Hal Ashby
Film director · 5 films (1971–1979)
Hal Ashby is a director whose work here spans Harold and Maude (1971) to Being There (1979), across drama and comedy. 2 of those films were photographed by Haskell Wexler. All 303 frames from 5 films are indexed here, searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, colour and mood.
Hal Ashby was an American film director and editor associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. Before his career as a director, Ashby edited films for Norman Jewison, notably The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Editing, and In the Heat of the Night (1967), which earned him an Oscar for the same category.
Born 2 September 1929 · Ogden, Utah, USA · died 27 December 1988
Directing style
Hal Ashby establishes a grounded, observational realism by staging his dramas almost exclusively at eye-level, favoring medium and wide shots over closeups to capture characters within their environments. This naturalistic blocking is lit primarily through functional, motivated sources—such as direct sunlight, domestic practicals, and windows—which illuminate a mix of day and night interiors. A soft, shallow depth of field isolates characters against desaturated earth tones, muted blues, and warm ochres, quietly underscoring a prevailing mood of loneliness and tension.
Awards
- Academy Award for Best Film Editing · 1968
Films directed by Hal Ashby
About Hal Ashby
When was Hal Ashby born?
Hal Ashby was born on 2 September 1929 in Ogden, Utah, USA and died on 27 December 1988.
What films has Hal Ashby directed?
FrameThrower holds stills from 5 of them: Harold and Maude (1971), The Last Detail (1973), Bound For Glory (1976), Coming Home (1978) and Being There (1979).
What awards has Hal Ashby won?
Academy Award for Best Film Editing (1968).
Search every frame of Hal Ashby’s films
All 303 indexed frames from 5 films directed by Hal Ashby — searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, mood or plain language.