Walter Hill is the legend you never heard of. In the pantheon of so-called great directors rarely, if ever does this list include Mr. Hill. I have some theories as to why this is the case. He has a resume as a director, writer, and producer that could match most in Hollywood but it’s his diverse palette of films that makes him hard to define – 48 Hours (comedy), Hard Times (sports drama), and Geronimo (western) but this list of 3 films are classic 1970 and 80’s movie making at its best.

As a screenwriter Walter Hill was credited as either sole or collaborate on most of his films, garnering that rare writer/director title which to me is the equivalent of singer/songwriter, if you get my drift.

It’s probably this label that makes Mr. Hill’s film so unique among his peers as if he feels the story personally and the characters as an extension of himself.

Anyway, here are 3 great movies of Mr. Hill that you should watch.

Southern Comfort was written in collaboration with Michael Kane and David Giler and directed by Walter Hill, it stars Powers Booth, Keith Carradine, and Fred Ward and was released in 1981.

In 1970’s Louisiana, a group of National Guard reservists aka Weekend Warriors are sent on a training exercise deep in the remote bayous. The mostly undisciplined group are unfamiliar with the territory and when they get lost they decide to take a shortcut and make the fateful decision to “borrow” local Cajun boats they find unattended. As a prank, one soldier fires blank rounds at nearby unseen figures in the woods.

What begins as a joke turns deadly when the Cajuns retaliate, ambushing the group and picking them off one by one. The soldiers, carrying only blank ammunition, are completely unprepared for a real fight. Panic and paranoia begin to set in as the men struggle to navigate the hostile terrain, deal with internal conflict, and survive the escalating attacks from an enemy they rarely see and certainly don’t understand.

One does not need to look long and hard to see some parallels to the Vietnam War that finally ended only 6 years earlier.

The movie culminates in a tense and surreal climax when the two remaining soldiers (Booth and Carradine) find temporary refuge in a Cajun village. As the movie comes to an end, It’s unclear if they’ve finally found safety or if they’re still being watched.

Southern Comfort is FREE to stream on Amazon, Tubi and many other sites. Check it out because it is so good I am sure one day there will be a much worse “reimagining” of this movie.

The Long Riders is western movie directed by Mr. Hill from a script from Bill Bryden, Steven Phillip Smith and the brothers Stacy and James Keach, who also star along with David, Keith and Robert Carradine, Randy and Dennis Quaid, and Christopher and Nicholas Guest, which was released in 1980.

Surely you’ve noted by now that art imitates life as all the characters in the movie that are brothers are actually portrayed by brothers! This casting gives the film a grounded, familial dynamic as it explores themes of loyalty, blood ties, and betrayal.

Set during the turbulent Reconstruction era (1865-1877), The Long Riders follows the gang as they pull off daring heists, are relentlessly pursued by Pinkerton detectives, and try to hold together their outlaw code in a rapidly changing America. The turning point comes with the ill-fated Northfield, Minnesota bank robbery, where the gang is ambushed by armed lawmen and townspeople. The botched raid leads to the gang’s bloody disintegration.

As lawmen close in, some are captured, some are killed, and Jesse James tries to carry on with the the myth of the Old West that is quickly fading.

The Long Riders is free on multiple sites and is a breezy 100 minutes so my advice? Giddy up!

I have seen The Warriors described as a, “cult classic” and I guess that moniker applies. It was directed by Hill who co-wrote the screenplay with David Shaber, stars an ensemble cast including Michael Beck, James Remar, and Deborah Van Valkenburgh and was released in 1979.

The film is set in a gritty, stylized version of 1970s New York City, where street gangs rule the 5 boroughs.

The plot follows a Coney Island (that’s in Brooklyn BTW) gang called The Warriors, who are framed for the murder of Cyrus, the charismatic leader of a powerful rival gang. Cyrus had called a massive truce among the city’s gangs for a summit in the Bronx, aiming to unite them against the police. But when he is assassinated mid-speech, chaos erupts.

The Warriors must make their way back to their home turf in Coney Island over 20 miles away while being pursued by both the countless rival gangs who believe they’re guilty of murdering Cyrus. Remember this was before cell phones, uber, etc.

Along the way, they encounter an array of creatively themed and dangerous gangs, including the Baseball Furies, the Lizzies, and the Rogues.

Tense, atmospheric, and steeped in Hill’s signature style, The Warriors has earned a lasting place in pop culture with its iconic dialogue, synth-heavy score, and themes of survival, loyalty, and misunderstood youth.

“Warriors, come out to play!” 

Paramount plus, Amazon, and Youtube will serve up this classic for free so let it take you on a journey as perilous and exciting as 1970’s New York.