93% Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel

"Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel" is an inspiring and entertaining documentary about the films of Roger Corman made during his very long and productive career as director and/or producer, specializing in monster and exploitation films.(The interviewees are honest about their lack of quality and admittedly, I have not seen many of his early films. Most of which I have seen are from his New World Pictures period during the 1970's which were in a constant rotation on HBO when I was growing up, thus explaining a lot.) With his low budget films, he has not only given the start to many filmmakers and actors(many of whom require no introduction) but also provided an education as to how make films cheaply outside of the system.(Ironically, he has also featured actors on their way down, too. Whatever works.) Even as the distribution model has changed from drive-ins to straight-to-video to the Syfy channel, he has never stopped working, as footage here shows him working on "Dinoshark" in Puerto Vallarta. Part of what makes his working outside the studio system so important is tackling the material they were unwilling to handle, starting with making films that appealed to the underappreciated youth market in the 1950's. While there was much nudity in his films, he also opened up opportunities for women to fire machine guns. That social conscience would reach its peak with "The Intruder"(which I now want to see) starring William Shatner in his first starring role, about school integration in the south when it was especially timely in 1962. Therefore, a constant refrain in the documentary is that Corman could have made the transition to more prestigious movies(like he did with his Poe adaptations) but that way requires money which leads to compromise which usually means the studios and a lack of control and there are enough cautionary tales on display here to fill a multiplex.

December 18, 2011

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cormans_world_exploits_of_a_hollywood_rebel/

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