The Driver

Sparse Urban Magnificence.

The Driver is written and directed by Walter Hill. It stars Ryan O’Neil, Bruce Dern, Isabelle Adjani and Ronee Blakley. Music is by Michael Small and cinematography by Phillip H. Lathrop.

A determined cop pursues an enigmatic getaway driver through the crooked streets of Los Angeles…

It’s most amusing to now be able to look back at some of the reviews for The Driver back on its initial release. Without wishing to sound like a smarty pants myself of course, but some of them simply didn’t get it, they didn’t understand that Ryan O’Neil’s character was meant to be one note, unreadable and dissociated from society. There is a reason that the principal characters don’t have names, they are simply known as The Driver, The Detective and The Player, the core emotional worth of these people is a key aspect to the film’s strength. Where The Driver is emotionless and not for shaking, The Detective is a coiled spring waiting to explode, a law enforcer willing to do anything to capture his Moby Dick.

Much of the plaudits that come the film’s way tend to focus on the car action, which is perfectly understandable. The chase sequences are kinetic, the trial runs exhilarating, this is quite simply a fast car lovers dream as the stunt team lay fire to the streets of L.A. It’s also an influential film into the bargain, however, this is not purely an exercise in action over substance. For sure the story line is simple, but the themes simmering away are anything but simple. The thin line between law and lawlessness is observed, between calm and chaos there is but a hair’s breadth, the grey areas vivid in their textures. This is a cat and mouse thriller with a difference, even daring to risk the viewer’s ire with a crafty and low-key finale.

The script is in turns laconic and hard-boiled, the screenplay surprisingly convoluted in relation to how it all pans out. While the neo-noir vibe is further enhanced by Lathrop’s photography as the stre...

www.noiroftheweek.com

This week we take a look at the intense neo-noir, The Driver. Directed by Walter Hill, this cold neo is a perfect example of how film noir evolved into experimental crime films in the 1970s.

No doubt inspired by Le Samourai which itself was inspired by This Gun For Hire, The Driver is a cold, lean piece of pure cinema. A night time world of criminals and angry cops.

Film noir isn't known for car movies, but there are some great moments of criminals "on the lam" living and dying in cars. Gun Crazy and the recent Criterion release of They Live By Night have some hypnotic crimes taking place with the point of view from inside the car looking out. The point of view draws the viewer into the driver's perspective and it's always mesmerizing. You almost always get a jolt of adrenaline when you feel you're in a real car on a real street corner. Walter Hill's The Driver takes those moments and makes an entire movie out of it.

Starring a very disco cast, the film has barely any dialog. Bruce Dern gets the most lines as the man chasing the "driver." Mostly he frustratingly barks at middle-aged-hard-life-cops played by day-player actors that peppered every crime films of the time. Beautiful Isabelle Adjani is the female lead. And Ryan O'Neal is the handsome driver. Sporting long-ish, wavy hair and an open collar, he looks more like a playboy trying to pick up Diane Keaton at a bar than a hardened criminal.

Originally Steve McQueen and Robert Mitchum were at least close to playing the Ryan and Dern roles. The film would most definitely be more beloved -- even possibly a classified as a classic -- than forgotten if they had those guys in it. But would it be a better movie? I'm not so sure. Ryan has no actual backstory but his look just makes him more interesting. What is his story anyway? Hell, the guy doesn't even have a name. That's exactly what I thought watching the killer in Le Samourai. Why and how did they become what...

I love Hill's stuff, I think the car chase sequence is great and how Hill captures a city's landscape is amazing ( 48 hrs (my favorite) and The Warriors has that trademark as well.)

This is probably more famous for having characters without names. Ryan O'Neal being the eponymous character whose getaway antics bring him to the attention of the pretty seedy detective Bruce Dern. What ensues is rather minimalist adventure film - I couldn't quite call it a thriller - depicting people without much of a moral compass living in surroundings that merely appear to legitimise their behaviour; regardless of upon which side of the law they sit. Great car chases, though - the pace certainly doesn't hang about - and both O'Neal and Dern are very much on form with the sheer force of the personality doing much of their acting for them. Isabelle Adjani features a bit too sparingly for me, her character had more to offer I thought, but all told Walter Hill has created a decent, though hardly original, and stylish movie that is high on the octane but maybe not so much on the writing and/or plot!