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The Driver on DVD (1978)

The Driver cover art
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Average rating: (66%)
1125519102055
3.0
 
Starring: Ryan O'Neal | Bruce Dern | Isabelle Adjani | Ronee Blakley
Director: Walter Hill
Studio: WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time: 87 mins
Certificate: 15
User collections: The movies of Walter Hill
Genres: Action/Adventure | Thriller
Languages: English
Released: 19/04/2004

Brief synopsis of The Driver

Ryan O'Neal stars as THE DRIVER, a conniving and talented getaway driver, and Bruce Dern as the corrupt police detective obsessed with capturing him. With breathtaking car chases and a terrific climax, this is a simple and thrilling cat and mouse game. The two single-minded characters, with otherwise bleak lives, must perpetually out-smart the other in this lean, clever and compelling thriller.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 4 stars out of 5 Radio Times

This story of a getaway driver who has no life outside his work is pared down to its absolute existential essentials in Walter Hill's terrific thriller. Critics thought that the writer/director was paying tribute to Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 classic Le Samourai, though he denied he'd ever seen it. However, Ryan O'Neal wears the same trenchcoat as Alain Delon, and he has the same cool demeanour and ruthless tunnel vision. The car chases are amazing, but it's O'Neal's calm you remember, before he ultimately unravels as slinky Isabelle Adjani and cop Bruce Dern get under his skin.

Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 3 starsBoys and their stolen toys

Clucky from Cardiff, Wales , 09/07/2004

This is an enjoyable, if rather pointless, addition to the car chase/crime genre that began to gain in popularity during the 1970s. Whilst the plot was never in danger of getting in the way of tyre burning car chases, the lead protagonists O?Neal (The Driver) and Dern (The Detective) are allowed to develop enough of a cat and mouse relationship to ensure the film holds together.

The cinematography at times, I felt, successfully portrayed a dark and claustrophobic criminal underworld environment in which the Driver operated. The car chase sequences were fine but nothing really groundbreaking.

Acting is average but the dialogue was punchy at times.

Whilst this film is a long way from the high testosterone, low brow world of modern films such as The Fast and the Furious it probably won?t appeal to the more ?discerning? viewer. However if like me you are a fan of 70s films then is a reasonable, if not essential, addition to your rental list. 3 out of 5.

  7 out of 10 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsFast

Cato , 03/01/2006

An existentialist thriller, i.e.one in which there's not much talking and what there is comes slow and meaningful, this film is basically for those of us who like watching cars being driven at impossibly high speeds through cities in an attempt to escape another car chasing them. That the cop involved is Bruce Dern is a plus, although Ryan O'Neal, as the getaway diver, delivers an 'anybody could do this' performance. A pretty rivetting film for all you wannabe boy racers though.

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Rated - 4 starsThe Driver

Ryan Kent from Salford , 27/03/2006

The Driver is to American cinema what Melville's crime movies were to the French. Ryan O'Neil plays a rent-a-getaway-driver of the title with no life outside his 'work' - no friends, no lovers, seemingly no family. He lives in a tiny run-down apartment and earns £10,000 a job. Bruce Dern is the cop hell-bent on out-smarting his criminal in whatever way possible. Walter Hill creates a stark, sombre film full of meaningful silences, high-speed car chases, and erm...that's about it. This is what it would look like if Melville made an English language crime movie.

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Rated - 4 starsBest driver scene

marcus691 from West Sussex , 24/10/2005

Has one of the best driving scenes ever, the main guy has to be tested to prove he's the best. Deffinately worth watching for this scene slone!

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