King of the Hill is set in St. Louis during the Depression. Twelve-year-old Aaron Kurlander lives in a pitiful one-room apartment in the seedy Empire Hotel. When the family runs out of money, his tubercular mother goes into a sanitarium and his younger brother is shipped off to relatives. Just before his father leaves to sell watches door-to-door in neighboring states, Aaron fixes him a dinner consisting of ketchup and warm water.
Steven Soderbergh's third film, based on the memoirs of A. E. Hotchner, focuses on the character qualities which help this young boy survive on his own. Aaron's ability to learn quickly comes in handy when a streetwise youth in the hotel shares some survival tricks. Aaron's courage is put to the test in encounters with an authoritarian policeman and a sadistic bellboy who takes pleasure in locking out tenants who can't pay their bills.
Although he is barely getting by on a meager diet of rolls, Aaron is willing to put himself out for others. Even after a scheme to make money breeding birds comes to naught, he purchases a kitty for a lonely epileptic girl. Perhaps Aaron's greatest ally is his rich imagination as revealed in the opening scene of the film when he gives a class report on the challenges of serving as an advisor to Charles Lindbergh.
King of the Hill is carried confidently and triumphantly on the acting skills of Jesse Bradford. During his time alone at the Empire Hotel, he is initiated into the callous adult world of brutality, betrayal, injustice, and loss. His creativity, courage, compassion, and initiative help carry him through many deprivations. King of the Hill celebrates Aaron's grace under pressure and his dream to reunite his family.