The result is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France’s legendary master of suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot. The film brought Clouzot international fame, and allowed him to direct Les Diaboliques.
The Plot:
In a desolate South American village several men try to find a way out. Their main problem is they are essentially marooned there. The only road out of town goes only as far as the oil drilling rigs and they are nowhere near having the money to fly out. There are no jobs to speak of and one day seems to just blend into the next.
When a major fire breaks at the oil drilling site, the oil company hires four men to transport highly volatile nitroglycerin over a rough terrain and roads that have been virtually abandoned. The four accept the job because of the money they're offered is more than enough to allow them to leave once the job is done. The job is so dangerous however that few people expect them to return alive.