The Driver 4K 1978 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

A stubborn cop is on the hunt for an elusive professional criminal driver. When a mysterious stranger shows up on the case, the cop decides to set a trap for the driver.

Review 4K Movie

A police siren blasts through the silence of a sweltering Californian night. A dark blue sedan rushes through deserted city streets, pursued by two patrol cars. Behind its wheel sits "Cowboy", a silent driver whose passion is speed and whose business is helping and assisting motley robbers trying to evade police pursuit. He's a driver by God and knows the city like the back of his hand. But the laurels of a daredevil driver's success keep the obsessed cop on his heels...

"The Driver" (1978) is the second director Walter Hill's work, made in the style of films of the "noir" genre: a criminal plot, night as the main time of day, a mysterious femme fatale, silent characters, the absence of traditional labels "positive/negative" - all this is inherent in Hill's picture. At the center of the plot is the confrontation between an insanely talented car thief and an experienced police sniffer, with a maniacal fanaticism trying to put the former behind bars. Despite his relatively little experience as a director, Hill manages to keep the plot threads flowing throughout the picture and maintain a steady narrative rhythm from beginning to end of the tape - without any roughness or sagging. The acting of the central duet is wonderful: Ryan O'Neal is good in the image of a little-talking young man who is a master in the art of driving and who prefers a sharp blow on the face of a pushy interlocutor to idle chit-chat. Bruce Dern is 100% convincing as a pushy and extremely snide policeman who spits on the law to catch the criminal and makes the viewer want to strangle him rather than sympathize with the law-enforcement officer. But despite the fact that their heroes are on opposite sides of the barricades, they have one thing in common (however, as in other films of the similar genre): they both are masters of their craft, they love their job and do not see any sense in life without it.

The car chases are worth a separate mention (you would have to do without them in a movie with a similar title and storyline). They are staged at a very high level and look decent even now, not inferior to such brilliantly filmed chases as in the cult "Bullitt" and "The French Connection". No newfangled computer graphics today, everything is extremely realistic and simple, wonderful camerawork, faithfully conveying the sense of speed and drive. Musical accompaniment in such scenes is intentionally absent, giving way to the roar of engines, the howl of police sirens and the screeching of brakes. Just for the sake of these scenes alone, it is worth paying attention to this picture. After all, "What detective doesn't do without a chase?" - as the voice-over in the beloved "Beware of the Car" ironically asserted.