Spine 698: King of the Hill

Stephen Soderberg's third movie is the marquee release this week, King of the Hill (1993), an adaptation of A.E. Hotchner's memoir of being poor in Depression-era St. Louis. Also slid in here is Soderberg's fourth movie, The Underneath (1995), a remake of the Robert Siodmak's 1949 noir Criss Cross. Accompanying each is an introduction from Soderberg about how much he loathes the films, which makes it hard to like them ourselves -- though The Underneath is certainly the worse film. Ultimately we spend a lot of time wondering why Criterion bothered to put these out, particularly together, and I think came to a satisfying if bleak answer.