Monte Hellman (1932 - )




Filmography

Trapped Ashes (2006)

Stanley's Girlfriend (2006)

Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out! (1989)

Iguana (1988) Anchor Bay

Inside the Coppola Personality (1981)

Amore, piombo e furore (1978)

Cockfighter (1974) Anchor Bay

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) Criterion

The Shooting (1965) VCI

Ride in the Whirlwind (1965) VCI

Back Door to Hell (1964) Fox

Flight to Fury (1964)

Beast from Haunted Cave (1959) Synapse Video / Alpha Video


Selected Web Resources

Cars and Speed and Flight (interview)

Cashiers du Cinemart (interview)

The Independent Review (interview)

Images (Hellman's westerns)

Monte Hellman: His Life and Films(book review)

I'll tell you one thing. There's nothing like building up an old automobile from scratch and wiping out one of these Detroit machines. That'll give you a set of emotions that'll stay with you. Know what I mean? Those satisfactions are permanent. ~ G.T.O., Two Lane Blacktop

Of the available R1 DVDs of The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind, which are recommended? The VCI discs are OOP and way too pricey.

Don't know what's happened in the last few years (or the ins and outs of different R1 releases), but both of these films have long been only available in butchered pan and scan versions. It's the only way I've ever seen them, and they're a couple of my favourite westerns anyway.

There were a variety of French releases in 2006 - looks like you can get them in a straight double feature or in a choice of triples, with Two Lane Blacktop or Cockfighter - but I don't know if these releases remedied the AR butchery. I've been holding out for the rumoured Criterion editions but currently have an Australian P&S double feature which was dirt cheap.

The problem is I'm buying them on behalf of someone who can't wait for Criterion. It seems non-R1 would be fine, too, but I just can't find any information on which of the many available versions is preferable.

According to this imdb poster the Carlotta is the best available with removable subs and he says it's in OAR. I had the Passion release, which is awful so stay away from that one.

Thanks very much.

The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind are being released as a double feature blu-ray on August 21st. I wonder if this means that Criterion scrapped their plans to release them?

God, I hope not. Thankfully, the company behind this release (Intergroove) seem to be no more than bootleggers with a measly half-dozen titles to their credit. Some damning reviews for their "blu-ray" of Brando's One-Eyed Jacks, which suggest that the disc wouldn't even pass muster as a (very poor) DVD.

From Monte Hellman's twitter:

Fantastic news - at last these films will be done right.

Cultcine is selling an uncut, anamorphic widescreen version of China 9, Liberty 37! I'll finally get to see this. According to a poster on the avmaniacs forum, Warner actually owns the rights to this, and a planned Archive release was postponed due to quality issues. Those of you more patient than me can wait for that one I suppose, but I'm checking out the cultcine version. The only Hellman I haven't seen...can't wait

Happy with the Cultcine release of China 9, Liberty 37. It runs for 98 minutes. According to imdb, the original running time is 102 minutes, so I guess the DVD comes from a PAL source. Posted some caps here.