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<b>Monte Hellman</b> is deserving of a reappraisal. Using the <b>TapeHead</b> forum, I will now get on my soapbox and trumpet his name into cyberspace in the hopes of winning a few converts to my religion. A former <b>Roger Corman</b> protege, this guy has been kicking around for four decades directing, ghost directing when other directors croaked mid-way through shooting (<i>The Greatest</i> and <i>Avalanche Express</i>), and producing low budget fare. Sure, some of his stuff is purely of the I-have-to-pay-the-rent variety. No one ever saw <i>The Iguana</i>, and he actually did a <i>Silent Night, Deadly Night</i> sequel. He's best known for the cult favorite <i>Two-Lane Blacktop</i> (1971), but he's a real mystery man, a gifted director who never managed to move over to mainstream film making despite his obvious abilities. Between 1965 and 1978, he made four extraordinary westerns: <i>Ride in the Whirlwind</i> (1965), <i>The Shooting</i> (1967), <i>The Cockfighter</i>, a/k/a <i>Born to Kill</i> (1974), and <i>China 9, Liberty 37</i> (1978). (OK, I bend the genre a little to call a film about cockfighting a western, but it did star <b>Warren Oates</b>, and thematically it fits in with the other films.) Whether you fall into the camp that believes his westerns are slow and pretentious, or like me, you think that he's a lost talent who made one western masterpiece, <i>The Shooting</i>, and three near-masterpieces, there's no getting over that Monte Hellman's films should be seen. You won't forget them--no matter what you think--and you can argue about them for months, if not a lifetime, afterward. How many current directors fit that bill?
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