A couple of directors have died

Michael Cimino, who died yesterday aged 77, probably deserves his own thread. He came to prominence in the early 1970s when he went out to Hollywood and started working as a screenwriter. Clint Eastwood liked his screenplay to Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, bought the rights, and gave Cimino a chance to direct. That success led to Cimino's doing The Deer Hunter, which would win him a Best Director Oscar.

Unfortunately, that success led to Heaven's Gate. The production turned out to be bloated, and a box-office disaster, and that really put the brakes on Cimino's career. He continued to work, but never had the success of The Deer Hunter again.

The other death is of Robin Hardy, who died on Friday at the age of 86. Hardy is known for one film, and one film only, that being the 1973 version of The Wicker Man.