“My favorite movie of all time”: Stephen King has spoken. It’s a 47-year-old thriller that’s getting a new release on Netflix this week…
Horror writer and master Stephen King has no problem singing the praises of the films he loves but in the end, there can only be one film that can be called his “favorite.” . And you will be surprised to learn that it is not a horror film but an adventure thriller in particular…
In an article published in 2017 for the British Film Institute, the author of Shining, the child of lighte (1977) revealed that his favorite film of all time was William Friedkin’s Sorcerer (1977), an adaptation of the book The Wages of Fear by Georges Arnaud (1949).
In France, the book had already been adapted by Henri-Georges Clouzot in 1953 – Le Salaire de la Peur avec Yves Montand –, Stephen Kinghe is very clear about his preferred version.
“My favorite film of all time, it may surprise you, is Sorcerer, William Friedkin’s remake of the great Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear. Some may say that Clouzot’s film is better: I don’t agree.”
William Friedkin however, for his part, always clarified that his film was not a remake of that of Clouzot. Despite receiving mixed reviews at the time of its release, it is now widely considered a classic – and everyone’s favorite film. Stephen King and that is sacred!
Starring Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal and Amidou, the film (like the book and the previous French adaptation before it) tells the story of four foreigners of different nationalities, each wanted in their country, who team up to drive a load of nitroglycerin through the South American jungle. A journey into the heart of darkness begins…
Paramount Pictures
Never two without three… and with Franck Gastambide!
And now Netflix is joining the race: in fact, a new adaptation of the novel has just been released on the streaming platform this Friday, March 29! We return to the French side this time: it is a feature film by Julien Leclercq with Franck Gastambide, Alban Lenoir and Ana Girardot, which officially refers to Clouzot’s film. “Based on the original film The Wages of Fear directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, co-written by Jean and Henri-Georges Clouzot, based on the eponymous work by Georges Arnaud published by Éditions Julliard”: that’s what it says.
Netflix
Here again, “A shock team has less than 24 hours to transport two trucks packed with explosives through a hostile region and prevent a terrible catastrophe”, can we read in the synopsis which describes this new 2024 version… which unfortunately does not seem to convince at the moment, being rated 2.3 out of 5 by the press and 1.7 out of 5 by spectators from AlloCiné.
It’s up to you to form your own opinion: The Wages of Fear (2024) can therefore be discovered on Netflix – just like The Wages of Fear (1953)! For Stephen King’s favorite film, Sorcerer, however, we will have to turn to a potential DVD version…
Check out the trailer for The Wages of Fear (2024) below: