Richard Donner helped define or create the modern superhero movie, the modern action film, the prestige horror flick and the YA adventure picture.
Richard Donner died yesterday at the age of 91. While still prolific and active behind the scenes, he hadn’t directed a feature since the superb 16 Blocks in early 2006. That picture, starring Bruce Willis as an over-the-hill and alcoholic cop who makes a split-second decision to protect a witness from his fellow officers, works as both a character-driven action drama and a proverbial «final Die Hard movie.» It wasn’t a hit, as even back then, we were starting to see the decline of the non-IP star vehicle. It turned out to be a good curtain call from one of our very best journeyman directors. Donner’s legacy is prolific enough that inventing the modern superhero movie is just one line item on a long resume. What’s notable, beyond mere talent, offscreen decency and mainstream success, is how he subtly helped shape the pop culture that drives our current nostalgia. During his prime period of fortune and glory,1976 to 1989, he helmed several films that would invent, perfect, or define many still popular cinematic sub-genres. The Omen wasn’t the first «big horror movie for adults» of its era. The Exorcist earned a Best Picture nomination and shattered box office records ($193 million domestic) in 1973. But the 1976 chiller, starring Gregory Peck as an ambassador who realizes that his young son may be the anti-Christ, helped define the modern upscale/religious horror movie. The Oscar-winning Jerry Goldsmith score, the over-the-top kills and the still-potent notion of a homicidal cherub helped make The Omen a modern classic. It’s so good that when Fox remade it specifically to release it on June 6, 2006, they barely changed a damn thing. Cue a $48 million domestic gross ($211 million adjusted-for-inflation) and the end of «Damien» as a popular baby name. I’m not sure what’s left to say about Superman: The Movie. You know that the producers (Alexander and Ilya Salkind) intended to shoot two movies back-to-back, only for Donner to be fired after the first film and replaced by Richard Lester despite 70% of Superman II already in the can. You know that Superman pioneered still-impressive special effects, which allowed then-unknown Christopher Reeve to fly all around Metropolis (and the world). You know the film’s structure, with the first third dealing with the origins, the middle offering a super heroic introduction via feats of derring-do and the third act featuring a supervillain plot, became the template for «part one» superhero movies like Spider-Man, Batman Begins, Captain America, Wonder Woman and many more. The «formula» has also been used to justify any number of failed «not a superhero» would-be superhero origin stories, including Salkinds’ own Santa Claus: The Movie in 1985. It’s no secret that I think Hollywood and the film nerd community generally overestimates the mainstream/general audience appeal of Superman. I’d argue he’s closer in popularity to «just because I’ve heard of this character doesn’t mean I want a movie» IP like Robin Hood and Peter Pan than «folks will show up again and again» IP like James Bond and Spider-Man. After all, Superman II, which earned $109 million domestically in 1981, was the last unquestionably successful Superman movie just over 40 years ago. But what if consumer interest in Superman back in 1978 was as much about the sheer quality and gee-whiz appeal (a relentlessly decent superhero in grim post-Watergate America) of Superman: The Movie? What if the very notion of what Superman «should» be was explicitly tied to Richard Donner and Christopher Reeves’ moral sensibilities? Maybe audiences didn’t want Superman movies. Perhaps they just really liked Superman: The Movie.
