BROKEN TRAIL: WALTER HILL IN THE 1970S

March 30, 2017

In by Dov Kornits

Screening on Wednesday the 5th of April, the Melbourne Cinémathèque is proud to present Broken Trail: Walter Hill in the 1970s, a night showcasing Walter Hill’s remarkable first two films as a director.
Screening on Wednesday the 5th of April, the Melbourne Cinémathèque is proud to present Broken Trail: Walter Hill in the 1970s, a night showcasing Walter Hill’s remarkable first two films as a director.

Having began his Hollywood career as an assistant director on films such as The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and Take the Money and Run (1969), Hill quickly established his reputation as a writer of downbeat, stripped back crime films such as Hickey & Boggs (1972) and Sam Peckinpah’s The Getaway (1972). The group of films Hill made between 1975 and 1980 after switching to directing, including cult classic The Warriors (1979), represent one of the most underrated contributions to one of the golden ages of American filmmaking.

Although Hill’s career is often defined by the series of postmodern genre films he released throughout the 1980s (such as Southern Comfort (1981) and Streets of Fire (1984)), and reached its commerical peak with 48 Hrs. (1983), his early work presents a far leaner and more classical approach to genre filmmaking.
The session begins with The Driver (1978). Focused on an unnamed driver (Ryan O’Neal) who steals fast cars to use as getaway vehicles in a series of LA heists, he finds himself pursued by an egocentric cop (Bruce Dern) determined to track him down. Featuring some of the greatest car chases ever filmed, The Driver has gone on to become a cult classic and has influenced the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Nicolas Winding Refn.

The night concludes with Hill’s debut feature, Hard Times (1975). Starring Charles Bronson, it’s a wonderfully atmospheric and physically robust portrait of a drifter who becomes involved in the unforgiving world of bare-knuckled boxing. Shot on location in Louisiana and set during the Great Depression, this is a bruising but soulful film which establishes a more reserved approach to action and genre.

Broken Trail: Walter Hill in the 1970s
5 April, 2017
Melbourne Cinémathèque
Venue: Australia Centre for the Moving Image, Federation Square
http://www.melbournecinematheque.org/category/present-year/broken-trail-walter-hill-in-the-1970s/

About the Melbourne Cinémathèque:
The Melbourne Cinémathèque is a not-for-profit, volunteer run film society dedicated to importing and screening significant films from the history of international cinema, in their original format. It holds screenings at the Australia Centre for the Moving Image every Wednesday night for most of the year.

The Melbourne Cinémathèque started out as the Melbourne University Film Society in 1948. It changed its name in 1984 to reflect the Cinémathèque’s broadened activities and ambitions. Today, the Melbourne Cinémathèque programs a diverse selection of classic and contemporary films showcasing director retrospectives, special guest appearances and thematic series including archival material and new or restored prints.

The Melbourne Cinémathèque is supported by Screen Australia and Film Victoria.

Major sponsors: Sirena Tuna, 3RRR, Present Company Included, Stellar Dental.

(Full program notes follow.)

5 APRIL
BROKEN TRAIL: WALTER HILL IN THE 1970S
Although the career of Walter Hill (1942-) is most commonly identified with the series of postmodern genre films he made in the 1980s (such as Streets of Fire), and reached a commercial peak with the production of 48 Hrs. in 1983, his influential work in the 1970s presents a leaner and more classical approach to genre. Hill began his Hollywood career as an assistant director on films like The Thomas Crown Affair before quickly establishing a formidable reputation as a writer of terse, downbeat, stripped back crime movies like Hickey & Boggs and The Getaway. The group of films Hill made between 1975 and 1980 after switching to directing, taking in Hard Times, The Driver, The Warriors and the elegant Western, The Long Riders, represent one of the most underrated contributions to that most storied of decades and betray the deep influence of classical directors such as Raoul Walsh and Howard Hawks.

This program presents Hill’s remarkable first two films and showcases their wonderfully lived-in sense of genre, place and movement. The two films also feature key performances by several iconic male actors of the decade including Charles Bronson, Ryan O’Neal, James Coburn and Bruce Dern.

5 APRIL
7:00pm
THE DRIVER
Walter Hill (1978) M
91 mins
Hill’s lean, iconic neo-noir was a significant influence on the work of Quentin Tarantino and Nicolas Winding Refn while itself paying loving homage to Melville’s Le samouraï and Raoul Walsh (who approved of the script prior to production). An unnamed driver (Ryan O’Neal) steals fast cars to use as getaway vehicles in a series of audacious LA heists, while an egocentric cop (Bruce Dern) doggedly tracks him down. Featuring some of the greatest car chases ever put on film, Hill’s streamlined cult movie has emerged as one of the key works of ‘70s genre cinema, reveling in a cool and remarkably atmospheric vision of the nocturnal city.
With Isabelle Adjani and Ronee Blakley.

8:45pm
HARD TIMES
Walter Hill (1975) PG
93 mins
Hill’s debut feature is a wonderfully atmospheric and physically robust portrait of a freight car-hopping drifter (Charles Bronson) who becomes involved in the brutal world of bareknuckled boxing. Betraying the core influence of Hill’s previous collaborator, Sam Peckinpah, this bruising but soulful film carves out its own mood and strikingly taciturn, spare approach to action and genre. Shot on location in Louisiana, and pungently set during the Great Depression, it remains one of Bronson’s greatest films and features a marvelous support cast including James Coburn, Strother Martin and Jill Ireland.

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