Walter Duch Richter (born 7 December 1945) is an American screenwriter, film director and film producer. He is best known for adapting Invasion of the Body Snatchers, directing The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension and co-writing Big Trouble in Little China. Description above from the Wikipedia articleW. D. Richter, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- December 7, 1945 (80)
- New Britain, Connecticut, USA
- Writer, producer and director
- 14 on MovieCove · 16 credits in all
What are W.D. Richter's films like?
Across their 14 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Power.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 2 · Wry 3 · Earnest 8
A split, not a type: Light 7 · Serious 4 · Dark 3
A split, not a type: Grounded 7 · Stylized 3 · Heightened 4
Gentle 2 · Charged 8 · Intense 4
Steady 4 · Shifting 9 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 5 · Some laughs 5 · Funny 4
Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 9 · Relentless 2
Casual 4 · Engaged 8 · Full focus 2
Easy watch 8 · Affecting 4 · Heavy 2
Resolved 10 · Open-ended 3 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet8
- Ambiguous5
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch W.D. Richter's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 7 of their 14 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (5).
Subscription and free streaming for W.D. Richter's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
16 credits, 14 with a MovieCove page; 4 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Stealth(2005)
Midcredits score: 15th percentile of all films
Home for the Holidays(1995)
Midcredits score: 66th percentile of all films
Needful Things(1993)
Midcredits score: 50th percentile of all films
Late for Dinner(1991)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all films
Hard Feelings (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1982)
Midcredits score: 24th percentile of all films
All Night Long(1981)
Midcredits score: 26th percentile of all films
Brubaker(1980)
Midcredits score: 86th percentile of all films
Dracula(1979)
Midcredits score: 62nd percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films
Nickelodeon(1976)
Midcredits score: 47th percentile of all films
Peeper(1975)
Midcredits score: 27th percentile of all films
Slither (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1974)
Slither(1973)
Midcredits score: 48th percentile of all films
Career shape
A full career of 16 titles from 1973 to 2005.
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do W.D. Richter's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 54th percentile, the median of all 14; across their 14 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 55th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up3
- 50th to 74th5
- 25th to 49th4
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
8 of their 14 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Crowd Pleaser8
- Broadly Agreed3
- Mixed3
Reviewers score the dialogue 55/100 and the plot and story 43/100 in their films, across 14 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is W.D. Richter's work okay for kids?
Across up to 8 MovieCove titles with content scores, violence & gore, profanity and frightening / intense run heavier than most films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does W.D. Richter work with?
People who share at least 2 of W.D. Richter's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Jeff Goldblum shares the most, 2.
Actors
- Jeff GoldblumShared titles: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)See all 2 shared titles with Jeff Goldblum
Composers and cinematographers
- Richard HazardShared titles: All Night Long (1981), Nickelodeon (1976)See all 2 shared titles with Richard Hazard
- László KovácsShared titles: Nickelodeon (1976), Slither (1973)See all 2 shared titles with László Kovács
Producers
- Irwin WinklerShared titles: Nickelodeon (1976), Peeper (1975)See all 2 shared titles with Irwin Winkler
- Robert ChartoffShared titles: Nickelodeon (1976), Peeper (1975)See all 2 shared titles with Robert Chartoff
