Monte Hellman, the maverick director of such films as “Two-Lane Blacktop,” “The Shooting,” and “Road to Nowhere,” died April 20 at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Desert, California, after falling in his home. in April. 19. He was 91.
Hellman was a cult director who was widely admired in the industry and earned fans like Quentin Tarantino; they loved his sordid stories, which featured poetic flourishes amid his genre films.
After working as an apprentice editor at ABC, he made his directorial debut with the 1959 “Beast From Haunted Cave” produced by Roger Corman. He became part of the Corman stable of veterans learning how to maximize impact on a minimal budget. Other Corman alumni include Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard.
Hellman collaborated with Jack Nicholson in the 1960s, including two films shot back-to-back in the Philippines, ‘Back Door to Hell’ and ‘Flight to Fury’. Hellman and Nicholson teamed up again on two westerns, “Ride the Whirlwind” and “The Shooting,” which used elements of traditional Hollywood oaters, spaghetti westerns, and 1960s counter-culture sensibility.
He also directed “The Cockfighter” (1974) and “China 9, Liberty 37” (1978), both starring Warren Oates. “China” has the added accolade of a rare acting performance from Sam Peckinpah.
The road movie “Two-Lane Blacktop” opened in 1971 and star couple James Taylor and Dennis Wilson attracted some interest, but it was not a big hit; however, its reputation has grown over the years. Film Talk described it as “one of the best road movies ever made” and it was admitted to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2012.
He directed “Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!” (1989), a rare change of pace with a slasher sequel. He admitted it was probably his worst movie, but he was proud of the fact that he started the film in March 1989 and the final version was ready in June.
His 2010 noir film ‘Road to Nowhere’, written by VarietySteven Gaydos, won a special Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Tarantino was head of the jury and praised him as “a great film artist and a minimalist poet”. Hellman later said it was the most personal of all of his movies.
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 has directed sequences in other films and served in other capacities, such as dialogue director for Corman’s 1967 ‘The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre’ and second-unit work on ‘RoboCop’. He was credited as an editor for ‘The Wild Angels’ (1966), ‘Two-Lane Blacktop’ and Peckinpah’s ‘The Killer Elite’ from 1975, among others, and worked uncredited on several films, including the trippy comedy ‘Head’ by Monkees. (1968) and the 1979 Lee Marvin ‘Avalanche Express’ vehicle.
Hellman was an executive producer of Tarantino’s 1992 “Reservoir Dogs”. He was also a director of the California Institute of the Arts.
Survivors include his daughter, Melissa; son, Jared; and brother Herb Himmelbaum.