The Driver (1978)

"The Driver" is a specialist in a rare business: he drives getaway cars in robberies. His exceptional talent prevented him from being caught yet. After another successful flight from the ... See full summary »

Director:

Walter Hill

Writer:

Walter Hill

Stars:

Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern, Isabelle Adjani

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryan O'Neal	...	The Driver
Bruce Dern	...	The Detective
Isabelle Adjani	...	The Player
Ronee Blakley	...	The Connection
Matt Clark	...	Red Plainclothesman
Felice Orlandi	...	Gold Plainclothesman
Joseph Walsh	...	Glasses
Rudy Ramos	...	Teeth
Denny Macko	...	Exchange Man
Frank Bruno	...	The Kid
Will Walker	...	Fingers
Sandy Brown Wyeth	...	Split
Tara King	...	Frizzy
Richard Carey	...	Floorman
Fidel Corona	...	Card Player

Storyline

"The Driver" is a specialist in a rare business: he drives getaway cars in robberies. His exceptional talent prevented him from being caught yet. After another successful flight from the police, a self-assured detective makes it his primary goal to catch the Driver. He promises remission of punishment to a gang if they help to convict him in a set-up robbery. The Driver seeks help from "The Player" (Isabelle) to mislead the detective.

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Plot Keywords:

driver | robbery | detective | car | getaway car | 

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Taglines:

To break the driver, the cop was willing to break the law.

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 January 1979 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Driver

Filming Locations:

258 Winston St., Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

EMI Films, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 131 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The titular driver is a man of few words - 350 in all.

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Goofs

In the final scene at the railway station, The Driver looks around carefully at a nearly deserted station before opening the locker. Within 5 seconds he opens the locker, removes a briefcase, and turns around to find The Detective, his 2 plainclothes associates, and 15 uniformed police lined up behind him.

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Quotes

The Detective: Nice Place. Terrific view. Wow.
The Player: You didn't come up here to tell me that.
The Detective: You saw the man in the car. And you saw the man against the brick wall. And you know it's the same man. Yet you didn't identify him. Are you afraid of him?
The Player: No.
The Detective: Are you afraid of me?
The Player: No. I just don't like you.

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Connections

Version of Driver (1999)

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Soundtracks

It's Such a Pretty World Today
(uncredited)
Written by Dale Noe
Performed by Wynn Stewart
Heard in the Driver's first visit to his connection

User Reviews

A Real High Point In Walter Hill's Career!

THE DRIVER (4+ outta 5 stars) Classic, no-nonsense, action-chase movie about a professional getaway driver (Ryan O'Neal) and the obsessed cop (Bruce Dern) who is determined to see him behind bars. Terrific chase scenes highlight this unjustly-neglected modern day film noir. No one plays nutty, obsessed characters quite like Bruce Dern. Ryan O'Neal as the bad guy/hero shows even less emotion than he did in Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon"... he's often accused of non-acting but I think his low-key, taciturn performance here is mesmerizing. He may as well be driving down to the corner store for a carton of milk rather than eluding a dozen speeding police cars. Isabelle Adjani doesn't really have much to do in this movie but look beautiful... but I guess that's enough. There is not a lot of dialogue and not a lot of character development. The characters in this movie aren't even given names! They are merely listed as The Driver, The Detective, The Player, The Connection, etc. This is a real high point in the career of director Walter Hill. He may have had more financial success with "The Warriors" and "48 Hours" but I think this is his best, most fully realized action movie.