The Walter Hill Collection

Film Description

Six film set of films from the American film director. Features the 1970s classic The Driver (1978), Southern Comfort (1981), Extreme Prejudice (1987), Johnny Handsome (1989), The Long Riders (1980) and The Warriors (1979).

With his visually powerful, stylised action sequences and his taut, sparse approach to screenwriting, Walter Hill’s films have come to epitomise the gritty, existential thrillers of the seventies and the neo-noir of the eighties. A true auteur, Walter Hill managed to bring an understated intelligence to the action movie, moving beyond the constraints of genre conventions whilst remaining highly entertaining and original. This collection of some of his most popular work includes existential action/drama The Driver, the nightmarish Southern Comfort, revisionist western The Long Riders and cult classic The Warriors. Also included are later works Johnny Handsome and Extreme Prejudice, the latter featuring a brand new and exclusive interview with Hill himself.

The Driver. The time is the present. The Driver (Ryan O’Neal) is the best “wheel man” for hire. His work in driving getaway cars is an exhibition in excellence, a work of art. The Detective (Bruce Dern) is the top cop of the force. Nobody he tracks down ever eludes him. Except for the Driver, that is. As the Driver pulls off another job, the Detective lays in wait for him. But the Driver has already planted his alibi, and is one step ahead of him. Through his operative, the Connection (Ronee Blakley), he hires the mysterious young woman, the Player (Isabelle Adjani), to lead the Detective astray.

Southern Comfort. Nine part-time National Guardsman are sent on a weekend training exercise in the Louisiana bayou. Expecting the manoeuvres to take in high jinks and a trip to the local whorehouse, events take a turn for the worse when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes. Lost without live ammunition in a hostile, alien environment, the troops – comprised of a powerhouse cast including Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe and Fred Ward– find themselves locked in a desperate battle for survival. Features another classic score from Ry Cooder.

Extreme Prejudice. Based on a story by John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Magnum Force, Big Wednesday, Conan The Barbarian) Extreme Prejudice stars Nick Nolte as Texas ranger Jack Benteen and follows his bloody crusade to bring down childhood friend and drug baron Cash Bailey (Powers Boothe), rescue his latin lover Maria Conchita Alonso, avenge the death of the local Sheriff (Rip Torn) and save his town from a secret military militia put together by the federal government. It’s all in a days work for Texas ranger Jack Benteen and it must all be carried out with Extreme Prejudice.

Johnny Handsome. Based on a novel John Godey (The Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3) and starring Mickey Rourke, Johnny Handsome tells the story a small time criminal born with a disfigured face who is given a new identity by a sympathetic surgeon whilst serving a prison sentence. But instead of embracing his new lease of life, once released from prison he decided to use his new looks in his quest for revenge. Also starring Ellen Barkin and Morgan Freeman.

The Long Riders: Walter Hill’s revisionist western tell the fictionalised account of how a group of brothers bonded by revenge formed a gang of renegade outlaws and set off on an infamous, violent crime spree across Missouri. Known for its sense of realism and being one of the few classic westerns conceived during the eighties, The Long Riders is also famous for starring four sets of Hollywood brothers in the roles of gang members: featuring James and Stacy Keach as Jesse and Frank James, David, Keith, and Robert Carradine as the Youngers, Dennis and Randy Quaid as the Millers and Christopher and Nicholas Guest as the Fords. The Long Riders also features an unforgettable sountrack by the legendary Ry Cooder. Nominated for the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Warriors: A battle of gigantic proportions is looming in the neon underground of New York City. The armies of the night number 100,000; they outnumber the police 5 to 1; and tonight they're after the Warriors - a street gang unfairly blamed for a rival gang leader's death.

This contemporary action-adventure story takes place at night, underground, in the sub-culture of gang warfare that rages from the Bronx to Coney Island Bay, as the Warriors desperately try to get back home. Members of the Warriors fight for their lives, seek to survive in the urban jungle and learn the meaning of loyalty.

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By Barry Forshaw on 31st August 2008

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