The Driver
Action movies are almost always noted for their excessive nature, that eternal tendency to throw everything and the kitchen sink into the equation. Certainly Walter Hill, a director who is renowned for a number of action classics, is every bit as guilty for overloading his films with over the top sequences as anybody, so itās interesting that back in 1978, he came up with one of the very few films that can accurately be described as being a minimalist action film, all the way down to the designations of the characters, none of whom are addressed by name in the movie itself and in the end credits are denoted by their occupations instead. The film revolves around several chase scenes involving the main character (āThe Driverā) along with quickly constructed dialogue scenes which helps to string together the bare plot. The Driver of the filmās title is in actuality a freelance professional getaway driver, someone who is so good at what he does that anyone committing any kind of an armed robbery (mostly criminal lowlifes whom otherwise he has no personal connection with) are virtually guaranteed to get away with it scot free. This is seen during the opening sequence where two scumbags rob an underground casino, hop into the (stolen) car and then take off even as a whole army of cop cars tail them through the streets while the mercenary behind the wheel deftly manages to evade them all and even engages two of the cop cars in a stunning game of chicken as the actual robbers themselves in the back seat hang on for their lives. In this what should have been iconic lead role (obviously intended for somebody like Eastwood or Bronson), we get Ryan OāNeal, who was considered a top draw leading man in the 1970s, albeit mostly for dramas and romantic comedies, playing against type as a near mystery man of few words, using a āConnection Agentā (Ronee Blakley) to set up his gigs for him (shades of Jon Voight setting things up for DeNiro in Heat) and living a life almost totally under the radar in order to avoid any kind of detection. But his most recent run in with the various police vehicles has garnered the attention of a law enforcement officer known here as The Detective (Bruce Dern also playing against type but still bringing his trademark edgy qualities to the fore). Dern manages to quickly bring OāNeal in for questioning (even though how exactly Dern knew how to find him is never fully explained) and even puts him in a lineup to be identified by a witness, but it turns out that OāNeal has already bribed the woman (Isabelle Adjani, amazingly gorgeous) to tell Dern that OāNeal was NOT the wheelman on the holdup (which results in her becoming kind of a helper / sidekick to him throughout the rest of the movie) which leaves Dern with nothing despite his every instinct telling him that OāNeal is his guy (as he cares little to nothing about the guys who actually pulled off the heist). While OāNeal is properly stoic and subdued in his role, it is Dern (big surprise) who comes across as being the more interesting of the two leads, playing his cop as a smug, ultra cocky prick who talks down to his own underlings and when all else fails with questioning OāNeal, pours some hot coffee on him and upon seeing him jump to his feet, actually tries to goad OāNeal into taking a shot at him so that he can at least get him for assaulting a cop and put him away for that. So determined is he to bring OāNeal down that Dern actually launches a sting operation that no real life police department would ever approve of, by recruiting a gang of three actual lowlifes who have just bumbled their way through their own robbery and gotten caught for it to keep themselves out of jail if only they plan their next heist in a bank and hire OāNeal as their getaway driver so that when they get to their rendezvous point, Dern can triumphantly put the handcuffs on OāNeal, reclaim the money so that it can be returned to the bank and send the three actual criminals off free and clear having done their civic duty to bring down the real intended target. So we get the neo noir twists and turns of this type of story, especially with the element of cops trusting criminals to do their dirty work all while facing the possibility that they could get burned in the process. But thatās just the way that Dernās mind works, thinking of this whole operation as being āa gameā and accepting (even expecting) the idea that the three scumbags are going to be just as unreliable as anybody when it comes to all this. Thatās pretty much the (spoiler free) basic plotline of this film, as tightly constructed and crisply paced as any of its kind, cutting right from having characters talk about a planned robbery to suddenly being in the middle of it, with OāNeal himself certainly playing the part as a fascinating enigma, beinging some definite presence and charisma to a role where he only speaks about 350 words on camera and always seems to be wearing the same clothes at all times (even when heās sleeping). There was some unfair criticism leveled at the film that because it didnāt star one of the āestablishedā action guys in the starring role is what led to it tanking at the box office and being virtually forgotten afterwards (although admittedly OāNealās stardom WAS already fading by this point in time) even as advocates like Quentin Tarantino would champion it as being one of the coolest films that theyāve ever seen, with perhaps the only downside of OāNealās performance being in his obviously too soft spoken nature whenever he does speak, a far cry from the growls of Clint or even the hard bitten, laconic persona of a Steve McQueen (the obvious first choice for the film who by that point was turning down everything that was offered to him). But OāNeal does mostly succeed in doing everything thatās asked of him here (what little there is) in order to pull the whole thing off. As for Dern, an actor with so much range who always seems to find himself doing an excellent job playing complete and utter assholes, his performance here just lights up the non action scenes whenever he appears even as he comes off as being such an obstinate prick who is trying to pull off the most daring scheme in the whole film, one so risky that even his fellow cops have taken to openly criticizing his methods. And that is certainly the case here as the criminals who are recruited to pull off the sting prove to be just as unsavory a group of wild cards as could be expected, thinking that in the end that they can kill OāNeal, fuck over Dern AND get away with the money too, but through it all Dern just doesnāt really seem to care even when things go awry. Not to be forgotten in the mix is Adjani in her first Hollywood role (which she claimed ruined her mainstream career) and she brings some serious beauty to the table (her pouty lips are simply remarkable) coupled with her European accent as Dern tries to pressure her into helping out his case (even as he clearly has an obvious attraction to her) while OāNeal seems to view her as being more of a helper bee instead of as being someone to be interested in all while keeping himself deadly focused on the task at hand (and the fact that she prefers to keep her loyalty to him instead of Dern is a telling sign too). The car chases in the film are magnificent all around, immaculately shot and staged as the inspiration for many later films (most notably Drive) can be seen right here in its rawest form. The closing chase in particular, featuring OāNeal matching wits with a kid who has come out of nowhere to help the bad guys (literally first seen behind the wheel of the car as the chase begins) and turns out to be nearly as much of an ace as the main character makes for a nice eleventh hour twist and an action packed way to end the film. The filmās final epiphany (Never Trust A Scumbag) is a fitting one to this story about a quiet loner who only seems to be good at one actual thing, although to actually engage in his specialized line of work means getting involved with the absolute worst that society has to offer even as he does get to live the real life thrill and adrenaline rush that video gamers can only imagine doing while sitting there playing endless hours of Grand Theft Auto only they get to do so with no consequences for their actions if they get caughtā¦
8/10