Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel (2011)
BQ can think of no better documentary for you to reminisce and celebrate the unique life of the late Producer-Director Roger Corman, who passed away May 9th of this year at age 98.
Corman's footprint on American and world cinema will forever loom large.......a tireless creator of hundreds upon hundreds of low budget exploitation movies.....a savvy employer of countless ambitious young filmmakers and actors, who under Corman's 'sink-or-swim' tutelage, carved their own famous cinema careers...
That list as every one well knows, is staggering and endless......Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Jonathon Demme, Peter Bogdonavich, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Pam Grier, Joe Dante, Allan Arkush, Paul Bartel, Bruce Dern, William Shatner and so many more...
Through many interviews and generous amounts of film clips, this documentary pieces together Corman's extraordinary journey through Hollywood history......from ridiculed shlockmeister of ultra-cheapo drive in grindhouse gruel to distributor of some of the greatest foreign films from legendary directors like Bergman, Fellini and Kurosawa.
Along the way, there's some truly fascinating, illuminating episodes in both Corman's career and the cultural upheavals in film history. People imagined him as some sort of bloated, cigar-chomping vulgarian (like Samuel Arkoff of AIP).....but were stunned to find him a thoughtful, soft spoken, almost professorial lover of both cinema's high art and quick-buck junk.
A born huckster-entertainer he knew what new generations of moviegoers wanted....non-stop action, sexy women, big explosions, monsters, chases, and bloody violence.....he delivered all of that in his films while spending as little time and money on their production as possible. While major studios swam in red ink from the failure of their ridiculously expensive bombs, Corman laughed all the way to the bank, never losing a nickel on his outpout.....(with one notable exception, "The Intruder", his controversial attack on bigotry, and key part of 'Corman's World'.
It's deeply ironic how Corman's recipe for crowd-pleasing movies finally was adopted by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Their groundbreaking powerhouse duo of "Jaws" and "Star Wars" set Hollywood on a path of making the same kind of films that were Corman's bread and butter......only with massive budgets and state-of-the-art special effects and stunts.
'Corman's World' wraps up in the most fitting way possible, with Corman receiving his long overdue lifetime achievement Academy Award. And attending the ceremony of course, are the stars and filmmakers who thanks to Corman, got their foot in the door to hone their craft and go on to success and accolades.....(the kind of praise, we should add, that Corman himself never enjoyed.....)
No film buff should pass up a view of this incisive and entertaining look an essential contributor to the art, science and yes, the cutthroat business of moves. 5 stars (*****).....(you can rent it on Amazon Prime and watch it for free on Hoopla with your library card.....)
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