Entertainment

The essential films of Walter Hill, the director who changed Hollywood… and was left with nothing

“All my movies are westerns,” he declared. Walter Hill in 2007, admitting to recognizing himself in that genre where “moral problems are stripped of the usual channels of social control.” Given that point of view, it is likely that the director of the bounty hunter identifies today with that lone gunslinger who has seen better days, but whose pulse still allows him to hold a revolver.

After having trained as an assistant in classics such as bullitt and endured the gorge of sam peckinpahHill signed and produced in the ’70s and ’80s films that not only succeeded at the box office, but also set trends in the industry. But he also risked his career and his fortune on other films that failed miserably, some of which are cult titles today.

Now, the filmmaker returns with an endearing low-budget western starring Christopher Waltz and Willem Dafoe, an actor he helped rise to fame and he returns the favor. It is time to review his flagship titles and remember how much Hollywood owes him.

‘Limit 48 hours’ (1982)

Clint Eastwood I was not for the work and the cache of Richard Pryor it was too high. So, after signing nick nolte As a curmudgeon cop, Hill took his future wife’s advice hildy gottlieb getting hold of that comedian Saturday night Live the one she represented and who had never shot a movie.

With such wickerwork, this hybrid of comedy and action was not only a blockbuster and a role model for all police officers of the 80s, but also the film debut of a eddy murphy what would roll super detective in hollywood Two years later.

‘Driver’ (1978)

Murderable as it may sometimes be, Nicolas Winding Refn pays his debts: the Dane openly acknowledges the debt of his cinema in general, and of Drive in particular, with Hill’s second length after The fighter (1975). A gesture that is appreciated, more than for verifying the obvious, for vindicating this almost abstract thriller about the rivalry between the getaway driver ryan o’neal and the detective Bruce Dern, with a isabelle ajani transplanted to Hollywood acting as femme fatale.

‘Legendary Outlaws’ (1980)

After having worked as meritorious in Bonanza and Gunsmoke, among other series with a wide-brimmed hat, Walter Hill was bitten by the western bug. So when he got to the ears of him that James and Stacy Keach they wanted to make a film about the history of Jesse and Frank James, signed up for that project George Roy Hill (Two men and one destiny) he had refused, considering it little more than a joke.

Finally, the film broke records for shared DNA on the same set: in addition to the Keachs (who wrote the script) and the Carradine (David, Keith and Robert), they appeared in it Dennis and Randy Quaid, as well as Christopher and Nicolas Guest as last-minute substitutes for Jeff and Beau Bridges.

‘The Warriors’ (1979)

Disgusted by the romantic vision of youth bands that it offered West Side Story, The social worker Sun Yurick wrote in 1965 a little novel about gang members on the run modeled on the Anabasis of Xenophon.

Fourteen years later, and in Hill’s hands, that story became a gloriously badass New York nightmare, capable of generating social alarms (which, in turn, made paramount canceled its promotional campaign) and whose mark continues to be felt today: if you have seen john wick 4, you know what we are talking about.

‘Fire Streets’ (1984)

After the success of Limit 48 hours, Walter Hill and the producer Joel Silver invested their earnings in this “rock’n’roll fable”, inspired by Beauty and the Beast of Cocteau, which was stamped at the box office in an epic way. History, however, has put her in her place.

This is not necessarily due to interpretations of Willem Dafoe or of the endearing Amy Madigan (awarded in Sitges), nor to its stylized staging, but rather to the fact that the success of the film in Japan inspired video games beat’em up as influential as end fight either Streets of Rage: the paths of pop culture are inscrutable.

‘Crossroads’ (1986)

After Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio becomes a young classical guitarist aspiring bluesman, mentored by a veteran (Joe Seneca) that he owed Satan a debt for taking certain legends about the Mississippi crossroads too seriously.

The film, aimed at young audiences, suffered a fatal blow at the box office when the MPAA gave it an adult rating, but it didn’t take long for it to gain cult status thanks to the music of ry cooder and Macchio’s final pike against a steve vai diabolical.

‘Alien’ (1979 – as producer)

Desperate for not finding financial backing for the xenomorph bug thing, Dan O Bannon and Ronald Shusset A script was thrown out of Walter Hill’s office window with a note that read “Read to me, please.” Hill and Dan Gillett, your partner in the company Brandywine, they rewrote the script, they changed the hero to a heroine, they fixed on a certain Ridley Scott as a possible director of the film… and we all know the rest.

‘The escape’ (1972 – as a screenwriter)

The novel was a classic literary thriller, but its last installment was depressing even by Sam Peckinpah standards. As Steve McQueen was not in the mood for a downturn, a young Walter Hill charged with the owl to replace jim thompson (author of the original and screenwriter of the perfect heist of Kubrick) as literary manager of the film during which the love affair between the actor and Ali McGraw.

‘The Great Waste’ (1985)

After a financial cataclysm like Streets of Fire, Hill needed a blockbuster. And she succeeded, also removing the thorn of not having been able to work with Richard Pryor (more polydrug addict than ever) in Limit 48 hours, with a film that helped to write the eighties comedy style book. Earnings aside, the filmmaker is not shy about describing the film as an “aberration.”

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