# The Hill (2023 film)
**The Hill** is a 2023 American biographical sports drama directed by Jeff Celentano, telling the true story of [Rickey Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/rickey-hill), a Texas pastor's son who overcame a degenerative spinal disease and leg braces to pursue a career in professional baseball.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill) [Dennis Quaid](https://www.edgepedia.org/dennis-quaid) plays Hill's father, Pastor James Hill, and [Colin Ford](https://www.edgepedia.org/colin-ford) plays the young adult Rickey.[2](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/862557-the-hill?language=en-US) The film was released in the United States on August 25, 2023, by Briarcliff Entertainment.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8051894)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | August 25, 2023 (United States, wide); DVD/Blu-ray October 17, 2023[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8051894) • [4](https://www.tributemovies.com/movie/The-Hill/172076/) |
| Director / writers | Jeff Celentano; screenplay by Angelo Pizzo and Scott Marshall Smith[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill) |
| Lead cast | Dennis Quaid (James Hill), Colin Ford (Rickey Hill), Joelle Carter, Scott Glenn, Bonnie Bedelia, Randy Houser[2](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/862557-the-hill?language=en-US) |
| Distributor | Briarcliff Entertainment; production companies included Vitamin Films and Rescue Dog Productions[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill) |
| Box office | $7,665,865 domestic; $7,697,028 worldwide; opening weekend $2,301,931[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8051894) |
| Reception | 44% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (36 reviews); 97% Popcornmeter from 500+ verified audience ratings[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill) |
| Technical specs | 126 minutes, PG, color, 2.35:1 aspect ratio[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8051894) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and subject
The film follows Rickey Hill, who grows up impoverished in small-town Texas with an extraordinary talent for hitting a baseball despite leg braces caused by a degenerative spinal disease.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill) His father, a stern Baptist pastor, discourages him from playing to protect him from injury and wants him to follow him into preaching.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill) As a young man Rickey becomes a baseball phenomenon, and his desire to attend a tryout for a legendary major league scout divides the family.[4](https://www.tributemovies.com/movie/The-Hill/172076/) The story is framed as a loose metaphorical take on David and Goliath, a sermon James preaches early in the film.[5](https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/hill-2023/)
## The real Rickey Hill
The film's central obstacles are drawn from Hill's life: he was born with a degenerative spine disorder that required leg braces as a child, and he grew up in a family that struggled financially, with his father serving as a Baptist preacher.[6](https://whattowatch.bommelbach.com/features/is-the-hill-based-on-a-true-story) Hill was signed by the [Montreal Expos](https://www.edgepedia.org/montreal-expos) in 1975 and played his first season of minor league baseball with their affiliate, the Lethbridge Expos of the Pioneer League.[6](https://whattowatch.bommelbach.com/features/is-the-hill-based-on-a-true-story) He was never called up to [Major League Baseball](https://www.edgepedia.org/major-league-baseball) and retired after the 1978 season, when, as *The Athletic* described in an interview with Hill, "his body gave out."[6](https://whattowatch.bommelbach.com/features/is-the-hill-based-on-a-true-story)
Hill participated in the production as a producer and appears on screen as the tryout coach Ricky talks to.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8051894) He has said the film is accurate while seeking to honor his late father's perspective, and he noted that his father, who had a fourth-grade education, built a church with his bare hands.[7](https://www.familytheater.org/blog/baseball-the-hill-dennis-quaid-colin-ford?hs_amp=true) A reviewer's account notes that even after allowing young Rickey to play, Reverend James Hill never attended his son's games until he signed a contract with an MLB team.[7](https://www.familytheater.org/blog/baseball-the-hill-dennis-quaid-colin-ford?hs_amp=true)
## Production
[Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) took place in Georgia, with a shoot in October 2021 in Atlanta and filming also in [Augusta, Georgia](https://www.edgepedia.org/augusta-georgia).[8](https://www.productionlist.com/production/the-hill) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8051894) The production companies attached included Vitamin Films, Rick Montgomery Casting, and Celentano Group Productions, with Rick Montgomery as casting director, Kristopher Kimlin as cinematographer, and Warren Ostergard as production manager.[8](https://www.productionlist.com/production/the-hill) Geoff Zanelli composed the score, and Douglas Crise edited.[9](https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt8051894/) The Motion Picture Association rated the film PG for thematic content, some language, and smoking throughout.[10](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hill-The-%282023%29)
## Release and box office
[Briarcliff Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/briarcliff-entertainment) released the film wide in the United States on August 25, 2023, on 1,570 theaters, and it expanded to a maximum of 1,703 theaters the following week.[10](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hill-The-%282023%29) The opening weekend gross of $2,301,931 represented 30.0 percent of the film's total domestic gross, and the film ran for an average of 3.5 weeks per theater.[10](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hill-The-%282023%29) Domestic grosses reached $7,665,865, with international receipts of $31,163 bringing the worldwide total to $7,697,028.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8051894) • [11](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt8051894/) The film was released on home video on October 17, 2023.[4](https://www.tributemovies.com/movie/The-Hill/172076/) An international release followed in Mexico on February 29, 2024, under the title *El Camino de Hill*.[10](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hill-The-%282023%29)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed while audience response was strongly positive. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 44 percent Tomatometer from 36 reviews against a 97 percent Popcornmeter from more than 500 verified audience ratings.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill) The site's critics consensus states that solid work from Dennis Quaid helps elevate the film, but that the fact-based underdog drama is only intermittently inspirational.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill) Thelma Adams of AARP Movies for Grownups gave it 4 of 5, calling it a sincere, inspiring baseball movie grounded in a complicated father-son relationship, while Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave it 2 of 4, describing a well-meaning but dutiful trudge toward an ordained destination.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill) RogerEbert.com's review added that whenever the film lets Rickey and James verbally spar about faith and sports, it transcends cliche.[12](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-hill-movie-review-2023) Audience reviewers on the site repeatedly singled it out as a family-friendly film with Christian themes.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill)
## Accuracy notes
One documented anachronism: the film depicts young Rickey in the 1960s hitting rocks in a hay field with round hay bales with net wrap in the background, but round bale hay production was not invented until 1972.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8051894) A later analysis of the film's changes to Hill's life notes that the movie compresses details of his real baseball journey and gives the father-son relationship a moment of visible resolution that should be understood as dramatic invention rather than biography.[13](https://www.documentarytube.com/blog/8-notable-changes-the-hill-makes-to-rickey-hills-true-story/)
## References
1. [The Hill, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hill)
2. [The Hill (2023), The Movie Database](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/862557-the-hill?language=en-US)
3. [The Hill (2023), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8051894)
4. [The Hill, Movie Plot and Synopsis, Tribute Movies](https://www.tributemovies.com/movie/The-Hill/172076/)
5. [The Hill, Plugged In review](https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/hill-2023/)
6. [Is The Hill based on a true story?, What to Watch](https://whattowatch.bommelbach.com/features/is-the-hill-based-on-a-true-story)
7. [Baseball Biopic 'The Hill' Steps Up to the Plate, Family Theater](https://www.familytheater.org/blog/baseball-the-hill-dennis-quaid-colin-ford?hs_amp=true)
8. [The Hill, Production List, Film & Television Industry Alliance](https://www.productionlist.com/production/the-hill)
9. [The Hill, Production & Contact Info, IMDbPro](https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt8051894/)
10. [The Hill (2023), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hill-The-%282023%29)
11. [The Hill, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt8051894/)
12. [The Hill movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-hill-movie-review-2023)
13. [The Hill True Story: 8 Changes to Rickey Hill's Life, DocumentaryTube](https://www.documentarytube.com/blog/8-notable-changes-the-hill-makes-to-rickey-hills-true-story/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Individual biographical and docudrama films › Sports figures*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license