What a great run Richard had! He started by directing TV shows: good stuff, namely The Twilight Zone‘s “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” and dreck, Gilligan’s Island. Then he did several movies but the one that got him rolling was The Omen, don’t waste your life seeing the dumb remake. For me, Donner will always be the person who made superhero movies feasible through his Superman and Superman II (get the Donner cut, not the Lester). Every attempt at making Superman films have fallen flat ever since.
In the Eighties, he helmed two other iconic flicks in the same year…1985: The Goonies and the underrated Ladyhawke. Those two were impressive enough for me to forgive Richard’s work I just couldn’t get into; the entire Lethal Weapon franchise, Scrooged and two other yawners he made with the now toxic Mel Gibson.
Thanks for everything Richard! You definitely had a hand in defining the film vocabulary of the Eighties and enhancing millions of childhoods.