The Driver

A sort-of Film Noir car chase thriller, inspired by Le Samourai and went on to inspire Drive, this is right down my alley, no pun intended.

Ryan O’Neal plays a quiet, emotionless getaway driver with Bruce Dern’s hardened cop on his ass. Dern catches another criminal and persuades him to hire The Driver in a sting operation. The criminal tries to shaft them both and it all goes to hell from there.

It’s hard to see who gave the go-ahead on a script that is basically a way to hang some car chases together, but I’m glad they did. O’Neal plays it cool, as does Isabelle Adjani as the not-quite love interest, and it’s, well… cool! What makes it all work is that director Walter Hill also plays it cool. The chase sequences are incredibly well executed, and it’s thanks to a refreshing less-is-more approach from him.

If you’ve got an hour and half to spare and are fond of hard-boiled car chase thrillers then give The Driver a shot.