R.I.P to the legendary producer Roger Corman.
Other than giving many notable actors and directors their first break in commercial film, Corman also became a titanic figurehead for independent cinema. The softspoken, gentlemanly demeanour of the man were a stark contrast to the films he produced. They were wild and crazy - above all, they were cheap. He was king of the film hustle and played it all the way into his nineties.
Corman dipped his toes in various genres, but his Edgar Poe adaptations, starring the iconic Vincent Price, were especially appealing as their gorgeous aesthetics and fantastic atmosphere were like catnip for gothic horror fans like myself. Amongst them, Corman actually directed a personal favourite of mine The Masque of the Red Death (1964) which could have passed as a demented Powell & Pressburger film, thanks to Nicolas Roeg's fantastic cinematography.
With close to five hundered films linked to him, I doubt anyone has even seen all of them. Two of his productions, Targets (1968) and The Lady in Red (1979) were major discoveries for this blog last year, so chances are strong that another Corman gem will find its way here.
Highly recommend Alex Stapleton's documentary Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011). It's a breezy and entertaining retrospective on the man and his films. Biggest highlights being Allan Arkush and Joe Dante looking like a couple of denim clad nerds when they were young, and Jack Nicholson sobbing near the end of the film.
4 comments:
Wish he hadn't turned down Waterworld. It might have been a decent adventure flick with him directing it.
Hollywood desperately needs someone like him nowadays to rein these self-indulgent directors in. R.I.P.
Had no idea he was potentially involved with Waterworld. Dennis Hopper's casting makes some sense now when I think about it.
Story goes he turned it down because he knew there would be no way it wouldn't go vastly over budget.
And he was right. Took decades for it to finally break even.
Found Corman's Machine Gun Kelly on YouTube, with Charles Bronson as the titular lead. Don't even think I've seen it before, so it's added to the watchlist.
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