Richard Rush (director)

Biography

Early life

Rush was born in April 15 of 1929. According to his widow, his parents were Russian immigrants, and were known as Ray and Nina Rush. His father owned bookstores in New York and Los Angeles, where Rush grew up.

After graduation, Rush worked in the filmmaking unit for the United States Airforce showcasing the nation's involvement in the Korean War, which he once labeled as "propaganda". When his military-related work was finished, Rush went to the University of California, Los Angeles. He opened a production company to produce commercials and industrial films.

Early features

In his thirties, Rush got inspired by the neo-realism of French director François Truffaut's The 400 Blows, selling 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 for $250,000. It featured an early film appearance by Jack Nicholson (who starred in two later Rush films, Hells Angels on Wheels and Psych-Out).

Rush wanted to follow it with an adaptation of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? but did not end up making the film. He was also attached to Kitten with a Whip early on. Rush then directed Of Love and Desire (1963) with Merle Oberon.

Exploitation films

Rush's third movie A Man Called Dagger, (1966) a spy picture and his first collaboration with cinematographer László Kovács. Rush directed a car racing film for American International Pictures, Thunder Alley (1967) starring Fabian Forte and Annette Funicello. He did The Fickle Finger of Fate (1967) for Sidney W. Pink starring Tab Hunter, then did a biker movie for Joe Solomon, Hells Angels on Wheels (1967), starring Nicholson.

Rush was signed by Dick Clark to make two more films for AIP: Psych-Out (1968), a film about the counter culture starring Nicholson and Susan Strasberg, and a biker movie The Savage Seven (1968).

Studio films

Rush signed a deal with Columbia Pictures. His 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 1974 movie, Freebie and the Bean, was for the most part critically panned; however, it was enormously popular with audiences, grossing $12.5 million at the box office on a $3 million budget in the two years following its release.

Rush was hired to direct One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) after its original director Miloš Forman was placed under increasing censorship and StB surveillance by the normalization-era Communist Party government of Czechoslovakia. However, he was replaced by Hal Ashby after he was unable to secure studio funding, and Ashby was later replaced by Forman after he fled to the United States.

''The Stunt Man''

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 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 director and best script (co-nominated with Lawrence B. Marcus).

Later career

Rush originally wanted to direct the horror comedy Love at First Bite (1979) as his first film after The Stunt Man, but was replaced by Stan Dragoti. In 1985, Rush was hired by Carolco Pictures to direct Air America (1990) with Sean Connery and Kevin Costner starring. When the film was delayed to avoid competition with Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and when Connery and Costner's salaries became too expensive, Rush was paid full salary to walk away from the project by Daniel Melnick. This allowed the studio to cast Mel Gibson and Robert Downey, Jr. and turn the film into a success, grossing nearly double its budget.

Rush did not direct another film for four years, until Color of Night. Conflicts with Andrew G. Vajna over the final cut were so turbulent that Rush suffered a near-fatal heart attack. Eventually they compromised, where Vajna's suggestions for the film were released onto theaters while Rush's "director's cut" (which was 18 minutes longer) would be released onto home video. The film was a financial failure with audiences, but it found a second life on video; the film also won "Best Sex Scene in film history" award from Maxim magazine; Rush was very proud of the award, and he kept the award in his bathroom.

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 last project was a DVD documentary on the making of The Stunt Man entitled The Sinister Saga of Making The Stunt Man (2001).

He resided in Bel Air with his wife Claudia. He had an older brother, Dr. Stephen Rush who also resided in Los Angeles. On April 8, 2021, Rush died a week shy of his 92nd birthday at his Los Angeles home after long-term health problems.

Filmography

References

References

1. (December 6, 2000). "Top Sex Scenes of All-Time". [[Extra (U.S. TV program)]].
2. https://www.money-into-light.com/2017/10/an-interview-with-richard-rush-part-1.html
3. (19 April 2021). "Richard Rush, Who Directed 'The Stunt Man', Dies at 91". New York Times.
4. (March 25, 1960). "FILMLAND EVENTS: Raitt and Wilson Set for Civic Light Opera". Los Angeles Times.
5. (March 24, 1960). "Prepares 'Kitten'". Los Angeles Times.
6. (January 7, 1976). "All-time Film Rental Champs".
7. FIRST ANNUAL 'GROSSES GLOSS', Byron, Stuart. Film Comment; New York Vol. 12, Iss. 2, (Mar/Apr 1976): 30-31.
8. (November 12, 1975). "McElwaine Has 22 Readying; Finds Forgotten WB Coppola".
9. "The Stunt Man".
10. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".
11. Henderson, Jason. [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A84410 "New on DVD: "The Stunt Man,"] ''Austin Chronicle'' (January 18, 2002).
12. "The 53rd Academy Awards (1981) Nominees and Winners". [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]].
13. "Love at First Bite".
14. (December 10, 1989). "In Search of . . . Richard Rush".
15. (May 27, 1990). "THE MOVIES : The fine art of MAKING THE DEAL".
16. (September 30, 2017). "Interview: Director Richard Rush » We Are Cult".
17. Turan, Kenneth. (August 19, 1994). "Movie Review: A 'Night' of Mystery, Murder and Passion". Los Angeles Times.
18. (April 12, 2021). "Richard Rush, 'The Stunt Man' Director, Dies at 91".
19. "Richard Rush". American Film Institute.
20. "Richard Rush".