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

Directed by: Alex Stapleton | 90 minutes | documentary | Starring: Roger Corman, Ron Howard, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Eli Roth, William Shatner, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Pam Grier, Peter Fonda, Joe Dante, Julie Corman, Gene Corman, David Carradine, Peter Bogdanovich, Eric Balfour George Hickenlooper, Irvin Kerschner, Polly Platt, Dick Miller, John Sayles, Tom Sherak

He is called the king of the B-movie. The current crop of filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth, are running away with him. Roger Corman has worked in the film industry for six decades, producing hundreds of films in those years. Most of those films are labeled as ‘pulp’, some of them are called pure cult by fans. But all of them are made at lightning speed with a minimal budget. Corman probably won’t be remembered for his films, but he will be remembered for his efficient, cost-effective way of working (from which many today’s filmmakers can learn a thing or two) and for having helped shape the careers of many successful directors, writers and writers. and actors. Leading filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, James Cameron and Ron Howard all started out under Corman’s wing. No wonder that almost all of them can be seen in ‘Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel’ (2011), the documentary in which Alex Stapleton pays a warm and well-deserved tribute to the likeable Corman.

He may be very old now, but Roger Corman seems to be working harder than ever. Stapleton underlines this by opening his film on the set of his produced ‘Dinoshark’ (2010). The filmmaker still works in the 21st century in exactly the same way as when he started, in the mid-fifties. He never studied at the film academy (he did do a technical study at Stanford) and by chance he ended up in Hollywood. He initially read scripts for 20th Century Fox, but when he saw that his adaptations to the script of ‘The Gunfighter’ (1950) made the film visibly more successful and he didn’t get the credit it deserved, he decided to take matters into his own hands. to take. He started making his own films – first as a producer, and not much later as a director – targeting the young audience that often went to the drive-in cinemas. Films such as ‘Monster from the Ocean Floor’ (1954) and ‘The Fast and the Furious’ (1955), made for next to nothing, turned out to be hugely successful. In those years, the friendship with Jack Nicholson also developed, who spent the first ten years of his career working alone at Corman. The films were not of good quality, but easily earned back their budget.

The documentary shows how Corman developed further in the years that followed. He dared to incorporate more and more social or political commentary into his films and received increasing appreciation from critics, especially for his series of adaptations of stories by Edgar Allen Poe. ‘The Intruder’ (1962), about racism in the south of the US, was a breaking point. Never before had Corman made such a serious and political one. Critics praised the film, but audiences stayed away. And so he immediately turned things around. In 1970 Corman founded his own production company, New World. In addition to such kitschy work as ‘Big Doll House’ (1971), ‘Night Call Nurses’ (1972), ‘Rock ‘n Roll High School’ (1979) and a series of blaxploitation films, New World focused on the distribution of European classics in the US Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini and François Truffaut – filmmakers who may have been artistically distant from him but whom he greatly admired – gained a foothold in America thanks to Corman. When the blockbuster hit with ‘Jaws’ (1976) and ‘Star Wars’ (1981), Corman’s time seemed to have passed, but he has always remained very active in the film world.

What is striking about ‘Corman’s World’ is the procession of famous figures that pass by. Roger Corman can’t help but be immensely loved, as everyone is out front to give him his praises. Many literally owe their careers to him and were also encouraged by him to maintain their idiosyncrasy. Their many experiences also provide nice anecdotes, especially Nicholson (who even becomes as emotional when asked about his mentor) and Ron Howard know how to tell very animatedly about their experiences with Corman. And the director himself, who comes across as much more stylish and eloquent than the level of his films would suggest, is also an animated speaker. There is hardly a cross word, but it goes too far to call ‘Corman’s World’ a hagiography. Otherwise, his low-budget productions would have all been praised to heaven and that’s not happening. The film ends with the presentation of an honorary Oscar in 2009, an award that everyone visibly heartily confers on him and which the endearing eighty-year-old has not earned for his own work, but above all for everything he has done for others. ‘Corman’s World’ is an exciting documentary for every film buff, which more than does justice to the rich career of Roger Corman.