Le salaire de la peur/Wages of Fear (Clouzot, 1953)

Le salaire de la peur/Wages of Fear (Clouzot, 1953) - TSPDT #206

Four washed-up workers in two trucks of nitroglycerine try to make it to a burning oilfire.

An amazingly well done film. Before the real action starts, there is enough time to get to know the characters. Inside the trucks in one of the cars there is a lot of backstory revealed while in the other truck with Montand the relationship shifts to an extremely uneasy new equilibrium. The last conversation between Luigi and the German guy was a little brief - maybe something got cut out? It doesn't give any clues to what's going to happen.

Great editing at the ending, when the viewer realizes what's going to happen just by the camera tilting. Might be filmed a bit better nowadays, but the effectiveness is just through the editing. There is more fantastic editing during the single obstacles the two trucks face.

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