Hellman is among a group of directing talent mentored by Roger Corman, who produced several of the director's early films. Hellman began by working on "low budget exploitation films with a personal slant," yet learned from Corman the art of producing commercially viable films on a tight budget while staying true to a personal vision. Hellman's most critically acclaimed film to date has been "Two-Lane Blacktop" (1971), a road movie that was a box office failure at the time of its initial release but has subsequently turned into a perennial cult favorite. Hellman's two acid westerns starring Jack Nicholson, "Ride in the Whirlwind" and "The Shooting", both shot in 1965 and premiered at festivals in 1966 before being widely released directly to television in 1968, have also developed cult followings, particularly the latter. Hellman and his stuntman Gary Kent talk about the making of the westerns in the 2018 documentary "Danger God aka Love and Other Stunts". A third western, "China 9, Liberty 37" (1978), was far less successful critically, although it too has its admirers, as do "Cockfighter" (1974) (aka "Born to Kill") and "Iguana" (1988). In 1989, he directed the straight-to-video slasher film ""