The Driver - 8/10

[The Professional]

THE DRIVER

Directed By: Walter Hill

Starring:

Ryan O'Neil as The Driver
Bruce Dern as The Detective

This movie is minimalist film-making at its best. It follows the story of a professional getaway driver(O'Neil) known simply as "The Driver" and the determined cop(Dern) out to get him, only known as "The Detective". At 90 mins thats pretty much all there is to it. Like most of Walter Hills movies(48 Hrs., Red Heat), the plot and characters are thin and the dialogue is crappy, but also like most of his films, this one is a solid B-Flick. It has some sweet ass car chases and an interesting, if thin, storyline. If you like good B-Movies like Mad Max or Assault on Precinct 13 you should check this out.

1978
Run Time:91 Mins.
Rating: (8/10)

Taste Reference: Mad Max(7.5/10), The Road Warrior(8/10), Thief(9/10), Gone In Sixty Seconds(2000)(4/10), To Live and Die In L.A.(8/10), Assault on Precinct 13(9/10), Duel(8.5/10)

[This message has been edited by The Professional (edited 12-02-2001).]

[This message has been edited by The Professional (edited 12-02-2001).]

[This message has been edited by The Professional (edited 12-02-2001).]

[Fergus]

I was surprised to find a thin storyline, and that disappointed me a bit. The characters were thin as they could be and the only actor that actually did something with his role was Bruce Dern--one mean guy. What made up for its shortcomings were the car chases. I loved them. Especially the final one. This is a quintessential popcorn flick. ***1/2 out of five.

By the way, there's some really good driving in the movie... http://www.joblo.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Philip Marlowe]

I love this Movie Big time

Here's what I had to say about it on a older thread I started about this kick ass movie

http://www.joblo.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000766.html

[The Professional]

i see it says pg edited down from R. i wonder if theres a directors cut. it would be cool to see that on dvd.

[The Professional]

Also, even though the plot is thin, i think its ambiguous nature is an attribute. We don't really know much about the two main characters and that makes them interesting.