There are certain filmmakers to whom you should never say “never.” One of them was William Friedkin, who ignored the accepted wisdom that a remake of a nerve-wrecking classic like 1953’s The Wages of Fear was doomed to failure. First, Friedkin would say it wasn’t a remake but a fresh adaptation of Georges Arnaud’s original novel Le Salaire de la Peur about truckers risking life and limb hauling unstable dynamite across the jungle. Second, he went full Herzog, dragging his cast and crew to Central America in the rainy season for one of the most miserable shoots ever. Those that weren’t fired often contracted malaria, everyone hated each other and Friedkin by the end of filming, and the budget-busting project was a box-office failure. But five decades later, its febrile, explosive genius is still undeniable. – Richard Whittaker
