Monte Hellman

Monte Hellman was born on July 12, 1929, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn,{{Cite news|last=Grimes|first=William|date=2021-04-21|title=Monte Hellman, Cult Director of 'Two-Lane Blacktop,' Dies at 91|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/movies/monte-hellman-dead.html|access-date=2021-04-23|issn=0362-4331}} to Gertrude (née Edelstein) and Fred Himmelbaum,{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/53/Monte-Hellman.html|work=Film Reference|title=Monte Hellman (1932–)|access-date=December 30, 2016}} who were vacationing in New York at the time of his birth.{{Sfn|Dixon|2007|p=98}} The family ended up settling in Albany, New York, before relocating to Los Angeles, California, when Hellman was 5 years old.{{Sfn|Dixon|2007|p=100}}

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.{{Sfn|Dixon|2007|p=100}}

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.Wheeler Winston Dixon, Rutgers University Press, Jul 11, 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bgXQ7qaC7nYC&dq=%22Film+Talk%22+%22Directors+at+Work%22+Dixon&pg=PR4 Film Talk: Directors at Work], Retrieved November 10, 2014 (see page xi Introduction paragraph 2), {{ISBN|978-0-8135-4077-1}} 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.{{cite book|last=Peary|first=Danny|author-link=Danny Peary|title=Cult Movies|title-link=Cult Movies (book)|pages=363–365|oclc=1148816096|date=1981|publisher=Delacorte Press}}

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. Hellman and his stuntman, Gary Kent, talk about the making of the westerns in the 2018 documentary Danger God aka Love and Other Stunts.{{Cite web|last=Savlov|first=Marc|date=2018-06-01|title=Gary Kent Is One of the Last of the Dangerous Men|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2018-06-01/gary-kent-is-one-of-the-last-of-the-dangerous-men/|access-date=2021-04-21|website=The Austin Chronicle|language=en-US}} A third western, China 9, Liberty 37 (1978), was far less successful critically, although it too has its admirers,{{Cite web|url=http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=1355|title=China 9, Liberty 37|access-date=September 21, 2006|first=Ron|last=Wells|publisher=Film Threat}} as do Cockfighter (1974) (aka Born to Kill){{Cite web|url=http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare10/cockfighter_.htm|title=Cockfighter|access-date=September 21, 2006|publisher=DVD Beaver}} and Iguana (1988).{{Cite web|url=http://www.mondo-digital.com/twolane.html|title=The Films of Monte Hellman|access-date=September 21, 2006|first=Nathaniel|last=Thompson|publisher=Mondo Digital}} In 1989, he directed the straight-to-video slasher film Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! {{Cite web|title=Monte Hellman|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1640bf4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508022830/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1640bf4|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 8, 2017|access-date=2021-04-21|website=British Film Institute|language=en}}

In addition to his directorial career, Hellman worked on several films in different capacities.{{citation needed span|He was the dialogue director for Corman's The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)|date=April 2021}}, 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). {{citation needed span|He shot extra footage for the television versions of Ski Troop Attack (1960), Last Woman on Earth (1960)|date=April 2021}}, 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).{{Cite web|title=Monte Hellman|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/monte_hellman|access-date=2021-04-22|website=Rotten Tomatoes|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Monte Hellman|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Person/114452-Monte-Hellman|access-date=2021-04-22|website=American Film Institute}} He was an executive producer on Quentin Tarantino's debut feature Reservoir Dogs (1992).{{cite journal|last1=Fitzmaurice|first1=Larry|title=Quentin Tarantino: The Complete Syllabus of His Influences and References|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/09/01/quentin_tarantino_influences_and_references_every_inspiration_for_pulp_fiction.html|journal=Slate|date=September 2015|access-date=September 9, 2015}}

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.{{Cite web|title=Monte Hellman|url=https://m.festival-cannes.com/en/artist/monte-hellman|access-date=2021-04-22|website=Festival de Cannes}}

At the 2010 Venice Film Festival, he was awarded a special career prize.{{cite web|url=http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/archive/67th-festival/awards/|title=Official Awards of the 67th Venice Film Festival|work=La Biennale|date=November 3, 2021}} 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/festival/lineup/off-sel/venezia67/ |title=Venezia 67 |access-date=July 29, 2010|work=labiennale.org | date=July 29, 2010}}

As of 2011, he taught with the Film Directing Program at the California Institute of the Arts.{{Cite web|url=https://indieethos.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/cult-filmmaker-monte-hellman-talks-about-two-lane-blacktop-and-road-to-nowhere-in-exclusive-indie-ethos-interview/|title=Cult filmmaker Monte Hellman talks about 'Two-Lane Blacktop' and 'Road to Nowhere' in exclusive Indie Ethos interview|date=2011-06-20|website=Independent Ethos|language=en|access-date=2019-09-17}}

Hellman sustained a fall 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.{{Cite web|last=Gray|first=Tim|date=2021-04-20|title=Monte Hellman, 'Two-Lane Blacktop' Director, Dies at 91|url=https://variety.com/2021/film/obituaries-people-news/monte-hellman-dead-dies-director-two-lane-blacktop-1234956241/|access-date=2021-04-20|work=Variety|language=en-US}}

• The Terror (1963) (location director, uncredited; with Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Hill, and Jack Nicholson, under direction of Roger Corman)
• The Killer Elite (1975; co-editor)
• A Fistful of Dollars (ABC TV version prologue,1977)
• The Greatest (1977; finished film on behalf of Tom Gries, post-production supervisor)
• RoboCop (1987; uncredited second-unit director, he directed several action scenes)
• Reservoir Dogs (1992; executive producer)

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|title=Film Talk: Directors at Work|author=Dixon, Wheeler Winston|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8135-4078-8|publisher=Rutgers University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgXQ7qaC7nYC&q=monte+hellman+vacation+born&pg=PA98|ref={{SfnRef|Dixon|2007}}}}

• {{IMDb name}}
• [http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC10-11folder/MonteHIntPasquarillo.html Interview: Monte Hellman on Roger Corman and Cockfighter]
• Monte Hellman on [http://www.lafuriaumana.it/index.php/archives/39-lfu-8 La furia umana]

{{Monte Hellman}}

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Category:1929 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:Accidental deaths from falls

Category:Accidental deaths in California

Category:American film editors

Category:Artists from New York City

Category:Film directors from Los Angeles

Category:Film directors from New York City

Category:Film producers from California

Category:Film producers from New York (state)

Category:Los Angeles High School alumni

Category:Stanford University alumni

Category:Western (genre) film directors