Hill's films can be seen as a continuing critique of the ideas which have shaped and still support the American culture. He questions such traditional concepts as the nobility of individual heroism, the role and nature of the family, and the American obsession with success. These concepts are a small part of a core of ideas that can be termed "conventional morality," wisdom that, whatever its origins, comes to be accepted as given by the members of a culture. The configuration of this morality is ambiguous, but a suggestive and subjective outline can be drawn. The conventional wisdom with which Hill's films deal holds that the forces of good invariably triumph over the forces of evil; that righteousness is rewarded while wrongdoing is punished; that the universe is providentially and benevolently ruled; that the family is a strong force for good; that violence, if channeled in socially approved...