this film, not the 130 min censored cut.
But really, for the entire second half there will be no smirking, only tense gritting of teeth as you watch these rolling nuke trucks inch across the South American jungle. The hazards they encounter, as well as their ingenious attempts to survive them, are extremely creative and expertly filmed with the sort of suspense that would make Hitchcock lose his breath.
Content advisory stuff: There's a scene in the beginning where a fine tarantula specimen gets squashed. After rewinding and rewatching the scene in slo-mo a dozen times, I'm almost certain that our unfortunate arachnid was a fake prop. If anyone knows differently please mention it in a review. The same scene shows a naked woman from behind, at a distance. Later in the film is a scene that shows a topless native woman from a distance--it's very artistic. Language is tame throughout the movie with maybe 1 or 2 instances of "merde" (the sh- word). While there is violence, none of it is shown explicitly on camera (some of it is disturbing, though). And unless you're a 1950s American censorship bureaucrat, there's nothing politically incendiary other than the notion that the almighty dollar is the root of much misery.
"Wages of Fear" is a well crafted, poetic, suspenseful film that certainly deserves its classic status in the history of cinema. Not unlike the classic Bogart/Lupino film "They Drive by Night" (1940), this film proves that a seemingly simple story about a bunch of truck drivers can really get your gears going.
helpful•40
- rooprect
- Mar 14, 2020
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Plačilo za strah
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $1,098
- Runtime2 hours 11 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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