Tagged: Getaway Driver

The Killers (1964): John Cassavetes On the Run in Corduroy

John Cassavetes and Angie Dickinson in The Killers (1964)

John Cassavetes and Angie Dickinson in The Killers (1964)

Vitals

John Cassavetes as Johnny North, race car driver-turned-robber

Southern California, Spring 1960

Film: The Killers
Release Date: July 7, 1964
Director: Don Siegel
Costume Designer: Helen Colvig

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Earlier this week, I kicked off #Noirvember with a look at Burt Lancaster as the hapless and doomed “Swede” Anderson, whose murder at the start of Robert Siodmak’s seminal noir The Killers kicks off the series of flashbacks investigating what led to his decision to give in to the two armed killers.

Two decades later, the material was revisited by director Don Siegel and screenwriter Gene L. Coon, who drifted even further from Ernest Hemingway’s source material to focus on the two slick hitmen who set about learning more about the man they had been hired to kill, now reimagined as a race car driver named Johnny North.

Continue reading

Ryan Gosling in Drive

Ryan Gosling in Drive (2011).

Ryan Gosling in Drive (2011).

Vitals

Ryan Gosling as an unnamed getaway driver and part-time stunt double

Los Angeles, Fall 2010

Film: Drive
Release Date: September 16, 2011
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Costume Designer: Erin Benach

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Drive is an excellent neo-noir throwback to the days of Point BlankBullitt, Taxi Driver, and The Driver, delivering a moody and stylish character study of a taciturn anti-hero navigating the violent L.A. underworld and his own emotions with existential angst. Continue reading

The Last Run: Harry’s Navy Flannel Jacket

George C. Scott as Harry Garmes in The Last Run (1971).

George C. Scott as Harry Garmes in The Last Run (1971).

Vitals

George C. Scott as Harry Garmes, washed-up expatriate getaway driver

Portugal, Spring 1971

Film: The Last Run
Release Date: July 7, 1971
Director: Richard Fleischer
Wardrobe Supervisor: Annalisa Nasalli-Rocca

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The Last Run is a relatively obscure crime flick from the early ’70s that starred George C. Scott, fresh off of his Oscar-winning turn in Patton, as a retired Bogart-esque criminal living the easy expatriate life in Europe à la Hemingway when he is called back for the proverbial “one last job”. Of course, anyone who’s ever seen any movie ever knows that “one last job” is never quite as easy as it sounds, and our aging protagonist finds himself facing more than he bargained for when driving escaped killer Paul Rickard (Tony Musante) and his girlfriend Claudie Scherrer (Trish Van Devere) across Portugal and Spain into France. Continue reading

The Last Run: Harry’s Leather Jacket and BMW 503

George C. Scott as Harry Garmes, next to a BMW 503 convertible in The Last Run (1971).

George C. Scott as Harry Garmes, next to a BMW 503 convertible in The Last Run (1971).

Vitals

George C. Scott as Harry Garmes, washed-up expatriate getaway driver

Portugal, Spring 1971

Film: The Last Run
Release Date: July 7, 1971
Director: Richard Fleischer
Wardrobe Supervisor: Annalisa Nasalli-Rocca

Background

Car Week continues today with a recommendation from Craig, a great BAMF Style commenter who also was kind enough to send a DVD copy my way this year!

The Last Run finds George C. Scott, freshly awarded for his Oscar-winning performance as General George S. Patton, playing an aging ex-mob driver living in seclusion in Portugal. He is tapped for “one last job” – as so many retired movie criminals are – to drive a fugitive and his young girlfriend into France. What follows is an underrated action piece that was accurately tagged “In the spirit of Hemingway and Bogart”. Continue reading

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry: Peter Fonda’s Double Denim and 1969 Charger

Peter Fonda and Susan George on the poster for <em>Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry</em> (1974) as their '69 Charger blazes away in the background. People who have actually seen the film know how misleading this poster is, and that's all I'll say.

Peter Fonda and Susan George on the poster for Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) as their ’69 Charger blazes away in the background. People who have actually seen the film know how misleading this poster is, and that’s all I’ll say.

Vitals

Peter Fonda as Larry Rayder, wannabe NASCAR driver and small-time robber

San Joaquin County, California, Fall 1973

Film: Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
Release Date: May 17, 1974
Director: John Hough
Wardrobe Master: Phyllis Garr

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Unload!

Kiss off!

While few would place Dirty Mary Crazy Larry‘s script in the same echelon with Casablanca or The Godfather, there’s no doubting that it has its place among the classic European-influenced but all-American car chase flicks that kicked off with Bullitt and tapered off somewhere in the mid-’70s as more over-the-top fare like Smokey and the Bandit took over as the gearheads’ cinematic servings. It was that brief semi-decade where the sub-genre blossomed with ennui and nihilism driving the motoring protagonists of Vanishing PointTwo-Lane Blacktop, and those of its ilk.

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry was a transition between the earlier nihilist cult films and the more marketable, humor-laced movies. Larry, Mary, and Deke aren’t necessarily driving without a defined purpose, but one could argue they were just as doomed as Kowalski when they slipped into that lime green ’69 Charger. And it is with that ’69 Charger—which BAMF Style loyalists know by now is my favorite car of all time—that I’m concluding this run of Car Week. Continue reading

Ryan O’Neal in The Driver

Ryan O'Neal in The Driver (1978).

Ryan O’Neal in The Driver (1978).

Vitals

Ryan O’Neal as “The Driver”, professional getaway driver

Los Angeles, Spring 1978

Film: The Driver
Release Date: July 10, 1978
Director: Walter Hill
Costume Designers: Jack Bear, Robert Conwall, and Jennifer L. Parsons

Background

The Driver is a perfect example of European-influenced, American-made, existential ’70s cinema featuring the male anti-hero so frequently seen throughout the decade. A laconic criminal not without his own set of ethics set in a bleak world filled with morally questionable characters, Ryan O’Neal’s unnamed protagonist follows in the footsteps of guys like Vanishing Point‘s Kowalski.

Writer, director, and all-around tough guy Walter Hill’s auteurism clearly shows through in this terrific and über-cool neo-noir where talk is cheap, and those doing the most of it typically have the least to say. Continue reading