The Driver (1978)

Director: Walter Hill
Writer: Walter Hill
DOP: Philip H. Lathrop
Cast: Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern, Isabelle Adjani

The Driver (Ryan O'Neal) is a getaway driver and the best in the business. A detective (Bruce Dern) is hellbent on nabbing him and lays a trap in the form of a bank job.

None of the characters in the film have any names and there is minimal dialog. It was supposedly inspired by Melville's Le Samourai and went on to inspire films like 'The Drive' which is in fact a mix of many films including William Friedkin's 'To Live and Die in LA'. The Driver is very stripped down with a basic plot like many great crime films like Michael Mann's 'Thief'. The more stripped down they are the, better they stand the test of times. This film was in fact a disaster both commercially and critically when it came out. The protagonist, in what is a genre cliché, is reluctant to commit to the projects he is getting into and there is this one last job before retirement routine going on. It will be interesting if someone goes against this routine by having the getaway driver be very loud and gleeful about getting a project.

I haven't seen Bullitt yet and not enjoying Peckinpah's The Getaway is one of the reason why. It is on the to watch list along with Varnishing Point after these films getting mentioned a lot in the lead up to Baby Driver. Coming back to The Driver, it is Bruce Dern who steals the acting bits while Ryan O'Neal is quite fittingly indifferent to things. Many of the things that you see in the film will seem like clichés now but they must have been quite novel when they came out. I haven't seen any of the other films from Walter Hill and Warriors do get mentioned a lot from his filmography.

Rating: 4.5/5

Blue Collar (1978)

Director: Paul Schrader
Writers:  Paul Schrader, Leonard Schrader
Cast:       Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto

Three workers, Zeke (Pryor), Jerry (Keitel) and Smokey (Kotto), are working at a Detroit car plant and drinking their beers together. They have a party together and get an idea in their heads that they should rob local union's bureau safe. First they think it is a flop, as they get only 600 dollars out of it, but then Zeke realizes that they also have gotten some hot 'material' in terms of paperwork. They decide to blackmail their union.

It is a very unusual film and it had Paul Schrader making his directorial debut. For a well known figure who made his name as the screenwriter of Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver', his films are very good to look at also in a surprising way. It is not as visually stunning as his later film 'American Gigolo', but the opening credits set to a great track will have you hooked. Film is very unusual in the sense that you are not entirely sure about the tone of the film. It changes from being a crime story, to a comedy and ultimately becomes a tragedy. It also got an unusual power relationship between the three of its protagonists considering the cliched way they would have you set up in a typical mainstream film. It also got one of the funniest robbery sequences you will ever encounter with a curious disguise. 

The relationship between the three characters are convincingly portrayed. None of them are binary in nature. The main message of the film is that the authority just puts you into different tribal groups and pits you against each other so that they could control you. It is also the natural mode that Zeke and Jerry defaults into when they are facing each other during the climax. It is almost always universally true and that is how the system works in practice. It is a great watch and one of the forgotten classics from that time period.  

Rating: 4/5