THE DRIVER (1978) Is Unstreamable
Hello! I'm back!
Welcome to Unstreamable! A column where I, arts writer and Scarecrow librarian Jas Keimig, recommend films and shows you can’t watch on major streaming services in the United States.
Apologies for the lack of posting. My East Coast travels, my birthday, and then this heat ate me right up these past few weeks. I will waver no more! But before I get back on track next week, I’ve got cars on the brain. There’s nothing like good weather to make my lack of car feel especially present in my life. I pulled two of my favorite unstreamable car films from the archive for you all this week. Vroom vroom.
While I have you here — today marks the first Unstreamable screening back at Northwest Film Forum. For Pride, we’re watching the 4k restoration of BY HOOK OR BY CROOK (June 17-18, 20-21), the trans butch buddy movie of my dreams. I’ll be doing an introduction to the film tomorrow, June 18, at the 7pm screening. See you there?
Got a recommendation for Unstreamable? Gimme the scoop at unstreamablemovies@gmail.com.
THE DRIVER
U.S., 1978, 91 min, Dir. Walter Hill
The Driver centers on a stoic, hot, unnamed getaway driver (Ryan O’Neal) who’s the best in the business. The only hitch is that an obsessive detective played by Bruce Dern becomes obsessed with this “cowboy who could not be caught,” and aims to bring him down however possible. Plus, a young Isabelle Adjani gets caught up in the mix. The film is spare and stylish, and all the characters speak in a pared-down neo-noirish bravado. The car sequences really deliver, particularly one where The Driver proves his driving ability by methodically destroying a car in a parking garage. Upon release, however, The Driver was a commercial and critical bomb. But its arty, economical vibe has influenced a lot of more popular films over the decades, like Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill Vol. 2, Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, and—of course—Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive. Buckle in—it’s a fun ride.
Find it in the Directors section under Hill, Walter.
TWO-LANE BLACKTOP
U.S., 1971, 102 min, Dir. Monte Hellman
Two-Lane Blacktop is a car movie through and through: the inky black of both the road and the night, the simmering masculinity, the aloof stoicism of its guy leads. There’s hardly one feeling between them! The movie follows two extremely chill men simply called the Driver and the Mechanic (rockstars James Taylor and Dennis Wilson in their only film roles) who drive around in their 1955 Chevy 150, racing insecure men for money. They pick up a fitful passenger called the Girl (Laurie Bird) along the way. One day they meet a man with a 1970 Pontiac GTO (Warren Oates in an impeccable performance) and challenge him to a race from New Mexico to Washington, D.C. Whoever wins gets both the cars’ pink slips.
From there, the film really breaks down into something beyond a simple road movie. I came in half-expecting a ‘70s version of Easy Rider, but Two-Lane Blacktop is a lot less rock n’ roll, leaning heavily into the loneliness and transience of the open road. Despite buzz from Esquire, the existential film was a major flop at the box office. And because of issues with music rights (The Doors song “Moonlight Drive” is featured heavily in one scene), Universal Studios deprioritized releasing the movie on home video. But attention from a 1994 Scarecrow Video petition (they collected 2,000 signatures, including Werner Herzog’s!) helped push Universal to get Two-Lane Blacktop on video with Anchor Bay in 1999. I would assume those same music hangups are what’s preventing the film from streaming in 2022.
Find it in the Directors section under Hellman, Monte.
IN OTHER NEWS…
I wrote about Hannah Sabio-Howell’s campaign visual branding for CHUM News, about a new arts innovation lab called xispa for the Seattle Times, and about the light sculptures of Tom Lloyd for the South Seattle Emerald.
One of my favorite Pride events is Rain City Fit’s Pride Deadlift competition, which is happening Saturday, June 20 at 12pm. I love seeing queer and trans people lifting heavy things!
Not quite a Juneteenth celebration, but on Thursday at 8pm Earshot Jazz is hosting a celebration of Miles Davis’s centennial at Town Hall. The Miles Electric Band is throwing DOWN.
Research Seattle is bringing Ciel to town on Saturday, June 20. It looks like tickets are running low, so move quick if you’re interested.
And last but not least-ly, ONCE REMOVED has posted up in another house, this time in West Seattle. There’s a spate of buzzy, interesting artists who have transformed the soon-to-be-demolished home into a something more than the sum of its parts. Ask an art punk for the address.
…AND A RANDOM SCARECROW FIND
Being a fan of anything before the Internet seems way cooler than being a fan of anything nowadays. With a simple stretch of my fingers, I can find obscure interviews with filmmakers, fan edits of Heat, and buy a mass-produced t-shirt with Arthur Russell on it. Back in the day, fans literally had to stitch together interviews, live performances, and talk show clips onto tape. This Hole VHS is a real labor of love for the real heads out there.
Looking for more? Browse our big list of 400+ hard-to-find movies over on our website.
*The fine print: Unstreamable means we couldn’t find it on Netflix, Hulu, Shudder, Disney+, or any of the other hundreds of streaming services available in the United States. We also couldn’t find it available for rent or purchase through platforms like Prime Video or iTunes. Yes, we know you can find many things online illegally, but we don’t consider user-generated videos, like unauthorized YouTube uploads, to be streamable.