Gauges Movie Reviews

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Family movie reviews for "Gauges" sorted by average review score:
The Magnificent Seven (TV Series)
Released in DVD by (03 January, 1998)
MPAA Rating:
Directors: Jerry Jameson, T.J. Scott, Gordon Lonsdale, Gregg Champion, Geoff Murphy, Christopher Cain, Peter Markle, William Wages, and Steve Beers (II)
Average review score:

Great Series - Hurry up and put it on DVD!
This was a really fun series. Great interplay between the characters, good storylines, great action, and seven hot guys, as another reviewer has said.

It was yanked way before its time. MGM, hurry up and put it on DVD! Extras would be really nice, but I'd be happy with complete episodes from both seasons.

The Magnificent Seven
I love this series. I never was able to see the series when it was on regular TV. I have been watching the reruns and have not seen the series from beginning to end. I would love to have it on DVD.

Hot guys with guns, I'll take it anyday
Seven hot guys, carrying an arsenal of weapons, and each of the men are unattached (well, mostly) is the first reason to watch. This series also had a plot, which is more than you can say for most shows these days (hello? reality tv?). Every single episode balanced a moral lesson with a wicked sense of humor, and did I mention the hot guys? This show is completely deserving of not only two thumbs up and five stars, but it should win every award ever made!

The Wages of Fear - Criterion Collection
Released in DVD by Criterion Collection (02 February, 1999)
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Starring: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, and Peter van Eyck
Henri-Georges Clouzot's gripping 1953 thriller throws four men into a primal struggle against the jungle armed with modern machinery and their own nerves and endurance. The squalid, isolated South American town of Las Piedras is a veritable refuge turned prison for criminals from all over the world. When an oil fire ignites 300 miles away, dozens of desperate volunteers apply for the dangerous job of driving highly volatile nitroglycerin across rugged jungle roads--for a $2,000 payday. The bulk of the film charts the slow, grueling trek over bumpy, pothole-dotted dirt roads and worse. A dangerous cutback forces the trucks to back over a rotting wooden platform built over a cliff, a boulder in the road must be blasted away, and a river of oil (gushing from a broken pipeline) must be forded--all with one ton of explosive nitro resting in the back of each truck. The ordeal forges a tough-guy trust between German Bimba (Peter Van Eyck) and Italian Luigi (Folco Lulli) but tears apart Frenchmen Mario (Yves Montand) and Jo (Charles Vanel). Former gangland hotshot Jo finds his once-fearless exterior cracked, while Mario discovers in himself a new grit and tenacity. Clouzot's stark, simple imagery and painstaking attention to detail create a riveting tension that never lets up, intensified by the ruthless drive of Mario, who proves he will do anything--anything--to get his truck through. William Freidkin remade the film in 1977 as the stylish Sorcerer. --Sean Axmaker
Average review score:

The Wages of Fear
awful. very cruel film.
i would never watch it again.

A slow, crawling suspense thriller
In a small South American town, where most of the town can barely make enough to get by, a US oil company is in desparate need of men to transport a dangerous cargo of nitroglycerin to a sister oil refinery. The only problem is that the drive is hundreds of miles over treacherous roads that have already killed many. Four drifters decide to accept the job and the $2000 that each will receive once the job is done.

Henri-Georges Clouzot's excellent direction and fine screenplay make for one of the most suspenseful films created. The four main actors also deserve much of the credit: Yves Montand and Charles Vanel portray the two Frenchman, Mario and Jo, whose relationship begins as friends, but slowly disintegrates as their trek continues. Peter van
Eyck and Folco Lulli are the other team of Bimba and Luigi whose friendship strengthens. All four give fine performances and strenghten the suspenseful moments of the film.

My only criticism of the film is that the ending seemed predictable. But, the slow buildup and nail-biting tesnion throughout more than make up for this. All in all, a great film!

Great movie minus the anti-american rhetoric
There are many reviews that narrate the plot, so I am not going to repeat that; rather I just want to give my general feeling about it.
I first saw this movie in the 1970s, and found it pretty impressive, although I cannot remember if it was the original version or the edited one.
When I saw it available in the Criterion Collection, I promptly bought it. The movie is still good, still viewable. The very young Yves Montand is great. His "been there, done that" attitude is very well done.

Being a French movie, done in the 1955, (Diem Bem Phu in recent memory) it has to have an anti-american message, and it is clearly delivered and spelled out. In the scene where the accident at the oilfield is reported in the town plaza, a woman delivers a speech blaming the "gringos" for coming to town and killing people in their oilfield, and just giving them money as compensation. They then proceed to assault and mob the truck that brings the wounded to town. The fact that the oilfield is the only source of real income for the local people, is glossed over.
Of course, when the announcement for the "dangerous and well paid" job of driving the trucks comes out, people line up for it.

The first half of the movie is slow and depressing, but sets the theme quite perfectly. The second half is a slow, edge of your seat thriller. The end is typical French, dark and depressing.

If you haven't seen it, it's worth seeing. Probably not with your girlfriend though.

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