Monte Hellman
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Monte Hellman (/ˈmɒnti/; born Monte Jay Himmelbaum;[2] July 12, 1929 – April 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the horror film Beast from Haunted Cave (1959), produced by Gene Corman, Roger Corman's brother.
He would later gain critical recognition for the Westerns The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind (both 1966) starring Jack Nicholson, the road movie Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) starring James Taylor and Dennis Wilson, and the drama film Cockfighter (1974) starring Warren Oates. His later directorial work included the 1989 slasher film Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! and the independent thriller Road to Nowhere (2010). Hellman also served as an executive producer on Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992).
Early life
Monte Hellman was born on July 12, 1929, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn,[3] to Gertrude (née Edelstein) and Fred Himmelbaum,[4] who were vacationing in New York at the time of his birth.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. The family ended up settling in Albany, New York, before relocating to Los Angeles, California, when Hellman was 5 years old.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
Hellman graduated from Los Angeles High School, and attended Stanford University, graduating in 1951. He then attended graduate school at the University of California, Los Angeles, but did not complete his studies.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
Career
Hellman was among a group of directing talent mentored by Roger Corman, who produced several of the director's early films. Hellman began by working on "low budget exploitation films with a personal slant," yet learned from Corman the art of producing commercially viable films on a tight budget while staying true to a personal vision.[5] Hellman's most critically acclaimed film is considered to be Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), a road movie that was a box-office failure at the time of its initial release but, according to Danny Peary in 1981, it has become a perennial cult favorite.[6]
Hellman's two acid westerns starring Jack Nicholson, Ride in the Whirlwind and The Shooting, both shot in 1965 and premiered at festivals in 1966 before being widely released directly to television in 1968, have also developed followings, particularly the latter.[6] Hellman and his stuntman, Gary Kent, talk about the making of the westerns in the 2018 documentary Danger God aka Love and Other Stunts.[7] A third western, China 9, Liberty 37 (1978), was far less successful critically, although it too has its admirers,[8] as do Cockfighter (1974) (aka Born to Kill)[9] and Iguana (1988).[10] In 1989, he directed the straight-to-video slasher film Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! [11]
In addition to his directorial career, Hellman worked on several films in different capacities.He was the dialogue director for Corman's The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)[<span title="Script error: No such module "decodeEncode".">citation needed], and second-unit director on Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987). Hellman finished two pictures in post-production that were started by other directors who died after the movies were shot, the Muhammad Ali bio The Greatest (1977) (started by Tom Gries) and Avalanche Express (1979) (begun by Mark Robson). He shot extra footage for the television versions of Ski Troop Attack (1960), Last Woman on Earth (1960)[<span title="Script error: No such module "decodeEncode".">citation needed], Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) and Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Among the movies on which Hellman served as editor are Corman's The Wild Angels (1966), Bob Rafelson's Head (1968), Sam Peckinpah's The Killer Elite (1975), and Jonathan Demme's Fighting Mad (1976).[12][13][11] He was an executive producer on Quentin Tarantino's debut feature Reservoir Dogs (1992).[14]
In 2006, he directed "Stanley's Girlfriend", a section of the omnibus horror film Trapped Ashes. Hellman's section of the film was presented by the Cannes Film Festival that year out of competition as an "Official Selection," and Hellman was named president of the festival's "Un Certain Regard" jury.[15]
At the 2010 Venice Film Festival, he was awarded a special career prize.[16] Later in the year he completed a new feature film, the romantic noir thriller Road to Nowhere, which competed for the Golden Lion at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.[17]
As of 2011, he taught with the Film Directing Program at the California Institute of the Arts.[18]
Death
Hellman fell at his home on April 19, 2021. In critical condition, he died the next day at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 91.[19]
Filmography
Films
| Year | Title | Notes[11] |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Beast from Haunted Cave | |
| 1964 | Flight to Fury | also co-storywriter and editor |
| Back Door to Hell | ||
| 1966 | Ride in the Whirlwind | also editor and co-producer[20] |
| The Shooting | ||
| 1971 | Two-Lane Blacktop | also editor |
| 1974 | Cockfighter | |
| 1978 | China 9, Liberty 37 | also known as Amore piombo e furore, co-producer |
| 1981 | Inside the Coppola Personality | documentary short[21] |
| 1988 | Iguana | |
| 1989 | Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! | also co-storywriter |
| 2006 | Trapped Ashes | segment: "Stanley's Girlfriend" |
| 2010 | Road to Nowhere | also co-producer |
| 2013 | Vive l'amour | short, for Venezia 70 Future Reloaded initiative |
Other film work
- A Fistful of Dollars (1964; director of 1977 ABC TV version prologue)
- The Killer Elite (1975; co-editor)
- The Greatest (1977; finished film on behalf of Tom Gries, post-production supervisor)
- Avalanche Express (1979; finished film on behalf of Mark Robson, post-production supervisor)[22]
- RoboCop (1987; uncredited second-unit director, he directed several action scenes on behalf of Paul Verhoeven)[23]
- Reservoir Dogs (1992; executive producer and uncredited writer)[24]
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.McGilligan, Patrick (1996). Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 94. ISBN 9780393313789. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."MONTE HELLMAN". Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Grimes, William (April 21, 2021). "Monte Hellman, Cult Director of 'Two-Lane Blacktop,' Dies at 91". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Monte Hellman (1932–)". Film Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
- ^ Wheeler Winston Dixon, Rutgers University Press, Jul 11, 2007, Film Talk: Directors at Work, Retrieved November 10, 2014 (see page xi Introduction paragraph 2), Template:ISBN
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Peary, Danny (1981). Cult Movies. Delacorte Press. pp. 363–365. OCLC 1148816096.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Savlov, Marc (June 1, 2018). "Gary Kent Is One of the Last of the Dangerous Men". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Wells, Ron. "China 9, Liberty 37". Film Threat. Retrieved September 21, 2006.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Cockfighter". DVD Beaver. Retrieved September 21, 2006.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Thompson, Nathaniel. "The Films of Monte Hellman". Mondo Digital. Retrieved September 21, 2006.
- ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Monte Hellman". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on May 8, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Monte Hellman". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Monte Hellman". American Film Institute. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Fitzmaurice, Larry (September 2015). "Quentin Tarantino: The Complete Syllabus of His Influences and References". Slate. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Monte Hellman". Festival de Cannes. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Official Awards of the 67th Venice Film Festival". La Biennale. November 3, 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Venezia 67". labiennale.org. July 29, 2010. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Cult filmmaker Monte Hellman talks about 'Two-Lane Blacktop' and 'Road to Nowhere' in exclusive Indie Ethos interview". Independent Ethos. June 20, 2011. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gray, Tim (April 20, 2021). "Monte Hellman, 'Two-Lane Blacktop' Director, Dies at 91". Variety. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 12, 2026.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Stevens, Brad (June 28, 2010). Monte Hellman: His Life and Films. McFarland. ISBN 9780786481880.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Stevens, Brad (June 28, 2010). Monte Hellman: His Life and Films. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-8188-0.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Monte Hellman looks back". BFI. April 28, 2021. Retrieved April 12, 2026.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Weinraub, Bernard (September 22, 1994). "A Film Maker and the Art of the Deal". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 9, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
Bibliography
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2007). Film Talk: Directors at Work. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-4078-8.
External links
- Monte Hellman at IMDb
- Interview: Monte Hellman on Roger Corman and Cockfighter
- Monte Hellman on La furia umana
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