Monte Hellman, the unusual director of films such as “Two-Lane Blacktop”, “The Shooting” and “Road to Nowhere”, died on April 20 at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Desert, California, after falling in his home in April. . 19. He was 91 years old.
Hellman was a cult director who was widely admired in the industry, winning fans like Quentin Tarantino; they liked his vile and dirty story, which presented poetic flourishes in the midst of his genre films.
After working as an apprentice editor at ABC, he made his directorial debut with 1959’s “Beast From Haunted Cave,” produced by Roger Corman. He became part of the Corman veterans’ stable, which learned how to make the most of the minimum budget. Other Corman graduates include Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard.
Hellman worked with Jack Nicholson in the 1960s, including two films shot in the Philippines, “Back Door to Hell” and “Flight to Fury.” Hellman and Nicholson redesigned two westerns, “Ride the Whirlwind” and “The Shooting,” which used elements of traditional Hollywood oaters, western spaghetti, and counterculture sensibilities from the 1960s.
He also directed “The Cockfighter” (1974) and “China 9, Liberty 37” (1978), both starring Warren Oates. “China” has the added distinction of a rare acting show by Sam Peckinpah.
The road movie “Two-Lane Blacktop” opened in 1971 and the association of stars between James Taylor and Dennis Wilson attracted some interest, but it was not a huge success; however, its reputation has grown over the years. Film Talk described it as “one of the greatest road movies ever made” and was admitted to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2012.
He directed “Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Be Careful!” (1989), a rare change of pace with a slasher sequel. He acknowledged that it was probably his worst film, but was proud that the film began in March 1989, and the final cut was ready in June.
His 2010 noir film, “Road to Nowhere”, directed by varietySteven Gaydos, won a special Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Tarantino was the head of the jury and praised him as “a great film artist and a minimalist poet.” Hellman later said that he is the most personal of all his films.
Hellman later contributed a 90-second film to the multi-segment documentary “Venice 70: Future Reloaded” (2013).
In addition to making his own films, he directed sequences in other films and starred in other roles, such as dialogue director for Corman’s 1967 The Valentine’s Massacre and worked on RoboCop. He was credited as editor of Peckinpah’s “The Wild Angels” (1966), “Two-Lane Blacktop” and “The Killer Elite” in 1975, among others, and made uncredited montages for several films, including the comedy Of Monkees. (1968) and Lee Marvin’s 1979 Avalanche Express.
Hellman was an executive producer on Tarantino’s 1992 “Reservoir Dogs.” He was also a professor of directing at the California Institute of the Arts.
Among the survivors are his daughter, Melissa; son, Jared; and Brother Herb Himmelbaum.