A getaway driver becomes the latest assignment for a tenacious detective.A getaway driver becomes the latest assignment for a tenacious detective.A getaway driver becomes the latest assignment for a tenacious detective.
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis film was originally written for Steve McQueen, but he turned it down. According to Walter Hill, "He didn't want to do anything that had to do with cars at that time. He felt he had already done that and it was pretty hard to argue with that." Hill had been assistant director on Bullitt (1968) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and wrote The Getaway (1972).
- GoofsWhen the Driver first takes off in the red truck, he's clearly working a floor-mounted gearshift (almost falling into the dashboard during one shift). Later, during the chase sequence, the close-up cuts to him working a column shifter, then back to a floor shifter in wider shots.
In addition, when the driver is chasing the silver car, there's a close-up shot of him shifting the column shifter, but he shifted it into the Park position.
- Quotes
The Detective: I respect a man that's good at what he does. I'll tell you something, I'm very good at what I do.
- Alternate versionsA version of The Driver seen on TV years ago included a pre-credit prologue, in which Bruce Dern's and Matt Clark's characters meet for the first time, and Ronee Blakley gives Isabelle Adjani her assignment as an alibi. The CBS/Fox home video version begins abruptly with the opening credits, omitting this prologue.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Automan: The Biggest Game in Town (1984)
- SoundtracksOne Fine Day
(uncredited)
Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King
performed by Julie Budd (uncredited)
Heard just prior to the first chase in the pool room
Featured review
A matter of style
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.
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.
helpful•12012
- TheFerryman
- Mar 10, 2003
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Driver
- Filming locations
- Torchy's Bar - 218 1/2 West Fifth Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA(Exterior bar scenes as detectives exit.)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $4,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $1,091
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