BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 2, for Henri-Georges Clouzot’s suspense masterpiece “The Wages of Fear,” a thriller about four men hired to drive two trucks loaded with nitroglycerine across mountainous, treacherous terrain.
THE WAGES OF FEAR | 1953 | DIRECTOR: Henri-Georges Clouzot | WITH: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, Folco Lulli | RUNNING TIME: 2H 36M | IN FRENCH with English subtitles | UNRATED | PROJECTED IN 2K
In a squalid South American oil town, four desperate men sign on for a suicide mission to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain route. As they ferry their explosive cargo to a faraway oil fire, each bump and jolt tests their courage, their friendship, and their nerves. The result is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France’s legendary master of suspense Henri-Georges Clouzot.
“One thing that establishes “The Wages of Fear” as a film from the early 1950s, and not from today, is its attitude toward happy endings. Modern Hollywood thrillers cannot end in tragedy for its heroes, because the studios won’t allow it. “The Wages of Fear” is completely free to let anything happen to any of its characters, and if all four are not dead when the nitro reaches the blazing oil well, it may be because Clouzot is even more deeply ironic than we expect.
“The last scene, where a homebound truck is intercut with a celebration while a Strauss waltz plays on the radio, is a reminder of how much Hollywood has traded away by insisting on the childishness of the obligatory happy ending.” — Roger Ebert
Tickets are $6 (including service charge) and available at link above. Students use code UMSTUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show Cane card at the door).
