Spartan Profiles: Walter Hill
LAST DIRECTOR STANDING
Once upon a time, film directors ranging from John Ford to John Huston to Sam Peckinpah were concerned with making adrenaline-pumping movies that one critic described as 'by men, for men.' Today, that generation of directors is practically extinct except for one man--Walter Hill, '62, since 1967 a director, writer and producer whose filmography includes such classics as 48 Hours (and Another 48 Hours), which introduced Eddie Murphy to America; Bullitt and The Getaway, both starring Steve McQueen; Alien, Aliens and Alien 3, with Sigourney Weaver; and most recently, Last Man Standing, with Bruce Willis leading a constellation of 'tough guys' like Christopher Walken and Bruce Dern.
Indeed, after having directed 20 action films, written more than 20, and produced more than a dozen over the past three decades, Hill could be considered the 'last director standing.' Walter was at first reluctant to direct Last Man Standing, a remake of Akira Kurasawa's classic Yojimbo. 'I had to be convinced there was a story that would use the basic material and still make some kind of sense in its own right,' he explains. But he agreed after learning that Kurosawa supported an adaptation. 'Once that condition was met,' says Hill, 'my challenge was to make the basic story work in an American context. By setting this film against the backdrop of Prohibition, an era unique to our country's history, we tapped into a slice of Americana.' The result was prototypical of Hill, a skilled visual stylist who for two decades has refined the narrative use of chase and confrontation.
Walter's first feature movie, Hard Times, earned him critical accolades. He directed many thrillers from his own scripts, such as The Driver, The Warrior, Southern Comfort, and Streets of Fire. A fan of the Western genre, Walter produced and directed critically-acclaimed films like The Long Riders, Geronimo: An American Legend, Extreme Prejudice, and Wild Bill. Hill has been honored with many prestigious awards, including a Saturn Award for Alien and a CableAce Award for several episodes of HBO's 'Tales of the Crypt.'