When it comes to the world of Westerns, there’s a few directors people think of right away — Clint Eastwood, Sergio Leone, and John Ford are three that are bound to leap into one’s mind. Among modern folks, Kevin Costner and James Mangold may pop on your radar. In reality, though, the most prolific director of Westerns isn’t any of these men or even a filmmaker that’s on the mind of the nerdiest film geek. Lambert Hillyer, a prolific American director from the first half of the 20th century, holds the record for most Westerns directed, with the Guinness World Records claiming that Hillyer directed 148 Westerns in his lifetime (out of 156 motion pictures total).
Hillyer is not somebody who gets a week of Turner Classic Movies programming dedicated to his filmography. He’s not a figure from the vintage eras of Hollywood who has endless piles of books exploring the intricacies of his creative process. He was a journeyman director in the early days of Hollywood who was able to churn out B-movies at a good pace for studios. While he may not be a legendary figure in the history of cinema, though, his artistic accomplishments are well worth remembering. After all, somebody who left this much of an impact on the world of Westerns has to be doing something right!
How Did Lambert Hillyer Direct So Many Westerns?
Hillyer made a good chunk of his 146 Westerns throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s thanks to his extremely productive annual output. In 1941 alone, he directed 11 movies — nearly 10% of that 146 Westerns output! He’d once again helm 11 features in 1948, while even in “slower” years like 1940 he still helmed three different features! Tyler Perry directing two theatrical films a year in the late 2000s/early 2010s seems like mere child’s play compared to Hillyer’s output! Given how conceptually daunting putting on a film production is, one has to ask…how did Hillyer manage to get so many motion pictures made?
The trick here is that Hillyer was largely making quick and cheap Western B-movies for studios. Academic author Maureen Rogers notes that titles like the ones this director specialized in were typically shot in just one week. The low-budget confines and limited scope of these productions made them easy to shoot in a rapid-fire fashion. Plus, Hollywood was just cranking out more movies back in those days and could usually use studio contracts for filmmakers to keep big-name artists producing a steady slew of fresh motion pictures. Even a filmmaker making expansive productions like John Ford could crank out multiple new Westerns in years like 1950 and 1962. In the realm of B-movies, Hillyer was able to really go wild in producing a barrage of annual Westerns.
This ability to get so many Westerns made each year puts Hillyer in sharp contrast to other prolific figures in the Western cinema canon, such as Sergio Leone, who famously only directed seven movies. With this advantage alone, it’s no wonder Hillyer was able to claim the record for most Westerns helmed by any one filmmaker. That expansive number of Westerns also includes early works from the 1910s and 1920s, such as the 1920 motion picture The Testing Block. Hillyer spent decades in the film industry helming projects and that meant he was on the ground-floor of movie Westerns, following right in the footsteps of deeply influential projects like The Great Train Robbery. By spending so many different eras in this genre, Hillyer inadvertently showcased the versatility this genre contained. The Western could look like anything and take on so many stories, as seen through this one man’s filmography.
What Is Lambert Hillyer’s Larger Cinematic Legacy?
Ironically, Lambert Hillyer’s greatest lasting legacy as a filmmaker came from projects made outside of the scope of Westerns. In 1943, he helmed the first-ever movie version of Batman in the form of a 15-part serial that aired in theaters and starred Lewis Wilson as the titular superhero.
More than 80 years later, Batman is still anchoring major motion pictures, all of which were made possible by Hillyer proving that Batman could work in the world of cinema. Hillyer also helmed the 1936 movie Dracula’s Daughter for Universal Pictures, a project that proved so lastingly influential that it spawned a reboot in the form of the 2024 feature Abigail.How many other masters of Western B-movies in the 30s and 40s can claim one of their features is getting a 2024 reboot?
Hillyer’s prolific forays into the world of Westerns also reinforced the financial viability of this genre to studios, who continue to exploit stories about people on horseback to this very day. Heck, Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe is made in the shadow of all classic Westerns, including the B-movies helmed by Hillyer. Speaking of Sheridan, his pattern of cranking out multiple Western TV shows a year harkens back to Hillyer’s work ethic. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Projects like Lawmen: Bass Reeves and 1923 keep the ethos of a creative workaholic like Hillyer alive and well.
Most importantly, though, Hillyer gave future Westerns something to play off of.
The Western genre, like all forms of cinema, is a mold of storytelling always in communication with the past. Hays Code era Westerns like the ones Hillyer oversaw (full of bloodless violence and clear-cut heroes and villains) were the kinds of projects future graphically violent Spaghetti Westerns or morally complex Eastwood works like Unforgiven would be responding to.
These titles wouldn’t be able to exist without the default aesthetic established by Hillyer and countless other Western B-movie directors. In the modern world, new Westerns are being produced that are now responding and evolving from Unforgiven and other 1990s/2000s Westerns…the chain link of Western storytelling continues to expand. Towards the very beginning of that chain link are the works of Lambert Hillyer, the most prolific Western movie director in history by a massive margin. With that sheer volume of output, it’s no wonder he stands so tall in this genre.