The Drifter (1988 film)

The Drifter is a 1988 thriller movie starring Kim Delaney, Timothy Bottoms, Al Shannon, Miles O'Keeffe and Anna Garduno. The film is about a successful single woman who picks up a mysterious hitchhiker on a deserted road.

The Drifter
DVD release cover
Directed by	Larry Brand
Written by	Larry Brand
Produced by	Roger Corman
Starring	Kim Delaney Timothy Bottoms Al Shannon Miles O'Keeffe
Cinematography	David Sperling
Edited by	Stephen Mark
Music by	Rick Conrad
Distributed by	Concorde Pictures MGM/UA Home Entertainment
Release date	June 3, 1988 (1988-06-03)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The film was directed and written by Larry Brand.^[1]

Plot

Julia Robbins (Kim Delaney) is an emerging fashion designer returning home to Los Angeles after a sales trip in San Francisco. She passes a hitchhiker or a drifter (Miles O'Keeffe) on her way back to the 5. They lock eyes but she drives on. During lunch at the Hillside diner, she notices a mysterious man eating by himself. The hitchhiker enters the diner, and they make eye contact. Outside, he asks her for a ride, but Julia declines. As she drives off, she notices a flat tire. The drifter, who gives his name as Trey fixes it for her, and she decides to give him a ride.

At a motel that night, she offers him a ride into L.A. in the morning. That night it is raining heavy outside and Trey asks to sleep in her car. Instead, she ushers him into her room, and Julia says “no words it will be like it never happened” and they have passionate sex. The next morning she wakes up in his arms. As they are dressing, Trey notices an old gold pocket watch Julia is wearing and she explains her grandfather gifting it to her as a child, explaining it will protect her through life. They drive back to Los Angeles and Trey drops Julia off At Oki Dog in West Hollywood, Julia at this point indicates that she wants to leave things at a one-night stand. They then embrace and she gives Trey her pocket watch as a souvenir of the night before driving off. She reaches her apartment, and her boyfriend Arthur (Timothy Bottoms) is waiting for her inside, as well As her cat Steve. Not knowing about Julia’s affair the night before, she showers and they have sex. While making love, the phone rings. They ignore it but Julia is uneasy. The next day at work, Julia’s good friend Matty drops by and go out to lunch on her lunch break. Matty tells Julia she is pregnant by her boyfriend and they are planning a wedding. The two celebrate. Later that night Julia returns home from work and gets a mysterious call which turns out to be Trey. He wants to see her and Julia declines and he tells her “I can wait” before they hang up. Next day at Julia gets a call from Trey and he still wants to meet her. Julia leaves work to meet him at the Oki Dog again and tells him to leave her alone and stop calling as she just wanted a one night stand with him. They part, and as Julia leaves she notices a mysterious man in a car watching her.

Julia is guilt-ridden over the affair, confessing what happened to her friend Matty (Anna Garduno). Matty asks what Trey is like, Julia says he is different. Julia reveals to Matty he could be dangerous. Eventually, Trey meets Julia in her office and in front of all her coworkers he asks for her to be with him, in another attempt to win her back which unnerves her, he leaves and Julia gets so nervous she goes to throw up. Julia and Arthur go out to dinner that night and he is starting to worry something is wrong. Julia doesn’t say anything. She later calls the cops for help but because her boyfriend Arthur is a criminal lawyer she doesn’t report what’s been happening for fear he will find out. They go on a date the next day and now Arthur is very suspicious of Julia as she isn’t wearing her pocket watch and he suspects Julia had been fooling around. Arthur later meets with a private investigator, who turns out to be the mysterious man from the diner and who saw Julia at Oki Dog. He has been trailing Julia, and he breaks the news of her affair to Arthur. The detective makes some cryptic remarks to Arthur about killing women. Later that night after going grocery shopping Julia sees she has a flat tire again this time with a knife in it. She finally goes to a private investigator named Morrison for help and she tells her story and looks at criminal photos. After this she heads to Arthur’s house for casual sex and wine drinking and she spends the night there after they do so. Julia isn’t aware Arthur knows of her affair. Next morning, Matty calls Julia to meet up and she tearfully tells her her boyfriend isn’t ready for marriage and taking care of their baby. Julia tells Matty it will blow over and they arrange a sleepover at her place as Matty has an apartment key to Julia’s.

Later, at Julia's apartment, Matty is found dead in her bed. She has been brutally murdered and a shocked and terrified Julia goes to Morrison again, begging for help. She reveals to Morrison she slept with the drifter and believes him to be the murderer although Morrison doesn’t think so. Arthur who finds out collects her from the police station and takes her and her cat to stay at his house. Morrison has been interviewing different inmates who have dealt with Arthur and gathering more evidence. Julia and Arthur’s relationship had become more tense and Arthur reveals to Julia he found out about her affair but forgives her. Later that night as Julia gets ready for bed she hears noises and in the climax to the film, Julia finds her boyfriend Arthur dead in his study from a gunshot to the head. While Julia stands there numb and shocked The mysterious detective that had been trailing emerges from hiding and attacks her, binding her hands. He then drags Julia to Arthur’s bed and ties her hands together in back of her and he eventually explains that he was snooping on Julia at her apartment when Matty showed up, and he had to kill her to cover his tracks. Arthur was not comfortable with the murder, and the detective killed Arthur to prevent him from going to the police. He viciously taunts and emotionally abuses Julia and says she is dirty for cheating on Arthur even though Arthur had admitted to cheating on her in the past. Julia is punched to the floor but gets up with her hands freed pointing her revolver at the detective who then hits her and drags her down the stairs. He shoots a man who has entered the home. He then ties Julia up to a living room chair. Intent on kiling Julia to complete his cover up, they are surprised by Trey who is the man he shot before, The detective had shot him but did not kill him. Trey had eventually waken up and subdued the detective. Julia becomes free from being tied and Morrison arrives at the house and kicks in the front door, with his gun drawn, realizing it could be emergency situation. Thinking that he will shoot Trey, Julia cries out to stop him. A shot rings out, but Morrison has killed the detective, who had drawn a hidden pistol and was about to kill Julia. With the detective dead Trey goes to Julia and she reveals that the pocket watch she gave him was what saved him from the detective’s bullet. He was wearing it and it took the bullet for him. Julia and him embrace as she realizes she has met her true love and hero and the man who will protect her. The film ends with a happy ending shot of Julia and Trey together on a beach with her cat at their feet, happily ever after.

Production notes

The cook in the diner at the beginning of the film is played by Bruce Vilanch. The script perpetually refers to 'The War'. At one point, Julia asks Trey if he served in 'the War'. In Morrison's office, there is a portrait of Richard Nixon. Even in the late 1980s, Vietnam was a powerful theme for Brand, who cast himself as Morrison. One of the central characters in Backfire, which he co-wrote in 1987 is also a Vietnam veteran.

There are several editing errors in The Drifter. Most notably, during the final confrontation between Julia and the detective, a boom mike is visible at the top of the shot.

(The boom mike is visible in that shot because on the VHS, where the film's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio is compromised and cropped to a TV ratio of 1.33:1, the viewer sees more vertical information than the director intended.)