Customer Reviews

Drive, He Said [Reg.2]

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Jack Nicholson steps behind the camera for the first time in this Vietnam era film about a couple college roommates struggling with college and what comes next. William Tepper gives a numb performance as Hector, a star basketball player with eyes toward the NBA. His roommate is Gabriel played over-the-top by Michael Margotta. It's easy to see why the two leads are unknown today. Gabriel is about to be drafted and is playing the sanity card. He takes a lot of pills (assume some sort of hallucinogens) and smokes a lot of pot.

Both go to a college called Ohio. Now there is an Ohio University located in Athens which is southeast of Columbus, but this Ohio is located in the mountainous region of Ohio! At least based on a couple exterior shots. Actually the film was shot in Oregon. There really isn't much of a plot. Hector is a star but is thinking more about the politics and student rebellion. He's also having an affair with one of his prof's wife (Karen Black). Gabriel just doesn't want to get drafted as he sees this as sure death. It should also be noted that Nicholson shoots numerous scenes with full frontal nudity and doesn't hold back on the male gender either which is often the case. I suspect he did this just to see if he could get away with it.

The best thing about the film is the basketball game photography. Most films don't get the sports action right. Nicholson does. I admit the short shorts look very strange today but the rest is excellent. One of the actors, Mike Warren was an All-American at UCLA before becoming an actor (starring role in TV's "Hill Street Blues"), and helped Nicholson set up some of the basketball scenes. While the film really isn't all that good there are other trivia of note. Terrence Malick ("The Tree of Life") was an uncredited screenwriter. Future TV stars David Ogden Stiers ("M.A.S.H.") and Cindy Williams ("Happy Days") have small roles. The Blu ray transfer is very grainy and clearly shows the age of the film. The sound is a remastered mono.