Cult filmmaker, director and mentor of such talents as Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, and Peter Bogdanovich - Roger Corman, is the intoxicating main subject of “Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel,” directed by Alex Stapleton. Stapleton’s ode to the gentleman who made not-so-gentle films such as “Gas-s-s-s,” “The Terror,” “The Raven,” and “Creature from theHaunted Sea” – is simultaneously affectionate and convincing.
With interviews from Eli Roth, Paul W.S. Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Jack Nicholson and some of the biggest names in tinsel town, you’re on the ride with all the people who’ve worked with him as they re-tell their experiences illustrated by of archival footage. Something we’ve all seen before, but not quite like this. The visit to a time once removed, color correcting and special effects absent, makes this trip down memory lane unexpected fun. Mostly because you know you’d be hard pressed to find anything this bad (meaning some of his earlier films) now – even if you wanted to. So in the finding and viewing of this film – you feel like a rebel too.
A film that’s also imperfect fodder for an audience now fed a regular diet of over-stuffed over-budgeted, formulaic, celebrity vehicles. It is a rest with heart. And Stapleton visits Corman’s failures, including a bit of Hollywood business that turned ugly and the chasm between a passion project which crashed and burned at the box office and where he went from there. “The Intruder,” a film that spoke to the issue of segregation at the time, was Corman’s proudest moment, but his main distributor would not deliver the film to theaters and it opened and finished as the lowest grossing film he has made. Stapleton allows us to see a moment of pain over the outcome, and allows others around him at the time to reflect on this moment in time.
She buckles you in when you’re unaware and you’ll find yourself wondering what’s become of Corman. But she won’t leave you wondering, as you’ll be led into his current pursuits, triumphs and challenges and shown how they’ve changed from the days where he produced such titles as “Apache Woman,” “Rock All Night,” “Sea Serpent” and “The Beast with a Million Eyes.” From the footage that recounted earlier days, we hear from those who are still in Corman’s life and those who aren’t. And there is a moment to end all moments, at the end, that will stay with you long after you leave the theater.
“Corman’s World,” is a celebration with a beginning, middle and end, so you take the journey with the filmmaker – almost as if you were there from the start. It leaves you inspired by the films, while striking curiosity for a man who is generally unknown, but considered an icon to most cinephiles.
DIRECTOR: Alex Stapleton SCREENWRITER: Alex Stapleton, Gregory Locklear CAST: Robert DeNiro, Ron Howard, Jack Nicholson MPAA RATING: R
