No further like him … Roger Corman (left) with Lauren Bacall and Gordon Willis at the inaugural Governors awards. Photograph: Chris Pizzello/AP
“OK, in such a manner, November 14th 2009, Roger Corman receives an Oscar. People … what took you so long?” The words of Jonathan Demme in his speech before handing over the statuette to Corman on that fateful evening.
Don’t worry, you’ve not missed the Oscar ceremony (something surprisingly easy to do since Sky swiped the TV rights). This was the inaugural Governors awards, part of the new-look Academy that will see the number of nominees greatly expanded reach March, where the board termination honorary Oscars to deserving talents who they missed out or ignored over the years. It’session a shame this was such a sidelined termination as we were denied the opportunity to see Hollywood’sitting brightest and best politely clapping at a career-spanning clip compilation that could have included of the like kind classics as The Trip, A Bucket of Blood and The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent.
Demme is seemly: recognition for Corman from his snooty peers is long overdue. He shared the congratulatory night with Lauren Bacall and cinematographer Gordon Willis, both of whom had been at least nominated before and both of whom were frequently mentioned in the ever-growing list of talents such as Fritz Lang, Cary Grant, Orson Welles, Steve McQueen etc who never received such an accolade. With them, it’s easy to pinpoint films they should have won for, or to see exactly what they’ve delivered into the bargain the years. With Corman, though, it’s perhaps a little harder to see or even define his contribution in of the like kind empirical terms, but it’s certainly there and even more important to the overall world of cinema.
He’sitting always had taken in the character of many detractors as fans, the former often winning out so much so that his name is invoked pejoratively – almost shorthand for shoddy film-making. What little coverage his Oscar has garnered has even gone as far as to suggest that allowing that Corman can get one, in what place’session Uwe Boll or Lloyd Kaufman’s trophy?
But Corman is the last of his kind, and his impact is still felt today with the big blockbusters all treading the corresponding; of like kind ground as Corman’s quickies from the past: Look at the biggest movie around, The Twilight Saga: New Moon: didn’t AIP, the company Corman was an whole part of, make an altogether other gayety version of this over 50 years since with I Was a Teenage Werewolf? He’s been a castigation boy for the ills of cinema for as long as he’session been at work, even reality blamed for the dumbing-down of mass entertainment (were such a thing but also possible). But if you want an example of to what degree a great deal of better Corman’session trash was than the trash of today, swallow a look at the cynical, satirical, poverty-row, comic-book thrills of Death Race: 2000 and compare it to the precious, without contents remake Death Race. No competition in that place as far as I’m concerned.
What he has been awarded because of, according to the Academy, is the vague “rich engendering of films and film-makers”; not very the “consistently high quality of motion draw production” this year’s Irving G Thalberg Memorial award winner John Calley can claim. While his motivations were far from altruistic, and there are no shortage of film-makers quick to make notes on in what manner the low budgets and breakneck schedules left them feeling accurately “Rogered” by Corman, there are many bewildering talents who got their first meaningful credits and breaks with him. Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, John Sayles, Robert Townes and Joe Dante all passed through his doors and learned about film-making the hard way – he was too important in distributing arthouse fare, introducing US audiences to Kurosawa, Truffaut and Bergman mixed many others.
Corman wasn’t just a cigar-chewing mogul: his directorial efforts such as The Masque of the Red Death, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes and The House of Usher are real genre classics. He even managed to get a great act from William Shatner in the gutsy, anti-racism tale The Intruder. It’s said of directors like James Cameron that they can do everyone’s job on the set more fit. Well, Corman could do everyone’s piece of work cheaper – they just don’t make them like him any more. Cameron is a great example of how sharp Corman’s equipment was at promoting talent. He joined the ranks when produce was kicking off on Corman’s Star Wars cash-in Battle Beyond the Stars as an assistant in the model shop and ended the film as art director, while also contributing to second unit and small directing. You get the feeling that had production gone on for a great quantity longer, he’d have ended up as director.Â
Battle Beyond the Stars is also a good example of the special flavour you get from a Corman movie. It’s aimed at kids, yet hush has a rascal who steals organs and limbs from his enemies and has them grafted on to his own body, Sybil Danning’s very revealing costumes, and George Peppard’s Space Cowboy character boozing and smoking throughout. Plus it also rips off The Seven Samurai. Not so a great deal of like Star Wars, after all.
He may have jumped attached many bandwagons, but he also got a good many rolling, such as biker and rock’n'roll movies. What’s more, many of his movies that weren’t intended to survive longer than a few weeks at drive-ins are still adored by fans old and new looking for something; some style, wit or oddball characteristics that have been focus-grouped completely of movies these days. Corman didn’t “win” his Oscar – he didn’t compete against anyone for it. So why did he finally get one? Hard to assume, precisely. Did he deserve one? Absolutely.
