Remember how the driver in Walter Hill’s THE DRIVER didn’t get a name, he was just “The Driver”? The driver in Nicolas Winding Refn’s DRIVE is so minimalistic he doesn’t even get a ‘the.’ Or an ‘r’. Ryan Gosling plays said driver, a mysterious toothpick-chewing dude who’s a masterful getaway driver and does stunt driving for the movies. He also works at a garage for Brian Cranston, who helps set up his jobs and prepare his getaway cars. When not working Drive is sparking up a relationship with his neighbor, Carey Mulligan and her son. He’s better with the kid than you might think – even offers him a toothpick. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘getaway driver’
Drive
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
The Driver
Saturday, January 1st, 2005This is a lesser known but completely fucking badass Walter Hill picture about a getaway driver. Ryan O’Neal plays the driver character (called “The Driver”) who is pursued by a semi-crazy cop with no name (”The Detective” on the credits) played by Bruce Dern.
The movie starts out with a robbery sort of like the dog race robbery Hill wrote for the remake of THE GETAWAY, except that the movie rushes through the robbery part and focuses on the escape. Right away you know you are in for a treat with this movie, because it’s some of the most intense car chases I’ve ever seen. Lots of car’s–eye-view shots as the driver swerves through oncoming traffic, red lights, parking garages, narrow alleys… he’s got 2 or 3 cops right on his ass everywhere he goes but he keeps managing to run them off the road or fake them out and leave them in the dust.
When the POV is not on the hood of the car, most of the time it’s inside the car, with the Driver staring ahead emotionlessly and the two gunmen sitting in the backseat, watching the cops through the rear window. You really feel like you’re inside the car, not sure you’re gonna get away with this, but hoping you will. I love when he cuts through parking garages and you hear the sirens echoing all over the place.
It occurred to me while watching this that alot of the time in movies when there’s a car chase, you are with the cop car that is trying to catch the other car. This one puts you firmly in the getaway car and you’re definitely rooting for them to get away. And they do. (more…)
