DRIVE, HE SAID

(director/writer: Jack Nicholson; screenwriter: from the novel by Jeremy Larner/Jeremy Larner; cinematographer: Bill Butler; editors: Donn Cambern/Christopher Holmes /Pat Somerset /Robert L. Wolfe; music: David Shire; cast: William Tepper (Hector Bloom), Karen Black (Olive), Michael Margotta (Gabriel), Bruce Dern (Coach Bullion), Robert Towne (Richard) Mike Warren (Easly), Henry Jaglom (Conrad); Runtime: 95; MPAA Rating: R; producer: Steve Blauner; Columbia Pictures; 1971)

“The cynical film has its fun poking fun at college life, the system and marriage.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Actor Jack Nicholson‘ (“The Two Jakes”/”Goin’ South”) first crack at directing. The film received a violent negative reaction at Cannes because it was so confusing. It’s based on the novel by Jeremy Larner, which tells about college roommates in the 1960s at a school in Ohio. The story has something to do with adultery, draft-dodging and basketball.

Hector (William Tepper) is the Ohio college basketball player. Gabriel (Michael Margotta) is his roommate activist and draft-dodger, who plays nutty to beat the draft. The basketball coach is played by Bruce Dern. The coach’s wife is played by Karen Black. The basketball star is carrying on with the coach’s hottie older wife.

To keep with the basketball theme, the former UCLA basketball star, Mike Warren, shows us some game.

The cynical film has its fun poking fun at college life, the system and marriage.

The film’s initial X rating was bargained down to an R by the studio. Armed with mix reviews, the ambitious pic was a box-office flop. But it remains as a good example of a 1960s like doomed counterculture film.

REVIEWED ON 10/19/2015 GRADE: B-