# Richard Donner dead at 91 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [July 5, 2021, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-donner-dead-at-91/945770 "2021-07-05T23:06:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-donner-dead-at-91/945770/1 "2021-07-05T23:06:44Z")
I know Superman and Lethal Weapon were huge, but I will always think of Maverick as Donner’s best movie and also Mel Gibson’s greatest performance. Nothing can overstate how awesome Superman was, though. A superhero movie that took the whole genre seriously and had great flying effects that still hold up. My favorite scenes in Maverick involved Graham Greene as the Indian who was paid to act like “traditional Indians”. [“We whoop and holler like idiots and he pays us.”](https://youtu.be/e_nYT8WhFjk) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-donner-dead-at-91/945770/2 "2021-07-05T23:58:17Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Nothing can overstate how awesome Superman was, though. A superhero movie that took the whole genre seriously and had great flying effects that still hold up. If you can, have a look at the Richard Donner cut of **Superman II** They couldn’t reproduce the whole thing, but they excised the stuff that Richard Lester added and restored the existing but unused Donner footage. It shows you how good Superman II could’ve been if the Salkinds hadn’t abruptly canned him. > **[Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_II:_The_Richard_Donner_Cut)** > > Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut is a 2006 re-edited director's cut of the 1980 superhero film Superman II. It is a sequel to Richard Donner's 1978 film Superman, based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name, and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, and Marlon Brando. This alternate cut was edited by Michael Thau and was overseen and completed by Donner himself. It features a significant amount of discarded footage, alternate takes, and story elements not featured in the theatrical ve... And give him lots of credit for **Ladyhawke** , even if you didn’t care for the score (I did). One of my all-time favorite fantasy films, with castles that really do look like period castles. > **[Ladyhawke (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladyhawke_(film))** > > Ladyhawke is a 1985 medieval fantasy film directed and produced by Richard Donner and starring Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. The story is about a young thief who becomes unwillingly involved with a warrior and his lady who are hunted by the Bishop of Aquila. As he learns about the couple's past and secret, he chooses to help them overcome the bishop's forces, and to lift an infernal curse. > In medieval Italy, Phillipe Gaston, a thief known as "The Mouse", is imprisoned in... ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-donner-dead-at-91/945770/3 "2021-07-06T00:15:03Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > …but I will always think of Maverick as Donner’s best movie and also Mel Gibson’s greatest performance. I liked _Maverick_, but I’m a James Garner fan. Didn’t care much for the end of the Big Game in that one, though. The conceit that Maverick could conjure up the ace of spades just by wishing for it was silly. I think it would have been better if he’d drawn the nine of spades at the end; it still would have made his straight flush and won the hand, but would have subverted the expectation for the ace. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-donner-dead-at-91/945770/4 "2021-07-06T00:15:11Z")
He also directed Scrooged and The Goonies. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-donner-dead-at-91/945770/5 "2021-07-06T01:18:16Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > . I think it would have been better if he’d drawn the nine of spades at the end; it still would have made his straight flush and won the hand, but would have subverted the expectation for the ace That is a great idea. Would have gotten a big laugh and fit the vibe of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-donner-dead-at-91/945770/6 "2021-07-06T01:22:18Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > He also directed Scrooged and The Goonies. And _The Omen_, a great horror film. ---
**Author:** ![SwissMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@SwissMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwissMan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-donner-dead-at-91/945770/7 "2021-07-06T01:34:27Z")
Of course, he got his start in television, directing “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” for _The Twilight Zone_ ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-donner-dead-at-91/945770/8 "2021-07-06T06:02:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > He also directed Scrooged and The Goonies. _Scrooged_ and _Lethal Weapon_ are both fantastic Christmas films. _Lethal Weapon_ has special memories for me. I first hit Thailand in 1988, and my group spent a lot of time in Bangkok for training. And even after training, there were ample opportunities to go back down to Bangkok – meetings, vaccinations and whatnot. At that time, many of the little cafes on the backpacker enclave of Khao San Road would show videotapes of movies, and _Lethal Weapon_ was being shown in just about all of them that year. I remember kicking back with buddies and getting wasted on Singha beer while watching movies in those places, and _LW_ figured large. I could not even begin to count how many times I watched it. RIP, Richard. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-donner-dead-at-91/945770/9 "2021-07-06T16:33:16Z")
And he did Danger Island for the Banana Splits show. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/68jbM1eF0FY/maxresdefault.jpg "Danger Island - The Movie") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68jbM1eF0FY)