He was 91. He directed a whole bunch of TV before starting on feature films. Link to his appearance on Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast also below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Donner
https://www.gilbertpodcast.com/richard-donner/
https://deadline.com/2021/07/richard-donner-dead-superman-lethal-weapon-director-1234786372/
I watched Slaughter (1972) with Jim Brown before I knew who he was as a director. I remember thinking whoever shot this thing was a crazy person. Fisheye lens from ground level in the middle of a fight scene and other weird camera moves. Then I learned that was just a Jack Starrett movie. He shot Cleopatra Jones (1973) next with a real budget from Warner Bros. and it showed.
Then I was able to see the two biker flicks: Run,Angel, Run! (1969), with an informative Joe Bob Briggs commentary, and The Losers (1970), a truly insane movie shot in the Philippines. I also was able to find the nearly forgotten cult film, The Dion Brothers (1974)[aka The Gravy Train], with Stacy Keach and written by Terrence Malick. It is on Youtube at the moment. I have the nice Shout Factory DVD of Race with the Devil (1975) with Peter Fonda and Warren Oates.
And, finally, I came across two of his TV movie director credits in the late 70s while doing my TV posts. Mr. Horn in 1979 with David Carradine, and Big Bob Johnson and His Fantastic Speed Circus in 1978 with Charles Napier. A failed pilot.
Mr. Starrett died from kidney failure in 1989 at age 52. He was also known as an actor. Gabby Johnson in Blazing Saddles. The sadistic cop, Galt, in First Blood.
https://cscottrollins.blogspot.com/2013/03/jack-starrett-aka-claude-ennis-starrett.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Starrett
Second woman admitted to the Director’s Guild. Reportedly took over for Nicholas Ray for several days on On Dangerous Ground when he became ill. The Hitch-Hiker (1953) was the first noir directed by a woman. I watched it on Youtube (it is public domain) and it was very intense.
https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2009/great-directors/ida-lupino/
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One of my favorite directors and one of the directors I discovered on Criterion DVD from the library. He was blacklisted and forced to work outside of the U.S. I have several of those Criterion DVDs now. Listening to Xander Berkeley on The Movies That Made Me podcast at Trailers From Hell and they mentioned Rififi.
https://www.indiewire.com/2015/09/the-essentials-the-8-greatest-jules-dassin-films-260320/
Watching Mean Mother (1974) now on Bounce and Black Heat (1976) is coming up next. Al Adamson was the legendary director of such cinema classics as Satan’s Sadists and Dracula vs. Frankenstein. He disappeared in 1995 and weeks later was found buried beneath a floor of his house. Killed by the contractor hired to do renovations.https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-08-08-me-32791-story.html
