The second and most wordless, in my memory, the film by Walter Hill covers all its shortcomings with endless chases with broken cars and curly hair of Adjani, who more than once had to change places with a double in the frame during the film. With the exception of Southern Hospitality, all of Hill's films are old-fashioned. The story of such a triangle: a hero for all time, ready to captivate the viewer with his equanimity - a minimum of conversations, a maximum of actions. As history proves, it is this type that passes the test of time.
A slightly clumsy detective, setting his traps, comes to the conclusion that there are scumbags and worse than the driver. Card Schuler performed by Ajani is simply necessary as a connecting mechanism with the substitution of keys from the box with money, and just admire the mysterious beauty of Isabel. Night Los Angeles of the 70s is also captivated by its loneliness and brings variety to the stingy script of the film.
This is not the Hill we recognize in the early '80s with its Southern hospitality, metaphors, and social and racial critique of the American way of life. In the new century, Hill really outlived himself, removing unnecessary action films about tough men, as if returning to the era of the 80-90s. “The Driver” is a trivial movie that can only interest the detective’s funny pursuit of a suitcase with money, in an attempt to frame a lonely wanderer.
There are directors whose work is difficult to define the words good and bad, it is neutral. The pace of life has accelerated, including in movies. Dimensible and attractive paintings of this breed are less and less. And all attempts to become a Western restorer have not passed the test of time. What can we say about “The Driver” and “Southern Hospitality”, thrown to the sidelines of history, which are remembered only by avid film lovers.
The film about an elite racer who makes a living as a driver on major robberies, is rich in various chips for which you love movies. The most obvious feature is the absence of names from the main characters, they are simply called by the type of activity: driver, detective, player, robber.
The characters of the driver and detective are permeated with qualities that make them both similar and at times complete opposites, chicly spelled out in the first pages of the script:
Driver - lives alone, experience in robberies 12 years, the best driver in the city, works on the streets, never answers questions, always wears a dark suit, never wears a tie.
The detective lives alone, 15 years in the police, the best cop in the city, works on the streets, asks a lot of questions, always wears a dark suit, always wears a tie.
All these seemingly petty facts from the lives of the characters are very noticeable reflected in the history of their relationship during the attempts of the detective to catch the driver. They both see a similarity in matters of professionalism that elicits mutual respect, but on the other hand they are completely opposite in matters of philosophy and life values, which leads to the desire to defeat their opponent and prove whose approach to life is right.
Very well staged scenes of the chase, shattered cars, memorable characters, smart dialogue and the driver’s sense of kinship with Ryan Gosling from Drive make viewing a complete pleasure.
He's a professional in his field. No one knows how to cope with the car better than him, he knows how to break away from any chase and remain a winner. It is his thugs who hire him as the Driver, able to always break away from the police pursuit. That's what he earns. But once he is hunted by one of the detectives, his manic craving to catch the Driver forces him to use bandits as bait to catch the elusive racer, unaware that this hunt will cost him very dearly.
The famous but almost forgotten film of Walter Hill, involuntarily left behind an indelible mark in cinema, and more recently, he gave birth to his spiritual heir - "Drive". But what is so good and original about this movie?
First, it is unusual in terms of approach to characters. And the most important link here is the main character, whose name will never be called, who has no definite purpose but to make money. He is not interested in what people will rob, he is only interested in the price and at this price he will go to the end. His face throughout the film remained impenetrable and almost emotionless, we do not know and do not know what is on his soul, what moves him and how he came to such a life, he is not verbose, but every word is straight like an arrow. All we know is that he is a first-class driver, a sharp shooter, and a single-minded person. The veil of secrecy around him seems to confuse the viewer, but the thing is that he is not alone. The policeman who pursued him, the Detective, although he has a goal, we also do not know the lion’s share of his biography and motives for catching the hero. And the Player - a mysterious lady in black - also for some reason helps the hero, but the secret of her identity is also hidden. Perhaps all this is done in order to make their characters – namely, characters playing their role according to a pre-woven script, and it feels, and it does not interfere with viewing, but on the contrary only increases the unusualness of the film.
Secondly, the genre of this film is difficult to define. The action movie does not look like much - it is too smooth, unhurried, although the elements are still present. Drama, hardly. I still tend to think it's neonoir.
What's striking is the chase. Surprisingly, for the late 70s they were filmed terribly professionally. All the “guilt” excellent camera work, which allowed to capture all the dynamics from several angles, replacing each other with rapid speed. Cars rush at fast speed, barely have time to round the obstacles, the narrow alleys echo the long creaks of tires ... And all of them are made against the backdrop of night streets illuminated by lights, which gives the film the romance and beauty of night Los Angeles. What, and camera work, despite the other advantages of the film, is still the main plus.
"The Driver" - the forerunner of "Drive" and the famous cult game of the same name, a very stylish and exciting film, which, thanks to the original approach to the characters and incredible chases, forces more than once or twice to squander the most exciting moments in your head after watching.
After one not too successful robbery, the driver (Ryan O'Neill), helping his employers quickly escape from persecution on busy streets, becomes a target for the unclean detective (Bruce Dern). The policeman has heard about this single hero and wants not only to put the elusive rider behind bars, but also to truly defeat him, proving his superiority to him. The plan of the cunning lawyer is simple and effective - to organize a new, seductive order for the rider using front bandits, which will actually be a trap. However, the legend would not be a legend if from the very beginning everything went as usual.
Action thriller, straight from the 80s, with an impressive admixture of noir. The style of the film is well maintained, starting with authentic sports cars and dimly lit road signs, ending with the characteristic namelessness of the central characters. Thanks to a loving approach to observing all the subtleties of the chosen style, the director successfully recreated the necessary atmosphere of confrontation between two absolute masters of his craft. The story in general strongly resembles an urban tale, a kind of local legend, which over the years of retelling in bars has acquired many details. One of these myths became excellent chases, which will definitely please their performance of lovers of high speeds. Moderately realistic (this is not a series of “Fast and Furious” with Diesel, where steepness is ahead of all physics and the real laws of gravity), but at the same time skillfully set, while remaining thus quite unpredictable for the viewer, they are the most valuable stones in the crown of work. The energy of the pursuit is supported by confident camera work, as a result of which the shooting always keeps up with what is happening. This allows the viewer to enjoy the choreography of the best turns (one scene demonstrates the talent of the driver in the parking lot of what is worth). Ugh!), never descending to flashing or too distant panoramas, during which cars turn into shiny dots.
Another surprise was the script and the actors. I seriously expected from this glorious representative of the golden age of cinema pathos and melodramatic dialogues, but communication between people without names turned out to be more than tolerant. Despite the fact that it (the script) was definitely written by a man whose works are usually read in the toilet, it will not turn the modern viewer inside out with its sweetness. They say here, in principle, little (the same driver for the whole session only 350 words) and mainly on the case, and there is often a detective. Bruce Dern incredibly hilariously played a pathetic and cynical law enforcement officer who has long been engaged in anything but his official duty. Your humble servant loves scumbags who want to love and hate at the same time, and Dern darn deftly coped with his task. This is the last time I’ve heard so many colorful insults.
In total, "Driver" - a worthy representative of his genre, which is a pleasure to watch, provided that you breathe unevenly to neon noir, verbose heroes and beautiful cars rushing through the night alleys to the music of synthesizers. I recommend watching this movie is like drinking well aged wine.
7 out of 10
Where did it come from / the predecessor of "Drive"
Surprisingly, in more than thirty years, downtown Los Angeles has barely changed. Except that it became a little more glamorous, the glass became clearly more, the skyline is now more expressive - that's all. And yet in the night streets of the desert downtown drive lonely hearts in large and powerful maslcars - for fun? Not for the sake of making money. And after all, the ability to steal from the police, the knowledge of the hidden corners of the city - is expensive, and accordingly paid. Ryan, no, not Gosling - O'Neill in the role of a silent, surreal night racer without a name and a past, a modern cowboy on an iron horse (here and the desperate detective calls him a "cowboy" - if only because he is white, with a rustic face and clearly not local), sending cars after the "case" straight to scrap, however, as well as women; big-eyed Isabel Adjani - as a player and a wealthy keeper in the care of unknown. Both have a strange shine in the eyes, an invisible attraction to each other, almost infernal craving for adventure.
“Driving” Walter Hill is built on the classic canons of films-robbery: there is a certain risky hero, despite all his pedantry and caution, still getting involved in a not too profitable for him game, there is, in fact, robbery, a dreary tracker, powerful cars and a couple of spectacular night chases, in the end – the long-awaited profit. It would seem that all the trouble is about money, but no – because of the femme fatal appearing on the horizon, and, of course, she is a cold brunette with red lips and innocent baby eyes. How can you not help him? Noir aesthetics here in some way decorative and serves only as a style-forming element, not penetrating deeply into the context, inside the plot, without pushing the horizons, we can say more - noir in the "Vodil" remains only on the visual-verbal level, in other words, the main character will not die and in hell will not get, and nothing from the heroine of Ajani will break him - only a couple of significant ardent glances, and nothing more, sexual initiation, after which in the canonical sense should begin all the most interesting, with the fallen angel will simply not happen. The hero seems to be constantly trying to get away from rapprochement, to distance himself, delaying his death, she, a fatal woman, seems not even against something more. It is no coincidence that their further relationship remains unknown due to the completion of the film. This moment makes it possible to interpret the useless noir raid as an attempt to rethink the genre without its deconstruction.
The compilativeness of the plot and the visual at the same time spoils and exalts the film: on the one hand everything is very simple - in favor of stylization under the little-known noir of the forties, the characters are simplified here, and the characters are prescribed so that they give the impression of intentionally template - almost all are silent and mysterious; on the other side - a powerful Melville style, almost flawlessly filmed night scenes of rolling around the city, Latrop's exquisite camera work (which is characteristically, exclusively in action scenes) successfully focuses attention on the penetrating evening evening of industrial farmhouses, quainted warehouses from the outskirts of industrial warehouses. The main soundtrack is not artificial music, but the roar of motors, turning a small but very bright action into a manual for all beginner operators on how to properly handle light, sound and camera. Audiovisual effect for seven minutes at the beginning and at the end - like bright flashes of light headlights in pitch darkness. The melodramatic line against this background looks frankly weak.
And yes, the scenes of the chase are unusually beautifully filmed, yes, the style is most expensive, it overshadows everything else, pushing the narrative to the background, yes, Ajani periodically screws up and looks inappropriate, and sometimes even completely stupid, and the dissonance and lack of soft transitions between the “robber” essence of the movie and the “black” picture can upset convinced postmodernists, but, in fact, it does not matter, and did anything change in cinema since the late seventies? Röfn almost frame-by-frame remade "The Driver", flattening the traditional structure of films about the racers of the sixties and eighties and borrowing from Mann, Melville and other good, suitable directors a lot of good, useful scenes, templates, dialogues and everything in trifles, created an amazing "Drive", and now it is no other than a genius. So what's Hill's problem? That's right, that he didn't steal too much, and he didn't go for a complete rethinking of genres, sacrificing film text in favor of a beautiful illusion. But what, after all, is cinema but a beautiful illusion? It doesn't matter when that illusion came about in '78 or 33 years later, does it? The only important thing is the ability to correctly steal and compile, steal and compile. You need to be a little brave - and only this way, otherwise you will not miss. They won't notice.
That’s why I love early (and not much more) Walter Hill for making his films in a different, alternate reality. Adult fairy tales. Watching his films makes one feel like it’s a different alternate world, but with the usual trappings of the world. The 1978 Driver gives the same impression.
This film lives in its own reality. He has a clearly defined style. In more detail, this applies to acting and dialogue. Hill masterfully uses timing in dialogues (which are “juicy” in themselves), which is why Hill can be called the predecessor director of the likes of Tarantino or Rodriguez (as well as in terms of action). In this aspect, Hill ranks alongside Carpenter and Zemeckis. They also had great dialogue scenes.
As for acting, Hill paid a lot of attention to composition - the placement of actors in the frame, fully using the foreground and background with interesting lighting, camera solutions. In this regard, the influence of the films of Akira Kurosawa is felt.
And the combination of compositions with cool dialogues give a stunning stylistic effect. The film creates its own clear, unique style, atmosphere.
As usual, the images created by Hill are very specific and accurate, as black and white. But each has its own individual traits. They don't have names, only names - Detective, Driver and Player. As for the story, it resembles an adult tale. It's all pure fiction. And so with almost all of Hill's films. The Driver is in many ways a postmodern movie.
Walter Hill put everything he loves into The Driver: Western (revolvers, relationships between characters), neo-noir (nighttime), super action (drive chases in stylish cars). Like 1977’s Star Wars, The Driver is a postmodern cocktail of genres. Which I want to repeat from time to time.