When director William Friedkin's expensive adventure film "Sorcerer" opened in 1977, it died a quick death at the boxoffice. Like other films that met the same fate, however, it has been re-evaluated and - much to Friedkin's satisfaction- it is regarded by many as one of the great movies of its era. In this clip, critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel review the film on their show "At the Movies". As usual, they disagree, with Siskel stating he was not impressed by the movie while Ebert argues the film is terrific. Ebert also gripes that the studio botched the marketing campaign, while Siskel points out that the film's title implied it was relating to the supernatural. Thus, audiences were expecting something akin to Friedkin's previous film, "The Exorcist". In any event, "Sorcerer" has withstood the test of time and plays even better today in the CGI era when we can appreciate the days when special effects and great action scenes were achieved the hard way.
(For an exclusive interview with William Friedkin about the film, see Cinema Retro issue #29).