Goodbye Mr. Kershner

I've been struggling to find something to pad President's blog with, but some of the ideas I wanted to save to not write about on my own blog or I just haven't the time to flesh them out. In my search for something to talk about, I saw that Irvin Kershner had died over the weekend at age 87. I was tempted to save this for my blog as well, but seeing as how President is also a film buff and former amateur director, it seemed appropriate to write about it here.

Mr. Kershner has done a number of notable films such as The Flim-Flam Man and The Eyes of Laura Mars (not to be confused with Veronica Mars), but what makes him significant to me is that he also directed The Empire Strikes Back. For the average geek, and especially sci-fi geeks, this was a landmark film and possibly the best of the three of the original trilogy. While I personally declare that Star Wars: A New Hope (originally it was released as just "Star Wars" and without the "Chapter IV" on the opening scroll, but when it started raking in cash and a trilogy was inevitable, they tacked those onto later prints of the film) as my favorite film, for many reasons, I have to admit that Empire had a lot more going on and gave the characters more depth. No offense to Mr. Lucas, but the best thing that happened to the two films following Star Wars is that they were not directed by him. Since the characters were created by Lucas, I think it was good that someone from an outside viewpoint came in to breathe some extra life into the film. It is possible to be too close to a film and stifle it somewhat, as is possibly the case with the Prequels.

But I digress, this is supposed to be about Mr. Kershner. As far as sci-fi goes, he also did RoboCop II which was pretty good. It seemed like he was the man to go to for sequels. He also did a Bond film (Never Say Never Again) which was notable for the fact that it was the only Bond film not sanctioned by the franchise governing all the other Bond Films and triggered a number of legal battles. I didn't particularly care for the film, but it had a kick-ass, gadget encrusted motorcycle. You can read more here. He also directed the sequel to A Man Called Horse, the Return of a Man Called Horse. So much for ingenious sequel titles. Legend has it that viewing this film is what prompted George Lucas to hire Kershner for Empire.

It will be sad to see Mr. Kershner's face up on the wall of the Oscars during the traditional "People Who We Lost" slideshow. Sometimes that's the only way I find out people have died. I think I just found out that Bob Denver, who played Gilligan on Gilligan's Island, died about five years ago! Who knew?!

So I raise a virtual glass and toast Mr. Irvin Kershner. I thank him for making Empire not suck, and he will be missed.

April 29, 1923 - November 29, 2010

There were a lot of cool pics to choose from, but I liked this one best. See the others here.