NOTES ON WALTER HILL'S THE DRIVER

The Driver emerges from the depths of a parking garage as he has undergone a metamorphosis, his identity now welded to the car. He is the ghost in the machine, haunting and invisible. All the while, he brings glamor and efficiency to his transformation. He creates his obstacle course where he lures his opponent into the trap. Once in the lair, he achieves invisibility as a prelude to his attack. The Detective senses that he can break the spell of the Driver by following his trail. He uses his relentless pursuit to break down the trail into a series of revelations that will lead to the Driver's capture. Fugitives are used to set the trap because they are always in the open. Even their efforts at escape only expose them. The Detective corners the exchange man in a train wash room. The stage appears set for the Driver's return to the train station. More than ever, the Driver appears to perform for the Detective. He brings an audience of other detectives and uniformed officers. Here, the empty satchel is substituted for the briefcase full of clean money. The tangible again vanishes into thin air.

Throughout the film, the Driver is able to change the seen into the unseen. The Driver uses the chase to his advantage by boxing in his opponent. He transforms the locale into his

terrain. He has little concern for the actual heist and somewhat realizes the ill-fated quality of any robbery. He likes the odds of the road. It gives him the opportunity to distract his opponent into a claustrophobic space. Here, the Driver's skills at maneuvering are emphasized. There is a dizzying quality to the turns that mesmerizes the opponent. The Driver turns the wheel effortlessly. In the warehouse scene, he turns his maneuvering into his invisibility. A game of cat and mouse transforms into the slow crawl of the sports car. All the while, the Driver prepares his attack. He is witnessed as a threat.

On the first filmed caper, the delay of his accomplices causes the Player cleanly to witness his presence. Both appear locked in the glance. This contradicts the intentions of his invisibility. Her witnessing also serves as the source of the challenge for the Detective. She has been in a place after which the Detective aspires. But she is somewhat drawn to the streak the Driver appears to be on. He is willing to play a rather desperate hand because she has entered his lair as well. He highlights the rather hopeless conditions that she is now playing under. After the police set up heist, she advises him to wait to spend the money. His feelings that he is on a streak. "I know all about streaks." But she does not know all about the Driver. Even she screams in his game of chicken with the sports car. Critical in his final attack is his ability to know when to turn off. He increases the risk of what his opponent will bet against him. Then he makes the opponent face his mortality as naked fear.

Since the Detective appears so relentless in his chase of the bag man, he assumes that he can apply the same skills to netting the Driver. He is a threatening presence to everyone in the train car. He pulls the bag of money from the luggage rack and then races back to the wash room to trap the escapee. His notion of space is linear and in direct opposition to the Driver. It gives the Detective the confidence that he can break down the twists of the pursued and corner him in his own craft. But this is precisely the point that the Driver works his magic. All along he assumes the ineptitude of his accomplices. Where the Detective builds his scheming upon predicting the behaviors of those same accomplices, the Driver anticipates double cross. He has an alternative means of escape. The Detective leads the Driver to the train station for a dramatic resolution that never transpires.

In a fuller sense, the Driver is the driver, not the car. He can assume the identity of any friend or accomplice. He draws the notion of a streak from the Player. He carries a gun to challenge an overeager accomplice. He metes out a cruel end to a sadistic hothead. He even is even the mark for a conniving exchange man. As the machine gear wheels continue to turn, it is always the Driver behind the steering wheel.