The Wages of Fear

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s suspense classic stars Yves Montand as the leader of a band of inglorious European layabouts marooned in a squalid South American oil  town that signs on for a treacherous mission to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over three-hundred miles of back roads, rotting bridges, and dilapidated mountain routes. Clouzot’s nail-biting, existentialist masterpiece won top prizes at Cannes and Berlin but was severely cut by U.S. censors before its American debut (though that didn’t stop it from becoming a box office smash in the States). Restored to its original French running time, The Wages of Fear is a gloriously intense thrill ride. “A film that stands alone as the purest exercise in cinematic tension ever carved into celluloid, a work of art so viscerally nerve-racking that one fears a misplaced whisper from the audience could cause the screen to explode. As obsessively attentive as Clouzot is to the narrative spine of the story… he is just as savage in his commentary on corporate imperialism, American exploitation of foreign cultures, the rape of the land, and the ridiculous folly of man.”—Dennis Lehane

Bing Theater | FAQs | Original French Cut!

Included with admission to Remorques. $5 admission for this film only. Call 323 857-6010 or purchase online.