It’s been noted that the director who gave us two of the most cherished underdog sagas in American movies remained, to the end, somethi…
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It’s been noted that the director who gave us two of the most cherished underdog sagas in American movies remained, to the end, something of an underdog himself. John G. Avildsen may have secured his place in the Hollywood firmament with “Rocky” (1976) and “The Karate Kid” (1984) , both fitting tributes to the importance of working hard, staying tough and keeping your eyes on the prize. But those soaring career highs stood out in a career that also encompassed high-profile duds, ill-advised sequels, Troma sexploitation flicks and a trio of Razzie nominations. It was not, to be sure, your typical Academy Award winner’s résumé.
But so what? Avildsen, who died on Friday at 81, was more uneven journeyman than exacting artist, the kind of director who gamely tried his hand at any number of genres, misfired often and seemed to stumble onto his successes almost by accident. But that lack of pretension — another word for it might be subtlety — made sense for a filmmaker who was, at his best, a master of the sturdy and the sentimental, who excelled at telling scrappy, emotionally generous stories about improbable winners, perpetual losers and everyone in between.
That so many of these characters spring so vividly to mind is a reminder that Avildsen, while not always inspired in his choice of material, had an often sure-handed touch with actors. Sylvester Stallone’s original appearance as Rocky Balboa, for all its endlessly imitable meathead toughness, seems all the more striking today for its delicacy. The performances given by Peter Falk in “Happy New Year” (1987) , Molly Ringwald in “For Keeps?” (1988) and Morgan Freeman in “Lean on Me” (1989) rank among their personal bests.
Despite his facility with actors, Avildsen wasn’ t afraid to clash with his collaborators in front of the camera or behind it. Off-screen disputes may have been at least partly to blame for the fiasco of “The Formula, ” his dead-on-arrival 1980 thriller starring Marlon Brando and George C. Scott. The director’s battles with John Belushi on the set of the 1981 suburban comedy “Neighbors” similarly became the stuff of industry cautionary-tale legend.
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