Posted on 05/12/2024 3:13:48 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
Legendary B-movie king Roger Corman, who directed and produced hundreds of low-budget films and discovered such future industry stars as Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, has died. He was 98.
Corman died May 9 at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., surrounded by family members, the family confirmed to Variety.
“His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age. When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, ‘I was a filmmaker, just that,'” the family said in a statement.
Corman’s empire, which existed in several incarnations, including New World Pictures, and Concorde/New Horizons, was as active as any major studio and, he boasted, always profitable. He specialized in fast-paced, low-budget genre movies — horror, action, science fiction, even some family fare — and his company became a work-in-training ground for a wide variety of major talents, from actors like Nicholson (“Little Shop of Horrors”) and De Niro (“Boxcar Bertha”) to directors like Francis Ford Coppola (“Dementia 13”) and Scorsese (“Boxcar Bertha”).
(Excerpt) Read more at variety.com ...
RIP.
Besides many “so bad it’s good” movies, was groundbreaking in many genres, and gave a lot of now-famous people (both cast and crew) their starts and tutelage.
“ Ron Howard saluted him for hiring women in key exec and creative jobs,”
…I guess they were qualified? How many were black, huh, huh, huh? Did they make as much as the men, huh, huh, huh? Were they allowed to get a penis implant and use the men’s washroom if they wanted, huh, huh, huh?
Death Race 2000 is probably his most famous film. I found the recent sequel Death Race 2050 to be hilarious.
Quite a career and life. Condolences to family and friends of Roger Corman.
BTTT
Death Race 2000 is one of my personal favorites. Death Race 2050 was silly.
“Student?”
“Are you kidding??”
Looks like he has chewed a little tobacco in his day.
LOVE those cheesy, grainy, b/w movies!
I’m old enough to remember when movie theaters would have an “A” and “B” movie, and change them up on Wednesdays (unless they were “held over”. (and yes, I even recall the Saturday matinee marathons for us kiddies).
So many of the “A” movies (then and now) strike me as bloated bores (with, of course, many notable exceptions) But those “B” and “Z” grade movies have more re-watchability for sure.
Apparently this is “The Day The World Ended” for him
Rest In Peace, Roger.
He’s a B movie legend.
Corman’s movies were at their best at drive ins, where nuance and refinement were unnecessary and the best action to be had was off screen.
98? A good run, sir.
Many of his films were so cheesy and corny, although I did enjoy the 1994 The Fantastic Four film that was never released to theaters and went straight to VHS.
The Tomb of Ligia with Vincent Price and those weird purple tinted glasses was a cult classic.
Corman was truly a one of a kind legend in film making.
LOL, a trash classic! And featuring Sylvester Stallone and Fred Grandy before they went on to bigger roles.
Some of his “B” movies were better, or at least more entertaining, than a lot of Hollyweird’s more recent releases.
He was one of a kind. I’m glad he was here.
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