Richard Zanuck documentary: Entertaining

The pair collaborated on "Cocoon," one of the dozens of films touched upon in this loving salute, in which Dick Zanuck's life leaps from college sports to running the Fox studio at age 27. Which isn't to say he didn't deserve the gig. He would greenlight '60s titles from "Planet of the Apes" and "M*A*S*H" to "Valley of the Dolls," where he got to fire Judy Garland.

Anecdotes like that are as abundant here as classic clips. Most, however, emerge from Zanuck's post-deposement decades as a producer, ranging from "Jaws" to "The Sting" to six Tim Burton flicks, through last year's "Dark Shadows," just before Zanuck died of a heart attack at 77.

From the '50s to the '10s, seven decades of steady gems. And dad only had a little to do with it.

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This is a cuddly portrait, sketched mostly through Zanuck's own reminiscences. Even his films get short shrift, as a parade of pals, colleagues and relatives recounts what a great guy Dick was to know (sons and surfers love him) and work with (Spielberg, Howard, Clint Eastwood, William Friedkin, Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, various studio chiefs). All right, already. Understood.

If only "Don't Say No" had also lent due perspective to Zanuck's singular place in Hollywood history.

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