Brad Stevens - Monte Hellman - His Life and Films

13. Connelly and Newbury's long drive belongs with those journeys of doubtful purpose in which Hellman's films are so rich. Indeed, the image of Ricky successfully thumbing a ride, despite the fact that he is wearing a hospital gown and his brain is clearly visible, humorously evokes the various hitchhikers encountered in Two-Lane Blacktop. The ideal of freedom on the road which Two-Lane had already subjected to thoroughgoing critique here becomes the stuff of both parody and nightmare.

14. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, January 11, 2001. Two clips from Silent Night, Deadly Night were used. The first shows a serial killer in a Santa suit murdering Ricky's parents, while the second has young Ricky watching the killer being shot down.

15. Steven Gaydos, who wrote this dialogue, claims that "someone told me they thought it was absolutely where Tarantino got the idea for the burger talk between the two hit men in Pulp Fiction " (e-mail to the author, July 5, 2001).

16. It is a nice irony that Rex Weiner, the film's original writer, makes a cameo appearance as a father pulling faces in order to scare his baby.

17. Bill Krohn sees the "hackneyed idea" of Laura's psychic powers as being "discarded in the film's closing scenes: trapped in the darkened cellar with Ricky, Laura does not use her psychic powers; instead she calls seductively for him to come and take her, and when he falls on her and embraces her, she thrusts a sharpened stick through his heart." However, according to Hellman, "I don't think Laura's psychic ability is a red herring. Her blindness and psychic abilities are merely preventing her from finding her true powers as a human being, which she does at the end through her 'dream' about her grandmother and her very real confrontation with Ricky. The powers aren't special — she just has to believe in herself, just like everyone" (e-mail to the author, July 14, 2001).

Chapter 17. In Between Projects, 1989-2002

1. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 13, and July 15, 2001, and "Monte Hellman," Psychotronic 25.

2. The English-language original of Hellman's Spirit of the Beehive text can be found in Projections 4 (Faber, 1995). He also contributed to Projections' "The Burning Question" section, discussing cinema after the millennium ( Projections 2 , 1993), the relationship between dream and film ( Projections 3 , 1994) and the greatest gift or worst legacy of the movies ( Pro jections 4 , 1995).

3. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, January 13, 2001. Hickenlooper's cut was released on laserdisc under the title Ghost Brigade.

4. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 17, and 18, 2001.

5. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, January 18, 2001.

6. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 18, and 22, 2001.

7. Bill Krohn, e-mails to the author, January 22, and 23, 2001. According to Hellman, Emma Webster "made several films for the History Channel: Spies in the Sky , about aerial espionage photography; a film about the first astronauts in balloons; a film about the Roswell alien invasion; a film for the series Secrets of War about intelligence organizations in various countries; a film about the real Robin Hood, etc. She's currently making a film for MTV called Drag Kings , about women who masquerade as men" (e-mail to the author, January 10, 2001).

8. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 18, and February 11, 2001.

9. Laurie Post, e-mail to the author, July 22, 2001.

10. "Monte Hellman Is in No Way Bitter."

11. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, February 8, 2001.

12. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, December 8, 2000.

13. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 22, and 23, and April 19, 2001.

14. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, January 28, 2001.

15. Christopher Frayling, Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Faber, 2000), p. 481.

16. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 25, and 29, 2001.

17. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, January 24, 2001.

18. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 11 and 29, 2001.

19. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 24 and 25, 2001.

20. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 23, and 24, 2001.

21. Charles Eastman, e-mail to the author, July 5, 2001.

22. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 24 and 30, and July 23, 2001, and Time Out , January 1995.

23. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 26 and 29, 2001.

24. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, January 24, 2001.

25. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, July 24, 2001.

26. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, December 9, 2000, January 24 and May 21 and 28, 2001. Some sources incorrectly claim that Hellman was to direct 40 Lashes Less One , an Elmore Leonard adaptation scripted by Tarantino.

27. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 24 and 29, 2001, and February 8, 2002.

28. Tim LaTorre, "Vincent Gallo: Artist, Auteur, or Just Plain Annoying?" Available on the Internet.

29. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 25 and August 27, 2001.

30. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 24 and 29 and July 24, 2001.

31. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 24 and 29, 2001.

32. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, December 9 and 20, 2000 and April 8, 2001.

33. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, April 27, June 23 and October 31, 2002 and January 23, 2003.

34. Quentin Tarantino, "A Rare Sorrow," Sight and Sound February 1993, p. 33.

Filmography

Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)

Director: Monte Hellman. Screenplay: Charles B. Griffith (based on an original screenplay by Leo Gordon, uncredited). Photography: Andrew Costikyan. Editor: Anthony Carras. Music: Alexander Laszlo (and Fred Katz, uncredited). Producer: Gene Corman. Production Company: The Filmgroup. Cast: Michael Forest (Gil Jackson), Sheila Carol (Gypsy Boulet), Frank Wolff (Alexander Ward), Wally Campo (Byron "Smith"), Richard Sinatra (Marty "Jones"), Linne Ahlstrand (Natalie), Christopher Robinson (The Beast/Man Sitting at Bar), Kay Jennings (Small Dove), Kinta Zertuche (Woman Sitting at Table, uncredited). Running Time: 65 minutes

The Wild Ride (1960)

aka: Velocity. Hellman was the editor (credited as "William Mayer") and uncredited associate producer of this film.

The Intruder (1961)

aka: Shame, I Hate Your Guts, The Stranger. Hellman directed some additional "nudie" scenes for this film (uncredited).

Beast from Haunted Cave (expanded television version, 1962)

Director: Monte Hellman. Screenplay: Monte Hellman (uncredited). Editor: Monte Hellman (uncredited), Cast (Hellman's additional scenes only): Michael Forest (Gil Jackson), Wally Campo (Byron "Smith"), Richard Sinatra (Marty "Jones"), Jaclyn Hellman (Jill Jackson, uncredited). Expanded Running Time: 72 minutes.

Ski Troop Attack (expanded television version, 1962)