Drive, He Said (1971)

Director:

Jack Nicholson

Writers:

Jeremy Larner (novel)
Jeremy Larner (writer) ...

Release Date:

30 June 1971 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Tagline:

Don't Lie, Don't Cheat, And Don't Be Afraid!

Plot:

Hector is a star basketball player for the College basketball team he plays for, the Leopards. His girlfriend...

Plot Keywords:

Basketball | College | Athletic Coach | Political Activist | Insanity

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

William Tepper	...	Hector
Karen Black	...	Olive
Michael Margotta	...	Gabriel
Bruce Dern	...	Coach Bullion
Robert Towne	...	Richard
Henry Jaglom	...	Conrad
Michael Warren	...	Easly (as Mike Warren)
June Fairchild	...	Sylvie
Don Hanmer	...	Director of Athletics
Lynette Bernay	...	Dance instructor (as Lynn Bernay)
Joseph Walsh	...	Announcer #1 (as Joey Walsh)
Harry Gittes	...	Announcer #2
Charles Robinson	...	Jollop
Bill Sweek	...	Finnegan
David Ogden Stiers	...	Pro owner (as David Stiers)

Runtime:

USA:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Eugene, Oregon, USA

Company:

BBS Productions

Trivia:

This film was Jack Nicholson's directorial debut. It is one of two post-"Easy Rider" Nicholson films that has yet to be released on video of any kind (the other being A Safe Place (1971)).

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: Boom mics are visible in two scenes. First, when William Tepper / "Mike" is walking with a friend on a sidewalk and descends some stairs on a hillside. Second, when Tepper is in Karen Black / Olive's home, the low ceiling in the living room forces the boom mic into view.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Step by Step: Drive, He Said (#1.15)" (1992)

Counter-culture youth drama underlined with 'draft' paranoia...

Fashionably fragmented, yet infuriatingly half-realized character-study, an examination of the different personalities of two college roommates: a talented but undisciplined star basketball player, and a pot-smoking, womanizing rabble-rouser. We never learn why these young men are friends. They may share confusions about the world and their places in it, but they don't seem to have anything else in common. Making his directorial debut, Jack Nicholson--who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jeremy Larner, based upon Larner's book--doesn't introduce us to the characters with any clarity, nor he does shape the scenes to help us identify with anyone on the screen. There are some very decent performances here (particularly from newcomer William Tepper in the central role), but most of the picture is unformed (perhaps intentionally), sketchy or unsure. Bruce Dern plays the hard-driving basketball coach, Karen Black is the older, married lady Tepper is having an affair with, and Michael Margotta is Tepper's wayward friend (in an off-putting, over-the-top performance). Nicholson fails to set up the sequences with any particular flavor, preferring (I assume) to let the character interaction dominate the film's tone; his script is no help either, and as a result it is unclear whom we're supposed to sympathize with. Small, random moments do work (a supermarket fight between Tepper and Black, Dern visiting Tepper in his dorm-room, all of the scenes set on the court), however the entire third act of the picture is an excruciating mess. Hoping to juxtapose an all-important b-ball game with a sexual assault, Nicholson shows no style at his craft (nor does he earn points for chutzpah, as his staging of these events is squashy and ugly). When a director goes out of his way to humiliate his actors, one has to question his motives in doing so. Perhaps if "Drive, He Said" ultimately made some sort of powerful statement in the bargain, audiences could forgive the filmmaker for his lapses in judgment and taste. Unfortunately, the perplexing closer is as dumbfounding as much of the rest of the movie. *1/2 from ****