Gunshots and (Un)Answered Questions: Friedkin, Blu-ray and Endings
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Sorcerer
Balthazar Bee — 11 years ago(April 24, 2014 07:45 AM)
SPOILERS for Sorcerer, The French Connection
Little things mean a lot.
On Tuesday, a pair of highly anticipated blu-ray releases hit the streets: Sorcerer and Get Carter two of the most grittily entertaining thrillers of the 1970s.
While each sported a marked upgrade in picture quality from their respective DVDs particularly Sorcerer, which has long been an object lesson in how home video releases should not be handled each also seemed to (at least for this viewer) create new problems.
Carter Takes a D(r)ubbing
Get Carter, for whatever reason, includes an infamously poor dubbing job in one of its scenes, despite having been released in Mike Hodges preferred original version for North American DVD about ten years ago. Although the affected screen time only amounts to a minute or so, its an important minute; Michael Caine, in one of the toughest and best performances of his lengthy career, is being gently scolded about his plans to go up north and investigate the death of his brother. His bosses remind him that he has no special allowances to stir up trouble among criminals with whom their group is allied.
Anyway, instead of sounding like grizzly British gangsters, they sound like goofy caricatures, transforming the scene into something resembling parody. Its simply not believable that Caines ruthless Carter takes orders from these goofs. It hurts the film, particularly if youre only familiar with the original U.K. language track.
Now, time will tell, but Im hopeful that next months U.K. release will set things right. (Ill gladly pay another tenner to have this scene restored. Maybe I can get five for the other copy at a used merchant.)
Less and More
No such luck for Sorcerer, which has been changed in a way thats even less tangible, and even more profound.
The film originally ended with bone-tired Roy Scheider, having successfully delivered the nitro, being paid off in the cantina. He pauses, in a reflective mood, and takes a moment to dance with a local crone. Charlie Parker (with strings) plays Ill Remember April as the camera pulls back, into the street, settling on an arriving taxi. Two men from New Jersey get out. Tangerine Dreams crushing score slams home and the titles roll.
You can see it here:
This is what might be termed an unambiguous ambiguous ending; while its true that we dont know for certain whats happened to Scheider, viewers whove been paying even a modicum of attention will recognize the two men who get out of the taxi from earlier in the film one, a gangsters muscle; the other, Scheiders friend, the one who arranged for his escape to the jungle in the first place.
In short, hes a dead man, and his travails on the mountain road, on the bridge, eking out an existence in the horrid town all for naught. Moreover, the man who fingers Scheider is really the only ally he has left in the world.
The endings arguably even more grim when you consider the possibility that the oil company had a hand in the characters death. Note that the oil man insists on paying by cheque, telling Scheider the companys fixed it so that he can cash it at a local bank, despite having no valid identification. Perhaps he doesnt want to hand him $40,000 in cash for his own protection they dont have a combative or less-than-civil relationship in prior scenes but its alternatively plausible that he knows whats in store for Scheider and sees it as an expedient way to save the company some money. And how else would the two goons have known where hed be at that exact moment?
Its a haunting ending, made all the more so by Friedkins typically uncompromising decision to leave Scheiders death off screen. But itd probably be a mistake to call it ambiguous. In any case, the ending still has power and finality, largely thanks to the evocative menace of Tangerine Dreams score. Then the title, Sorcerer, appears on the screen still no less mystifying as a title, it should be said putting a nice piece of punctuation on the end of this baffling and powerful film.
In any case, for whatever reason, Friedkin has decided to neuter this ending for its blu-ray release. (Perhaps neuter is too strong, but my bloods still up since watching it last night.)
Now, once the two goons enter the cantina, beneath Tangerine Dreams score, we hear a gunshot.
Yes, a gunshot. One straight out of a twenty-first century sound effects database. (These gunshots, like the ones used in the new audio mix for the Terminator, or the 1996 5.1 mix for Vertigo, will always sound utterly phony to my ears. Sadly, they are used throughout Sorcerer.)
So What
If youve made it this far, you may be asking yourself, Does this qualitatively change the ending?
Fair enough. For a few minutes after Id turned off the blu-ray, that was essentially my reaction. But it put me in mind of something.
Parallels
If youve seen The French Connection, theres a good chance youve got an opinion about
that
films final, pre-credits gunshot.
Youll remember that Popeye -
JoshAcid — 11 years ago(April 25, 2014 07:40 AM)
I saw Sorcerer once a long time ago, and last night watched it again with my significant other (who had not seen it before). I heard the sound, but didn't interpret it as a gunshot at firstMaybe it was because I'd seen the movie before and didn't remember there being a gunshot there, maybe it was mixed too low (or the sound on my TV was too low) to have had enough of an impact, but I heard it as an indistinct ambient sound, and unconsciously dismissed it. At least until my S.O. asked me, "Was that a gunshot?" I answered, "Was it? Maybe?"
It seems like if we could hear the gunshot we would have heard other commotion afterward, like the woman that Scheider was dancing with (or really anyone else in the bar) having some kind of audible reaction to a murder happening right in front of them. In any case, the sound was unnecessary to underline the meaning of the ending.
http://joshacid37.dvdaf.com/ -
ccr1633 — 11 years ago(April 25, 2014 11:43 AM)
Regardless of whether there was a gunshot, it's pretty clear that Jackie Scanlon's visitors intended to kill him. I never paid much mind to the possibility of a gunshot sound since Friedkin's intentions with the ending seemed so obvious.
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www.wedd — 11 years ago(April 26, 2014 05:19 PM)
I'm with JoshAcid. I don't think it's definitively a gunshot. It's very low in the mix, sounds almost like an axe striking wood. Certainly not your traditional sounding movie gunshot. I didn't even notice it the first time watching the blu ray. I went back and played the last scene a couple of times after reading this thread.
Seems odd that there would only be one shot, too - wouldn't he be shot several times? One seems too clean, too implausible, certainly for this movie, where the deaths are extremely messy.
Obviously the original poster is saying we're dealing with foolish revisionism on Friedkin's part, so in that event my last point doesn't stand, but still. -
famousmortimer-2 — 11 years ago(April 28, 2014 12:43 AM)
Thank you for posting this. I agree with you that Friedkin goofed by adding the gunshot. It takes away from the piece in a gnawing way. It reminds me of how he goofed with the original blu ray video transfer for THE FRENCH CONNECTION, dialing the color saturation way up without Roizman there to provide some balance. I wonder what his reasoning was and why he hasn't mentioned it at all in any of his press for the re-release and restoration? He is always very candid about everything it seems.
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Strangerhand — 11 years ago(March 16, 2015 01:24 AM)
Oh lord, dear god! I almost spit my drink onto my monitor-screen laughing my ass off when I read that, wahahahaha!
Hmm, what's not funny is making those stupid, unnecessary changes at all
in the stock film
. If those changes are so great, put 'em into some alternate version, or like some Deleted Scenes-like section of the disc, or whatever, who cares!
The point is stop beeping changing the movies! It's unnecessary, stupid, and makes no sense at all. And I'm beginning to suspect that they're doing it to beep with and piss-off customers. -
famousmortimer-2 — 11 years ago(May 01, 2014 09:42 AM)
Ugh, watching it again with this little cap gun pop really cheapens the end. Seeing the thugs exit the cab and enter the bar with the score rising in the background was sufficient, dare I say brilliant. Adding a dinky stock gunshot into the mix for "clarity's sake" is so against Friedkin's ethos.
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Balthazar Bee — 11 years ago(May 02, 2014 11:28 AM)
Update, courtesy of The Dissolve:
The Dissolve: How did you conceive the journey of Roy Scheiders character?
Friedkin: Thats open-ended. The film begins in mystery and ends in mystery. Theres a savage journey in between. I dont know how Scheiders character ends up, because I didnt load the deck. Hes in that bar where hes a hero to the people in the bar. There are armed men in the bar, theres a couple of police officers from the town, theres the guys from the oil company, and theres everybody else whos around the bar inside and outside, who might be able to foil the two guys who come after him or not. Its an ambiguous ending in that sense. [Spoilers ahead.]
The Dissolve: You hear the one shot at the end
Friedkin: Do you know what that shot is? Its actually a backfire of a vehicle that goes by. But of course, people think its a gunshot.
The Dissolve: Its awfully muffled; you cant tell if its part of the soundtrack or the score. But it seems to represent that.
Friedkin: Theres the hint of a gunshot. I actually used a backfire of a diesel engine.
The Dissolve: So you leave it up to us.
Friedkin: It is totally up to the audience. I wouldnt even hazard a guess as to whether he gets out of there. There is a small sense of hope, because he is given the letter to the French guys wife by the oil-company executive, and you kind of get the feeling he might go to see her, and shes a very bright and attractive woman, and who knows! He hears nostalgic music from the jukebox which overtakes him, as music often does, and hes kind of lulled into what could be a false sense of security. There is some hope offered for the possibility of his meeting Victors wife. [End spoilers.]
http://thedissolve.com/features/interview/543-william-friedkin-on-sorc erer-his-career-and-fate/
I think Friedkin's being a bit disingenuous here. If it'd been my interview, I would've pointed out that the sound in question has been
added
, which isn't incidental. -
Doom — 11 years ago(May 08, 2014 07:35 AM)
Yeah, I'd agree with you.
Any chance we're only able to hear this sound now because of the quality of Blu-ray transfer?
I haven't watched my copy yet, so just throwing the question out there.
Wait a minute who am I here? -
indisposedinmymind — 11 years ago(May 09, 2014 05:43 AM)
It doesn't sound like a gunshot to me, but as for it always being there, I really can't say, as the sound on the old DVD was so poor.
Did anyone else notice that they cut the sound altogether for a split second, when the Amidou character fell between the slats on the bridge and into the water? It didn't happen on the DVD, but I thought it was really effective to be honest.
IS THIS SOMETHING YOU CAN SHARE WITH THE REST OF US, AMAZING LARRY?!?! -
Edward_de_Vere — 11 years ago(May 09, 2014 09:33 AM)
If a closing scene with a gunshot being heard was filmed, I'm glad that it never made the final cut. Having us speculate about what happened next is more interesting than beating audiences over the head with it.
It's obviously strongly implied that Jackie was a goner, but I still like being left with the possibility that he survives, or at least imagining the scenarios under which he's killed (i.e. assassinated on the spot in the seedy bar vs. quietly being escorted out of it at gunpoint and shot in the jungle). -
Doom — 11 years ago(May 16, 2014 06:04 PM)
Hey there. I can finally chime in on this.
Just finished the Blu-ray (better transfer, no doubt - good movie) THEN watched that end scene again off the DVD version.
Um, whatever that sound was, it's
not
there on the DVD copy. Not even close.
So yeah take that how you will.
Wait a minute who am I here?