Walter Hill

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985." Pages 433-438. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

Hill became a film fan at an early age, and the first film he remembers seeing was Song of the South (1946).

Hill was born in Long Beach, California and educated at Mexico City College and Michigan State University. He worked in oil drilling and construction in the 60s before becoming a 2nd assistant director in 1967. He has written and co-written screenplays, including several uncredited works.

He was the second assistant director on Take the Money and Run (1969), but said he remembers doing very little except passing out the call sheets and filling out time cards.

His unmade projects include: Lloyd Williams and His Brother aka The Drifters - a Western written circa 1971. Hill says Sam Peckinpah was considering making it after The Getaway (1972) but decided to do Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) instead so Hill used material from the script in Hard Times (1975).The Last Gun - a Western written with Roger Spottiswoode (circa 1977).Lone Star from the play by James M. McClure to star Powers Boothe and Sigourney Weaver (1981).The Last Good Kiss based on a novel by James Crumley (early 1980s).An adaptation of Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett (early 1980s).An adaptation of Jim Thompson's Pop. 1280 (1980s).A remake of The Magnificent Seven (1960) (1984)A remake of John Woo's The Killer (1989), with Richard Gere as the Yun-Fat Chow character and with Denzel Washington as the Danny Lee character. Left the project due to creative differences.American Iron (1989/1990) - a film set in the world of bikers written with Marc Brunet, Daniel Pyne, and John Mankiewicz.Red, White, Black and Blue (1997) - rewrite by Hill of an Andrew Kevin Walker script.Vengeance of Mine - a contemporary thriller set in Las Vegas.A proposed remake of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

By Hill's own admission, his work on The MacKintosh Man (1973) "wasn't much" and he did it to settle a lawsuit with Warner Bros, with whom he was angry for selling Hickey & Boggs (1972). In addition, he and director John Huston disagreed on how closely to stick to the book on which it was based.

Is an avid fan of John Wayne. When The Duke saw Hard Times (1975), he wanted Hill to helm his last film, The Shootist (1976). But Hill refused because he didn't want to see his hero dying in a movie.

Was interested in directing The Gauntlet (1977) and approached Kris Kristofferson for the lead role.

Stated on the DVD introduction for the Ultimate Director's Cut on The Warriors (1979) that he is against making special editions to his own films because he feels that movies should speak for themselves and do not demand as he describes "special explanations and long apologies".

His film Streets of Fire (1984) is said to have been an influence on the Japanese anime series Bubblegum Crisis (1987).

He purposefully made Brewster's Millions (1985) "to improve his bank account and success quotient". He later called the movie "an aberration in the career line" being his only flat out comedy. He added that "whatever [the film's] deficiencies, I think the wistful quality was there. I was happy about that. The picture did well and made money.".

Co-wrote a version of Revenge (1990) with David Giler that wasn't used.

He wanted to direct The Fugitive (1993) with Nick Nolte in the lead role. This was dashed when Nolte was deemed too old.

Received the prestigious Joseph Plateau Award at the Flanders International Film Festival. The Joseph Plateau Life Time Achievement Award, considered the festival's highest honor, recognized Hill's achievement in filmmaking as a writer, director and producer, and was presented during the 34th edition of the festival in Ghent, Belgium (October 9th - 20th). [2007]

Profiled in "American Classic Screen Interviews" (Scarecrow Press). [2010]

Sylvester Stallone personally hand-picked him to direct Bullet to the Head (2012).