Richard Donner RIP

techdiver

Sadly passed away aged 91.

As a child of the 80's he left a mark on me. My favorite superhero movie of all time is still Superman. Added to that The Goonies, the Lethal Weapon series all being me back to my early years!

JP Liz V1

Maverick and Assassins two underrated gems

RIP

Mr.Nice Guy

Sad to hear that. Big fan of his Superman films. The helicopter moment with Lois is one of my favourite scenes in cinema. Still gives me goosebumps when I watch it.

Zeek12

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Maverick and Assassins two underrated gems

RIP

The Omen and Scrooged not mentioned much but are both very fine films he directed.

RIP.

dublinman1990

What a great life he has lead to go before us at 91. The Superman movies, Lethal Weapon & The Goonies were some of my favourite movies when I was a kid. RIP.

Tipsy McSwagger

A brilliant director, and I have always said one of the best ever, easily in my top 5 of all time. Just look at the different sub-genres he directed, he has arguably made a masterpiece in 4 of them, horror, superhero, adventure, buddy cop.

Kingp35

Sad to hear this. I love The Goonies and still watch it every couple of years. He had a great CV. RIP

artvanderlay

The opening credits of Superman alone makes him a legend. No other superhero movie has come close to capturing the sense of excitement that they created. Spine-tingling and awesome. It's one of my favourite movies along with part II, which he also shot most of.



The Omen was terrifying to me and still is. When they dig up the jackal corpse I loved the first two Lethal Weapon movies too because they were humourous but still pretty hardcore action-wise. I hate Scrooged though; it's just a horrible movie.

pixelburp

I mean this as a compliment, but the man was a peerless tradesman; a total pro. I think with cinema and film criticism, there can be too much emphasis or praise towards the auteurs; flighty creatives, where it's about the style and the esoteric. We can forget the value - and skill - in just being damn good at the job of making movies: Donner's CV was a succession of really solid, fantastically entertaining mainstream films... and that wasn't an easy feat that should ever be taken for granted, or undersold. Hollywood should have more Richard Donners, not less - his passing is a loss to the industry IMO.

As to his work? Scrooged for me is one of the best, most forgotten Christmas films. Watched it only this season gone, and remains a great reimagining of A Christmas Carol - with a fantastic central, unhinged performance from Bill Murray. Hadn't realised his last film was 16 Blocks: was only "praising" that film the other day (not as a forgotten classic mind, but just a curiosity worth watching)

pixelburp

pixelburp wrote: »

Hollywood should have more Richard Donners, not less - his passing is a loss to the industry IMO.

Hollywood has been in dire need of the likes of Richard Donner for over a decade now. A Director who made mainstream popular culture movies in Hollywood original and great, and brilliantly entertaining.
Is there anyone else left who has that knack aside from Robert Zemeckis? No one springs to mind.

mikhail

Zemeckis's output has been patchy since the turn of the century. His experiments with motion capture are widely derided. Maybe I'm underestimating one of them, but I don't think he's had a hit since Flight in 2012.

pixelburp

Deleted User wrote: »

Hollywood has been in dire need of the likes of Richard Donner for over a decade now. A Director who made mainstream popular culture movies in Hollywood original and great, and brilliantly entertaining.
Is there anyone else left who has that knack aside from Robert Zemeckis? No one springs to mind.

I think they still exist; part of the problem though is that the type of movies Donner might have worked on fadó don't exist anymore. Adult, mid-budget mainstream blockbusters are kinda extinct, replaced with the Four Quadrant mega-blockbusters who need to make 1+ billion worldwide to be profitable. Lethal Weapon would never get made nowadays, there's no perceived market for it (unless it was punched up into a Hobbs & Shaw, China-pleasing visual rollercoaster).

Off the top of my head - and anyone who knows my recent posting will see this one coming - a Donner'esque director occupying the higher tiers of Hollywood would be someone like James Mangold. A solid pro who can take any material and spin it into Quality Entertainment. While horror has a tidy clutch of directors who are steady, reliable pros like Leigh Whannel or Mike Flanagan (was super impressed at Dr. Sleep, which again you could set your watch by, it was that Solid)

Zemeckis is a lost auteur though IMO; the guy has just become obsessed with technology at the expense of story & his recent filmography reflects that. Showy, shallow CGI messes without an ounce of humanity. Flight was the last movie he made with any kind of character, and it wasn't great; clichéd to a fault.

Agent Coulson

RIP.

Goonies Never Say Die

Sad Professor

A great journeyman director who was a master of tone. This allowed him to make a variety of genre films and even blend genres within the same film. It was also this that distinguished his Superman above all else. His approach to superheroes was way ahead of everyone else.

Donner also directed Nightmare at 20,000 Feet with William Shatner, one of the best and most famous episodes of the Twilight Zone.

pixelburp

A really nice Donner story popped up while Boards was off the air: Donner & his wife paid for the college tuition for the actor who played Chunk - Jeff Cohen. Cohen added his own tribute of thanks for helping him get a lift in life:

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/richard-donner-dies-goonies-jeff-cohen-chunk-1235012107/

Donner and his wife, Lauren Shuler Donner, paid his college tuition and provided a critical source of emotional and financial support when he needed it the most. Cohen is now a prominent entertainment attorney and the co-founder of the Cohen & Gardner firm in Beverly Hills.

...

As a human being, Dick was so kind to me. I’m an entertainment attorney, and I have a firm out here in Los Angeles. None of that would have happened for me without Dick Donner helping me when there was nothing I could do for him. To me, that’s a unique thing in our business. Dick Donner and Lauren Shuler Donner, because they were kind, paid for my college when I went to Berkeley.

Big Gerry

Does richard donners death mean lethal weapon 5 is dead in the water or will they get another director ?