Wages of Fear
Encyclopedia
The Wages of Fear is a 1953 French thriller film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
, starring Yves Montand
, and based on a 1950 novel by Georges Arnaud. When a South American oil well
owned by an American company catches fire, the company hires four European men, down on their luck, to drive two trucks over mountain dirt roads, carrying the nitroglycerine needed to extinguish the fire. Violent Road (aka Hell's Highway), directed by Howard W. Koch
in 1958, and Sorcerer
, directed by William Friedkin
in 1977, are American remake
s. With this, Clouzot reached international fame, and was able to direct Les Diaboliques
. The film was the 4th highest grossing film of the year with a total of 6,944,306 admissions in France.
The first half of the film develops the main characters by examining their daily struggles. Most of the action takes place in the town's cantina
. The four most prominent characters are: the Frenchmen
Mario and M. Jo, the Dutch
Bimba and the Italian
Luigi. Mario is the main character, an optimistic Corsican playboy. Jo is an aging ex-gangster
who ran bootleg, and just recently found himself stranded in the town. Bimba is an intense, quiet individual whose father was murdered by the Nazis, and who himself worked for three years in a salt mine
. Luigi, Mario's roommate, is a jovial, hardworking individual, who just learned that he is dying from lung disease. Mario befriends Jo due to their common background of having lived in Paris
, but a rift develops between Jo and the other cantina regulars because of his tendency to want to come off as a bigshot.
The catalyst to the film's action sequence is a massive fire at one of the SOC oil fields. The only means to extinguish the flames and cap the well is nitroglycerine. With short notice and lack of proper equipment, the only means of transportation are jerrycan
s placed in two large trucks. Due to the poor condition of the roads and the highly volatile nature of nitroglycerine, the job is considered too dangerous for the unionized
SOC employees.
The company recruits truck drivers from the local community. Despite the dangers, many of the locals volunteer, lured by the high pay: US$2,000 per driver. This is a fortune to them, and the money is seen by some as the only way out of their dead-end lives. The pool of applicants is narrowed down to four handpicked drivers. All the main characters except for M. Jo are chosen. Smerloff, one of the chosen drivers, fails to appear on the appointed day for unknown reasons and Jo is substituted in his place. The other drivers suspect that Jo murdered Smerloff in order to take his place.
The final half of the film is an extended action sequence focusing on the drive to the oil field. M. Jo and Mario are in one vehicle, and Luigi and Bimba are in the other, with thirty minutes separating them in order to limit potential casualties. The drivers are forced to deal with a series of physical and mental obstacles, including a stretch of road called "the washboard", a construction barricade that forces them to teeter around a rotten platform above a precipice, and a boulder blocking the road. Jo finds that his nerves are not what they used to be in his younger age, and the others confront him with his increasing cowardice. Finally, Luigi and Bimba's truck explodes without warning.
Mario and Jo arrive at the scene only to find a large crater rapidly filling up with oil from a pipeline severed in the blast. Jo exits the vehicle in order to help Mario navigate it through the crater. The vehicle, however, is in danger of becoming bogged down and during their frantic attempts to prevent it, Mario is forced to run over Jo. Although the vehicle is ultimately freed from the muck, Jo is mortally wounded. On their arrival at the oil field they are hailed as heroes, but Jo is dead and Mario collapses from exhaustion. Upon his recovery, Mario heads home in the same truck, now freed of its dangerous cargo. He collects double the wages following his friends' deaths, and refuses the appointed chauffeur SOC offers. The final scene shows him jubilantly driving down a mountain road, intercut with a party at the cantina. He swerves recklessly and intentionally, having cheated death so many times on the same road. He takes one corner too fast and plunges to his death many feet below.
of The New York Times
wrote "The excitement derives entirely from the awareness of nitroglycerine and the gingerly, breathless handling of it. You sit there waiting for the theatre to explode." The film was also a hit with the public gaining 6,944,306 Admissions in France where it was the 4th highest earning film of the year.
In 1982, Pauline Kael
called it "the most original and shocking French melodrama of the 50s." In 1992, Roger Ebert
stated that "The film's extended suspense sequences deserve a place among the great stretches of cinema." In 2010, the film was ranked #9 in Empire
magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema."
Due to the negative portrayal of the American oil company SOC, the film was accused of anti-Americanism
and several scenes were cut for the U.S. release.
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his work in the thriller film genre, having directed The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques, which are critically recognized to be among the greatest films from the 1950s...
, starring Yves Montand
Yves Montand
-Early life:Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, the son of poor peasants Giuseppina and Giovanni Livi, a broommaker. Montand's mother was a devout Catholic, while his father held strong Communist beliefs. Because of the Fascist regime in Italy, Montand's family left for France in...
, and based on a 1950 novel by Georges Arnaud. When a South American oil well
Oil well
An oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well.-History:The earliest...
owned by an American company catches fire, the company hires four European men, down on their luck, to drive two trucks over mountain dirt roads, carrying the nitroglycerine needed to extinguish the fire. Violent Road (aka Hell's Highway), directed by Howard W. Koch
Howard W. Koch
Howard Winchel Koch was an American director and producer of motion pictures and television.Born in New York City, he attended DeWitt Clinton High School and the Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey...
in 1958, and Sorcerer
Sorcerer (film)
Sorcerer is a 1977 thriller adventure film, produced and directed by William Friedkin, starring Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal and Amidou. It is the second remake of the 1953 French film Le Salaire de la Peur ....
, directed by William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
in 1977, are American remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
s. With this, Clouzot reached international fame, and was able to direct Les Diaboliques
Les Diaboliques (film)
Les Diaboliques , released as Diabolique in the United States and variously translated as The Devils or The Fiends, is a 1955 French black-and-white thriller feature film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot and Paul Meurisse...
. The film was the 4th highest grossing film of the year with a total of 6,944,306 admissions in France.
Plot
The film centers on the fates of a handful of men who are stuck in a South American town. The town, Las Piedras, is isolated due to the surrounding desert but it maintains contact with the outside world through a small airport. However, the airfare is beyond the means of the main characters (many of whom are also noncitizens without proper paperwork for work or travel). There is little opportunity for employment aside from the American corporation that dominates the town. The company, Southern Oil Company, called SOC, operates the nearby oil fields and owns a walled compound within the town. SOC is accused of unethical practices such as exploiting local workers and taking the law into its own hands.The first half of the film develops the main characters by examining their daily struggles. Most of the action takes place in the town's cantina
Cantina
Cantina is a word that can refer to various places and establishments. It is similar in etymology to "canteen", and is derived from the Italian word for a cellar, winery, or vault.Cantinas are found in many towns of Italy...
. The four most prominent characters are: the Frenchmen
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Mario and M. Jo, the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Bimba and the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Luigi. Mario is the main character, an optimistic Corsican playboy. Jo is an aging ex-gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
who ran bootleg, and just recently found himself stranded in the town. Bimba is an intense, quiet individual whose father was murdered by the Nazis, and who himself worked for three years in a salt mine
Salt mine
A salt mine is a mining operation involved in the extraction of rock salt or halite from evaporite deposits.-Occurrence:Areas known for their salt mines include Kilroot near Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland ; Khewra and Warcha in Pakistan; Tuzla in Bosnia; Wieliczka and Bochnia in Poland A salt mine...
. Luigi, Mario's roommate, is a jovial, hardworking individual, who just learned that he is dying from lung disease. Mario befriends Jo due to their common background of having lived in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, but a rift develops between Jo and the other cantina regulars because of his tendency to want to come off as a bigshot.
The catalyst to the film's action sequence is a massive fire at one of the SOC oil fields. The only means to extinguish the flames and cap the well is nitroglycerine. With short notice and lack of proper equipment, the only means of transportation are jerrycan
Jerrycan
A jerrycan is a robust fuel container originally made from pressed steel. It was designed in Germany in the 1930s for military use to hold 20 litres of fuel. The development of the Jerrycan was a huge improvement on earlier designs, which required tools and funnels to use.-Uses:Today similar...
s placed in two large trucks. Due to the poor condition of the roads and the highly volatile nature of nitroglycerine, the job is considered too dangerous for the unionized
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
SOC employees.
The company recruits truck drivers from the local community. Despite the dangers, many of the locals volunteer, lured by the high pay: US$2,000 per driver. This is a fortune to them, and the money is seen by some as the only way out of their dead-end lives. The pool of applicants is narrowed down to four handpicked drivers. All the main characters except for M. Jo are chosen. Smerloff, one of the chosen drivers, fails to appear on the appointed day for unknown reasons and Jo is substituted in his place. The other drivers suspect that Jo murdered Smerloff in order to take his place.
The final half of the film is an extended action sequence focusing on the drive to the oil field. M. Jo and Mario are in one vehicle, and Luigi and Bimba are in the other, with thirty minutes separating them in order to limit potential casualties. The drivers are forced to deal with a series of physical and mental obstacles, including a stretch of road called "the washboard", a construction barricade that forces them to teeter around a rotten platform above a precipice, and a boulder blocking the road. Jo finds that his nerves are not what they used to be in his younger age, and the others confront him with his increasing cowardice. Finally, Luigi and Bimba's truck explodes without warning.
Mario and Jo arrive at the scene only to find a large crater rapidly filling up with oil from a pipeline severed in the blast. Jo exits the vehicle in order to help Mario navigate it through the crater. The vehicle, however, is in danger of becoming bogged down and during their frantic attempts to prevent it, Mario is forced to run over Jo. Although the vehicle is ultimately freed from the muck, Jo is mortally wounded. On their arrival at the oil field they are hailed as heroes, but Jo is dead and Mario collapses from exhaustion. Upon his recovery, Mario heads home in the same truck, now freed of its dangerous cargo. He collects double the wages following his friends' deaths, and refuses the appointed chauffeur SOC offers. The final scene shows him jubilantly driving down a mountain road, intercut with a party at the cantina. He swerves recklessly and intentionally, having cheated death so many times on the same road. He takes one corner too fast and plunges to his death many feet below.
Cast
- Yves MontandYves Montand-Early life:Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, the son of poor peasants Giuseppina and Giovanni Livi, a broommaker. Montand's mother was a devout Catholic, while his father held strong Communist beliefs. Because of the Fascist regime in Italy, Montand's family left for France in...
as Mario - Charles VanelCharles VanelCharles-Marie Vanel, known as Charles Vanel was a French director and actor. He made his screen debut in 1912, in Robert Péguy's Jim Crow...
as Jo - Peter van EyckPeter van EyckPeter van Eyck, born Götz von Eick , was a German-American actor.-Biography:...
as Bimba - Folco LulliFolco LulliFolco Lulli was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 104 films between 1946 and 1970. He was the brother of actor Piero Lulli.-Selected filmography:* Flesh Will Surrender * Tragic Hunt...
as Luigi - Véra ClouzotVéra ClouzotVéra Clouzot was a Brazilian-born French film actress and screenwriter.Born as Véra Gibson-Amado in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she became the wife of film director Henri-Georges Clouzot...
as Linda - William Tubbs as Bill O'Brien
- Darío MorenoDarío MorenoDarío Moreno was a Turkish polyglot singer of Jewish origin, as well as an accomplished composer, lyricist and guitarist, who was born in Aydın, Turkey, in 1921, and who attained fame and made a remarkable career centered in France which also included films, during the fifties and the...
as Hernandez - Jo Dest as Smerloff
- Antonio CentaAntonio CentaAntonio Centa was an Italian actor.Born at Maniago, Province of Pordenone, he moved with his family to Ferrara during World War I....
as Camp Chief - Luis De Lima as Bernardo
Reception
The Wages of Fear was critically hailed upon its original release. Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote "The excitement derives entirely from the awareness of nitroglycerine and the gingerly, breathless handling of it. You sit there waiting for the theatre to explode." The film was also a hit with the public gaining 6,944,306 Admissions in France where it was the 4th highest earning film of the year.
In 1982, Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
called it "the most original and shocking French melodrama of the 50s." In 1992, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
stated that "The film's extended suspense sequences deserve a place among the great stretches of cinema." In 2010, the film was ranked #9 in Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema."
Due to the negative portrayal of the American oil company SOC, the film was accused of anti-Americanism
Anti-Americanism
The term Anti-Americanism, or Anti-American Sentiment, refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture or government of the United States...
and several scenes were cut for the U.S. release.
Awards
- 1953 Berlin Film Festival3rd Berlin International Film FestivalThe 3rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 18 to June 28, 1953.-Films in competition:* Sie fanden eine Heimat by Leopold Lindtberg* Entotsu no mieru basho by Heinosuke Gosho...
: Golden BearGolden BearAccording to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear.... - 1953 Cannes Film Festival1953 Cannes Film Festival-Jury:*Jean Cocteau *Louis Chauvet *Titina De Filippo *Guy Desson *Philippe Erlanger *Renée Faure *Jacques-Pierre Frogerais *Abel Gance *André Lang...
: Grand Prix du Festival International du FilmPalme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
(Palme d'Or) - BAFTABritish Academy of Film and Television ArtsThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
: BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source
External links
- Criterion Collection essay by Dennis LehaneDennis LehaneDennis Lehane is an American author. He has written several award-winning novels, including A Drink Before the War and the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award-winning film. Another novel, Gone, Baby, Gone, was also adapted into an Academy...