"Drive, He Said" is messily directed and incoherent at times but it is a revealing look at campus life in the early 70's and contains good performances. William Tepper plays Hector, a college basketball star who's relationship with his girlfriend Olive (Karen Black) is troubled and complex. His best friend Gabriel (Michael Margotta) is an off-the-wall draft dodger who's activism veers dangerously close to psychosis.
The plot of this film (Jack Nicholson's directorial debut) is meandering and unfocussed. It is difficult to give a good summation of the story because it is so loose and episodic. Although I mentioned that the performances were good (Tepper, Black) that of Margotta borders on the annoying. His final scene will leave you scratching your head and wondering what the point of his inane behaviour is. There are good basketball game sequences and you can tell that Nicholson is a fan of the game because those scene are exciting and well-directed. It is when the action moves away from the court that the lives of the protagonists are revealed to be troubled and convoluted. It is a statement of the times in which the movie was made. Like BBS Studio's previous picture, "Five Easy Pieces", the film speaks to the aimless, uncertain wanderings of the individuals who came of age in the 60's. The transition to the new decade of the 70's was not always smooth and the precarious place that many found themselves in was reflected well in films such as "Drive, He Said".
There is a lot that is admirable about the film. It is a fascinating glimpse into the lives of college-aged individuals in the early 70's. But it is not well-directed and many scenes are bizarre and defy explanation. That is not necessarily a bad thing but I felt this film needed more coherence and verisimilitude.
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