Walter Hill (filmmaker)
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Walter Hill (born January 10, 1942) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer known for his action films and revival of the Western genre. He has directed such films as ''
The Driver ''The Driver'' is a 1978 American crime film, crime thriller film written and directed by Walter Hill, and starring Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern and Isabelle Adjani. The film featured only unnamed characters, and follows a getaway driver for robberi ...
'', '' The Warriors'', '' Southern Comfort'', '' 48 Hrs.'' and its sequel ''
Another 48 Hrs. ''Another 48 Hrs.'' is a 1990 American Buddy cop film, buddy cop action comedy film directed by Walter Hill and starring Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, Brion James, Andrew Divoff, and Ed O'Ross. It is the sequel to the 1982 film ''48 Hrs.'' Nolte repr ...
'', '' Streets of Fire'' and ''
Red Heat '' Red heat'' is a practice of using colours to determine the temperature of metal Red Heat may also refer to: * ''Red Heat'' (1985 film), a 1985 film starring Linda Blair * ''Red Heat'' (1988 film), a 1988 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger a ...
'', and wrote the screenplay for the crime drama '' The Getaway''. He has also directed several episodes of television series such as '' Tales from the Crypt'' and '' Deadwood'' and produced films in the ''Alien'' franchise. He founded Brandywine Productions with
David Giler David Kevin Giler (July 23, 1943 – December 19, 2020) was an American filmmaker who had been active in the film industry since the early 1960s. Career Television Giler's father Bernie (1908–1967) was a writer. Giler began his career collabor ...
and Gordon Carroll. Hill said in an interview that "every film I've done has been a Western", and elaborated in another that "the Western is ultimately a stripped down moral universe that is, whatever the dramatic problems are, beyond the normal avenues of social control and social alleviation of the problem, and I like to do that even within contemporary stories".


Early life

Hill was born in
Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
, the younger of two sons. His paternal grandfather was a wildcat oil driller; his father worked at
Douglas Aircraft The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace and defense company based in Southern California. Founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr., it merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas, where it operated as a di ...
as a
supervisor A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position and role that is primarily based on authority over la ...
on the assembly line. Hill has said that his father and grandfather were "smart, physical men who worked with their heads and their hands" and had "great mechanical ability". Hill's family had originally come from
Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
and
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
, "one of those fallen Southern families, shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations". "I got along with both my parents very well," Hill said. "I admired them enormously." Growing up in
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
, Hill was
asthmatic Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheez ...
as a child and, as a result, missed several years of school.
Despite the discomfort, it made you comfortable being alone with yourself. You weren't as surrounded by your peers as everybody else your age was... In my case it meant tremendous amount of reading at an early age... I read, listened to radio... I became utterly besotted with daytime serials... it enabled me to live in an imaginary world where one is comfortable with abstract ideas, dominated by stories, narrative, and characters.
Hill became a film fan at an early age, and the first film he remembers seeing was ''
Song of the South ''Song of the South'' is a 1946 American Live-action animated film, live-action/animated musical film, musical comedy-drama film directed by Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson, produced by Walt Disney, and released by RKO Pictures, RKO Radio Pi ...
'' (1946). He later described his taste as "juvenile", stating: "I liked adventure, westerns, but I liked everything. Musicals. But the general, I remember not liking kid movies... still don't, I think that's hung on." His asthma receded when he was 15 and he began to think about becoming a writer. He worked in the oil fields as a
roustabout Roustabout (Australia/New Zealand English: rouseabout) is an occupational term. Traditionally, it referred to a worker with broad-based, non-specific skills. In particular, it was used to describe show or circus workers who put up tents and boo ...
on Signal Hill, California, during high school and several more years while in college. During one summer, he ran an
asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...
pipe-cutting machine and worked as a spray painter. As a teenager, Hill contemplated being a
comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
illustrator and studied art at the Universidad de las Américas, Mexico City. "Mexico was as far away as I could get without any money," he says. He then transferred and majored in history at
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...
. He said that, during this period, he was a particular fan of
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
's writing and came to believe that "the hardest thing to do is write clearly and simply, and make your point in an elegant way". Upon graduation, Hill was called up for the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
in 1964, but childhood asthma saw him ruled ineligible. This forced him to think about what he wanted to do for a career. "When you are that age, you think you are going to be in the army two years, it's a huge amount of time. You don't bother worrying about what you are doing. Suddenly, this whole thing was upon me." Through a friend Hill got a job in Los Angeles researching historical documentaries made by a company that was associated with
Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
. He began seeing more and more scripts, writing scripts and developed the urge to direct. Hill:
Seeing so many of the European films, Japanese films, I was part of this isolated community in east Hollywood. I remembered thinking just a little further west they are making the films I want to see. I'm going to do this. Sink or swim... I wanted to be a writer on my way to being a director. Directors were already my heroes. Kurosawa, number of Italian directors... Movies from England, France, Sweden, Italy. Poland... One wanted a chance to tell stories in an open, loose, not constricted Hollywood kind of way. At the same time you wanted to work in Hollywood... I was tremendously interested in genre films. Wanted to work within genre films.


Career


Assistant director

After this contract to make historical documentaries finished, Hill worked for a time in the mail room at Universal ("Somebody told me that was a good way to meet people"). He then got into the training program of the
Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...
, which enabled him to work in television as an apprentice. He observed and worked for over a year on such shows as ''
Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central charact ...
'', ''
The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western (genre), Western, spy film, spy, and science fiction on television, science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 19 ...
'', ''
Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...
'' and ''
Warning Shot In military and police contexts, a warning shot is an intentionally harmless artillery shot or gunshot with intent to enact direct compliance and order to a hostile perpetrator or enemy forces. It is recognized as signalling intended confronta ...
''. "I did a lot of shows for a couple of weeks, they would rotate you through," he says. Hill wound up as second assistant director on '' The Thomas Crown Affair'' in 1968. He then went on to work as the uncredited second
assistant director The role of an assistant director (AD) on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have ...
on ''
Bullitt ''Bullitt'' is a 1968 American action thriller film directed by Peter Yates from a screenplay by Alan Trustman, Alan R. Trustman and Harry Kleiner and based on the 1963 crime novel ''Mute Witness'' by Robert L. Fish. It stars Steve McQueen, Ro ...
''—"It was my job to set background and also to set it up with the police. We had to organise every shot so people wouldn't wander out into the middle of the street and be hit... Every time we did a shot I was scared to death." In 1969, he was the second assistant director on
Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...
's mockumentary film, '' Take the Money and Run'', but said he remembers doing very little except passing out the call sheets and filling out time cards. He also worked as a first assistant director on a
television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...
. "I didn't have a shred of desire in those areas," says Hill of assistant directing. "I wanted to work and be around films. I certainly took my duties fairly seriously and all that. I didn't see it as a long term kind of commitment."


Screenwriter

During this time Hill was writing screenplays on nights and on the weekends. "I began to read screenplays that were being made, and I hesitate to say this, but I guess I read them and said: 'Christ, I could do that.'" It took him "four to five years to write my first screenplay writing at night, while I still had another day job." He says one of his earlier works "was intensely personal about a love affair I had. It was terrible, I knew it." It was not until he started writing in a more "structured narrative environment" that he "began to find my voice... I had a hard time finishing scripts. My problem was finding certain character narrative concerns. Once I finished scripts, I almost instantly made a living. Not only made a living, but got them made. From the time I finished them to the time they were getting made, making progress on the trail, that all happened pretty quickly. Hill later said, "I was very sympathetic and identified with the
New Hollywood The New Hollywood, Hollywood Renaissance, American New Wave, or New American Cinema (not to be confused with the New American Cinema of the 1960s that was part of Experimental film, avant-garde underground film, underground cinema), was a movemen ...
." But his films "are, or were, rather retro. That is to say, I didn't tackle subjects. I wanted to do genre films." Hill's first completed screenplay, a Western called ''Lloyd Williams and His Brother'', was optioned by Joe Wizan. It was never made but the script was admired at
Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American film studio, filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and th ...
who asked Hill to pitch some projects. He came up with a detective story, '' Hickey & Boggs'' and the studio agreed to finance a draft. "Detective films were very old hat, not the kind of thing a young screenwriter was going to pitch," recalls Hill. "I think they were intrigued, maybe fresh air could be blown into a venerable genre." Warners liked the ''Hickey & Boggs'' script and hired Hill to rewrite the script for '' The Thief Who Came to Dinner,'' for which he ended up getting sole credit. ''Hickey & Boggs'' was later sold to
United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
and rewritten by director
Robert Culp Robert Martin Culp (August 16, 1930 – March 24, 2010) was an American actor and screenwriter widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on ''I Spy (1965 TV series), I Spy'' ( ...
. Hill said he felt the film "had some nice moments, but it was cast much differently than it was written. I wasn't too excited about it." Meanwhile,
Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. He started out his career as a young actor studying under Stella Adler before working as a film critic for ''Fi ...
's ex-wife
Polly Platt Mary Marr "Polly" Platt (January 29, 1939 – July 27, 2011) was an American film producer, production designer and screenwriter. She was the first woman accepted into the Art Directors Guild, in 1971. In addition to her credited work, she w ...
, a film editor, had read Hill's script for '' Hickey & Boggs'' and recommended him to co-write '' The Getaway'', which Bogdanovich was going to make with Steve McQueen. Bogdanovich and Hill worked on the script together in San Francisco while Bogdanovich was directing '' What's Up, Doc?'' Hill says that Bogdanovich was interested in making the film a more Hitchcock-type film. They had completed 25 pages when they went back to L.A., whereupon McQueen fired Bogdanovich without reading any of their work.
Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received two Academy Award nominations and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Instit ...
came on to direct; Hill started from scratch and wrote his own script in six weeks. The resulting film was a big hit which Hill later described "of the films I wrote, I thought it was far and away the best one, and most interesting." He said the success of the film "was really how I got to be a director; the fact it had done so well put me in line to get a shot." Hill and Peckinpah got along well and for a time it seemed Peckinpah might direct ''Lloyd Williams'' but he decided to make '' Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid'' instead. '' The Thief Who Came to Dinner'' eventually came out. Walter Hill later said "Warren Oates was very good in the movie—better than the movie was. They cut a lot of things out of the movie they shouldn't have." Hill went on to write a pair of
Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and activist. He was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Paul Newman, numerous awards ...
films, '' The Mackintosh Man'' and '' The Drowning Pool''. By Hill's own admission, his work on ''The Mackintosh Man'' "wasn't much" and he did it to settle a lawsuit with
Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American film studio, filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and th ...
, with whom he was angry for selling ''Hickey & Boggs''—Warners offered to settle the suit if Hill wrote them a screenplay, giving him the chance to adapt his choice of several novels that the studio owned the film rights to. He picked '' The Freedom Trap'', by
Desmond Bagley Desmond Bagley (29 October 1923 – 12 April 1983) was an English journalist and novelist known mainly for a series of bestselling Thriller (genre), thrillers. He and fellow British writers such as Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean set conventi ...
. "I wrote a quick script which I was not particularly enamored with myself," Hill said. However it attracted the interest of Paul Newman and John Huston. "One would like to think you are mistaken about the wonders of your work, but I didn't believe it," he said. "That part turned out to be true. I went over to work on the script with Huston. He wasn't very well, I ended up with sole screen credit, but one of the problems is the screen credit is misleading very often. I wrote 90% of the first half, various people wrote the rest. I didn't think it was a very good film. Hill says he never saw the final product, but was told it was "a real bomb". Producers Larry Turman and David Foster asked Hill to adapt
Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...
's novel '' The Drowning Pool'' for
Robert Mulligan Robert Patrick Mulligan (August 23, 1925 – December 20, 2008) was an American director and producer. He is best known for his sensitive dramas, including ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1962), '' Summer of '42'' (1971), '' The Other'' (1972), '' Sam ...
to direct as a sequel to a previous Newman film, '' Harper'' (1965). The producers did not like the direction Hill took with his script—he later estimated only two scenes in the final film were his—so he left the project to write '' Hard Times'' for Larry Gordon at
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
. In the early years of his career, Hill set up his own production company, Brandywine Productions, to develop and produce films. A script came to him, '' Alien'', which he optioned and rewrote with his partner,
David Giler David Kevin Giler (July 23, 1943 – December 19, 2020) was an American filmmaker who had been active in the film industry since the early 1960s. Career Television Giler's father Bernie (1908–1967) was a writer. Giler began his career collabor ...
. Hill and Giler were not credited for their writing work. Hill decided not to direct the film, which became a massive hit. John Hughes later recalled, "I had been writing scripts for quite a while, but I never really knew what screenwriting was about until I read the script Walter wrote for ''Alien''."


Film director


1970s

By the early 1970s, Hill wanted to direct.
I think in casual conversation I would have told anybody I wanted to direct. At the same time I knew Hollywood was a closed off place... It was much harder to get in. To be an older director was a very positive thing. It meant you had survived, knew your way, could make things and make them meet your economic responsibilities. It was always paramount in studio minds, especially in those days... If I was going to direct I was going to write my way in. No TV, no play, I was simply somebody who said I have a sensibility, I think I can do this, based on nothing other than my scripts basically.
Hill met producer Lawrence Gordon in 1973. He agreed to let Hill direct a film if he wrote a screenplay for him. Hill made a deal to write and direct for scale and in turn got a shot at directing. The result was Hill's 1975 breakthrough film, '' Hard Times'', made on location in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
for just $2.7 million in 38 days.
James Coburn James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...
played a fast-talking promoter of illegal street fights in 1930s New Orleans and
Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. He was known for his roles in action films and his "granite features and brawny physique". Bronson was born into extreme poverty in ...
played the boxer protagonist. The film was also a turning point for Hill as a screenwriter. He read Alexander Jacobs' screenplay for the John Boorman film '' Point Blank'' and considered it a "revelation" in terms of style and format. He decided to tailor his own scripts in that manner, as he described it, "extremely spare, almost
Haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...
style. Both stage directions and dialogue." He was also influenced by
Sam Peckinpah David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received two Academy Award nominations and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Instit ...
. Hill wrote '' Hard Times'', ''
The Driver ''The Driver'' is a 1978 American crime film, crime thriller film written and directed by Walter Hill, and starring Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern and Isabelle Adjani. The film featured only unnamed characters, and follows a getaway driver for robberi ...
'', '' The Warriors'', and the uncredited rewrite of '' Alien'' in this style. Following the movie Hill was approached to direct ''
The Shootist ''The Shootist'' is a 1976 American Western film directed by Don Siegel and based on Glendon Swarthout's 1975 novel of the same name,Swarthout, Glendon (1975). ''The Shootist'', New York, New York: Doubleday. and written by Miles Hood Swart ...
'' with John Wayne but turned it down as he disliked the script. He created the TV series '' Dog and Cat'' which premiered in 1977 starring a young
Kim Basinger Kimila Ann Basinger ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a ...
as a police officer. It was not a ratings success and was soon cancelled. However Hill's pilot script later influenced
Shane Black Shane Black (born December 16, 1961) is an American screenwriter, film director, and actor, known for his distinctive style of Action film, action and action comedy films. He is the original creator of the ''Lethal Weapon (franchise), Lethal Wea ...
's original script for ''
Lethal Weapon ''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American action film directed by Richard Donner and written by Shane Black. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love, and Mitchell Ryan. In ''Lethal Weapon'', a pai ...
''. Hill's second film as a director was ''
The Driver ''The Driver'' is a 1978 American crime film, crime thriller film written and directed by Walter Hill, and starring Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern and Isabelle Adjani. The film featured only unnamed characters, and follows a getaway driver for robberi ...
'' starring Ryan O'Neal as a laconic getaway driver for hire and
Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Suppo ...
as a driven cop pursuing him. No character in the film has a name; they are merely The Driver, The Detective, and so forth. Hill originally had wanted to cast Steve McQueen, but he turned down the role because he did not want to do another car film. "This Walter Hill is a force to be reckoned with," said O'Neal, "a first rate writer and an even better director. And he's fast. Most young directors today think they are
David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor, widely considered one of the most important figures of Cinema of the United Kingdom, British cinema. He directed the large-scale epi ...
." ''The Driver'' was financed by
EMI Films Canal+ Image International (formerly known as EMI Films, Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, Lumiere Pictures and Television, and UGC DA) was a British-French film, television, animation studio and distributor. A former subsidiary of the EMI congl ...
who announced they would make a second film with Hill, a Western he wrote with
Roger Spottiswoode John Roger Spottiswoode (born 5 January 1945) is a Canadian-British director, editor and writer of film and Television program, television. Early life He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and was raised in Britain. His father Raymond Spotti ...
, ''The Last Gun''. However ''The Driver'' was a commercial failure in the United States. "To say it did not do well would be kind," said Hill. "Had I not been shooting ''The Warriors'' at the time, I don't think my career would have survived. They loved it overseas, but in those days, that didn't matter that much. It made exactly zero dollars in the United States. I remember the studio had this huge sheaf of Xeroxed reviews they'd handed me — you could stop a fucking .45 slug with this stack, it was so thick. And of all the reviews in this six-inch thick pile, there was only one good one." (In 2016 Hill would say that "whenever they show retrospectives of my stuff, it's usually the first thing they show. Sometimes you just have to wait it out.") Hill was going to make ''The Last Gun'' with Larry Gordon but when the financing on the project failed to materialize, Gordon showed Hill a copy of the novel ''The Warriors'' by Sol Yurick. They took it to
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
because they were interested in youth films at the time and succeeded in getting the project financed. Hill remembers "it came together very quickly. Larry had a special relationship with Paramount and we promised to make the movie very cheaply, which we did. So it came together within a matter of weeks." When '' The Warriors'' was released there were a series of shootings and killings at screenings involving filmgoers on their way to or from showings. This prompted Paramount to remove advertisements from radio and television completely and display ads in the press were reduced to the film's title. However the film was very popular and received excellent reviews. "Hollywood forgives a lot when you have a hit," said Hill. "I don't know what to say about it, other than the fact that it was just a gift in terms of getting it. The studio hated it, and didn't even want to release it. There was a lot of friction with management at the time. Some of it might have been my fault."


1980s

James Keach had developed a script about the Jesse James Gang, '' The Long Riders'', which
United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
were willing to finance if a suitable director were to be found. Hill was approached and eagerly agreed to film his first Western. The film is remembered for casting real-life acting brothers (the Keaches, Carradines, Quaids and Guests) as historical outlaw siblings (the James, Younger, Miller and Ford brothers). Hill later said his "code" for the film was to keep "the jokes funny and the bullets real. It is about moral choices. I think people who object to violence shouldn't go to the movies.... The use of all the brothers can be perceived as a gimmick but I wanted a family feeling to the movie." Hill's next film was going to be adaptations of ''The Last Good Kiss'' (by James Crumley) and then '' Red Harvest'' (by
Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( ; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...
). However neither were made, though the story of ''Last Man Standing'' (which he made in 1996) was very close to ''Red Harvest''. Instead Hill did '' Southern Comfort'', originally written in 1976. It was an intense ''
Deliverance ''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American thriller film directed and produced by John Boorman from a screenplay by James Dickey, who adapted it from his own Deliverance (novel), 1970 novel. It follows four businessmen from Atlanta who venture into th ...
''-style thriller about a group of U.S. Army National Guardsmen (including Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe and
Fred Ward Freddie Joe Ward (December 30, 1942 – May 8, 2022) was an American character actor. Starting with a role in an Italian television movie in 1973, he appeared in such diverse films as '' Escape from Alcatraz'', '' The Right Stuff'', '' Remo Wil ...
) on weekend maneuvers in the Louisiana bayou who find themselves fighting for survival in the swamps after offending some local
Cajuns The Cajuns (; Louisiana French language, French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French people, Louisiana French ethnic group, ethnicity mainly found in t ...
. The film was seen by many as an allegory for America's involvement in the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, although Hill denies this is the case. He and David Giler rewrote the script prepared by another writer. According to Hill, "No studio wanted to make it, but an independent guy showed up who had a relationship with Fox. Liked it, said he would finance it." The film was critically acclaimed but, in Hill's words, it "didn't make a... nickel anywhere. Foreign, domestic, anything... I was proud of the film... But I was disappointed in the lack of response. It was a universal audience failure... Usually you can say they loved it in Japan or something. I don't think anybody loved it anywhere." Hill tried to make ''Lone Star'', from the play by James McLure to star Powers Boothe and
Sigourney Weaver Susan Alexandra ( ; born October 8, 1949), better known by her stage name Sigourney Weaver, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the late 1970s, she is known for her pioneering portrayals of action heroines in Blockbuster (entertainme ...
(1981). Like ''Red Harvest'' and ''The Last Good Kiss'' it was not made. Larry Gross later recalled meeting Hill in the early 1980s:
He'd had some success, but then he had a series of setbacks. And there was also the scandal around ''The Warriors''; any success had been eclipsed by the killings in the theaters. So there was that, as well as the noncommercial success of ''Southern Comfort'' and ''Long Riders'' and the fact that there was a writer's strike. All of that meant that Walter hadn't worked in a while. Meaning a year or so. And what happened was the strike ended and the studios didn't have a lot of ready scripts. So this clever colleague, Larry Gordon, dusted off a script that had been shuttling around development and got it greenlit at Paramount with his friend
Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner ( ; born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film ...
. And that script was '' 48 Hrs.''
''48 Hrs.'' was originally meant to star
Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...
and
Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Known for reaching a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, he is widely regarded ...
but both dropped out.
Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (; born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. Known for his leading man roles in both dramas and romances, he has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. Nol ...
became attached as star and Hill's then-girlfriend, a talent agent at ICM, recommended the role of the convict be played by an exciting new comic on ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'',
Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...
. The resulting film was a problematic shoot, with many clashes between Paramount and Hill, but it resulted in a massive box office success. Hill's box office success with ''48 Hrs.'' enabled him to raise the money for a stylish "rock 'n' roll fable", '' Streets of Fire''. He almost set this up at Paramount but they changed their mind; Universal decided to finance instead. Initially a box office failure, it gained a following in subsequent years (as have many of Hill's films). Hill was meant to follow it up with a big screen adaptation of ''
Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the '' Detroit Mirror'', and was distributed by the Chicago T ...
'', replacing
John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing comedy films such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978), The Blues Brothers (f ...
. Hill worked on ''Dick Tracy'' for several drafts of the script and screenwriter Jack Epps Jr. says he "played a big role in reducing and focusing the screenplay". Hill intended to make the film directly after ''Streets of Fire'' but eventually left the project after a dispute over budget with Universal and with star
Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has received an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. He also received the Irving G. Thalberg Memor ...
; the project would be made several years later with Beatty directing. Hill's success directing Eddie Murphy in ''48 Hrs.'' saw him receive an offer to work with Richard Pryor in a new version of ''
Brewster's Millions ''Brewster's Millions'' is a comedic novel written by George Barr McCutcheon in 1902, originally under the pseudonym of Richard Greaves. The plot concerns a young man whose grandfather leaves him $1 million in a will, but a competing will from ...
'' (1985). This was Hill's first—and, as of 2016, only—full-fledged comedy. He says he purposefully made the film "to improve his bank account and success quotient", and admitted it was "an aberration in the career line". He added that "whatever he film'sdeficiencies, I think the wistful quality was there. I was happy about that. The picture did well and made money." After making ''Brewster's Millions'' Hill said he had another comedy in development at Universal. He also wanted to do a new version of ''
The Magnificent Seven ''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay, credited to William Roberts, is a remake – in an Old West-style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself init ...
'' (1960) which he had written with Lukas Heller, "quite a bit different from the original—it's more Hawksian in flavour." The plot had a female doctor hire seven mercenaries to defend an intellectually disabled boy from a lynching. Hill followed ''Brewster's Millions'' with '' Crossroads'' (1986), a music-themed drama from an original script by John Fusco inspired by the life and music of
Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...
. The score was done by
Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...
, who had been Hill's most regular composer since ''The Long Riders''. The film performed poorly at the box office, despite the presence of Ralph Macchio in the lead. He also co-wrote (with Lukas Heller) and executive produced '' Blue City'' (1986) from a 1947 novel by
Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...
. Hill developed this project intended to star a leading man in his mid-30s but by the mid-1980s a number of popular young male actors had emerged, so the script was rewritten to accommodate one of them ( Judd Nelson). Hill handed over directing duties to Michelle Manning, who made her debut as director. The film was a critical and commercial disaster. However, that year also saw the release of '' Aliens'' (1986), a sequel to ''Alien''. Hill says he and Giler decided "the next one should be a straight action thriller -the military takes over- a patrol movie." They hired
James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...
to make the film and worked on his original treatment "a bit". Hill had a story and executive producer credit on the film which was a massive hit. In 1987, he returned to hard-edged action with '' Extreme Prejudice'', a contemporary Western for
Carolco Pictures Carolco Pictures, Inc. was an American independent film studio that was founded by Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna in 1976. Kassar and Vajna ran Carolco together until 1989, when Vajna left to form Cinergi Pictures. Carolco hit its peak in th ...
about the War on Drugs based on a story by
John Milius John Frederick Milius (; born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is considered a member of the New Hollywood generation of filmmakers. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s for writing the scripts for ''The L ...
and Fred Rexer, which had been originally written in the mid-1970s. It reunited Hill with
Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (; born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. Known for his leading man roles in both dramas and romances, he has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. Nol ...
. The film was a financial failure. Hill said he "tipped my hat to Sam eckinpaha couple of times" in the film and "I don't think it was understood how much genre parodying was involved in that picture. It rather mystified a lot of American critics but it has its defenders." Hill returned to the buddy-cop genre with ''
Red Heat '' Red heat'' is a practice of using colours to determine the temperature of metal Red Heat may also refer to: * ''Red Heat'' (1985 film), a 1985 film starring Linda Blair * ''Red Heat'' (1988 film), a 1988 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger a ...
'' (1988), a sort of
Glasnost ''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...
-era reworking of '' 48 Hrs.'' with
Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...
as a stoic Soviet cop who travels to Chicago to catch a Russian drug-dealer ( Ed O'Ross). Schwarzenegger is partnered with a wisecracking American cop ( Jim Belushi), who is as laid-back and mouthy as his Soviet counterpart is taciturn and humorless. Hill directed and rewrote
Troy Kennedy Martin Troy Kennedy Martin (15 February 1932 – 15 September 2009) was a Scottish-born film and television screenwriter. He created the long-running BBC TV police series ''Z-Cars'' (1962–1978), and the award-winning 1985 anti-nuclear drama '' Edge ...
's script. The film, whilst profitable, was considered to be a box office disappointment compared to other Schwarzenegger films of the era. Around this time, Hill was mentioned as wanting to make an adaptation of Jim Thompson's '' Pop. 1280'' but it was never made. A project that was filmed was the horror anthology television series '' Tales from the Crypt'' (1989–96), on which Hill worked as an
executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
, as well as directing a number of episodes. Hill ended the 1980s with ''
Johnny Handsome ''Johnny Handsome'' is a 1989 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Walter Hill (director), Walter Hill and starring Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Elizabeth McGovern, Forest Whitaker, Lance Henriksen and Morgan Freeman. The film was ...
'' (1989) starring
Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. ( ; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former professional Boxing, boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading actor, leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. In a Mickey Rourke filmogra ...
. It was based on a 1972 novel by Morton Freedgood, about a criminal who has plastic surgery and seeks revenge on his colleagues who betrayed him. The project had been developed for a number of years—Hill says he turned down the job four times before deciding to do it when
Harold Becker Harold Becker (born September 25, 1928) is an American film and television director, producer, and photographer from New York City, associated with the New Hollywood movement and best known for his work in the thriller genre. His body of work i ...
dropped out as director. The film was a flop at the box office. Hill had a number of projects in the late 1980s that were never made. These included ''American Iron'' (1989/1990), a film set in the world of bikers written by Hill, Mark Brunet, Daniel Pyne, and John Mankiewicz. He also did a draft (with David Giler) of an adaptation of the Jim Harrison novella, ''Revenge''—this was not used when turned into a film in 1990.


Later films


1990s

Hill began the 1990s with the only sequel he has directed to date, ''
Another 48 Hrs. ''Another 48 Hrs.'' is a 1990 American Buddy cop film, buddy cop action comedy film directed by Walter Hill and starring Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, Brion James, Andrew Divoff, and Ed O'Ross. It is the sequel to the 1982 film ''48 Hrs.'' Nolte repr ...
'', with Murphy this time top-billed over Nolte. The sequel to his biggest commercial success was thought by many critics to be merely a retread of the original, but became the highest-grossing film that Hill has directed. The film grossed more at the US box office than its predecessor and made $72.7 million from foreign markets for a total of $153.5 million. In 1991 he came close to directing a big screen version of the television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963-1967) with
Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his leading and supporting roles in a variety of genres, from comedy to drama. He has received List of awards and nominations received by A ...
, but Baldwin was not considered a big enough star. The film '' The Fugitive'' (1993) was released two years later, starring
Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. Regarded as a cinematic cultural icon, he has starred in Harrison Ford filmography, many notable films over seven decades, and is one of List of highest-grossing actors, the highest-gr ...
and without Hill's involvement, as the film was instead directed by Andrew Davis. Hill was also considered to replace
John McTiernan John Campbell McTiernan Jr. (born January 8, 1951) is an American former filmmaker best known for his action films. His work as director includes ''Predator (film), Predator'' (1987), ''Die Hard'' (1988), and ''The Hunt for Red October (film), ...
as the director of '' Patriot Games'' (1992), another film in which Baldwin was recast with Ford. In 1992, Hill directed a film originally called ''Looters'' about two firemen who cross paths with criminals while searching for stolen loot in an abandoned East St. Louis, Illinois, tenement building. However, the
1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after ...
broke out shortly before the film's release and the studio delayed its opening, eventually changing the title to ''
Trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person (see below), trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery ...
''. ''
Trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person (see below), trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery ...
'' was based out of an old script, co-written by Bob Gale and
Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker known for directing and producing a range of successful and influential movies, often blending cutting-edge visual effects with storytelling. He has received several accolades incl ...
, years before they would write ''
Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...
''. Following this, he and David Giler wrote a remake of '' The Killer'' and plans were announced to make it with
Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began appearing in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in ''Looking for Mr. Goodbar (film), Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Hea ...
and
Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles Denzel Washington on screen and stage, on stage and screen, Washington has received List of awards and nominations ...
. However the film did not proceed. He and Giler also wrote the final script for ''
Alien 3 ''Alien 3'' (stylized as ''ALIEN3'') is a 1992 American science fiction horror film directed by David Fincher and written by David Giler, Walter Hill, and Larry Ferguson, from a story by Vincent Ward. Starring Sigourney Weaver reprising her ...
'', as well as co-producing it. Hill planned to direct Alec Baldwin in a new version of ''The Getaway'' based on Hill's original script. Then there was a dispute over the budget and Hill left the project in order to make '' Geronimo: An American Legend''. The film received mixed reviews from critics and fared poorly at the box office. This also happened to '' The Getaway'' (1994), which ended up being directed by
Roger Donaldson Roger Lindsey Donaldson (born 15 November 1945) is an Australian and New Zealand film director, screenwriter, and producer. His 1977 debut film, ''Sleeping Dogs (1977 film), Sleeping Dogs'', is considered landmark work of Cinema of New Zealand ...
from Hill's script. In 1994, Hill and his wife, agent Hildy Gottlieb, signed a two-year non-exclusive deal with Paramount. They developed a film, ''Sudden Country'', an action adventure in the vein of ''
Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure a ...
'' set in late-19th century Texas to star
Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child acto ...
, based on a novel by Loren Estleman. The film was not made. Instead Hill wrote and directed a second biopic, '' Wild Bill'' (1995). This too had little critical or commercial success. Hill reflected on his career in 1995:
I think every director thinks that he hasn't been allowed to make the films he wanted to make. I certainly haven't been able to make as many Westerns as I've wanted. (But) sometimes staying alive in a career sense is very important, and you think, 'Maybe I'll do this, which will do well and allow me to do that.' It's very easy to miscalculate. It's a dangerous game. But I think in the end, none of us have anybody to blame except ourselves. It can be very hard. The kinds of things that directors most want to do are usually not things the studio perceives to be commercially viable. It really is that simple. Is that true of me? Sure. Absolutely. But it's no more true of me than 50 other people I know.
Hill admitted his style of films were becoming less fashionable:
I admire a lot of what's going on out there, but the oversize kind of cartoon action movies is not something I'm terribly comfortable with. I think what I do is much more in the tradition that the bullets are real and they'll knock you down. I used to really get criticized for my lack of realism, but now I think my films are perceived to be vastly more realistic than most of the action movies that are happening out there... I think one of the things about being a director is, you should always try to re-create within yourself the kind of emotions you had watching film when you were very young. The kind of action movies that I always liked, the kind of comic books I always liked, were the serious ones. The characters were very realistic within the framework of the drama, and that kind of action movie interests me a lot more than the super-heroes. And so in that sense, maybe I'm slightly out of step, I suppose, but so be it.
Hill continued as one of the three original producers on '' Alien Resurrection'', although he has stated in several interviews since, that he has had nothing to do with the franchise since ''Alien 3''. His 1996 effort '' Last Man Standing'' with
Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...
, a
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
-era Western update of ''
Yojimbo is a 1961 Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa, who also co-wrote the screenplay and was one of the producers. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamat ...
'' (and thus reminiscent of that film's inspiration,
Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( ; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...
's '' Red Harvest'', and its western incarnation, ''
A Fistful of Dollars ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (, (''For a Fistful of Dollars'')) is a 1964 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Si ...
'') saw him return to his earlier style to some extent: a gruff
antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...
and a heavy focus on stylized action. Hill and the team who made ''Tales from the Crypt''—
Joel Silver Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American film producer. Life and career Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School ...
,
Richard Donner Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American film director, producer and actor. Described as "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters", Donner directed some of the mo ...
,
Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker known for directing and producing a range of successful and influential movies, often blending cutting-edge visual effects with storytelling. He has received several accolades incl ...
, and
David Giler David Kevin Giler (July 23, 1943 – December 19, 2020) was an American filmmaker who had been active in the film industry since the early 1960s. Career Television Giler's father Bernie (1908–1967) was a writer. Giler began his career collabor ...
—tried to repeat their success with another anthology, '' Perversions of Science'' (1997). Hill worked as producer and directed an episode. However it was not as popular.


2000s

Hill then directed the 2000 film ''
Supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...
'' for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
. When the studio did not agree with his vision, they brought in
Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola ( ; born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppo ...
to re-cut the film. This caused Hill to withdraw from the project and credit himself with the pseudonym "Thomas Lee" (a variation of Alan Smithee), and chose not to be associated with the finished product. Hill called his original version a much darker take than the final product. "One, it was embarrassing and, two, it made me think about quitting," said Hill. "While Coppola's intentions were honorable, I think he made a bad situation worse. I didn't do anything for a year. I was fortunate enough that I could buy my children a hot lunch. Then, I decided I wanted to work again." In 2002, Hill directed the prison boxing film '' Undisputed'' starring
Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor and martial artist. In a film career spanning more than thirty years, Snipes has appeared in a variety of genres, such as numerous thrillers, dramatic feature films, and comedies, th ...
,
Ving Rhames Irving Rameses Rhames ( ; born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the Mission: Impossible (film series), ''Mission: Impossible'' film series (1996–2025) and crime boss Marsellus Wal ...
and
Peter Falk Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Columbo (character), Lieutenant Columbo on the NBC/American Broadcasting Company, ABC series ''Columbo'' (196 ...
. In 2002 he said he wanted to make ''Vengeance is Mine'', an original contemporary thriller set in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
, which he had written with Giler. It was not made. "We almost had it together a couple of times and financing always slipped away at the last second," said Hill. In 2003,
Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
said Hill was still worthy of admiration. "I think in the last 10 years he's had a big resurgence in creativity. I think he lost his way for a while in the '80s. ''Johnny Handsome'' I thought was a return to form . . . But I thought with ''Geronimo'' he went to a really fantastic place. Everybody talked about how boring it was. But I didn't. I thought he made a really great classic Western and America just wasn't worthy of the privilege." Hill served as a director and consulting producer for the pilot episode of the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
Western drama television series '' Deadwood'' in 2004. The series was created by
David Milch David Sanford Milch (born March 23, 1945) is an American writer and producer of television series. He has created several television shows, including ABC's ''NYPD Blue'' (1993–2005), co-created with Steven Bochco, and HBO's '' Deadwood'' (200 ...
and focused on a growing town in the
Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...
. Hill's work on ''Deadwood'' has seen him return to favor in critical circles to some extent, earning him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series in 2004 and a Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series in 2004. However, Hill had a falling out with Milch during the editing of the pilot and did not work on any other episodes of the show. Hill continued his work with westerns by directing the miniseries '' Broken Trail'', which became the highest-rated film made by a cable network when it premiered on
AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...
. It also earned him the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series represents excellence in the category of limited series that are two or more episodes, with a total running time of at least 150 minutes. Criteria The program must tell a compl ...
. Hill also won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film for his efforts on ''Broken Trail''. In 2006 he reflected on his career saying "Those who have been doing for this for 40 years would like to think that it's a kind of Darwinian survival of the talented. But I think that's half the picture. It has as much as to do with the survival of temperament. There are few people still working now that started when I did. Not many people have the temperament to deal with that." In 2009 Hill intended to start production on the indie crime drama ''St. Vincent'' written by Cameron Young and set to star
Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. ( ; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former professional Boxing, boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading actor, leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. In a Mickey Rourke filmogra ...
in the lead role with
Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and activist. His accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Best Actor Award at the ...
,
Gong Li Gong Li ( zh, s=巩俐, t=鞏俐; born 31 December 1965) is a Chinese-born Singaporean actress. She is regarded as one of the best actresses in China today, known for her versatility and naturalistic performances. She starred in three of the ...
and
Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage, and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is known ...
also cast. The film was then postponed to 2010, with
Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...
,
Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker, singer and songwriter. He received international attention after writing, directing and starring in the independent film, independent Drama (film and television), drama f ...
,
Maria Bello Maria Bello (born April 18, 1967) is an American actress and producer. Her first major film role was in 1998's '' Permanent Midnight''. She followed this with a range of supporting and leading parts in films such as '' Payback'' (1999), '' Coyot ...
and Giovanni Ribisi replacing them, but was cancelled before the start date.


2010s

In the 2010s Hill described his status as "semi-retired" and said he had a number of projects fall through. It was
Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...
who offered Hill the job of directing '' Bullet to the Head'' (2012). The film was not a success at the box office. He wrote the original story for a
graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
, ''Bailes Perdues'', which was adapted by
Matz Matz may refer to: First names * Matz Sandman (born 1948), Norwegian politician * Matz Robert Eriksson (born 1972), Swedish musician Surnames * Evelyn Matz (born 1955), German handballer * Howard Matz (born 1943), American judge * Jeff Matz (born ...
with art by Jef, which was published in France, and later translated as ''Triggerman'' by Edward Gauvin and published by the Titan Comics imprint Hard Case Crime. In 2016 Hill's movie '' The Assignment,'' based on a script Hill had written with Denis Hamill, premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
before a limited release and streaming video release in 2017. In 2016 he said in an interview "You are very privileged to be a director. There is a great quote I'll get wrong of
Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
, the English poet and essayist, that: 'We come to the arena uncalled, to seek our fortune and hazard disgrace. That's the game, those are the rules.' So I say to you as an audience, if you wanna feel sorry, feel sorry for the people in Syria, but don't feel sorry for film directors." In 2019 Hill made his recording debut at age 77 with ''The Cowboy Iliad: A Legend Told In The Spoken Word''. Written and performed by Hill, the spoken word record tells the story of a deadly shootout that occurred in Newton, Kansas in 1871 and its legendary aftermath of violence and controversy. The record was produced by Bobby Woods and featured music by Les Deux Love Orchestra.


2020s

In August 2021 Hill began shooting the upcoming western '' Dead for a Dollar'' starring Christoph Waltz, Willem Dafoe, and Rachel Brosnahan. The film premiered at 2022 Venice Film Festival where Hill received the Glory to the Filmmaker award. It was released in the United States in September 2022. For his next project Hill said he would be "going back to
film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...
", and that he had plans to direct several other undisclosed films in addition.


Personal life

Hill married Hildy Gottlieb, a talent agent at International Creative Management, in New York City at
Tavern on the Green Tavern on the Green is an American cuisine restaurant in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, near the intersection of Central Park West and West 66th Street on the Upper West Side. The restaurant, housed in a former sheepfold, has be ...
on September 7, 1986. They have two daughters, Joanna and Miranda.


Filmography


Film

Producer only * '' Rustlers' Rhapsody'' (1985) * '' Demon Knight'' (1995) * ''W.E.I.R.D. World'' (1995) * '' Bordello of Blood'' (1996) * '' Alien Resurrection'' (1997) * ''
Ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
'' (2002) * '' Alien vs. Predator'' (2004) * '' Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' (2007) * ''
Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...
'' (2012) * '' Alien: Covenant'' (2017) * '' Alien: Romulus'' (2024)


Television


Unrealized projects


Awards and nominations

The
Writers Guild of America West The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 20,000 me ...
granted Hill the 2024 Laurel Award for screenwriting achievement.


References


Interviews

* * * *


External links

*
Walter Hill
at
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

European box office figures for Walter Hill films
at Box Office Story
Walter Hill: The Cowboy Iliad - A Legend Told In The Spoken Word
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Walter 1940 births 21st-century American novelists Film producers from California American male screenwriters Film directors from California Hugo Award–winning writers Living people Michigan State University alumni Writers from Long Beach, California Western (genre) film directors American action film directors Primetime Emmy Award winners Directors Guild of America Award winners American graphic novelists Screenwriters from California 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers