King of the Hill (film)
Encyclopedia
King of the Hill is a 1993
film, Steven Soderbergh
's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or
-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape
. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival
.
-era bildungsroman
memoir of writer A.E. Hotchner, it follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a fleabag hotel in St. Louis
while his mother is committed to a sanatorium
with tuberculosis
and his father, a German
immigrant and traveling salesman
working for the Hamilton Watch Company
. He is off on long trips from which the boy can't be certain he will ever return.
The film is distinctive in part because the antagonist
s who drive much of the plot are relatively mild by cinematic standards. The two primary ones — a cop
on his beat and a hotel porter
— share the characteristic of taking joy and pride in sadistically
enforcing the property rights of the rich against the poor. The actual rich, with the exception of some schoolmates, are not a direct part of the boy's life; rather, from his perspective, it is the uniform
ed caste
set just above him that generates much of his misery. As such, the film is an unusual commentary on social relations among the underclass
es, all the more so within that subgenre since it contains relatively little physical violence
(though it does contain some blood
.)
Jesse Bradford
, who was 14 at the film's release, plays the protagonist. Many actors in the supporting cast have had many other prominent roles, including Jeroen Krabbé
, Lisa Eichhorn
, Karen Allen
, Spalding Gray
, Elizabeth McGovern
, Amber Benson
, Remak Ramsay
, Katherine Heigl
and Adrien Brody
. The film also contains the first screen roles of Joe Chrest as the porter and Lauryn Hill
, who appears in a small part as an elevator operator.
The music was composed by Cliff Martinez
, and includes piano work and cues from classical composer Michael Glenn Williams
. Martinez's score is restrained and understated, well suited to the nature of the film. Williams' cue for the graduation scene for solo piano, was notable in that it was the basis for his tone poem for Henry Cowell.
The movie has only been released on Region 2 DVD. Universal has not announced plans for a Region 1 DVD release.
1993 in film
The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
film, Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape
Sex, lies, and videotape
Sex, Lies, and Videotape is a 1989 independent film that brought director Steven Soderbergh to prominence. It tells the story of a man who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple....
. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival
1993 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :* Louis Malle * Claudia Cardinale * Inna Churikova * Judy Davis * Abbas Kiarostami * Emir Kusturica * William Lubtchansky * Tom Luddy * Gary Oldman * Augusto M...
.
Production
Based on the DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
-era bildungsroman
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
memoir of writer A.E. Hotchner, it follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a fleabag hotel in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
while his mother is committed to a sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and his father, a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
immigrant and traveling salesman
Vendor (supply chain)
A vendor, or a supplier, is a supply chain management term meaning anyone who provides goods or services to a company. A vendor often manufactures inventoriable items, and sells those items to a customer.- History :...
working for the Hamilton Watch Company
Hamilton Watch Company
The Hamilton Watch Company was originally formed to produce high quality pocket watches and wristwatches mid-range and luxury. Hamilton would become a corporate conglomerate diversified in other operations...
. He is off on long trips from which the boy can't be certain he will ever return.
The film is distinctive in part because the antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
s who drive much of the plot are relatively mild by cinematic standards. The two primary ones — a cop
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
on his beat and a hotel porter
Porter (carrier)
A porter, also called a bearer, is a person who shifts objects for others.-Historical meaning:Human adaptability and flexibility early led to the use of humans for shifting gear...
— share the characteristic of taking joy and pride in sadistically
Sadism and masochism
Sadomasochism broadly refers to the receiving of pleasure—often sexual—from acts involving the infliction or reception of pain or humiliation. The name originates from two authors on the subject, Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch...
enforcing the property rights of the rich against the poor. The actual rich, with the exception of some schoolmates, are not a direct part of the boy's life; rather, from his perspective, it is the uniform
Uniform
A uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates...
ed caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
set just above him that generates much of his misery. As such, the film is an unusual commentary on social relations among the underclass
Underclass
The term underclass refers to a segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class. The general idea that a class system includes a population under the working class has a long tradition in the social sciences...
es, all the more so within that subgenre since it contains relatively little physical violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
(though it does contain some blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
.)
Jesse Bradford
Jesse Bradford
- Early life :Bradford was born Jesse Bradford Watrouse in Norwalk, Connecticut, the only child of actors Terry Porter and Curtis Watrouse, who appeared in commercials, soap operas, and industrial films. His mother also played his character's mother in Hackers...
, who was 14 at the film's release, plays the protagonist. Many actors in the supporting cast have had many other prominent roles, including Jeroen Krabbé
Jeroen Krabbé
Jeroen Aart Krabbé is a Dutch actor and film director who has appeared in many Dutch and international films.-Biography:...
, Lisa Eichhorn
Lisa Eichhorn
Lisa Eichhorn is an American actress, writer and producer. She made her film debut in 1979 in the John Schlesinger film Yanks for which she received two Golden Globe nominations...
, Karen Allen
Karen Allen
Karen Jane Allen is an American actress best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...
, Spalding Gray
Spalding Gray
Spalding Rockwell Gray was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist and monologuist...
, Elizabeth McGovern
Elizabeth McGovern
-Early life:McGovern was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Katharine Wolcott , a high school teacher, and William Montgomery McGovern, Jr., a university professor. Her paternal grandfather was adventurer William Montgomery McGovern and her maternal great-grandfather was U.S. diplomat...
, Amber Benson
Amber Benson
Amber Nicole Benson is an American actress, writer, film director, and film producer. She is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but has also directed, produced and starred in her own films Chance and Lovers, Liars & Lunatics...
, Remak Ramsay
Remak Ramsay
Remak Ramsay is an American veteran stage, film and television actor.Ramsay was born Gustavus Remak Ramsay in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Caroline V...
, Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and producer. She is possibly best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series in 2007...
and Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist . Winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 at age 29, he is the youngest actor to do so...
. The film also contains the first screen roles of Joe Chrest as the porter and Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
, who appears in a small part as an elevator operator.
The music was composed by Cliff Martinez
Cliff Martinez
Cliff Martinez is an American film score composer and former drummer.-Biography:Cliff Martinez was born in the Bronx, New York. Raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first job composing was for the popular television show Pee Wee's Playhouse...
, and includes piano work and cues from classical composer Michael Glenn Williams
Michael Glenn Williams
Michael Glenn Williams is an American composer, pianist and technologist.-Biography:Williams' earliest years were spent in New York, beginning trumpet studies and composing at 8 years old. At 12 he was programming DEC PDP 8 minicomputers...
. Martinez's score is restrained and understated, well suited to the nature of the film. Williams' cue for the graduation scene for solo piano, was notable in that it was the basis for his tone poem for Henry Cowell.
The movie has only been released on Region 2 DVD. Universal has not announced plans for a Region 1 DVD release.
Cast
- Jesse BradfordJesse Bradford- Early life :Bradford was born Jesse Bradford Watrouse in Norwalk, Connecticut, the only child of actors Terry Porter and Curtis Watrouse, who appeared in commercials, soap operas, and industrial films. His mother also played his character's mother in Hackers...
- Aaron - Jeroen KrabbéJeroen KrabbéJeroen Aart Krabbé is a Dutch actor and film director who has appeared in many Dutch and international films.-Biography:...
- Mr. Kurlander - Lisa EichhornLisa EichhornLisa Eichhorn is an American actress, writer and producer. She made her film debut in 1979 in the John Schlesinger film Yanks for which she received two Golden Globe nominations...
- Mrs. Kurlander - Karen AllenKaren AllenKaren Jane Allen is an American actress best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...
- Miss Mathey - Spalding GraySpalding GraySpalding Rockwell Gray was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist and monologuist...
- Mr. Mungo - Elizabeth McGovernElizabeth McGovern-Early life:McGovern was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Katharine Wolcott , a high school teacher, and William Montgomery McGovern, Jr., a university professor. Her paternal grandfather was adventurer William Montgomery McGovern and her maternal great-grandfather was U.S. diplomat...
- Lydia - Cameron BoydCameron Boyd-Filmography:-Awards and nominations:* Young Artist Awards Nominated: Best Actor Under Ten in a Motion Picture, King of the Hill -External links:...
- Sullivan - Adrien BrodyAdrien BrodyAdrien Brody is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist . Winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 at age 29, he is the youngest actor to do so...
- Lester - Joe Chrest - Ben
- John McConnellJohn McConnell (actor)John "Spud" McConnell , is an American actor and radio personality based in New Orleans, Louisiana.McConnell is a character actor who has appeared in more than 40 films, ranging from obscure independent films to major cinematic release movies John "Spud" McConnell (born November 13, 1958), is an...
- Patrolman Burns - Amber BensonAmber BensonAmber Nicole Benson is an American actress, writer, film director, and film producer. She is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but has also directed, produced and starred in her own films Chance and Lovers, Liars & Lunatics...
- Ella McShane - Kristin GriffithKristin GriffithKristin Griffith is an American actress.-Filmography:*New Amsterdam - episode "Pilot" - Mrs. Carlton*Third Watch - episode "How Do You Spell Belief?" - Stevie's Mother...
- Mrs. McShane - Chris Samples - Billy Thompson
- Peggy Freisen - Mrs. Thompson
- Katherine HeiglKatherine HeiglKatherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and producer. She is possibly best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series in 2007...
- Christina Sebastian - Lauryn HillLauryn HillLauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
- Elevator Operator