Richard Rush (director)
Encyclopedia
Richard Rush is an American
movie director, scriptwriter, and producer. He is best known for the Oscar-nominated The Stunt Man
. His other works, however, have been less celebrated. The next best-known of his movies is Color of Night
— also nominated, but in this case for the Golden Raspberry Award
. Rush also directed Freebie and The Bean
, an over-the-top police buddy comedy/drama starring Alan Arkin
and James Caan. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1990 movie Air America
.
and Batman
comics. He was one of the first students of UCLA’s film program,and, after graduation, Rush worked to create television programs for the United States military showcasing the nation's involvement in the Korean War
. While he agreed with the military’s involvement in the region, Rush’s participation in this largely symbolic conflict can be seen as a defining event for the director who later explained:
After his propaganda work, Rush opened a production company to produce commercials and industrial films. At the age of thirty, inspired by the neo-realism of French director François Truffaut
’s The 400 Blows
, Rush sold his production business to finance his first feature Too Soon to Love
(1960), which he produced on a shoestring budget of $50,000 and sold to Universal Pictures
for distribution. Too Soon to Love is considered the first product of the "American New Wave." It also marked the second film appearance of Jack Nicholson
(who starred in two later Rush films, Hells Angels on Wheels
and Psych-Out
).
Rush directed three films for AIP
in the late 1960s exploring counter-cultures of the period and also introducing racking focus
, a technique Rush claims to have discovered and named. Rush's first studio effort was 1970's Getting Straight
, starring Elliott Gould
and Candice Bergen
. The film did well commercially and was deemed by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman
to be the "best American film of the decade." Rush's next movie, in 1974, was Freebie and the Bean
. For the most part, Freebie was critically panned, though director Stanley Kubrick
called it "the best movie of the year."
In 1981, Truffaut was asked "Who is your favorite American director?" He answered, "I don’t know his name, but I saw his film last night and it was called The Stunt Man." The film, which took Rush nine years to put together, was a slapstick comedy, a thriller, a romance, an action-adventure, and a commentary on America's dismissal of veterans, as well as a deconstruction of Hollywood cinema. The film also features Rush's typical protagonist, an emotionally traumatized male who has escaped the traditional frameworks of society only to find his new world (biker gangs in Hells Angels on Wheels, hippies in Psych-Out) corrupted by the same influences. The Stunt Man won Rush Oscar nominations for best producer and best script.
When Air America
showed signs of trouble during development, Rush was given $4 million to walk away from the project. This allowed the studio to cast Mel Gibson
and Robert Downey, Jr.
Rush did not direct another film for fourteen years — 1994's critically panned Color of Night
. Afterward, Rush retreated from the world of commercial cinema. As Kenneth Turan
of The Los Angeles Times
wrote, Rush’s career seems to be "followed by the kind of miserable luck that never seems to afflict the untalented."
His most recent project is a DVD documentary on the making of The Stunt Man entitled The Sinister Saga of Making The Stunt Man (2001).
He currently resides in Bel Air with his wife Claudia. He has an older brother, Dr. Stephen Rush who also resides in Los Angeles.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
movie director, scriptwriter, and producer. He is best known for the Oscar-nominated The Stunt Man
The Stunt Man
The Stunt Man is a 1980 American film directed by Richard Rush, starring Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, and Barbara Hershey. The movie was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and Rush from the novel by Paul Brodeur...
. His other works, however, have been less celebrated. The next best-known of his movies is Color of Night
Color of Night
Color of Night is a 1994 American erotic mystery thriller film produced by Cinergi Pictures and released in the United States by Hollywood Pictures. Directed by Richard Rush, the film stars Bruce Willis, Jane March, Ruben Blades, Lesley Ann Warren, and Scott Bakula...
— also nominated, but in this case for the Golden Raspberry Award
1994 Golden Raspberry Awards
The 15th Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 26, 1995 at the El Rey Hotel in Los Angeles, California, to recognize the worst the movie industry had to offer in 1994. Erotic thriller Color of Night became the only Golden Raspberry Worst Picture "winner" to not receive a single other Razzie...
. Rush also directed Freebie and The Bean
Freebie and The Bean
Freebie and The Bean is a 1974 action-comedy film about two San Francisco police detectives who have one goal in life, bringing down a local hijacking boss. The picture, a precursor to the buddy cop film genre popularized a decade later, stars James Caan, Alan Arkin, Loretta Swit and Valerie...
, an over-the-top police buddy comedy/drama starring Alan Arkin
Alan Arkin
Alan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, musician and singer. He is known for starring in such films as Wait Until Dark, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Marley & Me, and...
and James Caan. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1990 movie Air America
Air America (film)
Air America is a 1990 American action comedy film directed by Roger Spottiswoode, starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. as Air America pilots, during the Vietnam War, flying missions in Laos...
.
Biography
Rush spent his childhood fascinated by Marcel ProustMarcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
and Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
comics. He was one of the first students of UCLA’s film program,and, after graduation, Rush worked to create television programs for the United States military showcasing the nation's involvement in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. While he agreed with the military’s involvement in the region, Rush’s participation in this largely symbolic conflict can be seen as a defining event for the director who later explained:
After his propaganda work, Rush opened a production company to produce commercials and industrial films. At the age of thirty, inspired by the neo-realism of French director François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...
’s The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers...
, Rush sold his production business to finance his first feature Too Soon to Love
Too Soon to Love
Too Soon to Love is an American exploitation film starring Richard Evans, Jennifer West, Jack Nicholson, and Joan Chandler. The film was directed by Richard Rush and released by Universal Pictures.-Plot synopsis:...
(1960), which he produced on a shoestring budget of $50,000 and sold to Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
for distribution. Too Soon to Love is considered the first product of the "American New Wave." It also marked the second film appearance of Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
(who starred in two later Rush films, Hells Angels on Wheels
Hells Angels on Wheels
Hells Angels on Wheels is a 1967 American biker film directed by Richard Rush, and starring Jack Nicholson, Adam Roarke, and Sabrina Scharf...
and Psych-Out
Psych-Out
Psych-Out is a feature film about hippies, psychedelic music, and recreational drugs, produced and released by American International Pictures. Originally scripted as The Love Children, the title when tested caused people to think it was about bastards, so Samuel Z...
).
Rush directed three films for AIP
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
in the late 1960s exploring counter-cultures of the period and also introducing racking focus
Racking focus
Racking focus in filmmaking and television production is the practice of shifting the attention of a audience of a film or video by changing the focus of the lens from a subject in the foreground to a subject in the background, or vice versa...
, a technique Rush claims to have discovered and named. Rush's first studio effort was 1970's Getting Straight
Getting Straight
Getting Straight is a 1970 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Richard Rush, released by Columbia Pictures.The story centered upon student politics at a university in the early 1970s, seen through the eyes of non-conformist graduate student Harry Bailey...
, starring Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...
and Candice Bergen
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
. The film did well commercially and was deemed by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
to be the "best American film of the decade." Rush's next movie, in 1974, was Freebie and the Bean
Freebie and The Bean
Freebie and The Bean is a 1974 action-comedy film about two San Francisco police detectives who have one goal in life, bringing down a local hijacking boss. The picture, a precursor to the buddy cop film genre popularized a decade later, stars James Caan, Alan Arkin, Loretta Swit and Valerie...
. For the most part, Freebie was critically panned, though director Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
called it "the best movie of the year."
In 1981, Truffaut was asked "Who is your favorite American director?" He answered, "I don’t know his name, but I saw his film last night and it was called The Stunt Man." The film, which took Rush nine years to put together, was a slapstick comedy, a thriller, a romance, an action-adventure, and a commentary on America's dismissal of veterans, as well as a deconstruction of Hollywood cinema. The film also features Rush's typical protagonist, an emotionally traumatized male who has escaped the traditional frameworks of society only to find his new world (biker gangs in Hells Angels on Wheels, hippies in Psych-Out) corrupted by the same influences. The Stunt Man won Rush Oscar nominations for best producer and best script.
When Air America
Air America (film)
Air America is a 1990 American action comedy film directed by Roger Spottiswoode, starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. as Air America pilots, during the Vietnam War, flying missions in Laos...
showed signs of trouble during development, Rush was given $4 million to walk away from the project. This allowed the studio to cast Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
and Robert Downey, Jr.
Rush did not direct another film for fourteen years — 1994's critically panned Color of Night
Color of Night
Color of Night is a 1994 American erotic mystery thriller film produced by Cinergi Pictures and released in the United States by Hollywood Pictures. Directed by Richard Rush, the film stars Bruce Willis, Jane March, Ruben Blades, Lesley Ann Warren, and Scott Bakula...
. Afterward, Rush retreated from the world of commercial cinema. As Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
of The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
wrote, Rush’s career seems to be "followed by the kind of miserable luck that never seems to afflict the untalented."
His most recent project is a DVD documentary on the making of The Stunt Man entitled The Sinister Saga of Making The Stunt Man (2001).
He currently resides in Bel Air with his wife Claudia. He has an older brother, Dr. Stephen Rush who also resides in Los Angeles.
Filmography (as director)
| Year | Film | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 1960 in film The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I... |
Too Soon to Love Too Soon to Love Too Soon to Love is an American exploitation film starring Richard Evans, Jennifer West, Jack Nicholson, and Joan Chandler. The film was directed by Richard Rush and released by Universal Pictures.-Plot synopsis:... |
aka Teenage Lovers (UK) |
| 1963 1963 in film The year 1963 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* June 12 - Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City.... |
Of Love and Desire | |
| 1967 1967 in film The year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:* December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television.... |
A Man Called Dagger A Man Called Dagger A Man Called Dagger is a low-budget spy film that was the first collaboration between director Richard Rush, cinematographer László Kovács and stuntman Gary Warner Kent .... |
|
| Thunder Alley Thunder Alley (film) Thunder Alley is a 1967 film directed by Richard Rush and starring Annette Funicello and Fabian.-Plot:A race car driver retires after a blackout causes the death of another driver on the motorway. After the accident, he then begins working at a "Thrill Circus" as a stunt driver. There he meets the... |
aka Hell Drivers | |
| El dedo del destino | aka The Cup of St. Sebastian aka The Fickle Finger of Fate |
|
| Hells Angels on Wheels Hells Angels on Wheels Hells Angels on Wheels is a 1967 American biker film directed by Richard Rush, and starring Jack Nicholson, Adam Roarke, and Sabrina Scharf... |
||
| 1968 1968 in film The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :... |
Psych-Out Psych-Out Psych-Out is a feature film about hippies, psychedelic music, and recreational drugs, produced and released by American International Pictures. Originally scripted as The Love Children, the title when tested caused people to think it was about bastards, so Samuel Z... |
|
| The Savage Seven | ||
| 1970 1970 in film The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career.... |
Getting Straight Getting Straight Getting Straight is a 1970 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Richard Rush, released by Columbia Pictures.The story centered upon student politics at a university in the early 1970s, seen through the eyes of non-conformist graduate student Harry Bailey... |
|
| 1974 1974 in film The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J... |
Freebie and the Bean Freebie and The Bean Freebie and The Bean is a 1974 action-comedy film about two San Francisco police detectives who have one goal in life, bringing down a local hijacking boss. The picture, a precursor to the buddy cop film genre popularized a decade later, stars James Caan, Alan Arkin, Loretta Swit and Valerie... |
|
| 1980 1980 in film - Events :* May 21 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released and is the biggest grosser of the year .... |
The Stunt Man The Stunt Man The Stunt Man is a 1980 American film directed by Richard Rush, starring Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, and Barbara Hershey. The movie was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and Rush from the novel by Paul Brodeur... |
|
| 1994 1994 in film 1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time... |
Color of Night Color of Night Color of Night is a 1994 American erotic mystery thriller film produced by Cinergi Pictures and released in the United States by Hollywood Pictures. Directed by Richard Rush, the film stars Bruce Willis, Jane March, Ruben Blades, Lesley Ann Warren, and Scott Bakula... |
|
| 2001 2001 in film The year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy... |
The Sinister Saga of Making "The Stunt Man" |