Richard Fleischer has died at the age of 89, reports the Associated Press. He was the son of Max Fleischer, who co-directed those famous wartime Superman cartoons, among others; and he went on to direct many movies of his own, some of which are memorable and others of which are, um, not-so-memorable.
The Fleischer film I know best is probably 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), since I watched it repeatedly when I was a kid; I have not seen it in years, now, though, and I have never written it up. I did, however, post some comments on Fantastic Voyage (1966) at a message board here, when I bought the DVD a few years ago. I have a weakness for movies that take place inside the human body, and this particular movie is one of the more famous examples — plus it has a hint of God-talk that I find interesting.
FWIW, Fleischer’s other films include Barabbas (1962), the original Doctor Dolittle (1967), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Soylent Green (1973) and, uh, Conan the Destroyer (1984).
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