When I think of an Yves Montand Movie it usually takes place in a cosmopolitan city surrounded by handsomely dressed people and exquisite sets. I picture the dashing Frenchman Yves with a cigarette, fancy suit, neat, polished surrounded by lovely starlets singing a song or two Yves mostly plays roles that fit a man of importance, a man of distinction, for example Yves would depict a Doctor, executive, movie mogul, college professor, newscaster, Military Captain or a Baron. Yves represents elegance in Foreign and American films. Wages of Fear is down right tense, disturbing, dirty and gritty from start to finish. Our story starts in a rural village somewhere in a remote section of South America. It's not quite clear where this place is which has me intrigued from the start.The towns people spoke French which I felt a gaze of wonderment. In addition to the remoteness of this town the only way back to France is the airport because the roads are dangerous. Passing deserted jungles and deserts along the way. Narrow roads protruding over cliffs make any journey heart wrenching to say the least.Our picture starts with four men. Frenchman Mario (Yves Montand) and his friend Jo (Charles Vanel). A German fellow named Bimba (Peter Van Eyck) and Italian Luigi (Folco Lulli). Work is hard to come by because this remote town is run by a corrupt American corporation SOC Southern Oil Corporation.This company is suspected of unethical practices, mainly exploiting worker and taking the law into it's own hands. The townspeople except the hardships anyway. Montand plays a gruff Corsican playboy who abuses his girlfriend Linda (Vera Clouzot) with contempt. His buddy Jo was an ex-con who feels stranded in this out of the way town. Bimba is an intense quiet man who worked in salt mine for six long years. Mario's close friend is Jo who talks about the old days when they both lived in Paris. Luigi has developed serious health issues due to collecting cement dust in his lungs. Meanwhile Jo feeling stranded is quick tempered with the other cantina regulars. Meanwhile a massive fire breaks out at an SOC Oil field some 500 kilometers from their town. Non unionized SOC truck drivers are needed to deliver nitroglycerin in two large barrels over rough terrain to quash the out of control flames. A perfect example of the company exploiting the locals into a dangerous situation for employment. The company institutes a lottery for applicants and The four men I mentioned previously where picked. A fellow by the name of Smerloff was originally picked but doesn't show so Jo takes that spot. A few years earlier Jo did some curry-favor with the American SOC foreman Bill O'Brien (William Tubbs) when they delivered illegal booze on the side. Jo shows signs of getting weak possibly local malaria and O'Brien partners him with Mario on this hazardous journey into the wilderness. The other two will drive the second truck 30 minutes behind Mario. Luigi and Bimba suspect that Jo murdered Smerloff to take that spot. So far this flick was only in French with English sub-titled and then the movie inverts to a brief English portion of the film as the SOC foreman Bill O'Brien lays down the plan and explains the nature of this dangerous mission to Non union four carrying liquid explosive. Paying each driver $2000.00 if they survive the journey to the oil fields. Driving ever so slowly through desolate areas over every obstacle imaginable. Director Henri Clouzot takes you along for one of the most suspenseful rides of your life. You feel the thirst and fever of our characters as at any moment their dreams would end in one huge explosion. Being stuck in an L.A. freeway traffic snarl or a flat tire on a rainy night would be an improvement as to what our men are faced with. The physical and mental anguish of the South American Back country. The cinematography places you riding shotgun, as every bump, precipice, pot hole ridden narrow road for at any moment one mistake and obliteration. I also viewed this movie as an Anti-American film. Big corporation taken advantage of the little town. I just felt for Mario and his chance to possibly start over again. A round about way of playing Russian roulette with Barrels of Nitro in the back just waiting to explode. I was mentally exhausted by films end. As was said by one of the Company men sending our poor souls off to the flamed oil fields,"I used to see men go off on these kinds of jobs... and not come back. When they did their hair turned white and their hands were shaky like palsy. You don't know what fear is but it's catching. Catching like small pox! Once you get it it's for life. So long Boys and Good Luck!" I gave this melodrama a medium grade of five barrels of Nitro.

The setting is a dead end South American village in the middle of nowhere. Its only distinguishing feature being an American oilfield some distance away from the village. But then an accident causes a fire to spread into the oil and the only way to stop it is to literally blow it out. With nitroglycerin. The only problem being that they don't have the safety equipment needed to transport the nitro from the village. But "luckily" such villages have no shortage of men at the end of their ropes, willing to do anything for a final paycheck.And that's essentially The Wages of Fear in a nutshell. It's about human desperation and about ever-mounting stakes as the tension keeps rising and rising. Every little tremor or stone on the road could send all four men into the sky in a fiery explosion of primordial forces. And even though you're safely hunkered on your coach, behind the reality line of a TV screen, you can't help but sweat in anguish alongside these men. The film is that well shot.That being said, it takes its sweet time getting there. The first portion of the film is spent getting to know the village and these four wretched souls. And while they are interesting personalities, played by talented actors, it still drags quite a bit. And that's partly because at that point you don't have much of an idea where the film is going. Most of the loose threads get tied up towards the end, but a good half of the film is a jumbled mess.But that other part where they're actually transporting the explosives is so good that it more than makes up for the weaker first half. Recommended for all fans of intense.

THE WAGES of FEAR is a cruel and sarcastic approach a existential thriller. The director plays with human psychology, whereas the protagonists travel through without hope and seek salvation. The action takes place around the four drivers who in two trucks transporting nitroglycerin at a great distance through the South American jungle, but the roads are full of potholes and obstacles which is very problematic because their cargo is very sensitive and can explode at the slightest impact.In the first third of the film develops the somewhat perverse drama in an isolated town where poverty is visible at every step. This part creates the necessary atmosphere and character development. Relationship between the protagonists are not explained. Each one acts on impulse and in their own way to cope with the agony brought by poverty and unemployment. As rescue appears cruel form of economic and corporate imperialism. On one side is a fear and hostility by the local population (cheap labor) to the oil company. For Europeans who live there, jobs, no matter how dangerous it was, the rescue or escape from the everyday agony. Then comes the sudden turn in a story that gets qualities of existential and adventurous thriller.Excitement, tension, danger and ice uncertainty.This is a strange blend of action and human reactions. The path of salvation through a nightmare. This approach awakens the worst and the best in man. The lack of sentimentality has contributed to the reality of the experience. This is a harsh struggle for survival.I wondered whether the protagonists actually brave, or just desperate and hopeless. End of the film did not need to be so ironic. Well, probably it was a low blow to the Hollywood thriller. Yves Montand as Mario is brave and ruthless character. In the end, his madness cost him life. Charles Vanel as Jo is a former gangster at all costs trying to flee the city. It's too dangerous to work and quite a coward when push comes to shove. I would not say that his life is more valuable. Peter van Eyck as Bimba is a character who does not have a specific goal in life. If he survives the accident would not have known what later. Very resourceful character in desperate situations. Folco Lulli as Luigi is diligent and cheerful man. He is faced with disease and in dangerous job offer see only salvation. Véra Clouzot as Linda is incredibly beautiful and pretty maid. A faithful lover. Enjoy the woman while she cleans floors is humiliating, but this scene is the responsibility of the atmosphere and theme of the film.Every little bump, blow or elevated tone in this film stops the heart.

In The Wages of Fear, four men in a remote South American town have the enviable task of transporting a metric buttload (technical term) of nitroglycerin across mountainous roads in poor condition. It's a taut, superbly suspenseful thriller, guided with a steady hand by director Henri-Georges Clouzot, who would go on to direct the classic Diabolique in 1955.Yves Montand, in a rare dramatic role, plays Mario, the ostensible protagonist of our tale. He's been stuck in this backwater for some time, but it costs a lot of money to get out – plane fares are through the roof, and there's no train, and there's no neighboring village. In short, you're stuck there until you can buy a ticket – and pay for a passport, of course.Mario spends his days looking for work, wooing tavern worker Linda, and despairing about the lack of work. There's an American oil company in town, but they're no longer hiring. His monotonous lifestyle is interrupted by the arrival of fellow expat Jo (Charles Vanel), a tough-looking older man who quickly wins Mario's favor at the expense of the rest of the men in town.The oil company, in fact, has its own problem – one of their large derricks has exploded, causing a huge oil fire. Company man Bill O'Brien decides to send two trucks loaded with nitro from the town up the mountain to the derrick. (The eventual idea is to set off charges, which will somehow contain or extinguish the fire.) O'Brien has no trouble scaring up volunteers for the task, since the men of the town are largely unemployed. Four men will be selected to take the two trucks. Only one truck is needed; the second is truly just in case there's an accident with the first one. The men will receive $2000 when the work is finished, more than enough to secure passage out of the backwater.Mario and Jo are chosen, as are Mario's roommate Luigi (Folco Lulli) and German expat Bimba (Peter van Eyck). The two trucks depart early in the morning, full of gas and of nitro. Danger awaits.Theirs is not an easy task. The road is full of ruts. In one place, the wooden deck that trucks use to make a sharp turn up the mountain has been damaged from disuse. It's hot and muggy. And one has to be very, very careful, as even the smallest bump might set the whole shebang off. There's also tension among the four drivers – Luigi is unhappy that Mario is spending more time with Jo than with him, Mario is unhappy with what he perceives as Jo's cowardice. Bimba seems to get along with everyone, though.The whole time I was watching this movie, I was certain not all four were going to make it. I will not spoil what is now a sixty-three-year-old movie, but I was still genuinely surprised by the ending. This ain't no fairy tale or sitcom. This is a movie about desperation, redemption, sacrifice, and comeuppance. It's not necessarily about justice.The Wages of Fear is a singularly terrific movie from start to finish, exquisitely shot and expertly written. Its money maker is its tension, something present here in spades. The writing is impeccable; even personality changes make perfect sense within the film's context. There are intricacies within a straightforward plot. This is a must see for lovers of thrillers.