No.215 : The Driver (1978)

The Driver at the IMDb

One of the better known definitive films now, as we delve into this noirish 1978 effort, that sees Ryan O’Neal’s titular driver takes on Brue Dern’s Detective.

I hadn’t seen this in a while and it struck me by how much style wins over substance. The film is relatively short at 91 minutes, and large sections of that are taken up with car chases or moody silences. O’Neal doesn’t say a word for the first 15 minutes and only has 350 words of wisdom in the whole film - dark and moody type you understand.

The film opens with a casino heist and the ensuing car chase get away. More cop cars get trashed than in a ‘Blues Brothers’ marathon but our man gets away. The criminals he’s working with were late and won’t see Ryan on anther job as a result. His rules have kept him out of prison so far. This time however there is a witness, and manic cop Dern is keen to collar ‘The Cowboy’, as he calls O’Neal due to his love of Country & Western music.

The witness fails to pick O’Neal from a line up but we later learn that she’s been paid off to provide O’Neal with an alibi. The witness, played by Isabelle Adjani, doesn’t say much either and prefers to stare a lot.

Dern decides that he won’t catch O’Neal by playing fair so after capturing a hapless trio of robbers he offers them a deal - one more job with O’Neil as the driver and they can walk away. This generous offer is accepted despite the protests of Dern’s underlings - is he becoming obsessed? You bet.

The robbery goes down, but there are double crosses and bag switches galore before we learn who, if anyone, is going to drive off into the sunset.

Directed by Walter Hill this film is a lot like his next project ‘The Warriors’ although not as good. O’Neil tries to do broody and interesting but he and Adjani look like they have lost their scripts in most of their scenes, with you almost shouting at the screen for them to spit it out. Dern is better as the obsessed policeman and no one can out stare him in what is largely a staring contest throughout.

Of course all the memorable scenes are the car chases and you get two good ones for your money as well as a Merc getting trashed in a parking garage -  and a bus ride too. I did get a sense that the footage had been sped up somewhat but the pace was excellent, with a real sense of danger. New York City planners should however be criticised for having a large ramp on every corner that flips cars over - that’s plain dangerous.

With very little script and no romance this is a slight affair, but there are enough good scenes in the short run time to keep you occupied. You don’t buy into any of the characters and no back-story or even real names are offered. I think the film was trying to be a sort of parable or morality tale, with the characters irredeemable and all wearing the same clothes throughout, like they are characters from a comic book.

Not one that will live long in the memory once the tyre screeching has dissipated but some excellent driving stunts make it all worthwhile.

THE Tag Line - Drive Don’t Talk!  68%

No.59 : The Transporter (2002)

The Transporter at the IMDb

Here’s a bit of brainless pap to augment all the other brainless pap that we’ve been watching lately. Jason ‘I’m not bald’ Statham stars as Frank, the titular action hero whose efforts spawned a surprising two sequels - five if you count the ‘Crank’ franchise where he changes his name to Chav, and that’s it.

The film opens with a decent action scene as our hero plays wheel man for a hapless bunch of bank robbers. He has a nice use for a real transporter and leaves his employers somewhat happy with their escape. He refuses to drop them off however as it would violate one of his three rules - a topic he never tires of banging on about. Later, at home, he hears on the news the first time in history that a gang of criminals has been caught due to “bad driving”. Frank cares not - his strict adherence to his rules has saved his bacon once again. Remember that - might be important later.

As he relaxes at his palatial, and let’s not forget ill gotten, home Frank is visited by the local fuzz; the most laid back and non-threatening French copper this side of Clouseau. Due to poor acting we’re not too sure if he likes Frank or is totally incompetent but he’s soon on his way appeased by Jason’s charmless grin.

Soon Jason has another lucrative job - this time a package delivery. He doesn’t ask any questions but when a flat tyre causes him to open his boot he finds the package wiggling about and decides to buy it a drink. As you’d expect the package is a beautiful Chinese lady. Jason goes through with the delivery but when the baddies blow up his prized car he soon heads back to get his no claims discount reinstated.

The bad guys are involved in people smuggling and soon Jason and the Chinese lady team up for some sex and then to take down the bad guys. We move from stunt to stunt before the inevitable showdown with the sinister Oriental head honcho who happens to be the lovely’s Dad. Can Jason survive in time to make all the sequels?

Seeing as this is filed under ‘nonsense’ it’d hardly be fair to critisise it for being far fetched or ridiculous. Of course it is and that’s what keeps the pot smoking action junkies demanding more and more of this tosh. I liked it too.

The film has quite a European look and feel which is no surprise seeing as Luc Besson takes the writing credits, as they are. There is a lot of low to the ground action stuff and in your face fights and although stuff gets blown up you’ll never make the mistake of thinking you’ve wandered into some big budget Hollywood thriller. Which is a good thing.

The cast apart from Statham don’t speak English as their first language and I’m not even sure about him. The lead baddie is a terrible menace and exudes all the threat of last night’s Egg Fu Yung. The girl is a bit better but she doesn’t have the sexiness of say Michelle Yeoh and certainly doesn’t convince in the high kicking stakes.

The stunts are better with a few funny fist fights thrown in for good measure - the garage one in the oil is so homo erotic you almost expect Alan Carr to run in. There is enough going on to keep you interested although to call the plot wafer thin would be enough to give a wafer an eating disorder. Pretty much what you’d expect really.

THE Tag Line : Transporter Takes You Away from Reality 68%