My favorite cult director, Monte Hellman, has died at age 91. The New York Times called him a “hero of the American independent film movement“.
Hellman worked in low-budget genre movies, collaborating with Roger Corman, Jack Nicholson and Hellman’s great muse, Warren Oates. Hellman could elevate the sparest of scripts and the most minuscule of budgets into film classics.
Hellman showcased Oates’ gift for playing a tough, bottom-feeding grasper who needs a little too much luck in Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) and Cockfighter (1974). Cockfighter, a movie that even Hellman couldn’t make today, is probably his masterpiece.
Road to Nowhere, in 2010, was the first film in twenty years from the then 79-year-old Hellman. It’s a multi-layered riddle that challenges the audience. Road to Nowhere is far more stylish and ambitious than Hellman’s 1970s films, but far more baffling.
I can’t find Two-Lane Blacktop available to stream, but the Blu-Ray DVD is available from The Criterion Collection. Cockfighter can be streamed from Amazon (included with Prime) and a few other outlets. Road to Nowhere is available to stream from Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube and Google Play.