Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel

Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011)

**** (out of 4)

Exceptionally well-made and entertaining documentary taking a look at the career of Roger Corman, the man who turned out some of the cheapest but most successful films out there but perhaps more importantly are the number of talented people he gave jobs to. You can see how much Corman done for others just by seeing the number of people who turned out to be interviewed for this film. Just a few of the names include Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, David Carradine, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert DeNiro, Paul W.S. Anderson, Gene Corman, Jonathan Hale, Dick Miller, John Sayles, Bob Burns, Jonathan Demme, William Shatner, Polly Platt, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Pam Grier and others. Considering how many films Corman has been involved with over the decades it's really amazing how much they got into this 90-minute movie. The documentary is broken into various periods including Corman's directing years, the "young" talent taking over, the exploitation of the 70s, JAWS and STAR WARS killing business and then the home video market. Fans of Corman and all the filmmakers he discovered are really going to enjoy all of the stories here. When I heard they were making a documentary on Corman I was a little worried that they wouldn't be able to capture everything but the filmmakers actually do that. I was really shocked at how much information they crammed into the picture and it was great hearing from so many people that you don't normally get to hear from. With this I'm really thinking of Nicholson who simply doesn't do many interviews. He talks about his first film THE CRY BABY KILLER, makes fun of THE TERROR and eventually breaks down when talking about what Corman means to him. Even Bogdanovich finally talks about his early work including Corman buying a Russian movie and then hiring him as "director" to add a few scenes with women. There are countless clips shown throughout the movie and by the time it's over you really want to go out and rent all of them to enjoy all over again. CORMAN'S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A Hollywood REBEL is an excellent look at low-budget filmmaking and the man who pretty much invented his own genre.

Hail! Hail! King of the B's

Cannes favourite 'Corman's World' is a heart-warming portrait of one of the true greats of American independent cinema, the champion of outlaws, freaks and fools and the master of the macabre. All the more touching as numerous interviews and testimonies paint a picture of a curious man indeed: not a dark twisted soul but a warm and genteel man with a wonderfully warped and fertile imagination.

What's more astonishing is the dazzlingly array of aspiring filmmakers and actors he mentored during the 60's and 70's. Reading like a Who's Who's of the golden age of the American auteur, Peter Bogdanovich, Peter Fonda, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard, Robert De Niro and David Carradine, amongst many others, all pay tribute here, including a tearful Jack Nicholson.

Beginning in the 50's as a story analyst at 20th Century Fox, Corman moved into writing, eventually selling scripts to fund his own productions for the burgeoning American Independent Pictures. His debut 'Monster From the Ocean Floor' in 1954 was the start of a prolific production output, with increasing forays into directing, notably 'Little Shop of Horrors' shot in only 2 days!

Corman really made his mark in the 60's. A series of classic Edgar Allan Poe adaptations featuring the splendidly cast Vincent Price define his legacy but the maverick Corman was often making use of down time and vacant sets to pursue other projects during this period. Most notable was the 1963 piece of Gothic absurd-ism, 'The Terror', using sets from 'The Raven'. Proceeding with barely plot, nor script, a shoe string cast including Nicholson and an ageing Boris Karloff, the disparate visions of four different directors contributed to this chaotic opus, including a young Francis Ford Coppola and even Nicholson, who recalls this curious episode.

The 60's also saw critical acclaim for Corman, tackling themes such as racism in the segregated south in 'The Intruder' and counter culture movements in the 'The Wild Angels' and 'The Trip' but the 70's heralded changes for Corman and he looks back on this era with a hint of melancholy. With the release of 'Jaws' and then 'Star Wars' the big studios finally caught up with the B's. Schlock horror from the deep and invaders from space were now big budget and Corman was once more an outsider and destined for the straight-to-video market in the coming decade but before taking a back seat, Corman's masterstroke was to spot the black comedy of the rubber shark and raise the stakes with 'Piranha' in 1978.

The denouement sees Corman still active today, well into his eighties, on the set of the self-explanatory gore-fest 'Dinoshark'. His output has barely abated since the 70's but he takes an increasingly hands-off executive role these days. He remains ever philosophical, contented and visibly touched by the receipt of an honorary Academy Award in 2009. His calm and collected bizarre genius is deeply uplifting and I'd recommend anyone take a trip into Corman's World.

Even while I truly enjoyed watching this documentary, I still felt somewhat disappointed by the end. Something was missing.

I often love watching dumb, low-budget B-movies, no matter how bad they are. It's sort of relaxing to watch and helps to make you forget all your sorrows for a short while. Besides, the thing about B-movies is that it keeps reminding you about it how complex and painstaking the movie making process actually is. With good and big budgeted movies you can't really see how the movie got made but with B-movies you notice every little detail. Every piece of bad dialog becomes more notable, editing, camera-positioning, storytelling, acting is often so simplistic and lacking that it makes you appreciate the art, passion and talent that often goes into making a movie. When it's done right, you hardly pay attention to it but when it's done poorly, you all suddenly start to realize this and appreciate and respect the movie making business all the more.

And Roger Corman is everywhere- and by everyone regarded as the king of B-movies. No wonder, since his movies are pretty much form the definition of a B-movie; cheap, simplistic and they got put together as fast as possible, even if there isn't a completely finished script to work with. And not only that, it is hard to find a film-maker with more movies behind his or her name. He has produced over 400 movies in the past 7 decades and directed over 50.

And this is a documentary about the film-maker Roger Corman and his methods of filmmaking and about his views on the industry. So don't expect an insightful documentary about the man behind the film-maker. In that regard this really isn't a documentary that goes deep into things but that doesn't mean that it also doesn't have plenty of different stuff to offer.

No doubt that you'll still learn a lot from this documentary and makes you realize what Corman has done for the industry and how his movies and his style of film-making have influenced the business and helped to give many film-makers a boost. Many people that normally wouldn't had been given a chance in the industry started out their careers with Corman's movies. I'm not just talking about actors but also lots of people involved with the work behind the cameras. Many of them actually grew out to become big names in the industry as well, such as James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante, Ron Howard, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper, Talia Shire, Sandra Bullock, Robert De Niro, David Carradine and William Shatner. Some of them participate in this documentary as well, which makes you realize all the more what Corman and his movies must have meant for them.

The whole documentary is presented as a light and fun one to watch. It never gets too serious and when it does, there is something to laugh about 5 seconds later again. This ensures that the entire documentary remains pleasant to watch but I surely wouldn't had minded some more depth and also some more focus on the negative aspects at times. You feel that this movie is mostly being a tribute to Corman and his work, over the many decades.

Perhaps the documentary would had featured some more depth and feeling to it if it was about 30 minutes longer. Normally a documentary of movie can feel to long but in this case it could had truly benefited from a longer running time. I don't have the feeling that this documentary told the entire story and especially the ending, when Corman receives an honorary academy award feels very rushed, as if it got put into the documentary at the very last moment.

It's still good and fun to watch, especially when you are a Roger Corman enthusiast but it's lacking a bit of depth and substance at time.

7/10

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Now 90 years old, Roger Corman (aka. King of the B-Movies) has been in the film-making business for close to 60 years now.

Through film clips, stills, and interviews with colleagues, relatives, etc., etc., this 90-minute documentary gives the viewer a fairly realistic look at the overall history of Roger Corman's career, first as a low-budget film director, then as a low-budget film producer.

Throughout his many years in the business Corman has given struggling, young actors (such as William Shatner and Robert De Niro) and budding, young directors (such as Martin Scorsese and James Cameron) a big, helping hand in their chosen field of work.

Needless to say - Corman is one man who is certainly owed a helluva lot of thanks in gratitude from countless people who went on to notable success in the movie business as either actors, producers and directors.

All-in-all - I think this documentary was quite entertaining, especially from the standpoint of getting to see some hilarious film clips from a number of Corman's cheesier horror movies and brutally bad, teen exploitation pictures which were all standard Drive-In fare from the 1950s and 60s.

definitely enjoyed the DVD however if you are looking at it to try and come up with some good ideas for which old school grindhouse movies to watch then it might not offer a whole lot of suggestions. What it does do however is offer a very informative view on how roger corman came to be. Its more of a biography concerning his film career opposed to concentrating on his filmography. I'd say i developed more of a respect for roger corman after seeing how he struggled and pulled all his resources together to slowly build up his huge body of work, especially after my respect for him seemed to be recently faltering do his garbage additions to the sci fi channel (im looking at you sharktopus). With that said i did come away with a few new movies to add to my watch list ie, wild angels, big bird cage(i know i know i should have seen this by now), bloody mama, and the trip. All in all it was very informative and entertaining and held my attention throughout. Nothing much in the way of special features though, i guess the whole movie is basically one big special feature.