The sad news of Irvin Kershner passing has been overshadowed a little by the
news of Leslie Nielsen dieing.
Kershner is one of the under-rated directors of cinema with a career that
started in 1958 with Stakeout on Dope street in 1958 and ended with an episode
of Seaquest DSV in 1993.
Mostly Kershner will be recognized as a director of sequels, and it was with
one of the most successful sequels in box office history The Empire Strikes
Back in 1980 that gave him his highest career peak. Many agree that Empire was
the best in the series. Certainly Kershner got great depth from the actors in
this film and the script was a lot tighter than the rest in the series
concentrating on the character development as opposed to big spectacle set
pieces.
Perhaps one of the worst films ever produced and directed by Kersh was the much
anticipated Never Say Never Again. Sean Conery had choice of directors, Bond is
stereotypically British and the films while successful when influenced outside
of the British-ness that is there with such a director it is noticeable and
becomes a pastiche on the films much like the Flint films. Kershner and Connery
were hampered by a script, that while being a remake of Thunderball, was
produced in a similar fashion to the Roger Moore Bond films that were running
concurrently.
Apart from some TV work Kershner's last film was a sequel to Robocop. Again
hampered by a poor script the film was lacklustre and much of the same from the
first film.
It will always be The Empire Strikes Back that Kershner will be remembered for
and this we have to thank him, Darth Vader becomes even more darker and
ominous, the baddie in the galaxy that children of 8 to 80 will fear.
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