John G. Avildsen

June 9, 1997

Avildsen, born in 1936, is known as a director of films that are typical crowdpleasers. Avildsen's first film Joe (1970) about a despicable racist's blackmail of a killer, became a cult hit, which influenced films as different from one another as Death Wish and Drugstore Cowboy. This garnered the attention of the Hollywood filmaking industry. His biggest hits have included the boxing drama Rocky (1976) and The Karate Kid (1984). In recent years, Avildsen has had a larger share of flops than hits. The bombs range from the rodeo drama 8 Seconds (1994) (which attempted to copy the same Rocky-Karate Kid formula) to the aptly-titled children's film Bogus (1996), starring Gerard Depardieu in the most miscast role of his career as a child's imaginary playfriend.

My rating on a scale of 1 to 10: 7

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