The End follows six different people whose individual ends will either be self-inflicted or brought about by the world's imminent nuclear annihilation. San Francisco beat poet Christopher Maclaine imparts their stories with dark humor and formal inventiveness.

Clouzot’s epic masterpiece perfectly summarizes his dark and unrelenting world-view. Trapped in a miserable South American backwater, six restless men seize their only ticket to escape, an imperialist oil company’s contract to transport lethal explosives over a perilous highway. As their difficult journey stretches on, the group’s complexion is radically changed as nerves are frayed by the constant danger. Balancing its remarkably suspenseful action narrative with penetrating portraits of masculinity in peril, The Wages of Fear examines the bitter struggle of human dignity against greed and naked fear.