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Hollywood's Most Famous Schlock Moviemaker Dies
He made films with titles like "Teenage Caveman," "Attack of the Crab Monsters," and "Swamp Women," cheap B-movies so bad they've become legendary. His name was Roger Corman and though most of his films were considered classics of schlock, (with perhaps the exception of the original "Little Shop of Horrors") he was also responsible for giving some of Hollywood's biggest names their start.
Corman, who passed away Thursday at the age of 98, was the director and producer on hundreds of low budget 'classics,' but it was perhaps his mentorship that will cement his legend.
Among those who got their first chance with him - Jack Nicholson, Robert de Niro, and Peter Fonda, to name a few.
He also gave many directors their first peek behind the camera, including Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and even Ron Howard.
"Corman’s directors were given minuscule budgets and often told to finish their films in as little as five days. When Howard, who would go on to win a best director Oscar for “A Beautiful Mind,” pleaded for an extra half day to reshoot a scene in 1977 for “Grand Theft Auto,” Corman told him, “Ron, you can come back if you want, but nobody else will be there.”
Roger Corman, Hollywood mentor and ‘King of the Bs,’ dies at 98
- g121
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Re: Hollywood's Most Famous Schlock Moviemaker Dies
Funny Quote from IMDB ..
"Roger Corman claims he told director Ron Howard, "Do a really good job on this one, kid, and you'll never have to work for me again."
- Walter
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Re: Hollywood's Most Famous Schlock Moviemaker Dies
If memory serves, 'Attack of the Crab Monsters' starred another recognizable name, Russell Johnson, who went on to be 'Professor' on Gilligan's Island. Whether or not that was a step up is debatable.
- newsguy1
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I have never read a bad thing about Corman. He appears to have been a good guy who knew what he did best, and enjoyed making others do better.
He may have been a schlockmeister but he was also a mensch.
And while we are on the subject of schlockmeisters, another great one who died in 2015 was
Menachem Golan. He was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He co-owned The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon specialized in producing low-to-mid-budget American films, primarily genre films, during the 1980s
They were most famous for their sting of ninja movies and Deta Force with Chuck Norris.
England had a counterpart too.
Sir Lew Grade who was jokingly referred to a Sit Low Grade.
- Glen Warren
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The "B" movies were a product for another time, but they were necessary.
The schlock / B movies rose out of the former Hollywood Studio Contract system for talent... with the end of the studio contract "system" in the late 50s to early 60s, the production of the cheap B movies genre was an easy substitute.
Similarly for production and craft personnel.... it became the training ground before one could move on to the BIG studio productions.
The "B" movies also helped the film/movie distributors as well... Lots of inexpensive films could be booked into the largely independent theatres in the 60s and 70s for the Saturday Matinee. The Western genre and the Three Stooges or Our Gang strips were getting tired, and were largely B/W. Everyone wanted Colour!!!
And they also were a mainstay for the Drive-In Theatres... The Schlock films were again a cheap attraction for the operators. Was anyone really going to a Drive-In to see Zombie Plasma Suckers? More often than not it was excuse to end up playing a few innings of "Back Seat Baseball"
- newsguy1
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There were several drive ins in the Vancouver area where I grew up, and I really enjoyed them in the 70s and 80s, and yes I played my share of backseat baseball too.
But I never did get to see one drive in movie that played with the memorable title, "Cycle Sluts In Leather."
- Saul
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Brings to mind oodles of low-budget horror flicks, spaghetti westerns, the likes of Klaus Kinski... to me, much more compelling than the rank and file coming out of Hollywood.
- RadioActive
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Re: Hollywood's Most Famous Schlock Moviemaker Dies
And where would Count Floyd have been without these cheapies to run on "Monster, Chiller, Horror Theatre?"
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Thread Starter- BowmanvilleBob
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Re: Hollywood's Most Famous Schlock Moviemaker Dies
Roger Corman's "Titanic", courtesy of The Simpsons
- Chrisphen
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Re: Hollywood's Most Famous Schlock Moviemaker Dies
Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock 'n' Roll High School...