Review #409: 'Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel' (2011)

One of the most under-appreciated innovators in cinema history, Roger Corman, is given the celebration he deserves here. Most commonly given the tag of the 'king of the B-movies', it is often criminally ignored just how much influence Roger Corman had on the industry, and how many major industry players he set up in the game. Of course, his filmography as director and producers is possibly around 95% crap, but Corman is the king of reminding just what fun we can have at the movies, regardless of whether we're watching a rubber shark, an attack of crab monsters, or a sexy girl in knee-high boots firing a machine gun.

All the big names he's helped promote in his career are on interviewee duty, namely Jack Nicholson, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, David Carradine and Ron Howard. Even though most of them will be completely embarrassed with the work they did under Corman, their gratitude and appreciation for the man who set them up, and even gave them artistic license is embedded into their faces. One especially touching scene sees Jack Nicholson break down whilst reflecting on his early career with Corman, and how a fresh-faced kid with apparently little hope in the industry was given more lead roles than he perhaps deserved, and even offered writing opportunities later on with The Terror (1963) and The Trip (1967).

His tale is told chronologically (after a visit to the set of his then-latest film Dinoshark (2010)), beginning in the 50's when he was a reader of new scripts, and later a self-styled director/producer when he didn't receive the recognition he deserved after recommending the successful The Gunfighter (1950). He rolled out cheap double-bills such as Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954), Swamp Women (1955), and the hilarious-looking It Conquered the World (1956), but it wouldn't be until the 1960's when Corman would make his mark. His numerous Edgar Allen Poe adaptations received critical acclaim, and he would become a counter-culture icon with biker movie The Wild Angels (1966) and drug movie The Trip. He also bought and screened art-house classics such as Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers (1972) to the drive-in audience, and even strived to make a 'proper' film with The Intruder (1962), a film about social segregation starring, er, William Shatner.

I know I'm mainly talking about the career of Roger Corman rather than actually reviewing the film, but that's probably the best thing about this documentary. Corman's story is all the film needed to be entertaining, as it remains refreshingly unfussy throughout and allows the often fascinating talking heads (which also include Bruce Dern, Joe Dante, Robert DeNiro, Dick Miller, Jonathan Demme and Pam Grier) to simply tell the story. After being told such a story, the climax that sees Corman collect his long-overdue Academy Lifetime Achievement Award, is suitably, an inevitably, very moving. Director Alex Stapleton has hardly re-defined documentaries here, but with such a likeable and fascinating subject, it remains highly informative, fun, touching, and entertaining.


Directed by: Alex Stapleton
Starring: Roger Corman
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie