The Driver

1978

Action / Crime / Thriller

116
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 73%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 77%
IMDb Rating 7.1 10 17478

Plot summary



February 17, 2023 at 10:57 PM

Director

Walter Hill

Top cast

Bruce Dern as The Detective
Isabelle Adjani as The Player
Ryan O'Neal as The Driver
Peter Jason as Commuter
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 2160p.WEB
699.94 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 31 min
P/S 0 / 6
1.24 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 31 min
P/S 3 / 27
4.22 GB
3836*2072
English 5.1
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 31 min
P/S ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by mark.waltz 5 / 10

When I lose, I just go broke. When you lose, you go to jail.

The best parts of the script of this late 70s action-thriller are the car chases when nobody speaks, and when the script designates what Los Angeles Street the car driven by Ryan O'Neal will be speeding down, and when the cop cars turn over or crash. It's obvious that this film was written and directed for people who enjoy watching the cops lose, and lose they d9 mightily as professional speed driver O'Neal operates the escape vehicle that gets criminals away from the scene of the crime. Not only do cop cars crash or turn over, parts of the vehicles fly off of all of the cars driving, and all O'Neill has to do is operate the machinery in an automobile demolition lot to get rid of the evidence.

Some decent actors really don't get a chance to do much acting, although Bruce Dern (nominated for an Oscar that year for "Coming Home") does get the most opportunity. Isabelle Adjani, nominated for an Oscar just a few years before, is merely window-dressing as the player, credited as such as the majority of the characters do not have names, just descriptions. The film itself is certainly watchable but not really all that memorable outside of the chase sequences, rather violent and outside of Dern as the detective not at all character driven. The streets of downtown Los Angeles get a lot of wear and tear as these prop cop cars and the escape vehicles aggressively fly over them obviously in the middle of a pre-dawn Sunday. Fun for a while, but after a bit it gets completely tedious.

Reviewed by Woodyanders 9 / 10

Walter Hill's superbly austere, arresting & exciting existential noir car chase crime thriller gem

Walter Hill's second directorial effort after his terrific debut feature "Hard Times" may very well be one of his best films ever, a tense, steely, tersely plotted and resolutely tough-minded crime thriller done in vintage gritty, amoral, staunchly sinewy and unsentimental existential noir style. The usually wanting Ryan O'Neal makes for a surprisingly sturdy and credible protagonist as the titular ace getaway driver, a laconic, audacious, always cool and in control crackerjack wheelman par excellence who's doggedly pursued by a brutish, browbeating, obsessively wacko and determined detective (the ever-manic Bruce Dern in first-rate fruitcake form). Dern tries to collar O'Neal in an elaborate bank robbery set-up, but seriously underestimates O'Neal's razor-sharp cunning and resourcefulness.

Hill's tightly wound direction expertly pumps up the brooding, cold-as-ice atmosphere and makes every minute count: both story and characterizations are cut to the bone, the pace remains taut and fleet throughout, the spare, hard-edged, occasionally profane dialogue mines a fine line in hard-boiled reticence, the nervy cat-and-mouse game between Dern and O'Neal vividly reveals the rigid hierarchy which exists in both cop and criminal subcultures alike, and the justifiably lauded ultra-kinetic, heart-pounding, metal-mangling car chase sequences contain a raw, savage, lump-in-your-throat harrowing power that's undeniably arresting and exciting. Phillip Lathrop's shadowy cinematography and Michael Small's bluesy score add substantially to the overall hard-hitting no-nonsense tone. Dern and O'Neal are fantastic in the lead roles, with able supporting turns by Matt Clark as Dern's whiny, talkative, but more level-headed fussbudget new partner, the lovely Isabelle Adjani as a sweet young thing who gets caught up in the fracas, Ronee Blakely as a cagey underworld connection, and the ubiquitous Bob Minor as a stick-up man. Lean, mean and thoroughly gripping, with no sappy pathos or lame smartalecky humor to detract from the firmly rough-edged goings-on, this authentic no-fooling article truly deserves its significant cult status.

Reviewed by claudio_carvalho 8 / 10

Characters Without Name And Certainly Among The Greatest Car-Chase Movies

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")

Read more IMDb reviews

7 Comments

lutello profile
0
lutello September 12, 2022 at 07:15 am

96k is a decent bitrate for mono, but this mono soundtrack is in the left side of stereo one.

nikos1 profile
3
nikos1 April 05, 2021 at 02:49 pm

the movie was made with only 1.0 channel sound. stop commenting on the audio channels if you havent made any search before

casing profile
1
casing December 06, 2020 at 06:08 am

no sound

aaronpaulz profile
1
aaronpaulz March 12, 2020 at 10:35 pm

holy sbit

slade_wilson profile
1
slade_wilson June 11, 2017 at 09:08 pm

Audio can be heard only on the left channel. This problem is present in both 720p and 1080p versions.

memo618 profile
1
memo618 April 10, 2017 at 01:09 pm

no audio

drummer44 profile
0
drummer44 July 30, 2016 at 06:48 pm

Thanx a lot!!