No one would love to believe more than film critics that criticism is the repository of the immutable, monolithic truth about a movie’s quality. But as much as we may enjoy the dream of our grades and rankings and pithy pullquotes being Carved In Stone, experience has taught us otherwise, and nowhere is the shifting, flux-like nature of the beast more in evidence than in the mysterious processes of reevaluation and reassessment. This process, this ongoing cycle of neglect and discovery, vision and revision as reputation waxes and wanes can be tracked for both films (our feature on critically reassessed movies covers some of those) and for certain directors, who fall out of and come into favor with almost rhythmic regularity. And one director whose reputation is on a definite upswing at he moment is Walter Hill. Just last year we ran our original five-strong Essentials piece on his career to date, and cited “Southern Comfort” as being an unjustly overlooked entry in a canon which was itself all too often denied the kind of reverence reserved for other filmmakers of his vintage. And now here we are with “Southern Comfort” getting a Blu-Ray release via Shout Factory this very week, which gives us the perfect excuse to continue our own re-evaluation process, by expanding on our original list to eight entries.
Hill started out as an assistant director, working on the likes of “The Thomas Crown Affair” and “Bullitt,” before graduating to screenwriter of Sam Peckinpah‘s “The Getaway,” the Paul Newman vehicle “The Mackintosh Man” for John Huston and the underrated crime noir “The Drowning Pool” also starring Newman. In 1975, he made his directorial debut on the Charles Bronson bare-knuckle boxing movie “Hard Times,” and went on to be a much in-demand name in the action genre over the next couple of decades. But his particular brand of muscly, masculine, often taciturn action languished for a long while in the action genre ghetto as regards critical appreciation: his films were often lauded for the stylishness, their slick amorality, the relentless thrum of their spartan, tense, thriller-ish elements, but were seldom treated as anything more than disposable by the critical establishment—until recently.
Aside from his biggest hit, “48 Hours” which is itself a little atypical in his catalogue, outside of a the swell of opinion that’s now going in his favor, he’s perhaps best remembered for his part in the “Alien” movies (he co-wrote and co-produced the first three, and remains a co-producer, with a credit on “Prometheus“). Recently he returned to the fray with “Bullet to the Head” which, with its meatheaded punchy-punchy quality, certainly won’t win him many new converts, even if we enjoyed it for the throwback it is. But as the “Southern Comfort” release proves, a wider audience is being found for his earlier films, and a new appreciation for the sinewy grace of their execution has emerged. If you’re a neophyte and want to know where to start, or if you’ve seen a few but don’t know which ones to pick up next, here are the eight Walter Hill films that are most worth checking out.
“Hard Times” (1975)
Walter Hill famously said reading Alexander Jacobs’ script of John Boorman’s stylish, even nouvelle-vague influenced 1967 crime film “Point Blank” was revelatory to his process. He helped him express what he would call a “haiku-style” form of screenwriting that was lean and mean, and extremely spare. Dialogue was minimal, actions and stage directions were terse and for a visual medium like film, it certainly worked. This approach is certainly seen in Hill’s pure, minimalist and well-regarded crime thriller “The Driver,” but the technique is also evinced in his lesser seen debut “Hard Times.” Starring Charles Bronson in his pre “Death Wish” fame days (though “Death Wish” came out the year before, the sequels really cemented teh popularity of the franchise) the movie is set in the Great Depression and centers on a mysterious, aging bare knuckle brawler (Bronson) who engages in illegal street fights to eat and pay the rent. Taciturn, and down on his luck, Bronson’s pugilist is classic archetypal Hill: a Zen-like man of few words who speaks through his actions. Co-starring James Coburn, Jill Ireland, Strother Martin and Margaret Blye, desperation leads the truculent warrior to the hands of slick fighting promoter (Coburn), but the fighter’s trust is soon abused. It’s easily one of Bronson’s best roles, and it’s an extremely easy-to-watch and digestible film; there’s zero fat on the bone and it moves ruthlessly forward. It’s also, much like most of Hill’s work, deeply unpretentious: the Great Depression was rough, creating hard-bitten types like Bronson’s Chaney character. Other than commenting on the hunger that drives men to extreme decisions and the nature of the outsider, the movie is about the dispossessed and that’s all it needs to be.
Maybe YOU think 48hrs isn't as funny as YOU remember it but that doesn't make it so. For all of your flowery noodling you're not free of a few type os, baffling conclusions (especially your over sensitive and off base assessment of the aforementioned 48hrs) and falling victim to being too in love with your own writing. It wouldn't hurt to take a few pointers from the subject you were writing about and get down to the point. And Trespass? Johnny Handsome, Red Heat, Last Man Standing or Crossroads would have made a lot more sense, but it's your list. It just isn't a definitive one.
Nice list. Definitely some films I'll have to check out.
But disappointed you didn't do Last Man Standing in more detail. It's a tight little film with a stellar cast. Very Hillish.
Especially interesting if you're a Deadwood fan, seeing all those familiar faces pop up.
Say 48 Hours recently, first time in a long time. Great fun. Can't say I found anything remotely offensive in it. Clearly I'm not going to get my PC badge this year, then…
I really enjoy Crossroads. His collaboration with Ry Cooder on that one is blues perfection. The guitar duel is classic but should be iconic.
I got to meet Walter Hill on the set of "Red Heat" and had a chance to chat with him a bit. One question I had to ask him was about the name "Torchy's" that's seen as the name of a bar or club in several of his films, beginning with "The Driver." He told me that there was a small neighborhood bar named Torchy's that he and his production people used to spend time in, and when "The Driver" came along, he told his set designer to "make it Torch's," by which he just meant to replicate the ambience; however, the designer took him at his word and that was that, after which it became a running in-joke.
I also got to tell him about how a few years earlier I had been visiting a friend who was managing a theater, and I stepped inside to check out the trailers. On came one that showed somebody singing, and then something blows up, and then some more singing, and somebody gets shot, etc. I stood there watching it thinking to myself, "This looks like 'Flashdance' as directed by Walter Hill." And then came on the screen the words "A Film by Walter Hill" and I had to start laughing. Of course, it was "Streets of Fire." Thankfully, he also found the story amusing.
Please check your facts. In The Warriors synopsis, you wrote that the Warriors' leader, Cyrus, was framed for the murder of the leader of the Riffs. Cyrus WAS the leader of the Riffs! Cleon was the leader of the Warriors. Cyrus was assassinated which led to everything that followed in the movie. Cleon was killed by the Riffs after being accused by the Rogues. Then you wrote that Luther, leader of the Rogues, put a hit out on The Warriors. The Riffs put out the hit on the Warriors! If you're going to do a list like this, please get your facts right about the movies. It makes me question your plot summaries for the Hill movies I haven't seen.
Nice list. But that still photo of Nolte and Murphy on your lede pic? It's from "Another 48 Hours."
Perfect list.