A Walter Hill Film

by Walter Chaw

A Walter Hill Film is the first critical biography of Walter Hill, the legendary writer-director producer whose filmography includes 48 HRS. films, The Warriors, The Long Riders, Southern Comfort, Geronimo, Streets of Fire, Wild Bill, Broken Trail, the Alien films, and the pilot for Deadwood.

The author is Walter Chaw, film critic for Film Freak Central and a contributor to The New York Times, Vulture, NPR and many other publications. The James Joyce of crime fiction James Ellroy wrote the introduction. The foreword is by Larry Gross, Hill's writing partner on 48 HRS. The book also includes a note from Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Last Night in Soho.

Genres: Film

560 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2023

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of tremendous passion, dedication and insight, Chaw's truly massive tome is an epic monument to an underrated master. Having eagerly bought the book's first limited edition when it first appeared, I soon realized that I had to pace myself to appreciate it properly, but also not to be worn down by it: the writing here is so expansive, so detailed, so full of repeated cross-connections and asides, that it (deliberately?) walks a fine line between exhaustive and exhausting. But as is typical of his exquisite essays and film reviews, the film criticism is so finely honed, it's thrilling to read even (or perhaps especially) when Walter goes to bat for a movie that critical and/or popular opinion had totally dismissed.

[Brennan Storr · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible interpretation of Hill's filmography. Dense, challenging, and poetic

[John Bleasdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant study of an under rated filmmaker.