Walter Hill

Biography

Walter Hill (born in Long Beach, California, in 1942) is an American director, screenwriter and producer, best known for action films and his revival of the Western. He belongs to the generation of filmmakers from the 1970s who reshaped American cinema, alongside figures such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese. As a director he is especially remembered for the cult film The Warriors (1979).

As a child Hill suffered from asthma, which kept him out of school for years. He worked in the oil fields and in construction, studied art in Mexico City, and later majored in history at Michigan State University. His first professional contact with film came as an assistant director on The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and Bullitt (1968), and he later worked for Woody Allen on Take the Money and Run (1969).

His real ambition was writing. He wrote screenplays at night and on weekends while holding other jobs, and his work started reaching the screen with The Getaway (1972). He made his directing debut in 1975 with Hard Times, and in 1979 he wrote and directed The Warriors, a loose adaptation of a novel inspired by Xenophon's Anabasis.

His lasting touchstone is the Western and the work of John Ford, though many of his successes belong to crime cinema and comedy. His films often place characters under heavy pressure, usually men who have little faith in human nature. He worked for years with David Giler and Gordon Carroll at Brandywine Productions, and his name is tied to the Alien franchise, where he worked as a writer and producer.

Hill has been married since 1986 to the producer Hildy Gottlieb, and they have two daughters. He has also directed episodes of television series such as Tales from the Crypt and Deadwood. His work, including 48 Hrs., remains among the most recognizable examples of American genre filmmaking of recent decades.

Key films

• The Warriors (1979): his best-known film as director, a cult favourite about a gang trying to get back home across a hostile city.
• 48 Hrs. (1982): a crime comedy that became one of his most influential films and cemented his reputation in Hollywood.
• Alien (1979): the first film of the franchise, to which Hill contributed as part of the production team.
• Aliens (1986): sequel on which Hill worked as screenwriter, expanding the saga's universe.
• Alien 3 (1992): another entry in the series, for which Hill worked as writer and director.
• The Getaway (1972): the screenplay that gave Hill his first major recognition in the industry.