The Wages of Fear

Las Piedras sits in a harsh desert landscape, effectively cut off from the outside world. The town relies on the American SOC, which dominates oil fields and keeps a guarded compound, while exploiting local workers. The mood is tense and resigned as the townspeople live under surveillance and fear.

Mario, Jo, Bimba, and Luigi arrive in the town and cluster around the cantina, forming an uneasy fellowship. Mario is a sarcastic Corsican playboy who dispenses disdain toward his lover Linda, while Jo is an aging ex-gangster stranded there. Bimba carries the weight of a Nazi-era past and quiet intensity, and Luigi is a cheerful, hard-working man facing a lethal lung disease.

A large blaze tears through one of SOC's oil fields, threatening to ignite the entire operation. The fire creates an urgent crisis that compels a risky plan to salvage the situation. The only option is to cap the well with nitroglycerin, a volatile solution that must be moved quickly.

To extinguish the blaze, nitroglycerin must be transported from SOC headquarters to the field, a distance of 500 km (300 miles). The plan calls for two large trucks carrying the explosive, separated by 30 minutes to limit casualties. The dangerous mission is rejected for SOC employees, making local volunteers essential.

Foreman Bill O'Brien recruits local drivers with the lure of $2,000 per man. The pool narrows to Mario, Bimba, Luigi, and a German named Smerloff. Smerloff fails to appear on the appointed day, and Jo, acquainted with O'Brien from bootlegging days, is brought in to take his place.

As the journey begins, Jo discovers his nerves aren’t what they used to be, and the group confronts him about his growing cowardice. The moral weight of the mission strains the already fragile dynamics among the drivers. The group steels themselves for the perilous drive ahead.

The drivers face a brutal stretch of road known as the washboard, a toppled platform above a precipice, and a boulder blocking the way. The tension among the crew peaks as they push through the gauntlet. The peril underscores the fragility of making a successful nitroglycerin delivery.

The two trucks are after the same dangerous cargo, and Luigi and Bimba’s vehicle explodes without warning, killing them both. The loss devastates the remaining crew and intensifies the stakes of the mission. Mario and Jo grapple with the shock as they push forward.

Mario and Jo arrive at the scene of the explosion and must navigate an oil-filled crater to rescue the operation. Jo leaves the truck to guide Mario through the slick terrain, battling his own fears as the vehicle risks getting stuck. The clock ticks as they struggle to stabilize the situation.

In a frenzied effort to free the truck from the muck, Mario inadvertently runs over Jo, mortally wounding him. The vehicle is eventually freed, but Jo dies on the way back, and Mario collapses from exhaustion, haunted by the loss.

Back at the SOC field, Mario and Jo are hailed as heroes, but Jo is dead and Mario is spent. After a brief recovery, Mario heads home in the same truck, the survivor of the mission but bearing a heavy loss. The company’s plan has claimed three lives, including two locals and Jo.

Mario collects double wages and refuses SOC’s chauffeur, signaling a personal sense of achievement despite the tragedy. He returns to the cantina where friends gather to celebrate his survival and mourn his fallen comrades. Linda dances, unaware of the danger that lurked behind the success.

During the night’s celebration, Mario races down a mountain road, savoring his near-misses. He swerves too hard and drives off the guardrail, dying as Linda faints in the cantina crowd. The cycle of danger and fate that marked the mission closes with his own demise.