A film director, screenwriter and producer whose credits include The Warriors, The Long Riders, Southern Comfort and Last Man Standing, Walter Hill has often been credited with reviving the western genre. Philip French has described him as "a master of the low-tech action movie and successor to Sam Peckinpah as the greatest living exponent of lyrical violence".

Philip French's writing has always been remarkably clear-headed and cleanly expressed. He appreciates genre films without condescension; and, what seems to me to be the highest praise, he has elevated his profession.