The Driver (1978)

The Driver is a 1978 film from Walter Hill, starring Ryan O' Neal, Bruce Dern, and Isabelle Adjani. O'Neal plays the titular "Driver," a talented getaway man with little time for guns, mistakes, or the English language. Dern is "The Detective," a loose cannon hell-bent on catching the "cowboy" driver; he has little respect for anything that gets in his way, even the law. Adjani, at her babydoll best, is "The Player," though a better description might be "pretty girl that is sort of necessary to the story but not really."

Little happens in "The Driver" besides cars being driven, but man, are those cars driven. The chase scenes are some of the best yet committed to film, careening with high-octane intensity and an unforgiving speed. Hill's direction is restrained, yet unrelenting. The film moves with a cat-like urgency, never lingering too long, yet never rushing either. The "dramatic" scenes are straight to the point, few words are wasted as Hill pushes us towards the next heart-pounding chase scene. Dern does his best to chew the scenery but even his performance is kept direct and focused. O'Neal's human breadstick act works well as the mono-syllabic Driver. He is required to little more than act stoic and drive, both of which he accomplishes with notable efficiency, piloting the wheel like Paul Walker's older, better laid brother. Similarly, Adjani functions as little more than a titillating aside, appearing every twenty minutes to divert blood flow, slowing our pulse with an assortment of floppy hats and silk bell-bottoms. 

Unquestionably, the star of "The Driver" is Hill, who pilots this film with surprising restraint. Compared to later films such as "The Warriors" and "Johnny  Handsome," "The Driver" practically feels like an Antonioni film. The direction is spare, yet evocative. The camera rarely moves, unless it is on the hood of a car, and much of the dialogue takes place in simple, one-shot set-ups. Nicolas Winding Refn, who pillaged essentially the entire opening of "The Driver" for his 2011 "Drive," could learn much from Hill's spare, yet vibrant approach. The film moves with appropriate intensity yet never goes overboard. A pulpy 70s masterpiece.