I like this better than the Getaway... But...

Well, Walter Hill, the writer and director of this movie, is credited on The Getaway for the screenplay adaption so it wouldnt be too far fetched that he at least used it a s a source.

The Getaway was a far better movie, but I agree there are a lot of things in common.

Walter Hill, the director of the Driver, was brought in to do some rewrites on the ending of the Getaway, but most of the story was by Jim Thompson.

There's a chance that Walter Hill took a lot of inspiration from the Getaway and wanted to make his own version of it.

i liked The Getaway more, Steve McQueen is a much cooler guy and so more suited for this kind of role, the chemistry with his costar (Ali Macgraw) was also better than Ryan O'Neal and Isabelle Adjani






so many movies, so little time

I can "definately" see how you would think Letteri was annoying

The Driver was far superior. First, Steve McQueen always was a bore and particularly so in The Getaway. Critics in the 1970s always ragged on Clint Eastwood for being wooden, which I not only disagree with but also find to be inconsistent bullshit considering how little flak McQueen got for that very feature. Even Ryan O'Neal, another one dimensional actor in my opinion, looks flamboyant relative to McQueen.

The acting in The Driver is subpar to be sure, but with one notable and very important exception: Bruce Dern. Dern was really the central nervous system of this film. He was perfect for a pitiless no-bullshit noir flick like this. His vocal inflections are extremely entertaining and unique. It seems like every one of Dern's lines was punctuated by a particular word or phrase that rammed home with style whatever point he was making, whether badgering his partner or goading the driver, delivered with an accelerated high pitch and a smug grin. Few actors could pull this off. Even the way he curtly delivered the one word line "Driver!" at the end was bad ass and memorable. Sure, Dern was always second tier, but he brought a certain nasty zip to his characters like no other. Compare how he enhanced The Driver with the utterly idiotic sub-plot in The Getaway involving Sollozzo and the execrable Sally Struthers. I mean, come on. On the coolness scale The Driver utterly blows The Getaway out of the water. I find The Driver to be brimming with excitement even after repeated viewings, whereas The Getaway is dull and meandering. I tried numerous times to get into The Getaway and be more charitable. I finally had to conclude it is a mediocrity that most film buffs want to like but really don't.