Richard H. Kline

Birth : 1926-11-15, Los Angeles, California, USA

Death : 2018-08-07

History

The son of cinematographer Benjamin H. Kline, he started his career in Columbia Pictures at the age of 16 in 1943. He has worked on many iconic movies including Hang 'Em High, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, 1973 remake of King Kong and Death Wish II.

Movies

Illusion of Freedom: Richard H. Kline on John Frankenheimer's Birdman of Alcatraz
Self
A first-hand account of the shooting of John Frankenheimer's The Birdman of Alcatraz by the film's camera operator, Richard H. Kline, ASC.
Blood on the Lens: Richard H. Kline on Brian De Palma's 'The Fury'
Himself
An interview with cinematographer Richard H. Kline talking about his filming experience in Brian De Palma's film The Fury.
Meet Wally Sparks
Director of Photography
Wally Sparks is a tabloid TV show reporter who's trying to boost ratings on his show. He goes to the governor's mansion to uncover a sex scandal.
Double Impact
Director of Photography
Jean Claude Van Damme plays a dual role as Alex and Chad, twins separated at the death of their parents. Chad is raised by a family retainer in Paris, Alex becomes a petty crook in Hong Kong. Seeing a picture of Alex, Chad rejoins him and convinces him that his rival in Hong Kong is also the man who killed their parents. Alex is suspicious of Chad, especially when it comes to his girlfriend.
My Stepmother Is an Alien
Director of Photography
Trying to rescue her home planet from destruction, a gorgeous extraterrestrial named Celeste arrives on Earth and begins her scientific research. She woos quirky scientist Dr. Steve Mills, a widower with a young daughter. Before long, Celeste finds herself in love with Steve and her new life on Earth, where she experiences true intimacy for the first time. But when she loses sight of her mission, she begins to question where she belongs.
Howard the Duck
Director of Photography
A scientific experiment unknowingly brings extraterrestrial life forms to the Earth through a laser beam. First is the cigar smoking drake Howard from the duck's planet. A few kids try to keep him from the greedy scientists and help him back to his planet. But then a much less friendly being arrives through the beam...
The Man with One Red Shoe
Director of Photography
A man is mistaken as a spy by the CIA when he arrives at the airport with one red shoe.
All of Me
Director of Photography
Just before stubborn millionaire Edwina Cutwater dies, she asks her uptight lawyer, Roger Cobb, to amend her will so that her soul will pass to the young, vibrant Terry Hoskins – but the spiritual transference goes awry. Edwina enters Roger's body instead, forcing him to battle Edwina for control of his own being.
Hard to Hold
Director of Photography
Jamie Roberts is a rock star living the highlife when he falls for an intellectual child psychologist who only has ears for classical music. Opposites attract, but his jealous ex-girlfriend isn't ready to give up so easily.
Deal of the Century
Director of Photography
Arms dealers from several companies vie to sell the most expensive and highest tech weapons to a South American dictator. There are complications; understanding the exact nature of how 'gifts' are used to grease the wheels of a sale, a religious conversion from one of the salesman and a romance that begins to grow between two competitors.
Breathless
Director of Photography
Jesse has to get out of Las Vegas quickly and steals a car to drive to L.A. On the way, he shoots a police officer. When he makes it to L.A. he stays with Monica, a girl he has only known for a few days. As the film progresses, the police get closer to him, and the crimes escalate.
Death Wish II
Director of Photography
Paul Kersey is again a vigilante trying to find five punks who murdered his housekeeper and daughter in Los Angeles.
Body Heat
Director of Photography
In the midst of a searing Florida heat wave, a woman convinces her lover, a small-town lawyer, to murder her rich husband.
The Competition
Director of Photography
The movie centers on a piano competition whose winner is assured of success. It is Paul's last chance to compete, but newcomer Heidi may be a better pianist. Can romance be far away? Will she take a dive despite the pressure to win from her teacher, Greta, or will she condemn Paul to obscurity?
Touched by Love
Director of Photography
A teenager with cerebral palsy attempts to become pen pals with her idol, Elvis Presley.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Director of Photography
When a destructive space entity is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral Kirk resumes command of the Starship Enterprise in order to intercept, examine, and hopefully stop it.
Tilt
Director of Photography
Tilt is the story of a precocious young girl who is a pinball wizard. Because she does not get on with her parents, Tilt is contemplating running away from home. Skipping school one day, she decides to go to to Mickey's Bar. Mickey, who is Tilt's good friend, helps her set up a gambler for a pinball game. Because the gambler is unaware of Tilt's pinball wizardry, he is easily hustled out of his money. While watching the confrontation, a young man named Neil Gallagher, who is an aspiring musician, is impressed with Tilt's ability, congratulating her after the win. Neil invites Tilt to watch him sing at a rock concert, and after his performance she believes he can become a great singer. Because Neil needs money for a demo tape of his songs, he has an idea of taking Tilt with him and having her hustle would-be gamblers.
Who'll Stop the Rain
Director of Photography
John, a disillusioned Vietnam War journalist, turns to heroin smuggling. He cons Ray, an equally burnt out veteran into delivering the drugs stateside to his wife. Everything soon falls apart and Ray ends up on the run with John's wife trying to evade crooked narcotics agents.
The Fury
Director of Photography
When a devious plot separates CIA agent Peter Sandza from his son, Robin, the distraught father manages to see through the ruse. Taken because of his psychic abilities, Robin is being held by Ben Childress, who is studying people with supernatural powers in hopes of developing their talents as weapons. Soon Peter pairs up with Gillian, a teen who has telekinesis, to find and rescue Robin.
King Kong
Director of Photography
In this remake of the 1933 classic, an oil company expedition disturbs the peace of a giant ape and brings him back to New York to exploit him.
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Director of Photography
A would-be filmmaker and actress shake up the industry with a trick dog who gets discovered by a studio bus driver in the 1920s.
Mandingo
Director of Photography
Warren Maxwell, the owner of a run-down plantation, pressures his son, Hammond, to marry and produce an heir to inherit the plantation. Hammond settles on his own cousin, Blanche, but purchases a sex slave when he returns from the honeymoon. Meanwhile, Warren buys a new Mandingo slave named Mede to breed and to earn money as a prize-fighter.
Mr. Majestyk
Director of Photography
A melon farmer battles organized crime and a hit man who wants to kill him.
The Terminal Man
Director of Photography
As the result of a head injury, brilliant computer scientist Harry Benson begins to experience violent seizures. In an attempt to control the seizures, Benson undergoes a new surgical procedure in which a microcomputer is inserted into his brain. The procedure is not entirely successful.
The Don Is Dead
Director of Photography
After his mistress is murdered, a Mafia leader goes after the killer with a bloody vengeance. Soon after the hunt begins, a gang war ensues.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Director of Photography
The fifth and final episode in the Planet of the Apes series. After the collapse of human civilization, a community of intelligent apes led by Caesar lives in harmony with a group of humans. Gorilla General Aldo tries to cause an ape civil war and a community of human mutants who live beneath a destroyed city try to conquer those whom they perceive as enemies. All leading to the finale.
The Harrad Experiment
Director of Photography
At fictional Harrad College students learn about sexuality and experiment with each other. Based on the 1962 book of the same name by Robert Rimmer, this movie deals with the concept of free love during the height of the sexual revolution which took place in the United States.
Soylent Green
Director of Photography
This is the year 2022. Overcrowding, pollution, and resource depletion have reduced society’s leaders to finding food for the teeming masses. The answer is Soylent Green.
Black Gunn
Director of Photography
A successful and popular nightclub owner who believes financial independence is the path to equality and success, must act as a go-between for militant-minded brother and the white gang syndicate his brother has attacked and robbed. Their involvements lead to a breathless race course chase, the destruction of a dopepusher and a violent waterfront climax.
When the Legends Die
Director of Photography
An elderly rodeo rider becomes mentor to a young man attempting to make his own name in the business.
The Mechanic
Director of Photography
Arthur Bishop is a veteran hit man who, owing to his penchant for making his targets' deaths seem like accidents, thinks himself an artist. It's made him very rich, but as he hits middle age, he's so depressed and lonely that he takes on one of his victim's sons, Steve McKenna, as his apprentice. Arthur puts him through a rigorous training period and brings him on several hits. As Steven improves, Arthur worries that he'll discover who killed his father.
Hammersmith Is Out
Director of Photography
The Faust legend retold (loosely) and applied to a mentally disturbed patient in a hospital run by a doctor of dubious sanity himself. The patient offers the innocent orderly vast riches if he'll help him escape.
Kotch
Director of Photography
When retired salesman Joseph Kotcher begins to feel pressure to move out of the house he shares with the family of his son, he opts to embark on a road trip instead of settling in a retirement home. Befriending Erica, a young pregnant woman and his grandson's former nanny, Kotch begins to finds new meaning in life as he helps her prepare to welcome her baby into the world.
The Andromeda Strain
Director of Photography
When virtually all of the residents of Piedmont, New Mexico, are found dead after the return to Earth of a space satellite, the head of the US Air Force's Project Scoop declares an emergency. A group of eminent scientists led by Dr. Jeremy Stone scramble to a secure laboratory and try to first isolate the life form while determining why two people from Piedmont - an old alcoholic and a six-month-old baby - survived. The scientists methodically study the alien life form unaware that it has already mutated and presents a far greater danger in the lab, which is equipped with a nuclear self-destruct device designed to prevent the escape of dangerous biological agents.
The Moonshine War
Director of Photography
A federal agent attempts to make some real money before the alcohol ban is lifted so he sets his sights on the whiskey cache of an old army buddy.
Gaily, Gaily
Director of Photography
After runaway Ben Young is robbed and left on his own, he is taken in by Lil, the head of a Chicago brothel. Acting as a surrogate mother for Ben, who thinks she runs a boardinghouse, Lil gets him a job with Francis Sullivan at the local newspaper. As Ben is exposed to the workings of the big city, he realizes the extent of government corruption and sets out on the daunting task of reforming Chicago politics, finding several allies along the way.
A Dream of Kings
Cinematography
A Greek American father of a dying boy decides to take his son to Greece to breathe the clean air of his ancestors, in an attempt to save the boy's life. However, money is a problem.
The Boston Strangler
Director of Photography
Boston is being terrorized by a series of seemingly random murders of women. Based on the true story, the film follows the investigators path through several leads before introducing the Strangler as a character. It is seen almost exclusively from the point of view of the investigators who have very few clues to build a case upon.
Hang 'em High
Director of Photography
Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.
Camelot
Director of Photography
The plot of his illegitimate son Mordred to gain the throne, and Guinevere's growing attachment to Sir Lancelot, threatens to topple King Arthur and destroy his "round table" of knights.
Chamber of Horrors
Director of Photography
A one-handed madman (he lost the hand while escaping a hanging) uses various detachable devices as murder weapons to gain revenge on those he believes have wronged him.
Days of Wine and Roses
Camera Operator
An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.
Birdman of Alcatraz
Camera Operator
After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.
A Raisin in the Sun
Camera Operator
Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall.
New Orleans Uncensored
Camera Operator
William Castle directed this Sam Katzman production, a gritty crime thriller about a newly-discharged sailor who gets a job as a longshoreman in The Big Easy. He swiftly discovers mob corruption throughout the docks, and when a friend is killed by the gangsters, he convinces the police to let him go undercover and take matters into his own hands. Filmed on location on the docks and in the French Quarter.
Pirates of Tripoli
Camera Operator
A pirate tries to help a deposed Arabian princess reclaim her throne.