As the creator of such beloved stories as The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, and Stand By Me, Stephen King has solidified his status as one of the greatest minds in modern literary fiction. Naturally, many of his fans are often keen to hear his recommendations for good books and movies alike.

Over the years, Stephen King has let audiences in on his favorite movies, with horror typically coming out on top. However, from Billy Elliot to The Way of the Gun, the author has recommended a variety of pictures from across the spectrum of cinema. Considering the writer's love of coming-of-age dramas and suspense thrillers, it's only natural this taste would also be reflected in his taste in film. When asked by the British Film Institute to list his favorite movies, King came out swinging, referring to this 1977 film made by a Hollywood legend as "my favorite film of all time."

1977's Sorcerer introduces audiences to four characters, each sent on the run to a small village in an unspecified South American country. The group includes; Victor, a French banker under suspicion of fraud; Jackie, an American gangster who killed the brother of a mob boss; Kassem, a Palestinian terrorist pursued by the Israeli Defense Forces for his role in a bombing; and Nilo, an assassin who arrives in the village to kill a suspected Nazi war criminal. When a local oil well, upon which the local economy depends, is lit ablaze, the company managing it tries to plug it using dynamite. However, the only nearby supply of explosives has been improperly stored, turning the sticks into highly volatile time bombs that could go off at the slightest shock.

In a bid to move the explosives to the oil well, the company employs four men to drive two trucks through jungle terrain, swamps, and mountains to reach the well. Facing hellish conditions along the way, tensions rise among the men, particularly as they face seemingly impossible obstacles, from fallen trees to local militia fighters. All along the way, the audience is kept on the edge of their seats to see what will happen to their flawed heroes, and whether their pasts will catch up to them.

Unlike his two hits, The French Connection and The Exorcist, Friedkin's Sorcerer went down in flames at the box office. The director argued that the unparalleled blockbuster success of Star Wars, which was released around the same time, prevented his film from turning a profit. Things weren't helped by the overwhelmingly negative critical response, with columnists slating the movie as an inferior remake of 1953's The Wages of Fear (both films are an adaptation of Georges Arnaud's The Wages of Fear).

One of the most heavily-criticized aspects of Friedkin's film was actually its title which, after having made The Exorcist, many fans viewed as misleading. For some critics, they had walked in expecting another Friedkin horror picture, only to be met by a grim adventure through the jungle. Considering the high praise of Stephen King, modern audiences could be forgiven for making the same mistake.

Friedkin had actually made the film to bring Arnaud's story to mainstream audiences and changed key details of the story to allow for an ambitious blockbuster action movie. However, as can be the case with some critics, the discourse around the film soon shifted to denigrating the grittier tone of the '77 film, questioning the audacity of an American to remake the French classic. As time has passed, however, critics have warmed to the remake, with many praising its realism and unique cinematography, which immerses audiences in the mindset of the characters and their harrowing, grueling journey. In 2013, the director oversaw a digital remaster of the film for BluRay, hoping it could find new life with a new generation.

Friedkin's devotion to his unique, gritty style prompted him to insist on making as much of the film on location as humanly possible. While this produced a stunning film, it wasn't without issues behind the scenes. One of the first problems he ran into was a dispute with cinematographer Dick Bush, who insisted on moving filming to a studio so he could ensure better lighting. Although Friedkin agreed the shots were underwhelming, he opted to replace Bush with John M. Stephens, who was able to improve the cinematography while remaining on location. Imperfect as the filming conditions were, the results speak for themselves, and the film is among the director's most visually stunning features.

If his dispute with his cinematographer wasn't enough, Friedkin then clashed with his trucking crew, which he soon had to replace. If that wasn't enough, some key crew members had to be replaced when it was reported they were engaging in the drug trade. The icing on the cake for the film's woes, some fifty people involved in the production had to leave for a variety of medical reasons, such as injuries sustained on-set and malaria, problems common with on-location filming at the time. However, as is also the case with many directors who stuck to their guns for realism, the result was a brilliant film, one whose performances feel -- and very likely are -- authentic to the ordeal. The film also eroded the friendship between Friedkin and star Roy Scheider who, after his success in Jaws, the director claimed had become difficult to work with.

The 1970s have been praised by film critics and cinephiles alike as one of the most significant decades in film history, with 1971 often cited as the single best year for cinema. That year alone, the industry produced such game-changing movies as Dirty Harry, Brian's Song, Klute, A Clockwork Orange, and The Omega Man. From Star Wars and Jaws to Rocky and The Godfather, it's hard to avoid genuine masterpieces from the decade, some of which helped change cinema forever, both as a business and an art form. As directors ventured into the world of lurid, gritty, and realistic stories, their films weren't without controversy.

One of the men most responsible for Hollywood's foray into the realm of bleak and gritty stories was William Friedkin himself. Through The French Connection, he pushed the crime genre towards a more gritty and realistic tone. Through The Exorcist, he raised the bar for what constituted a truly terrifying horror movie. Returning in the 1980s with cult classics like To Live and Die in LA and Cruisng, the director earned the enduring respect of his peers and successors, from Quentin Tarantino to John Carpenter. Having passed away in 2023 after decades of revolutionizing cinema, the director's influence is inescapable.

For a decade that produced so many classics, it's understandable that audiences would have let some '70s gems slip through the cracks. As instant classics like The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and Dirty Harry earned success around the world, other films struggled to find success. Despite failing to charm critics or moviegoers, films like Sorcerer continue to impress, with even comedian Bill Burr having praised it. As time passes, lost gems like this can become harder to sell people on, but call back to a special time in Hollywood history.

The 1970s remains a legendary decade of cinema for all the right reasons, and it's hard to find a movie buff who doesn't count several of its movies among their favorites. While modern mainstream audiences best associate the decade with franchises like Alien, Jaws, Star Wars, and Rocky, the thriller genre came out on top.

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  stephen king