Okay. So. Walter Hill's other movies.

Walter Hill is one of those directors that by the time I recognized his name and his work, he’d already sorta shifted out of favor with Hollywood.

Famously made his bones writing for directors like Peckinpah, later writing and producing the first Alien flick, so he came in blazing hot. His (debatably1) best works as a writer/director, 48 Hrs, The Driver, The Warriors, came in the front quarter of his directing career, his latter works don’t get nearly as much attention.

Most screenwriters know his writing style, or at least the style he demonstrated in his “Alien” rewrite.

Described as “spare” and “hiaku-like,” he conveys much with few words.

Like a more practical Cormac McCarthy.

His directing style is often equally practical - the frame might be packed full of colorful gang members in clown costumes, but the actual shot choices, the setups, the rhythms, they’re usually more classically done than to show off.

(Compared to say, Michael Bay or Zach Synder - no shade, as the kids say, just saying their styles tend to call attention to themselves.)

Whenever I pop in a Walter Hill film, I’m expecting to see something thoughtful, intelligent, or at least, batshit crazy.

Every so often, he scores a grand slam again, like directing the pilot for HBO’s “Deadwood.” And a steady stream of “Alien” product probably keeps his wallet fat, so I’m sure he’s doing fine.

Some of his films have gotten some decent re-appraisal lately, e.g. Streets of Fire, Johnny Handsome, Southern Comfort… I even see people bringing up Red Heat a lot lately. So I’m gonna attempt to highlight a few lesser-knowns, that only Walter Chaw remembers. (If you’re a Hill fan, you should read Chaw’s Walter Hill book.)

(Not that these are my favorites. I’m on the bandwagon with Warriors, Driver and 48 Hrs. Just trying to give the man his dues as a filmmaker of stuff you don’t see every day.)

Hill’s done a lot of movies, that if they maybe don’t deserve a slot in THE CANON, are at least interesting enough they deserve a look.

And yet, I start with this one.

Honestly, I’m a little mad at this flick, it should be one of my favorite movies of ever. Bruce Willis, in a Western-meets-Untouchables shoot-em-up set in Prohibition-era Texas, that’s a remake of Yojimbo, the template for Fistful of Dollars, both a ripoff of Red Harvest? Christopher Walken? David Patrick Kelly? Bruce Dern?

WTF? This should be a movie I’m constantly annoying my friends with. This movie screams “hidden gem.”

I mean, it’s not bad. There’s just something missing from it, and though I’ve watched it several times, I can never put my finger on exactly what.

It’s just not enough. And considering this is a director who once had gangbangers dressed as mimes, he’s a dude knows when he’s way past enough, and keeps pumping anyway.

Anyway, this movie is inspiring to me in the abstract, even if not in the actual watching, because I’d love to do a story like it one day. Western Untouchables? C’mon now.

This poor thing got a lot of flack, and I get it. The whole idea of a lead character who’s trans, you’d think, get a trans person to play it, right?

However, it’s been debated that Michelle Rodriguez doesn’t actually play a trans character, that is, a person born into a body they believe doesn’t truly represent them. She plays a cis scumbag killer who is forcibly transitioned from male to female as revenge.

Now, you can argue that’s grotesque and tasteless and inappropriate on many levels… you’re probably right.

But on the other hand, you could argue that it’s at least pro-trans in the sense that it’s trying to show how difficult it would be for somebody who’s been unwillingly reborn into a body they don’t think properly represents them. It’s at least a step in a thoughtful direction.

Though, if it came out in the 70s when it was written, it would’ve been maybe more revolutionary than in the new millennium.

Anyway, you can see how casting a true trans person in the role, just for them to play like they hate themselves for being transformed, might send a weird message. I’m not necessarily saying don’t do it… I imagine somebody like Laverne Cox or Elliot Page could’ve torn this shit right up, cuz a good actor is a good actor.

But I’m trying to give the movie room for trying something different, and maybe failing, than punishing it for trying at all.

Now, unfortunately, the movie is largely exploitative, rather than a thoughtful meditation on being stuck in the wrong body. So, y’know, maybe all that defending I just did doesn’t really mean much. I’m just surprised it had as much possibility as it did.

Somebody… perhaps, Hollywood, a trans filmmaker… should remake this their way, and do it justice.

Sort of a warm-up to Deadwood, without the Shakespearian aesthetic. Has all the deconstructionist Western stuff you’d expect from Hill.

And Jeff Bridges is always worth watching, especially when he goes cowboy (his Rooster Cogburn inTrue Grit being one of my favorite of his performances).

It does suffer by comparison to Deadwood, since it deals with similar subject matter. But it’s another “print the legend” kinda story, addressing the myth of Wild Bill from a different angle.

Probably no more historically accurate, but I don’t go to the movies for my history.

It does have a good build to the conclusion we all know is coming, and some great quotes:

“This town… I really think it’s like something out of the Bible.

“What part of the Bible?”

“The part right before God gets angry.”

It also doesn’t have quite the same patois as Deadwood, unless you count Bridges announcing, “All this love talk, I got me a hard-on. Want to see?”

I’m always gonna hold a special place in my heart for this one.

Quite likely my first actual Walter Hill movie (this or 48 Hours, I don’t remember). But even as a kid I was a huge Richard Pryor fan, and John Candy was always delightful. Neither is at their funniest here, but even mid-tier Pryor and Candy is the goods.

And there’s some clever bits in it. At the very least, it depicted how a rich outsider might, oh, buy his way into politics…

Yeah, I know, too soon.

These days, with billionaires playing with people’s lives, it maybe isn’t the movie we need. But I will always appreciate the way Pryor says, near the end, “… I am sick of money.”

(Though I doubt the real Pryor was.)

And for last, not necessarily a great movie, but maybe one that was too harshed on…

This one got a ton of attention, perhaps too much attention, for the behind-the-scenes drama. Hill directed the movie, and at some point, other folks, including Francis Ford Coppola, were brought in to re-edit and re-jigger the film, and Hill took his name off it.

I watched it recently. Considering the staggering amount of name power of those two directors alone, the final product is…

… fine.

Not nearly as bad as advertised, but it leaves your brain so fast after watching it, you have to be careful, as you might go back to the thumbnail on your streamer and say, “Oh! That looks interesting! I should watch it!”, then accidentally start it again.

Also, sort of honorable mention, I liked Dead For a Dollar, Hill’s latest western, staring the fabulous Mrs. Maizel. Didn’t adore it, and its low budget is readily apparent, but it wasn’t bad.

But if you’re only gonna watch one Walter Hill movie… probably should watch The Driver. Or The Warriors. Or Hard Times, or 48 Hrs.

(And maybe save Crossroads, Another 48 Hrs. and Trespass for when you’re looking to be a completist.)

Click the titles to read muh stories:

Four Walls

Good Manners

Whiskey Dick

Blowtorch Blues

Mob Dick

Chilton’s Hands

Bastards of a Lesser God

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