He debuted in 1958 as a director with [The Left Handed Gun]. He was a frontrunner of the New American Cinema. He is famous for being a director who sharply pointed out the problems of American society, through [Bonnie and Clyde] and [The Chase] (1966) among others. Despite of his old age, he created many works crossing televisions and films until 2001. His major works include [Little Big Man] (1970), which is well-known in Korea, [Night Moves] (1975), [Dead of Winter] (1987), and [Inside] (1996).