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King of the Hill (1993 film)

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King of the Hill
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySteven Soderbergh
Screenplay bySteven Soderbergh
Based onKing of the Hill
by A.E. Hotchner
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyElliot Davis
Edited bySteven Soderbergh
Music byCliff Martinez
Production
companies
  • Wildwood Enterprises
  • Bona Fide Productions
Distributed byGramercy Pictures
Release date
  • August 20, 1993 (1993-08-20)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8 million
Box office$1.2 million

King of the Hill is a 1993 American drama film written and directed by Steven Soderbergh. It is the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or-winning film Sex, Lies, and Videotape. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.[1]

Plot

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Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother enters a sanatorium with tuberculosis and his younger brother is sent to live with an uncle. His father, a German immigrant and traveling salesman working for the Hamilton Watch Company, is off on long trips from which the boy cannot be certain he will return.

Cast

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Reception

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Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 33 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "A subtle, affecting, character-driven coming-of-age story, King of the Hill is one of Steven Soderbergh's best and most criminally overlooked films."[2] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[3]

In her review in The New York Times, Janet Maslin says, "The film does a lovely job of juxtaposing the sharp contrasts in Aaron's life, and in marveling at the fact that he survives as buoyantly as he does."[4]

Box office

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King of the Hill grossed $1.2 million domestically (United States and Canada),[5] against a production budget of $8 million.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ "Festival de Cannes: King of the Hill". Festival-Cannes.com. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  2. ^ "King of the Hill". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 4, 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  3. ^ "King of the Hill". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  4. ^ Maslin, Janet (August 20, 1993). "King of the Hill; A Boy of the 30s With Grit and Wit". Movies. The New York Times. p. C1. Archived from the original on April 22, 2024. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  5. ^ "King of the Hill". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved November 4, 2024.Edit this at Wikidata
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