The Driver Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

The Driver Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 19, 2014

Walter Hill's "The Driver" (1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. The supplemental features on the disc include an alternate opening; original trailer for the film; and thirteen original teasers. In English, with optional English SDH and German subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The Driver

The Driver (Ryan O'Neal, Love Story) pulls in front of a busy casino. A few minutes later, two masked men jump in his car and they disappear into the night. The cops quickly track down The Driver and begin chasing him. He drives like a maniac but does not utter a single word.

The Detective (Bruce Dern, The King of Marvin Gardens) is obsessed with The Driver. He admires his professionalism and wants to be the man that puts The Driver behind bars. It does not matter how as long as he is the one that does it.

After the chase, The Detective attempts to frame The Driver, but The Player (Isabelle Adjani, Queen Margot), who has been hired to be a 'witness' during the casino robbery, can’t identify him. The Detective goes berserk. Eventually, he comes up with a clever plan that should get him his man.

Meanwhile, The Driver is informed by The Connection (Ronee Blakley, Nashville) that some serious men want to hire him. The men are planning a big job and need the best driver in the business. The Driver trusts The Connection and agrees to meet them. The men annoy The Driver, but he agrees to do the job. Then things go terribly wrong.

Walter Hill’s The Driver has the look of an edgy action film and the style of a modern noir picture. It knows exactly where it wants to go and it is confident that it can get there without disappointing. The end result is something very special, a classy macho film that looks even better now than it did in the late '70s.

In his review for The New York Times the late Vincent Canby argued that The Driver is "singularly unexciting and uninvolving", but he simply did not get the film. The Driver is not about avoiding cliches, it is about driving straight through them and unapologetically having fun with them. This, I assure you, the film does exceptionally well.

The cast is first-class. O’Neal's loner is every bit as charismatic as Steve McQueen’s Frank Bullitt. One reason why is that he rarely talks, another is because he looks great in a worn-out suit. Dern’s detective is appropriately aggressive and obnoxious, very much the type of guy a law-breaker would want to kick in the teeth. Adjani is fantastic as the mysterious beauty that is ready to take all sorts of different risks if she is paid well. Blakley, who had impressed in Robert Altman’s Nashville, also does not disappoint as The Driver’s business partner.

Director Hill and cinematographer Philip H. Lathrop (The Cincinnati Kid) shot The Driver on location in Los Angeles, but in the film the city is never identified. The chase sequences are some of the very best shot for a film of this caliber.

The film’s excellent soundtrack was composed by Michael Small (Klute, The Parallax View). The music blends elements of psychedelia and jazz and very effectively enhances the film’s neo-noir qualities.

Note: StudioCanal’s Blu-ray release of The Driver contains the film’s uncut version, which is approximately two minutes longer than the U.S. version.

The Driver Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Walter Hill's The Driver arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal.

The high-definition transfer is beautiful. It has been struck from a recent master and rather predictably there are substantial improvements in every single area we typically address in our reviews. I did some direct comparisons with my uncut Danish DVD release of the film and can confirm that there are entire sequences where shadow definition is so dramatically improved that one can easily see tiny details that are simply missing on the DVD release. During the long chase at the beginning of the film, the blockiness from the DVD release has been eliminated. The daylight footage boasts outstanding depth (see screencaptures #3, 4, and 11). There are some minor contrast fluctuations, but they are part of the film's original cinematography. Furthermore, there are no traces of compromising degraining corrections. Sharpening adjustments have not been applied either. Colors are stable and lush, never appearing artificially boosted. Finally, the film looks remarkably healthy. There are no large damage marks, debris, cuts, stains, or scratches to report in this review.

I would like to specifically mention that StudioCanal's Blu-ray release of The Driver contains the original uncut version of the film, which is approximately two minutes longer than the U.S. version. Also, the disc's main menu can be set in English or German, which means that StudioCanal are distributing the same disc in Germany.

(Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Driver Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. (A German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is also available, but only if one sets the main interface in German). For the record, StudioCanal have provided optional English SDH and German subtitles for the main feature.

Dynamic intensity fluctuates from time to time while the clarity of the dialog could be affected by the random noises and chatter -- for example, see the train sequence where The Detective goes after the Exchange Man -- but such is the film's original sound design. Some minor rebalancing can be done in select areas, but depth is already very pleasing. There are no stability issues. Also, there are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.

The Driver Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Alternate Opening - in English, not subtitled. (4 min).

• Trailer - original trailer for The Driver. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Teasers - thirteen original teasers for The Driver. In English, not subtitled. (7 min).

The Driver Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

StudioCanal's technical presentation of Walter Hill's The Driver, one of my all-time favorite films, is excellent. Unlike the U.S. release, StudioCanal's release also contains the longer uncut version of The Driver. After years of purchasing all sorts of different international releases, I feel that I have a release that finally does the film justice. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.