Review for The Driver

The Driver (1978)

Director: Walter Hill
"There isn't gonna be any next time... You were late."

Introduction

Walter Hill is one of the most underappreciated directors of his generation, despite helming a whole host of exhilarating examples of filmmaking. Occasionally, he has dabbled with big budgets and mainstream sensibilities, but more often than not, has shown the bravado to put his own, gritty, rugged, spin on his work in favour of gloss.

By 1978, he had directed his first feature, the Charles Bronson vehicle, Hard Times (1975). However, at this stage of his career, the California native was known more as a screenwriter. His most notable moment was of course, penning The Getaway (1972), directed by his mentor, Sam Peckinpah.

Released in 1978, the Ryan O'Neal erm, vehicle, The Driver, was not a success at the box office. It would be another four years before Hill would really hit pay-dirt, with 48 Hours (1982), following the success of cult favourite The Warriors in 1979, and the excellent 1981 thriller, Southern Comfort. In the ensuing years, the 72 year old has toiled away, achieving his biggest commercial success with heavyweight Hollywood headliners in the shape of Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.

The Driver may not have been a hit, but it did boast an appealing cast, headed up by one the bigger box office successes of the early Seventies, Ryan O'Neal. His most memorable work included Love Story (1970), and Stanley Kubrick's excellent Barry Lyndon in 1975. Playing opposite him, was Bruce Dern, one of the finest character actors of the time, who had also found great success that decade with Silent Running, in addition to his awards teasing turn in Coming Home (1978).

Film
Ryan O'Neal stars as "The Driver", a top-line criminal who serves as a getaway driver in high end robberies throughout Los Angeles. Bruce Dern is the grizzled, obsessive cop on his tail, known only as "The Detective". Isabelle Adjani, introduced early on, is "the Player", a stunning, seductive woman who herself operates on the wrong side of the law. Also on the female side of the spectrum is "The Connection", O'Neal's middle man for his jobs, played by Ronee Blakley (of Nightmare and Elm Street fame, for us genre fans).
"The Detective" threatens to boil over as he becomes more and more embroiled personally in his quest to bring his nemesis to justice. Meanwhile, the calm, measured "Driver" begins to find his world more complicated as the walls begin to close in.


Right from the outset, it's obvious that this is a moody, stylish thriller with, easily likened to Michael Mann's cerebral Thief (1981), over other entries of the decade known for their driving and cool aesthetics, such as Peckinpah's The Getaway.

A thrilling night time car chase in the first ten minutes of the film, establishes the staggering juxtaposition between the lonely existence and the extreme job occupation that "The Driver" struggles to balance. It's this uncomfortable combination that lends The Driver its romantic air. After one job, O'Neal cooly berates his cohorts for being late, but they appear to accept the dismissal with an air of respect. He's so good at what he does, who dares question him?
This reaches a boiling point when "The Driver" is confronted by a would-be colleague, but dishes out threats in an attempt to get the reluctant anti-hero to sign up. "The Driver's" measured response gives him a moral edge over his cohorts.

What stands the film apart, is partly the focus on Dern and O'Neal's relationship.
O'Neal is excellent, particularly through long stretches were he has little dialogue with which to stretch his muscles, just his effortless cool body language, and stoic expressions in the face of danger. Dern on the other hand, may play on the right side of the law, but he comes across as unhinged, equally sleazy as those he busts, but infinitely more psychotic.

Everything hinges on an electric ping of tension as the two play games of chess in attempting to predict one another's movements and get one step ahead.
Michael Small deserves enormous praise in that respect; the music is by turns subtle and dynamic, knowing when to aid the knife edge feel, and when to burst into pangs of electricity.

There are blindingly obvious comparisons to more recent crime films, which have been explored in great detail by many observers. Still, it's impossible to ignore the cinematic trajectory of such specific, introspective thrillers, which teeter on the edge of the mainstream without ever being fully embraced by it.
Comparisons with recent masterwork, Drive (2011), seem out of place aesthetically. A neon-infused, garish, very personal journey, Drive didn't occupy the same sort of space that Hill's film does visually. It's much more distinctly urban in the scuzzy Seventies vein that efforts such as The French Connection and Serpico are. With that said, there is still time for some bravura camerawork; a shot of O'Neal driving off at speed is gloriously embroidered with a reflection of the street disappearing behind him.
Perhaps storyline comparisons; a Driver who lives alone and seems a class above the seedy world he maneuvers through, and the set-up, particularly the opening in which he commandeers a vehicle, are more due the novel on which Drive is based,

The Dern/O'Neal relationship absolutely begs reference to DeNiro and Pacino in Michael Mann's epic 1995 movie, Heat. But while Heat was sprawling, The Driver is much more narrowly focused. Still, at the heart of both lies a vital relationship, during which obsessive focus on one's occupation alienates all other aspects of life and leads individuals on an irreconcilable collision. It also compares favorably in the manner that both films stray from the obvious plot points and highlights in order to deliver the most exciting moments. The Driver doesn't always hit the expected beats, but those that it does are invariably just as successful.

The Driver isn't a masterpiece by any means, but it is simmers with an electricity that little of its competition could muster. Compact, at times claustrophobic, this is a languid thriller years ahead of its time.

Extras

Disappointing, to be honest. Three, short, snappy inclusions, and that's your lot. A poor attempt here, which gives the release a feeling of just being shoved out onto the market.
-Alternate Opening scene
This is an interesting alternate to what the finished film ended up with. It lacks the punch of the final cut, but nonetheless, is very interesting indeed.
-Teaser
Brief, exciting teaser spot that certainly does the job.
-Original Trailer
A very Seventies trailer, which highlights the Michael Mann-esque opposite cards in the same deck positions which Dern and O'Neal occupy.

Overall

Such a great film could certainly do with a stronger emphasis on extra features, particularly in light of the lush treatment afforded other Walter Hill classics, Streets of Fire, The Long Riders, and Southern Comfort.
Additionally, some fans will find the (arguably) understandable presentation of the film somewhat grating. Menu screens and artwork are overly modern and bask in a Drive-like sheen that is neither appropriate or desired.

As for the film itself, it has never looked better. It looks stunning in HD, particularly considering just how dark some of the scenes are. It'll never be Blu-ray show-reel material, but it's difficult to imagine a better job being done than hear.
The audio is a little more troublesome at points, thanks to Hill's low-key dialogue being occasionally lost among deafening echoes of gunshots and the screeching of tires. For the most part though, it's satisfactory with a little bit of volume twiddling.

Not the complete package that it should have been, StudioCanal's release nonetheless warrants attention, if only because the film itself is so impressive. Without exaggeration, it's one of the classiest, most compact crime thrillers of its time. It's a shame that while the film scores close to a ten- this release has to be regarded as a slight disappointment. With that said, The Driver is not to be missed.