The Driver

A good friend is sick, so naturally we got in a short email discussion of writer/director Walter Hill.

Like all Steve McQueen movies, The Getaway (which Hill wrote) has curative powers, so Joseph should be up and around soon.

Anyway, I got to thinking about The Driver (1978). I saw this thing when it came out — I was 14 and hated it. Now I think it's Hill's best movie and a masterpiece. Totally stylized. A complete film noir throwback. And filled with some really boss car stuff.

It was offered to McQueen, who turned it down since he'd done so many car movies. Ryan O'Neal ended up with the part, and his usual stiffness works perfectly here — like it did in Barry Lyndon. This guy is a machine with no feeling whatsoever, a zombie, tearing around LA in all sorts of cars with absolutely no expression.

Bruce Dern is the cop obsessed with bringing the Driver down. Good stuff. Seventies movies, especially if they have cars in them, can be so great.