Monte Hellman

IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Anyone a fan of this director? I've just watched Ride In The Whirlwind which was pretty good but very normal in comparison to all of his other films that I've seen. I thought that Two Lane Blacktop, The Shooting and Cockfighter were all fantastic and stand out as different from any other films and they had a profound effect on me.
For those who don't know his films are typically about silent men (especially in Cockfighter where the main character has taken a vow of silence) with an unusual obsession (their car, cockfighting etc) who act in peculiar and often almost unexplained ways. It's common for the characters to have no names (The Driver, The Mechanic and The Girl in Two Lane Blacktop, The Woman in The Shooting) and never explain what they are doing or why, some people find this annoying but for me it really works and the films get right under your skin and keep you thinking about them for days. People often describe them as "existential" (whatever that means - my friend said it means that nobody speaks much) and that may be the case but either way you get drawn in to them totally and surprisingly considering that often nothing really happens and there is hardly any dialogue.
I guess that the films are kind of macho in a way, hence the lack of names for the women who often seem to be tokens in a game. In Cockfighter after losing a bet the main character passes his girlfriend on with his other possessions and in Two Lane Blacktop there is a sense that somehow The Girl is at stake in their wager. This isn't something that appeals to me but these films are normally totally amoral and make no value judgments, stuff just kind of happens.
Hellman seems to use particular actors that he likes, all three of those films feature Warren Oates who is brilliant in all of them. Jack Nicholson, Millie Perkins and Harry Dean Stanton make regular appearances as well. I guess that this can often have benefits and lead to productive relationships and I like it when I see a director who likes working with the same people.
Anyway, banged on long enough anyone else a fan and want to talk about this? Can anyone recommend anything similar?
 
J

johnny_yen

Guest
never heard of Hellman, sounds good though, will add to ever-expanding amazong wishlist
 
J

John Doe

Well-known member
I'm a fan of Hellman, too, after a fashion - I've only seen Two Lane Blacktop, which really blew me away the first time I saw it. His other films have eluded me - I know Cockfight was banned until very recently in the UK because its scenes of animal cruelty fell foul of our censhorship laws. Are they available on DVD now, and if so, from where?
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
"His other films have eluded me - I know Cockfight was banned until very recently in the UK because its scenes of animal cruelty fell foul of our censhorship laws. Are they available on DVD now, and if so, from where?"
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I'm pretty sure that Cockfighter is banned in the UK, however my friend bought a copy from ebay for a few quid and it was well worth the investment. It might be that it is no longer banned because I know they have it in the video library on Broadway Market in Hackney/Haggerston - I asked the guy there if it had recently changed but he didn't know anything about it either way.
The Shooting (in my opinion the best one) should be readily available from Lovefilm or Amazon or whatever, likewise Ride In The Whirlwind.
 
nochexxx

nochexxx

harco pronting
just been watching the dvd extras from two lane blacktop and there's a must see interview between hellman and james taylor.

one such interesting anecdote is taylor dropping mescaline with mr oats and attending a 'snake dance'. :)
 
empty mirror

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
John Doe said:
I'm a fan of Hellman, too, after a fashion - I've only seen Two Lane Blacktop, which really blew me away the first time I saw it. His other films have eluded me - I know Cockfight was banned until very recently in the UK because its scenes of animal cruelty fell foul of our censhorship laws. Are they available on DVD now, and if so, from where?
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this is my post also
 
nochexxx

nochexxx

harco pronting
rather interestingly his style of direction (anti-direction?) involved showing the actors one page of the script at a time. much to j taylor's annoyance who felt he wasn't trusted. i think oats was the only actor who had access to the full script. well you would wouldn't you!
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
"hell yeah! i think i tried looking for this but couldn't find it."
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Well, I've given it back to my friend but I could ask him if he will copy it for you. It's really not that good though - at the end I thought "what was the point of that film" which is what you always think at the end of his films but normally in a good way.
 
nochexxx

nochexxx

harco pronting
that's very kind of you. i have just found it on amazon for £11, which is a bit steep for my humble pockets.

no pressure, but i could send your mate a blanc dvd and stamps or some kinda surpirise gift in exchange. :cool:
 
nochexxx

nochexxx

harco pronting
two lane black top is now my all time favourite film, the great thing is i don't have any interest in cars...... i could literally smell and touch the cars interior. without wanting to sound pretentious this is what i want from all forms of art, whether it be music, film, literature whatever, i just want the ability to travel inside the medium.

after having watched the shooting and TLB twice, i realise i find more and more contained therein. i noticed there are a couple of scenes in TLB where it would seem lines are forgotten and remembered then rectified a second later. it could be seen as a natural mumble or directorial fuck up, whatever the reason hellman is a god for allowing this. interestingly one of these scenes is used in the trailer.

james taylor is an interesting character, i think i'm going to have to buy his records. he made an interesting comment about modern cinema (which i have felt for sometime now), about how the editing of modern tv/film is designed to assault each of your senses as quickly as possible, however after your senses have been individually attacked (usually at the same time) the substance of the film is lost as it fails to return back to the brain because it hasn't had time to recover. many films have become more physical than mental. i think this is partly why i suffer from panic attacks in cinemas.

anyway tlb does the exact opposite of todays style, giving you that sense that your actually on the road with these dudes.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
nochexxx said:
james taylor is an interesting character, i think i'm going to have to buy his records.
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* By the end of the decade it had become obvious that perhaps the one constant of our variegated and strung-out peer groups was a pervasive sense of self-consciousness that sent us in grouchy packs to ugly festivals just to be together and dig ourselves and each other, as if all of this meant something greater than that we were kids who liked rock 'n' roll and came out to have a good time, as if our very styles and trappings and drugs and jargon could be in themselves political statements for any longer than about fifteen stoned seconds, even a threat to the Mother Country! So we loved and loved and doted on ourselves and our reflections in each other even as the whole thing got out of hand and turned into mud and disaster areas and downs and death.
o "James Taylor Marked for Death" (1971), p. 66

* The trend toward narcissistic flair has been responsible in large part for smiting rock with the superstar virus, which revolves around the substituting of attitudes and flamboyant trappings, into which the audience can project their fantasies, for the simple desire to make music, get loose, knock the folks out or get 'em up dancin.' It's not enough just to do those things anymore; what you must do instead if you want success on any large scale is figure a way of getting yourself associated in the audience's mind with their pieties and their sense of "community," i.e., ram it home that you're one of THEM; or, alternately, deck and bake yourself into an image configuration so blatant or outrageous that you become a culture myth.
o "James Taylor Marked for Death" (1971), p. 67

* The extravagant and ostentatious lifestyles that pass for charisma in a time when almost anybody talks about charisma but if you think about it there's precious little to be seen.
o "James Taylor Marked for Death" (1971), p. 69

* What all this posturing and fake glamor results in is a vast detachment and cynicism on the part of the artists. Since it's impossible to have respect for an audience that'll take just about anything you care to dish out, and the impassive demeanor is so central to the role, a general numbnose is all that can be expected.
o "James Taylor Marked for Death" (1971), p. 70
 
nochexxx

nochexxx

harco pronting
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nochexxx

nochexxx

harco pronting
haha, i watched iguana yesterday. terrible film but i warmed to it albeit as good as it gets on channel 5 kinda way.

i was very pleased to see michael madson give such a funny if somewhat fingerless performance. why this is one of tarantino's favourite films i shall never understand. perhaps it's down to lines like "why don't you suck me until i cum all over your pretty dress" excuted inna captain pickard i'm an ACTOR stylee!
 
slim jenkins

slim jenkins

El Hombre Invisible
Not that familiar with Hellman's work but you've whetted my appetite, Rich. Did you mention 'The Driver'? I thought that was a Walter Hill film? Not seen 'Two-Lane' for years and want to see it again now.
 
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