Walter Hill’s sharp, intelligent dynamic films have been a cult item among cinephiles and connoisseurs since the 1970s. Brian Brems expands this appreciation through an exhaustive comparative approach, illuminating the roots of Hill’s cinema in genre (noir, Western, musical), other filmmakers (Hawks, Peckinpah, Kurosawa), and contemporary cultural trends.

Adrian Martin, Monash University, author of Mysteries of Cinema

The Films of Walter Hill reveals an underexplored Hollywood director who unleashed his fiery canon between genres (the Western, film noir), between New Hollywood and the blockbuster, between arthouse and action cinema, between Hawks and Peckinpah, and between myth and reality. Brian Brems traces Hill’s films (1970s-2010s) through their cinematic techniques and deconstruction of male hierarchies, leadership, and ethics. Integrating foundational action genre scholarship, interviews with Hill and his actors, and comprehensive knowledge of the films, this book remains accessible to students, fans, and novices looking for a lively articulation of where action movies come from and why they matter.

Lorrie Palmer, Towson University