Ignorant people still refer to Roger Corman as a schlockmester. The King of the B's. Sure, the man was responsible for a lot of cheesy movies, but he is so much more.
Corman got started in the fifties, a decade with a lot of really bad science fiction and horror movies. We all love 'em, but for every Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, or The Thing From Another World, there are a dozen or more low budget turkeys.
Roger Corman made his share. As a producer and director he holds the blame for things like It Conquered the World, Night of the Blood Beast, Teenage Caveman, Creature from the Haunted Sea, and many more. These are pretty bad movies, but Roger's early films had more going for them than most of the others. They are witty. He touched on social issues. They had imagination. He did the best he could with the talent he could afford. What he was mostly doing was establishing himself as a credible filmmaker who could earn money with his productions.
By the early 60's Roger Corman was doing bigger films. Most movie historians know his Poe adaptations, which are beautiful and literate. He chronicled the counterculture with films like The Wild Angels and The Trip. Corman tackled the subject of race and integration with The Intruder.
Roger Corman always had a fondness for gangster pictures. In interviews he has expressed his admiration for James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson movies, and has cited their influence on his career. He directed Charles Bronson in Machine-Gun Kelly in 1957 and another crime film called I, Mobster two years after that. Even youth-oriented pictures like Rock All Night, Naked Paradise, and Teenage Doll touch on organized crime.
When the big studios were in financial trouble in the late sixties, they turned to independent filmmakers to bring in movies under a budget. Enormous spectacles were on the way out.
In 1967 20th Century Fox hired Corman to direct The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, from a Howard Brown screenplay. It was, at 2.5 million dollars, by far the biggest budget he had ever worked with.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre shows how strong a director Roger Corman could be. Especially when he a had top notch cast and crew.
Corman had a strong cinematic eye. I read an interview with one of his directors. He said Roger asked him to dinner to discuss the possibility of working together. While they were seated at the table Roger asked how the potential filmmaker would shoot the two of them. What angle to come from, lighting, etc. After the young man answered, Roger explained how the shots should be made. And he was dead right.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is beautifully photographed and acted. There are nice aerial shots, scenes from moving cars, and hand-held techniques to bring immediacy to various scenes. All gorgeously executed with not a green screen or computer to be found.
The cast is made up of strong character actors. George Segal is excellent as a sadistic mobster, but Jason Robards steals every scene with maniacal gusto as Al Capone. Robards may not get the acclaim of Robert DeNiro, but for my money his portrayal of the mobster beats the hell out of DeNiro in The Untouchables. With a baseball bat.
The screenplay is faithful to the historical facts. Rather than romanticize organized crime as had been done in the past, Corman and company go for harsh realism. The violence, while not particularly explicit, is cold and nasty. Bonnie and Clyde, with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, came out the same year. It was much more popular than Corman's movie, but The St. Valentine's Day hits a lot harder and is more effective. Corman didn't glamorize criminals, but instead portrayed them as vicious psychopaths.
I'm on the fence about whether The St. Valentine's Day Massacre or The Intruder is Roger Corman's best film as a director. Both are stark, nasty, confrontations with hard realities of the underbelly of society.
Written by Mark Sieber
Corman got started in the fifties, a decade with a lot of really bad science fiction and horror movies. We all love 'em, but for every Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, or The Thing From Another World, there are a dozen or more low budget turkeys.
Roger Corman made his share. As a producer and director he holds the blame for things like It Conquered the World, Night of the Blood Beast, Teenage Caveman, Creature from the Haunted Sea, and many more. These are pretty bad movies, but Roger's early films had more going for them than most of the others. They are witty. He touched on social issues. They had imagination. He did the best he could with the talent he could afford. What he was mostly doing was establishing himself as a credible filmmaker who could earn money with his productions.
By the early 60's Roger Corman was doing bigger films. Most movie historians know his Poe adaptations, which are beautiful and literate. He chronicled the counterculture with films like The Wild Angels and The Trip. Corman tackled the subject of race and integration with The Intruder.
Roger Corman always had a fondness for gangster pictures. In interviews he has expressed his admiration for James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson movies, and has cited their influence on his career. He directed Charles Bronson in Machine-Gun Kelly in 1957 and another crime film called I, Mobster two years after that. Even youth-oriented pictures like Rock All Night, Naked Paradise, and Teenage Doll touch on organized crime.
When the big studios were in financial trouble in the late sixties, they turned to independent filmmakers to bring in movies under a budget. Enormous spectacles were on the way out.
In 1967 20th Century Fox hired Corman to direct The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, from a Howard Brown screenplay. It was, at 2.5 million dollars, by far the biggest budget he had ever worked with.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre shows how strong a director Roger Corman could be. Especially when he a had top notch cast and crew.
Corman had a strong cinematic eye. I read an interview with one of his directors. He said Roger asked him to dinner to discuss the possibility of working together. While they were seated at the table Roger asked how the potential filmmaker would shoot the two of them. What angle to come from, lighting, etc. After the young man answered, Roger explained how the shots should be made. And he was dead right.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is beautifully photographed and acted. There are nice aerial shots, scenes from moving cars, and hand-held techniques to bring immediacy to various scenes. All gorgeously executed with not a green screen or computer to be found.
The cast is made up of strong character actors. George Segal is excellent as a sadistic mobster, but Jason Robards steals every scene with maniacal gusto as Al Capone. Robards may not get the acclaim of Robert DeNiro, but for my money his portrayal of the mobster beats the hell out of DeNiro in The Untouchables. With a baseball bat.
The screenplay is faithful to the historical facts. Rather than romanticize organized crime as had been done in the past, Corman and company go for harsh realism. The violence, while not particularly explicit, is cold and nasty. Bonnie and Clyde, with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, came out the same year. It was much more popular than Corman's movie, but The St. Valentine's Day hits a lot harder and is more effective. Corman didn't glamorize criminals, but instead portrayed them as vicious psychopaths.
I'm on the fence about whether The St. Valentine's Day Massacre or The Intruder is Roger Corman's best film as a director. Both are stark, nasty, confrontations with hard realities of the underbelly of society.
Written by Mark Sieber
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