Friday, September 18, 2009

Posterized: The Roger Corman Edition

This will be a collection of selected posters that highlight Roger Corman's producing and directing oeuvre, a complete chronicling of the man's prolific career would result in the largest blog entry known to mankind. Between 1955 and 1970 alone the man directed fifty films!

The films, years of release, Corman's capacity on the project and some notable co-contributors are listed. The involvement Samuel Arkoff and James Nicholson, his frequent co-producers, is assumed.

Swamp Women (1955, director-his directorial debut)



Not of this Earth (1957, producer-director)


Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957, producer-director)



A Bucket of Blood (1959, producer-director) [stars Dick Miller]





Little Shop of Horrors (1960, producer-director) [starring Jack Nicholson]




The Pit and the Pendulum (1961, producer-director) [starring Vincent Price and Barbara Steele, written by Richard Matheson]




Premature Burial (1962, producer) [starring Ray Milland, Hazel Court and Dick Miller, assistant director: Francis Ford Coppola]




The Terror (1963, producer-director) [starring Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson and Dick Miller, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, location direction by Monte Hellman, screenplay by Jack Hill]


X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes (1963, producer-director) [starring Ray Milland and Don Rickles]

Dementia 13 (1963, producer) [co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, his debut, co-written by Jack Hill]


The Wild Angels (1966, producer-director) [starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern, edited by Monte Hellman, Peter Bogdanovich was the director's assistant]




The Trip (1967, producer-director) [starring Peter Fonda, Susan Strasberg, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern and Dick Miller, written by Jack Nicholson



Bloody Mama (1970, producer-director) [starring Shelley Winters, Robert DeNiro, Bruce Dern, Scatman Crothers]
Boxcar Bertha (1972, producer) [starring Barbara Hershey and David Carridine, directed by Martin Scorsese]


Caged Heat (1974, producer) [written and directed by Jonathan Demme, his directorial debut, cinematagrophy by Tak Fujimoto, music by John Cale!]





Cockfighter (1974, producer) [directed by Monte Hellman, starring Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton]





Big Bad Mama (1974, producer) [starring Angie Dickinson, William Shatner and Tom Skerritt]



Death Race 2000 (1975, producer) [directed by Paul Bartel, starring David Carradine and Slyvester Stallone]





Hollywood Boulevard (1976, producer) [directed by Allan Arkush and Joe Dante, his directorial debut]



Jackson County Jail (1976, producer) [starring Tommy Lee Jones and Howard Hesseman]






Eat My Dust (1976, producer) [starring Ron Howard, set decoration by Bill Paxton!]



Grand Theft Auto (1977, producer) [starring and directed by Ron Howard, his directorial debut, edited by Joe Dante]





Piranha (1978, producer) [directed and edited by Joe Dante, co-written by John Sayles, music by Pino Donaggio, make-up effects by Rob Bottin]





Saint Jack (1979, producer) [directed and co-written by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Ben Gazzara]
Rock N' Roll High School (1979, producer) [starring PJ Soles and The Ramones, cinematagrophy by Dean Cundey, second unit direction by Joe Dante and Jerry Zucker]





Humanoids From the Deep (1980, producer) [starring Vic Morrow, music by James Horner]





Battle Beyond the Stars (1980, producer-director) [starring Robert Vaughn, George Peppard, John Saxon and Sybil Danning, co written by John Sayles, music by James Horner, art direction by James Cameron, assistant production manager Gale Anne Hurd]



Deathstalker (1983, executive producer)

Chopping Mall (1986, executive producer)




Summer Camp Nightmare (1987, executive producer) [starring Chuck Conners] Not one of Corman's more notable films, but I remember watching it a lot via a VHS tape I recorded off HBO during one summer (87 or 88)



Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Congratulations to Roger Corman, 2010 Honorary Oscar Recipient

This year's Honorary Academy Award could not go to a worthier recipient than writer-producer-director-actor-entrepreneur-independent distributor Roger Corman, who was the most influential presence in American film from the 1950s through the early 80's in regards to the talent that he utilized and developed early in their career (Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholoson, et cetera), his independent, quick, and cheap fly by the seat of his pants shooting style and providing exploitative, but always fun and never mean-spirited, fodder for the drive-ins and grindhouse cinema screens. It's rather tragic that in the last few decades the landscape of film distribution has shifted to the point where there is no longer room for the likes of Corman.



Congratulations as well to Lauren Bacall and Gordon Willis, both of who have, like Corman, never received an actual award. That's right, the cinematographer of The Godfather parts I and II and Manhattan, to name the most notable of a long distinguished career, has never won an Oscar, pretty much all the proof you need of the award's overall irrelevance in the grand scheme of things. Hell, he wasn't even nominated for any of those three listed films.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Posterized: The Beatles on Film

As an addendum to yesterday's post, here are the posters for the majority of Beatles starring films, be it the band or the individual members.

I was rather surprised how prolific an actor Ringo Starr became after the band's breakup. Although not represented here, George Harrison, through his Handmade Films production company has the greatest film legacy of the band, he served as executive producer on such fine features as The Life of Brian, Mona Lisa, Time Bandits and Withnail and I.

The Beatles

















John Lennon







Paul McCartney
George Harrison




Ringo Starr
















Which one is your favorite? My vote is the Polish Yellow Submarine poster.
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