Jack Hill

Jack Hill (born January 28, 1933) is a U.S. film director, noted for his work in the exploitation film genre. Despite this, several of Hill's later films have been characterized as feminist works.

Quentin Tarantino described Jack Hill as “The Howard Hawks of exploitation filmmaking” in his introduction to the film Switchblade Sisters which his company Rolling Thunder Pictures re-released to cinemas and on DVD. Tarantino has also described Hill as “really great... a really, really talented man... I'm a big fan of his work”. Hill is now considered a living legend of the American exploitation film. His discoveries include Pam Grier (who starred in four of his films - from The Big Doll House through to Foxy Brown), Sid Haig (who acts in most of Hill's classics, including Spider Baby) and Ellen Burstyn (who starred in Pit Stop).

Hill was born in Los Angeles. His mother, Mildred (née Pannill), was a music teacher and his father, Roland Everett Hill, worked as a set builder for film studios and was an architect.

A full biography of his work, in which Hill was closely involved, is entitled Jack Hill: The Exploitation and Blaxploitation Master, Film by Film. It is written by British critic and documentarian Calum Waddell.