"You know what I do first thing every morning? Read the sports page. You know why? Best part of the newspaper. Winners, losers, how it happened, score."--The Detective (Bruce Dern)
My last post was a review of a Walter Hill film, and the one prior to that focused on the trailers for two vehicular centric movies, so I thought I'd follow up with a post concerning a film that combines the direction of Hill with an auto themed plot, the 1978's badass minimalist piece, The Driver.
Before cutting to any footage from the film, the trailer opens introducing the characters, who all go by their occupation/description (keeping with the minimalist theme and the quote above which could serve as a statement of intention for Hill's film) with still images of the stars: Ryan O'Neal (The Driver), Bruce Dern (The Detective) and Isabelle Adjani (The Player)...speaking of which, how awesome were the 70's that Bruce Dern was ever a major marketing point of a film.
If you're a fan of the work of the crime cinema of Jean-Pierre Melville (Le Doulos, Le Samourai), Donald Westlake's Parker series written under the nom de plum of Richard Stark or the general 1970's American crime cinema aesthetic of the likes of Charley Varrick, you should add this to your must see list.
As a bonus, here's the trailer for what is currently my most anticipated film of the year, Drive, which netted it's director, Nicholas Winding Refn the Best Director award at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and me being so excited is saying a lot seeing how I wasn't even a fan of the only Refn film I've seen to this point, 2009's Bronson. But the buzz from Cannes was amazing and combined with a solid cast featuring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Catherine Hendricks, Ron Perlman, and apparently a great evil turn by Albert Brooks (!) and a stylistically direct crime story cut from the same cloth as the Hill film which I treasure, have amped up my desire to see this one ASAP.
Here's the Red Band trailer which just made it's internet debut this week and has got me all kinds of psyched.
Drive opens September 16th.
2 comments:
Of course you know, THE DRIVER is one of my favorite, minimalist Walter Hill movies... like ever. This and CHARLEY VARRICK are some of the best crime flicks from the 70s, Colonel. In fact, I have CV in R2 just because it's in glorious widescreen (since the US R1 is cropped horribly).
And thanks so much for the heads up for DRIVE in September. Looks awesome. Another book recommendation for you, since your a fan of Richard Stark and the others you've mentioned here, try my man Duane Swierczynski and his novel The Wheelman. I have a feeling you'll enjoy it.
Knowing how big of a HIll fan you are, I'd thought you'd appreciate The Driver. I need to pick up Charly Varrick R2 DVD, I've rented it and viewed it via Netflix instant but it was the pan and scan version both times. I guess I was holding out hope for a Blu Ray.
Thanks for the heads up about The Wheelman, I will definitely be putting that one on my radar
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