Sorcerer

views updated May 21 2018

Sorcerer ★★ ½ Wages of Fear 1977 (PG)

To put out an oil fire, four men on the run in South America agree to try to buy their freedom by driving trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over dangerous terrain—with many natural and man-made obstacles to get in their way. Remake of “The Wages of Fear” is nowhere as good as the classic original, but has exciting moments. Puzzlingly retitled, which may have contributed to the boxoffice failure, and the near demise of Friedkin's directing career. 121m/C VHS, DVD . Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francesco Rabal, Soudad Amidou, Ramon Bieri; D: William Friedkin; W: Walon Green; C: Dick Bush, John Stephens; M: Tangerine Dream.

sorcerer

views updated May 14 2018

sorcerer XVI. Extension, with -ER1, of late ME. sorser — (O)F. sorcier :- Rom. *sortiārius, f. sors, sort- lot (see SORT); see -ER2.
So sorceress (-ESS1) XIV. — AN. sorceresse. sorcery XIII. — OF. sorcerie.

sorcerer

views updated May 29 2018

sorcerer a person who claims or is believed to have magic powers; a wizard. Recorded from late Middle English, the word comes ultimately, via Old French, from Latin sors, sort- ‘lot, fortune’.
sorcerer's apprentice a person who instigates a process or project which they are then unable to control without assistance. The phrase is a translation of French l'apprentit sorcier, the title of a symphonic poem by Paul Dukas (1897), after der Zauberlehrling, a ballad by Goethe (1797), in which the apprentice through the use of spells instigates processes which he cannot control.

sorcerer

views updated May 18 2018

sor·cer·er / ˈsôrsərər/ • n. a person who claims or is believed to have magic powers; a wizard.