Monte Hellman (born Monte Jay Himmelbaum; July 12, 1929 – April 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He was born in New York, where his parents had come, but grew up in Los Angeles. Hellman began his career as an assistant editor at ABC TV and made his directorial debut with the horror film Beast from Haunted Cave (1959), produced by Roger Corman.

He later received critical acclaim for the Westerns The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind (both 1966) with Jack Nicholson, as well as for the independent road drama Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) with James Taylor and Dennis Wilson. Among his later directorial works are the slasher Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989) and the independent thriller Road to Nowhere (2010).

The above description is taken from the Wikipedia article "Monte Hellman," licensed under CC-BY-SA, with a full list of authors in Wikipedia.