Monte Hellman was born on July 12, 1929, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn,[3] to Gertrude (née Edelstein) and Fred Himmelbaum,[4] who were vacationing in New York at the time of his birth.

[7] Hellman's most critically acclaimed film is considered to be Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), a road movie that was a box-office failure at the time of its initial release but, according to Danny Peary in 1981, it has become a perennial cult favorite.

[8] 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 followings, particularly the latter.

He shot extra footage for the television versions of Ski Troop Attack (1960), Last Woman on Earth (1960)[citation needed], Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) and Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964).

Among the movies on which Hellman served as editor are Corman's The Wild Angels (1966), Bob Rafelson's Head (1968), Sam Peckinpah's The Killer Elite (1975), and Jonathan Demme's Fighting Mad (1976).