The Driver (1978) on Netflix
The Driver steals cars and drives getaway crews across Los Angeles, and The Detective is obsessed with catching him. A casino job brings a witness, The Player, into the case.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb7.1/1022,034 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes79%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Los Angeles, criminals pay The Driver a high price to steal cars and drive their getaway crews. The police know him too, and The Detective is obsessed with catching the man he calls Cowboy. On a casino job, the crew is late and The Player, a gambler, sees The Driver. Asked to identify him, she says she saw nothing. The Driver visits her apartment to pay her, and The Detective arrives, threatening her over her criminal history. He offers three arrested men a bargain: Teeth, Glasses and Fingers, the driver of their crew. Bring The Driver into a bank robbery, hand him to the police, and they walk free. They go to The Connection, who fences their takings and arranges The Driver's work.
Cast
- Denny Mackoas Exchange Man
- Frank Brunoas The Kid
- Sandy Brown Wyethas Split
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Driver (1978)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The role of the Driver was originally intended for Steve McQueen, who had starred in the Hill-scripted The Getaway; McQueen turned it down because, as Walter Hill stated, he refused to star in another film that revolved substantially around cars.
- The studio then went to Charles Bronson, who was unhappy with Walter Hill. Hill said Bronson thought he had edited Hard Times in a way that had not favoured Bronson's wife and co-star Jill Ireland.
- Both of Quentin Tarantino's films borrow from it: Vincent Vega skidding into the road with an overdosed Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction copies the opening chase, and Beatrix Kiddo as "the cowgirl [who] ain't never been caught" in Kill Bill: Volume 2 reworks Ryan O'Neal's description as "the cowboy who could not be caught".
- The first big car chase was shot on the last night of filming, when an electrician fell off a roof and was badly injured; Hill could not get all the shots he wanted and had to "cobble together" the result.
- The studio recommended Robert Mitchum for the role of the Detective, and Walter Hill liked the idea and met the actor to discuss the part, but Mitchum turned it down.
- Around 1996, 20th Century Fox was developing a remake to be directed by Luc Besson, fresh from La Femme Nikita and Leon: The Professional; he worked on the script with screenwriter John Pogue, but it was not made.
