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Monte Hellman, who has died in Los Angeles at the age of 91, was nothing short of a legendary figure in American independent cinema.
From his start in the Roger Corman stable in the early 1960s, a veritable breeding ground for the talent that would emerge at the tail end of the decade, Hellman began his career with a bang, forging a partnership with Jack Nicholson that would yield four features as director â two written by Nicholson himself, one by Carole Eastman, who would go on to write Five Easy Pieces (1970) for Bob Rafelson.