“We’re not breaking new ground. We’re trying to be entertaining within a format that’s familiar.” — Walter Hill

“I very purposely — more and more so every time I do a script — give characters no back story. The way you find out about these characters is by watching what they do, the way they react to stress, the way they react to situations and confrontations. In that way, character is revealed through drama rather than being explained through dialogue.” — Walter Hill

It’s his birthday today.

I have always had a deep affection for the films of Walter Hill – The Warriors, The Long Riders, 48 Hours, and, most of all, the teeny-bop-1950s-biker-movie-crossed-with-1980s-pop-sensibility masterpiece – yes, I would call it that – Streets of Fire. I call it a masterpiece not just for Hill’s vivid imagination in the genre-mashup as well as the era-mashup which works beautifully – but because it is not just an exercise in style, but a deeply feeling sensitive portrayal of young love and youth in general, in all its rebellion and passion and impulsiveness. Interesting fact: the movie was not a hit when it came out. It was compared to MTV – NOT a compliment. But the film was made BEFORE MTV launched. Walter Hill considered it a musical, end-stop. So the timing was off. If it had come out maybe 5 years before, audiences wouldn’t have made that comparison and considered it a knock-off copy. It’s so good, so melodramatic, so HUGE its emotions. It’s Splendor in the Grass with street kids and greasers and idolized pop stars.

I love particularly The Driver, a chilly spare work, starring Ryan O’Neal (against-type casting which makes me saddened other directors didn’t realize the icy goldmine within this soft-faced man) and Isabelle Adjani. The Driver features some world-class stunt driving, deserved to be mentioned in any “great car chases in film” list, alongside Bullitt and To Live and Die in L.A. O’Neal’s performance takes great control, to withhold his boyishness, his almost baffled youthful sexuality, his potential for comedy (What’s Up, Doc?) All of those are forbidden in this role.

O’Neal plays a nameless man who drives a “getaway car” for hire. So he’s a criminal with plausible deniability. He’s just the driver. A nocturnal figure. Who can really drive. It has a similar vibe, at points, to American Gigolo, its bleakness, its portrayal of decimated people caught up in bad situations beyond their control. The Driver is not as well-known as the notorious The Warriors or Streets of Fire but it should be.

I must mention too Johnny Handsome, a strangely bifurcated movie, starring Mickey Rourke and Elizabeth McGovern, with hilariously over-the-top performances from Ellen Barkin and Lance Henriksen. The first half of the film is about Johnny’s transformation and it’s fascinating. The second half is pure plot. It doesn’t hold up to the intrigue of the first half, its psychological exploration of how our looks impact our experience of the world, and how strange it might be to be able to change our lives through changing our looks. Johnny Handsome features Mickey Rourke’s best acting moment – in a career of great moments – where he looks at his new face in the mirror. I would rank it up in best acting ever, and if Johnny Handsome were a better movie, the moment would have had more resonance in acting culture. Like … understand the bar Mickey Rourke set in that moment, and at least try to beat it.

“The moment” in Johnny Handsome (1989)

He went so far beyond the expected into something else altogether. I included a paragraph on that moment in my long piece about scenes in movies where men look at themselves in the mirror.

Walter Hill has a stamp, a fingerprint, his work is recognizable as his own, distinct from other directors. He deserves a higher-echelon reputation.

I had the great pleasure of writing about how Walter Hill uses costumes in his films for the short-lived site The Rebeller. (Since short-lived, the essay now lives on my site.) I have had fun writing before, in this or that assignment, but the research I did for the Walter Hill piece, the month I spent watching – or in most cases – re-watching all of his films, taking copious notes on each costume and what that costume might mean in Hill’s vision, was the most fun.

The Driver (1978)

Hard Times (1975: his first film. It’s wonderful, and Bronson is wonderful.)

The Warriors (1979: controversial like Do the Right Thing was controversial: fears of how audiences would react. Violence didn’t break out at Do the Right Thing screenings, but it did break out at Warriors screenings.)

The Long Riders (1980: a wonderful film about Jesse James and his gang, featuring sets of brother-actors. Plus Pamela Reed, whom I miss. She should work all the time.)

48 Hrs. (1982: the chemistry between Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy is insane. A huge mainstream hit for Hill)

Crossroads (1986: a twist on the Robert Johnson story. Ralph Macchio. Oh, how much I swooned for him. My first major celebrity crush. It HURT.)

Streets of Fire (1984: it may not have a realistic style, but it captures how adolescence FEELS).