User reviews

Action specialist Walter Hill is in his element here with this tense, entertaining thriller that he both wrote and directed. Ryan O'Neal stars as a getaway driver for hire, who is hounded by offbeat detective Bruce Dern. Dern is dying to righteously bust O'Neal for something, but O'Neal is simply very good at his job. The detective will resort to any method necessary, but the driver is smart and seemingly always one step ahead of him.

One can hardly fail to notice the way that Hill deliberately doesn't personalize his characters too much, giving them descriptions or nicknames rather than proper names. And with the help of his very able cast, they create some very good character moments that are the real meat of this story. Its car chases are among the best you'll see in this genre, but serve to support the story instead of the story setting up the action set pieces. Hill again recalls styles from films of earlier decades - while, for example, his "Streets of Fire" was an ode to '50s rock 'n'roll, this film does owe a fair bit to the film noir of the '40s.

The people who populate this story are often all business, especially The Driver, who lives by his own code. There are things he'll do and things he won't do. Among other things, he employs a "witness" (French beauty Isabelle Adjani) and works with a "connection" (Ronee Blakley) who comes to him with job offers. The actors are all great, with the supporting cast also including Matt Clark and Felice Orlandi as Derns' fellow detectives, Joseph Walsh and Rudy Ramos as thieving lowlifes, and Bob Minor & Peter Jason in bit parts.

This tale is taut and convincing, told in a straightforward yet compelling manner; technically it's expertly done, with excellent editing by Tina Hirsch & Robert K. Lambert, cinematography by Philip H. Lathrop, and music by Michael Small. Hill's screenplay is full of interesting dialogue, especially in exchanges between Dern and Clark.

Hill has certainly done many fine and entertaining movies over the years, but this is one that tends to get overshadowed by his bigger hits such as "48 Hrs". It's a little gem worthy of discovery or re-discovery.

Eight out of 10.

Those were The Driver's words after he take a crew of bank robbers for a test drive in their dodgy looking orange Mercedes and proceeds to trash it completely, knocking off both bumpers, tearing off a door, bumping both sides and flattening the roof. A classic scene and this is a good, late 70s action thriller from Walter Hill. It's film noir at it's best and it's pretty cool that every character doesn't have an actual name, we've got The Driver, The Detective, The Player and so on. Ryan O'Neal is cool without actually having to say very much and Bruce Dern is just Bruce Dern, wild eyed and crazy as the Detective determined to catch the Driver by using some strange policing. Isabelle Adjani is very quiet and a sexy foil for things to revolve around. The car chases and mash-ups are as good as some of the stuff used in Bullit, French Connection, The Seven-Ups and other top rate chase scenes.

Dern is a highlight as he is bonkers as ever and Walter Hill does a great job in direction and keeping things nice and compact.

Check it out!

The Driver (1978)

Walter Hill's underrated film may have been forgotten completely had it not been for the success of the "Driver" series of Playstation games on which this film is a massive influence. Ryan O'Neal plays the Driver, a ronin-like character, willing to act as an unbeatable getaway driver for anyone as long as the price is right because, well...it's what he does. Bruce Dern is the Cop set on finally catching the elusive criminal, even if it means aiding and abetting criminal activity himself.

This most reminded me of Michael Mann's crime films from the 80s onwards such as "Thief" and "Heat" - Hill's film shares the same kind of existentialist themes about identity - men defined and ruled by their actions, to the extent that they have no room in their lives for anything else. It also shares Mann's style - creating an urban environment that's both chic, yet realistically gritty.

Ryan O'Neal may not have quite the cult status of Steve McQueen but his portrayal of the Driver as an empty, emotionless human being is strengthened through the characters sheer self-confidence and survival instinct. Bruce Dern gives the Cop a nice contrast to his lifeless target, bringing a kind of goofy, obsessive tenacity, as he sets up a bank job with some petty criminals in his attempt to be the first cop to catch the Driver. Isabelle Adjani is strikingly vacant, although her role in the proceedings is far from well defined.

It has to be said that the car chases are brilliant - from the opening getaway police chase to the Driver's calculated destruction of a very shiny Mercedes in an underground parking lot and the final cat and mouse game in a labyrinthine warehouse. The dramatic scenes do inevitably feel a bit sluggish sometimes and the constant hard-boiled dialogue does start to grate. Despite a seemingly sparse, clear-cut plot there are moments towards the climax which are confusing and frustrating.

The existential aspect of the plot is emphasised with a complete absence of character names, so maybe it is fitting that the film, and it's central character, only really comes alive during the car chase scenes - though this may be very relevant to the film's philosophy it does limit the sheer entertainment value as those looking for constant thrills, which the film does deliver, may find the wait between them in such a barren landscape a little tedious while armchair philosophers may find the existential "coolness" forced.

As many other Walter Hill films, The Driver portraits a stripped universe inhabited by archetypes. These are nameless, speechless and can trace their roots to the principles of Epic.

It can happen in any city, during the late 70s or nowadays but as a film noir in its essence, exclusively at night.

The performances are great and the car chases register no equal in film history. The pace of the delivery of lines is almost as suspensful as the story itself.

The minimalism of Hill's execution resembles the cinema of Jean Pierre Melville and the film's universe picks up there where Hawks, Walsh and Siegel left.

It's an exercise in style, a triumph of a clever mind, a loveable barren film that adresses, from particular detail, general, eternal issues.

The Driver is a stylish, detached and antisocial tribute to driving for the sake of driving and crime for the sake of crime, made at a time when those things still had a palpable meaning for most big-city Americans. The writer/director is Walter Hill, penner of the not too dissimilar cult film The Getaway a few years earlier. And although he made more successful films later on (notably 48 Hrs.), The Driver is arguably among his most gutsy and hard-hitting. It's worth a watch for the fervour it represents and instils, if nothing else. Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern and Isabelle Adjani are the attractive trio of lead actors.

There is no baloney in this surprisingly good movie (it's not well-known). It also sports a real oddity: no one's name is mentioned in the entire film! Try to think of any other film you've ever seen where this is the case.

Why 'The Driver" is not better known is a mystery since the director (Walter Hill) and main actors (Ryan O'Neal and Bruce Dern) are well-known entities.

Maybe because Ryan, who people think of more as the likable male in the immensely popular "Love Story," "Paper Moon" and "Barry Lyndon" plays against type, playing an ultra-serious criminal. Make no mistake: he does it well. He is a man of few words in this movie and he handles that in a fascinating manner. Dern is always interesting. Isabelle Adjani, more famous as a French actress, is nice to ogle and she, too, doesn't say much in this film.

The rest of the characters in this "neo noir" are a bunch of nasties, giving that edgy feel.

If you like film noir and particularly if you like car-chase scenes, well, this movie is must-have, because there are several intense chase scenes in here and they are long. They're also well-photographed, fun to watch and certainly keep your attention.

Don't be put off that THE DRIVER stars pretty boy Ryan O'Neal because we're talking 1970s cinema when American cinema was at a peak and how a routine crime thriller would be more involving, minimalist , nihilistic and amoral than anything you'd be getting today . True it means a film like THE DRIVER is rather dated in feel and look but you can still admire it . I doubt if 35 years from now too many people will be coming on to IMDb stating " Whoa dude wasn't CGI and rapid cross cutting blink and you'll miss it editing so totally awesome " Sometimes you've got to take the rough with the smooth and the roughest part is realising how rare this type of movie is in the 21st Century

Written and directed by Walter Hill who gave us the screenplay for THE GETAWAY earlier in the decade you know you're going to get a tough gritty mean thriller which is in keeping with the era of New Hollywood . The lines between good and bad are very blurred with the cops doing all they can to bend the rules without breaking them , personified by Bruce Dern as a maverick cop . Interesting too that there's no honour amongst thieves . Typical of the time is the very dark cinematography by Phillip H Lathrop where the colours are muted and much of the action takes place in dark shadow . It is literally film noir . Likewise the sound is very multi-layered which was a favourite technique by directors of the 1970s such as Robert Altman and because long periods of the film take place without any dialogue such as the first five minutes it's very noticeable how well the sound is used

If there's a problem with THE DRIVER it's probably to do with your own knowledge of Hill . Once you know the director wrote the screenplay of THE GETAWAY you'll be struck as to the similarities of that film and this one here . Crooks in a syndicate cross and double cross one another and a plot turn involves exchanging cases kept in a train station locker and trying to locate said case on board a train . You'll be instantly reminded of the 1972 film directed by Sam Peckinpah and in comparison THE DRIVER is slightly inferior to that classic thriller but on its own terms it is a very good and satisfying 1970s thriller

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.

In Los Angeles, a mysterious driver (Ryan O'Neal) is a sad man of few words that drives getaway car in robberies. One day, he participates of a heist of a casino and a player (Isabelle Adjani) is the main witness, but she refuses to help the detective (Bruce Dern).

For whatever reason, this is not a well-known film. The cast is A-list, the director is pretty well-known, and the action and suspense are top notch. We even have the interesting device of never giving any of the characters a name. Fantastic.

This is a film for people who love "Bullitt" or Michael Mann's "Thief", or other stories of lovable criminals who are out to evade the law. (Without ever becoming a comedy, that is... then you would be better with "Smokey and the Bandit".)

Less is more: a superb existential thriller to rival Point Blank and car chases to equal The French Connection, along with a couple of outstanding performances from the leads.

Here, the underworld's most talented getaway driver (O'Neal) is obsessively pursued by a corrupt, power-mad cop (Dern), who'll stop at nothing to catch him - even if it means blackmailing a seedy gang of bank robbers to help lure him into a trap. Aiding The Driver (these are characters who don't need names) is the beautiful and enigmatic Player (Adjani), who helps double-cross The Detective.

Walter Hill once mused that all his movies, like those of fellow director John Carpenter, were really westerns in disguise; hence the cowboy hats, Winchester rifles and, er, cowboys in the case of The Long Riders - which crop up repeatedly in his pictures. (Although where that leaves Brewster's Millions is anybody's guess.) The Driver, originally devised as a vehicle for Steve McQueen, is no exception: if O'Neal's country music-loving driver is referred to as 'The Cowboy', Dern, who once received death threats for killing John Wayne on screen, plays his twitching, preening nemesis like every crooked sheriff from Rio Lobo to Unforgiven.

Everybody is A Man (or Woman) With No Name - archetypes defined by their roles ('The Player', 'The Connection'), existing purely to drive the plot forward. O'Neal plays the eponymous anti-hero as half-man, half-automobile, speaking only when absolutely necessary - "Get in", "Go home" - expending just the right amount of energy to get the job done, as evinced by three of the most incredible car chases in cinema. (Hill's previous work as assistant director on Bullitt obviously stood him in good stead here).

As with Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, or Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai, which The Driver most resembles, nothing is wasted. "How do we know you're that good?" asks a doubtful crime baron, on procuring The Driver's services. O'Neal's unspoken reply providing rare light relief, as with casual insouciance and surgical precision, he reduces the dismayed owner's Mercedes to jigsaw pieces against an underground car park's concrete pillars to display his credentials.

Like a manic mechanic, Hill similarly strips the story - part-action thriller, part-existential noir - back to its essence, siphoning off dialogue, back story, character development and love interest, until only the Zen flesh and bones remain.

The Driver (Ryan O'Neal) is a professional getaway driver. He is very selective about his jobs and he doesn't get caught. The police Detective (Bruce Dern) has him in his sights. The Player (Isabelle Adjani) is the accomplice. The Detective knows the Player and goes to ever-darker lengths to trap the Driver.

The dialog is minimalist and hard-boiled. No names are given. That can wear thin after awhile. The violence is matter of fact. The car chases are pretty good and deliver solid fun stunts. It is a bit slow in between the action scenes. The actors are all playing the one note. Its distilled style gives the movie a fascinating but manufactured feel. This is an arty representation of a violent crime noir.

Le Samouraï meets Drive , Walter Hill's The Driver is a pulse pounding neo noir action thriller that is bold, riveting, raw and in your face. With great characterization and flair of well executed action sequences, this picture is an entertaining affair that is one of the finest films in the genre. Ryan O'Neal is in one of his best roles here and Bruce Dern is great as the Detective hot on his trail. An intense game of cat and mouse follows and is a riveting piece of cinema that is sure to engage the hardened film buff. The plot is simple, but sometimes you can pull off something great with basic ideas, and that's the case with The Driver. Walter Hill uses the basics at his disposal and creates something truly exciting. From the first frame onwards, this is a taut, exciting film that is a must see for anyone looking for something truly original to watch. Films like this are rare, and 1970's action thrillers are just a bit more riveting due to the fact that they used less elaborate sequences as big explosions and quick cut scenes. The Driver is an accomplished action thriller with wonderful performances and great directing from Walter Hill, who has always crafted entertaining and worthwhile pictures that are sleek, stylish and lots of fun to watch. The Driver is a near flawless movie that is certain to delight 1970's cinema fans. This is a well crafted picture that relies on good old fashioned storytelling and well thought out action to give the viewer something truly riveting to watch. The Driver is one of the finest films of the genre, and it is a movie that really delivers an exciting hour and a half of one of a kind action thrills. This is a powerful work of cinema from director Walter Hill and one that you shouldn't pass up.

Vroom! Vroom!.... With the exception of 2 very good car-chase scenes (one at the beginning and one at the end), The Driver, pretty much, sucked.

For me, this was clearly one of those movies where I swear that they were making its story up as they went along.

Its badly-conceived situations and its unintentionally laughable dialogue left me believing that story coherency wasn't a real concern for its producers since they believed that with the apparent combined star-power of Ryan O'Neal, Isabelle Adjani, and Bruce Dern in their precious, little picture the ever-gullible audience would accept just about any sort of half-ass nonsense (insensitively tossed their way).

What also lost The Driver some significant points was the downright awful and completely unconvincing performance of the rat-faced, frizzy-haired Bruce Dern as "The Detective". Dern's presence, literally, made my skin crawl. He was clearly miscast for his part as the "concerned" and conscientious cop.

In conclusion - To say that The Driver was very much a product of its time (the 1970s) would truly be an understatement.

I looked long and hard for this film and finally found it online... About a year ago I found the novelization at a local used bookshop and was enthralled. Then I shook loose a repressed memory of a scene from the Driver -well more like an image. That of Ryan O'Neal behind the wheel -shades in place, a study in cool.

Well I was obsessed and had to find the film. Once I did, it was like some sort of archaeological find. I popped it in the vcr (old school all the way) and sat back ready to be taken into a dangerous world of ruthless and amoral characters who live by some sort of twisted samurai code and law of thieves.

In a nutshell, this film delivered in spades. If you can find a copy of it, buy it or rent it. The car chases are extraordinary. The performances and cinematography are gloriously minimal and committed to the aesthetic of 'cool'.

It's a shame that junk like "The Transporter" and "Gone In Sixty Seconds" have come to embody the modern day equivalent of the existential bad guy and wheelman. Those films aren't fit to shine the chrome of this one.

One of Walter Hill's Best.

Thumbs Up.

"The Driver" is broadly similar to Walter Hill's previous movies, in that the story is about as streamlined as it gets and that the characters are rather faceless and non-descript. All these components work to the films advantage. That way, we don't get burdened by any pointless subplots. The story comes down to Ryan O' Neal as the driver vs Bruce Dern as the cop who is on the case of a spate of bank robberies that have occurred in the city. Although the cop represents law and order, he isn't above being corrupt and is a rather arrogant man. There are only about 4 other characters involved and this works also. There is a fair measure of action and the car chase scenes are very well handled. I enjoyed the twist to the tale and the whole film has a good sense of style.

This is a film with not a lot of dialogue, plus the characters are ambiguous; but if want a stylish film with some great car chases, you have to watch this film. Ryan O'Neal is The Driver; a laconic and mysterious guy who is a great getaway driver. He has a great skill behind the wheel; which he shows to a gang who wants to hire him; quite humoursly, has he trashes their car in a car park.

The detective on his tail is Bruce Dern. This guy just seems to live to catch the 'Cowboy'. He knows O'Neal is the Cowboy, but can he catch him? The cat and mouse race intrigues throughout, has Dern tries all he can to lay a trap to catch the Cowboy.

The pulchritudinous Isabelle Adjani is also a pawn in the tale. If you like mysterious thrillers with minimal narrative, check out The Driver; you won't be disappointed.

"The Driver" is a very well-done crime drama that features excellent chase scenes, strong acting and an interesting script. Walter Hill's directing lacks style, but his simple, blunt approach works for the story. Ryan O'Neil is outstanding as the unnamed driver of the story. His good looks and natural intelligence work for him in this role. Since he had few lines, much of his acting was in the unspoken moments. Bruce Dern, on the other hand, pushes too much in the role. He tries hard to be weird and tough, when just tough would suffice. I like Dern as an actor, but sometimes you can see him working. Still, he didn't hold the film back and at times he was quite effective. Too bad Walter Hill didn't tell him to pick up his cues because his performance would have benefited from a quicker pace. Isabella Adjani did very well in a somewhat typed role (the mysterious woman). I particularly liked her in the scene with Bruce Dern that takes place in her hotel. I don't think she liked Dern very much. She was natural and focused and didn't play any of the "languid, bored sex honey" that she could have played. The films score was very well done. Some odd fusion jazz in the mix made me sit up and pay attention. Michael Small did the score. He also did the score for "Night Moves" and "the Drowning Pool". Both of which are good.

One last note: recent novel by James Sallis called "Drive" covers some of the same territory as this movie, but in a completely different style . I wonder if Sallis saw this film?

I saw this film in the best way possible back in the 80's- on late night TV, lights dimmed with it being the last thing I watched before hitting the hay.

Ryan O'Neal plays The Driver (no name is given for his character and this is the case for all of the lead characters), a man who is known to be the best getaway driver for any bank robbers who have the money required to hire him. Bruce Dern plays the detective who is trying to successfully arrest him. Isabelle Adjani is the leading lady billed simply as The Player.

Just as the leads have no names, their characters display a fantastic minimalism which is mesmorising to watch, especially Ryan O'Neal as the brooding, introspective lead. It's possibly his best role along with his turn in Paper Moon. There's also a great appearance by Ronee Blakley who of course would later appear in A Nightmare on Elm Street as the lush mother of Nancy Thompson.

A major feature of the film is downtown LA, an eerie ghost town of neons, gorgeous architecture and brooding majesty. The allies and parking lots also feature in their dimly lit malevolence.

Another welcome addition to the film when it comes to it's location is the inclusion of Torchy's Bar which also features predominantly in When A Stranger Calls and 48 Hours.

The Driver underperformed at the box office on it's release and was almost universally panned by the critics although outside the U. S. reviews were more appreciative. When The Driver was released the film's director Walter Hill was already working on his next film, The Warriors which garnered more positive reviews and performed better at the box office. Theres an interesting connection between the two films other than the director as well- listen to the music by Michael Small within The Driver and you'll hear some of the creepy and unsettling psychedelic touches that Barry De Vorzon used within the soundtrack for The Warriors. Was this at Hill's insistence for both films?

History has been very good to the film though with it now being regarded for what it is- a minimalist, urban thriller which feels in some respects like a modern version of a hard boiled crime flick from decades before. It has also gone on to influence many films in it wake such as The Terminator, Drive and Baby Driver.

The Driver is a fantastic film. When you watch it, watch it late at night.

The best thing about The Driver is the car chase scenes. The story is decent, but I felt it could have been livened up a touch with more action and emotion. I suppose it was meant to be rather emotionless, but even more negative emotion like anger would have helped. None of the characters are ever referred to by name, and are even listed in the credits by title, such as The Driver, The Player, Glasses, The Detective, and so on. It's a nameless world the driver lives in. It'd have to be with a man of his impudence. It's hard for a guy like that to like or be liked. Because he's merely a driver, he knows that his accomplices will always handle the dirty work. And he hates to work with such lowlifes. But he really doesn't have much of a choice, so therein lies the catch-22. He has opportunities to get out, but something is always setting him back. Things never go as he plans.

In his cold world, there's no real sense of trust or closeness. The Driver can't trust his partners in crime. The Detective can't trust them. Every "player" in this "game" looks out for themselves. Even at the end, this is reaffirmed as trust is ultimately broken, and The Driver is thrown back into the underworld he can't seem to get out of.

In Los Angeles, a mysterious driver (Ryan O'Neal) is a sad man of few words that drives getaway car in robberies. One day, he participates of a heist of a casino and a player (Isabelle Adjani) is the main witness. However, she tells to the detective (Bruce Dern) in charge of the investigation that the suspect is not the driver of the getaway car.

The detective becomes obsessed to arrest the driver and he seeks out a gang that has robbed a supermarket and promises to "forgive" their heist if they help him to arrest the driver in a bank robbery. But the player helps the driver to exchange the dirty money.

I have recently seen "Drive" and a friend of mine warned that the 2011 film would be a remake of "The Driver". I have just seen this good thriller by Walter Hill and I have realized that they have the same storyline.

"The Driver" has characters without name and is certainly among the greatest car-chase movies. Ryan O'Neal has one of his best roles and Isabelle Adjani is extremely beautiful. The conclusion has an open end with the unknown destiny of the money. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Caçador de Morte" ("Hunter of Death")

I like this film for simple reasons: Walter Hill had so much to do with making it. He both wrote and directed it. However, in the Trivia section here, someone mentioned Walter Hill wrote "The Getaway" (1972), starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw. That is absolutely incorrect. Jim Thompson wrote "The Getaway"; Hill wrote the screenplay, a significant difference. McQueen had read a 25 cent paperback copy and produced it, with Sam Peckinpah (like McQueen, another renegade himself) directed it. I want to mention McQueen and MacGraw fell in love during the making of that film, which drew even more attention to it. Although she was married to Robert Evans, the CEO of Paramount (perhaps the most powerful man in Hollywood), it didn't make any difference; that shows how much women were drawn to Steve McQueen. I don't mean to infer they weren't in love; they truly were, and got married shortly after it was released. However, my main point is not to deride Walter Hill; it is the opposite: He has made so many very good action films; whether by writing stories, screenplays, and/or directing them. I am not a huge Ryan O'Neill fan. I do respect him, and know he was in some very big hit movies in the 1970's and 1980's. Ironically, he co-starred with Ali MacGraw in "Love Story" (1970), 1 of the largest grossing films of the era. It had a very young (25 year old) Tommy Lee Jones in his very 1st role, as well. Back to this film. "The Driver" is 1 of countless "car chase" films that have been made to this day; all of which "Bullitt" (1968) started. Most people don't realize in "Bullitt", they were actually driving at full speed. They got up to 124 mph in older, heavier cars, and McQueen did most of his own driving, along with 9 of the best stunt drivers in the world. There were no real special effects (of course, no CGI) then. Regardless, "The Driver" is worth the watch. Walter Hill deserves all the credit in the world for this, and so many other (better) films. Do watch it.

The way I imagine this movie being dreamed up is something like this. Two guys sit down and run "Bullitt" a dozen times in a row, trying to figure out what made it such a lucrative hit. Then the two guys brainstorm. After a few hours, they have written on the blackboard: (1) car chase, (2) McQueen "cool". Then they wrote the movie.

(1) Car chases. There was a sublime high-speed car chase near the end of "Bullitt." There'd been nothing like it on the screen before. It left the viewer completely exhausted. In this movie you get two high-speed pursuits, one at the beginning and another at the end. As in "Bullitt", all the cars sound like they belong on the Indie 500. And if, in "Bullitt", tires shrieked and howled as the vehicles slid around sharp corners, here they shriek and howl even when the vehicles are moving straight ahead. The movie is also punctuated by a few getaways. O'Neal, the highly skilled and professional driver, evidently believes that the best way to leave the scene of a crime unobserved is to burn rubber, pull out into the street traffic, and zoom away, breaking every traffic law in existence.

(2) Cool. Steve McQueen was the epitome of cool in "Bullitt." He wore snazzy clothes, turtlenecks, and had a neat harness to carry his gun under his sports jacket. The way we knew McQueen was cool was that he didn't talk very much, and he had a habit of looking at the floor and raising his eyes up to gaze at someone else from under his brows. Here, O'Neal hardly talks at all. He's present from the first few minutes on but he doesn't have a line of dialog until 16 minutes have passed. And if McQueen tended seldom to address another, O'Neal's invariably blank face is aimed at the wall. Compared to O'Neal, McQueen overacted outrageously.

The dialog is similarly clipped and masculine. Ronee Blakely meets O'Neal in a bar as an intermediate between him and a gang of thieves who want to hire him as a driver. O'Neal: "Shooters." Blakely: "Yes." O'Neal: "I don't like guns." Blakely: "They're on their way up. They gave me three hundred just to get to you." O'Neal: "You did." Most of the other performers aren't given much to do. Isabelle Adjani appears in the first shot but her first lines don't come until after O'Neal's. There's an exception though. Bruce Dern as an unsympathetic cop given to bending rules because he sees his pursuit of O'Neal as a kind of game is very expressive. He informs his dialog with all sorts of surprising lilts. The screen lights up when he appears.

I don't know that the movie makes too much sense. In the first chase, O'Neal is being followed by half a dozen police cars, and he leads them one by one into collisions with various objects, after which the street is cleared and he waltzes away into the night. Don't the police use radios? The ending kind of eluded me too, but maybe I missed something.

You know -- come to think of it, the writers must have seen more of McQueen's movies than just "Bullitt." In Pekinpah's "The Getaway," there's an engaging scene in which McQueen searches through a train looking for a man with a bag full of money. (In "Bullitt" McQueen pushes his way through an airplane looking for a man running away with a lot of money.) Here, Bruce Dern does the searching.

It's not a terrible movie by any means. If you like well-staged car chases you'll love it. But I did get tired of O'Neal's steely expression the second time around. What was most appealing about McQueen's high quotient of cool is that it seemed to be part of his character. But here O'Neal seems to have been told to enact a role. There really are people who act like McQueen in "Bullitt," people whose cool facade is brittle enough for the character to be annoyed once in a while, to tell a friend to "shut up and drink your orange juice." But nobody in real life acts like O'Neal does in this movie. It's beyond belief and into sheer stylization.

Well, I didn't mean to go on with such a lengthy comparison between "Bullitt" and "The Driver" but the movie seems to invite it.

Blank slates at the wheel: a Los Angeles police detective is obsessed with tracking down his adversary, a professional getaway driver in high-stakes robberies. Screenwriter Walter Hill, quite obviously a movie buff, also directed the film (only his second after "Hard Times"); he has such an affinity for noir clichés (like the old satchel at the train depot routine) that one can overlook the creaky, second-hand plotting and simply enjoy his presentation. Still, aloof, soft-spoken Ryan O'Neal seems rather lightweight for the driver role, and Bruce Dern does little more than make silly faces (his final bug-eyed expression is the most ridiculous; he seems ready to explode literally). Hill purposefully drained the narrative of individual personalities to concentrate solely on the action, and some of this is astutely realized. But when there's no one at the helm worth caring about, the picture leaves the audience with nothing but a quick action high. ** from ****