Monte Hellman

Monte Hellman (born July 12, 1932) is an American film director, producer, and film editor.

Career

Hellman is among a group of directing talent mentored by Roger Corman, who produced several of the director's early films. According to film scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon, 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. Hellman's most critically acclaimed film to date has been Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), a road movie that was a box office failure at the time of its initial release but has subsequently turned into a perennial cult favorite. Hellman's two acid westerns starring Jack Nicholson, Ride in the Whirlwind and The Shooting, both shot in 1965 and released directly to television in 1968, have also developed cult followings, particularly the latter. A third western, China 9, Liberty 37 (1978), was far less successful critically, although it too has its admirers, as do Cockfighter (1974) (aka Born to Kill) and Iguana (1988). In 1989 he directed the straight-to-video slasher film Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!.