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Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman
Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses is an outrageously rollicking account of the life and career of Roger Corman—one of the most prolific and successful independent producers, directors, and writers of all time, and self-proclaimed king of the B movie. As told by Corman himself and graduates of “The Corman Film School,” including Peter Bogdanovich, James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, and Martin Scorsese, this comprehensive oral history takes readers behind the scenes of more than six decades of American cinema, as now-legendary directors and actors candidly unspool recollections of working with Corman, continually one-upping one another with tales of the years before their big breaks.
Crab Monsters is supplemented with dozens of full-color reproductions of classic Corman movie posters; behind-the-scenes photographs and ephemera (many taken from Corman’s personal archive); and critical essays on Corman’s most daring films—including The Intruder, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Big Doll House— that make the case for Corman as an artist like no other.
Praise for Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses:
“This new coffee table book, brimming with outrageous stills from many of Corman’s hundreds of films, looks at the wild career of the starmaker who was largely responsible for so much of the Hollywood we know today.” —New York Post
“Vividly illustrated.” —People
“An enthusiastic ode to colorful, seat-of-your-pants filmmaking, this one’s hard to beat.” —Booklist (starred review)
“It includes in-depth aesthetic appreciations of ten of Corman’s movies, which, taken together, make a compelling case for Corman as an artist.” —Hollywood.com
“Author Nashawaty deftly describes how Corman’s legacy is far more nuanced than most realize.” —American Way magazine
“Outrageously entertaining . . .” —Parade magazine
“Endlessly fascinating.” —PopMatters.com
“You’d think it’d be impossible for any writer to put together a Roger Corman biography that's anywhere near as fun as his movies, but Entertainment Weekly writer/critic Chris Nashawaty has done just that.” —Complex magazine
Crab Monsters is supplemented with dozens of full-color reproductions of classic Corman movie posters; behind-the-scenes photographs and ephemera (many taken from Corman’s personal archive); and critical essays on Corman’s most daring films—including The Intruder, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Big Doll House— that make the case for Corman as an artist like no other.
Praise for Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses:
“This new coffee table book, brimming with outrageous stills from many of Corman’s hundreds of films, looks at the wild career of the starmaker who was largely responsible for so much of the Hollywood we know today.” —New York Post
“Vividly illustrated.” —People
“An enthusiastic ode to colorful, seat-of-your-pants filmmaking, this one’s hard to beat.” —Booklist (starred review)
“It includes in-depth aesthetic appreciations of ten of Corman’s movies, which, taken together, make a compelling case for Corman as an artist.” —Hollywood.com
“Author Nashawaty deftly describes how Corman’s legacy is far more nuanced than most realize.” —American Way magazine
“Outrageously entertaining . . .” —Parade magazine
“Endlessly fascinating.” —PopMatters.com
“You’d think it’d be impossible for any writer to put together a Roger Corman biography that's anywhere near as fun as his movies, but Entertainment Weekly writer/critic Chris Nashawaty has done just that.” —Complex magazine
543 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2013
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May 12, 2024
MAY 9, 2024: LEGENDARY B-MOVIE KING ROGER CORMAN, WHO DIRECTED AND PRODUCED HUNDREDS OF LOW-BUDGET FILMS AND DISCOVERED/NURTURED SUCH FUTURE STARS AS JACK NICHOLSON, MARTIN SCORSESE, FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA AND ROBERT DE NIRO HAS DIED, AGED 98.
In the words of film historian Leonard Maltin: "A virtual one-man American Film Institute."
Roger Corman deserves a very special place in the annals of American cinema. Probably no other single individual in the movie business has influenced and nurtured so many other great filmmakers e.g. Coppola, Bogdanovich, Scorsese, De Niro, Nicholson, Sayles.
This groovy book is a feast for the eye with page after page of terrific stills and lots of cheesy posters from sixty plus years of remarkable achievements from the 'King of the Bs' during his years at AIP and founder of New World Pictures, his own production and distribution company.
And it is filled with apt and affectionate comments from the various artists who worked under Corman, making this book more a tribute than your standard biography. The admiration and respect that these people have for Corman is obvious and well deserved.
An invigorating history of the 'other side of Hollywood'; filmmaking which much of the old guard tended to sneer at, without fully understanding and appreciating the creative juices that were flowing like crazy!
And the subsequent treasures resulting from Corman the filmmaker and nurturer of so much incredible talent in "the New Hollywood" of independent filmmaking. A fantastic collection of schlock and ingenuity.
The King of the Bs deservedly gets the "A" treatment with this excellent book.
Simply put, we need many more Roger Cormans in today's Hollywood!
In the words of film historian Leonard Maltin: "A virtual one-man American Film Institute."
Roger Corman deserves a very special place in the annals of American cinema. Probably no other single individual in the movie business has influenced and nurtured so many other great filmmakers e.g. Coppola, Bogdanovich, Scorsese, De Niro, Nicholson, Sayles.
This groovy book is a feast for the eye with page after page of terrific stills and lots of cheesy posters from sixty plus years of remarkable achievements from the 'King of the Bs' during his years at AIP and founder of New World Pictures, his own production and distribution company.
And it is filled with apt and affectionate comments from the various artists who worked under Corman, making this book more a tribute than your standard biography. The admiration and respect that these people have for Corman is obvious and well deserved.
An invigorating history of the 'other side of Hollywood'; filmmaking which much of the old guard tended to sneer at, without fully understanding and appreciating the creative juices that were flowing like crazy!
And the subsequent treasures resulting from Corman the filmmaker and nurturer of so much incredible talent in "the New Hollywood" of independent filmmaking. A fantastic collection of schlock and ingenuity.
The King of the Bs deservedly gets the "A" treatment with this excellent book.
Simply put, we need many more Roger Cormans in today's Hollywood!
February 7, 2019
This book was just packed.I learned more from this on how to make movies then I was prepared for.Lots of funny stories,and a nostalgic glimpse of some movies and stars that I've seen that I'm too embarrassed to talk about.He's still kicking around.It's amazing the number of Hollywood giants that he started off.
January 21, 2014
I've always been a fan of Roger Corman, but after reading this book, I'm also inspired by the man. I knew about some of his movies, having grown up watching them, but wow! The man is literally unstoppable, a true work-horse, and an innovator in every sense of the word. And still making/producing movies today, in his mid 80s! I had no idea just how long he'd been in the business, nor did I know how many people he helped out along the way. Granted, his tactics weren't always the most popular, but his credentials are impressive (bring up his page on IMDB and there's over 400 entries listing him as producer. Four hundred plus.)
The movies of his I love best are the ones based on Edgar Allan Poe stories, starring Vincent Price. Back when I was in grade school, our local NBC affiliate (WTHR, Channel 13 - back in the days before cable) showed movies at 4 pm weekday afternoons. I would race home when it was Price week, as they almost always pulled out all the Corman flicks: Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, House of Usher...all fabulous films with one of my favorite horror movie actors, very atmospheric and creepy. Never mind that I was young enough that the plots were sometimes over my head. Those movies made a big impact on me. Of course, Corman would have been happier if I had somehow bought copies of those flicks, as he was always looking to make money on his movies.
And make money he did. The things I learned from this wonderful love letter (because that's really what it is - a love letter from a fan) are amazing, such as the fact that Corman almost never lost money on his films, able to produce/direct/distribute at a profit. Think about that for a moment. At least 90% of the time, maybe even 95%, he made a profit. What other Hollywood type can say that? Corman worked his casts and crews to the bone, always asking them to do as much as was humanly possible in the least amount of time for very little dough. Many of the actors/directors/other staff quoted mention how they "survived" the Corman School of Filmmaking, not a real school but the very experience of working with/for Roger. And work they did, grueling schedules on shoots plagued with problems.
And yet, everyone interviewed speaks of their time at Roger's feet with love and admiration. I would liken it to summer camp or something similar. Also, not many people worked with/for Roger more than one or two films, specifically if they showed talent; Corman himself would tell them it was time to move on. He showed them the ropes, gave them a crash course education, and then kicked them out of the nest. He did what any good manager should do - he grew his people so that they could move up in the business. And grow them he did, lots of very famous names, such as those listed in the book blurb, not to mention the women he mentored: actresses like Pam Grier and Angie Dickinson to directors like Penelope Spheeris, Amy Holden Jones, Deborah Brock, and Katt Shea. He gave women a chance when others simply wanted them for their...um...assets. Roger knew they had assets, and not the ones that were visible. He truly broke new ground, and did it over and over again.
If you're a film fan, this book is for you. If you're a B movie fan, this book is for you. And if you're a Roger Corman fan, this book is definitely for you. Big, beautiful, and yes, even a bit cheesy at times. Everything that makes a Corman film a Corman film.
The movies of his I love best are the ones based on Edgar Allan Poe stories, starring Vincent Price. Back when I was in grade school, our local NBC affiliate (WTHR, Channel 13 - back in the days before cable) showed movies at 4 pm weekday afternoons. I would race home when it was Price week, as they almost always pulled out all the Corman flicks: Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, House of Usher...all fabulous films with one of my favorite horror movie actors, very atmospheric and creepy. Never mind that I was young enough that the plots were sometimes over my head. Those movies made a big impact on me. Of course, Corman would have been happier if I had somehow bought copies of those flicks, as he was always looking to make money on his movies.
And make money he did. The things I learned from this wonderful love letter (because that's really what it is - a love letter from a fan) are amazing, such as the fact that Corman almost never lost money on his films, able to produce/direct/distribute at a profit. Think about that for a moment. At least 90% of the time, maybe even 95%, he made a profit. What other Hollywood type can say that? Corman worked his casts and crews to the bone, always asking them to do as much as was humanly possible in the least amount of time for very little dough. Many of the actors/directors/other staff quoted mention how they "survived" the Corman School of Filmmaking, not a real school but the very experience of working with/for Roger. And work they did, grueling schedules on shoots plagued with problems.
And yet, everyone interviewed speaks of their time at Roger's feet with love and admiration. I would liken it to summer camp or something similar. Also, not many people worked with/for Roger more than one or two films, specifically if they showed talent; Corman himself would tell them it was time to move on. He showed them the ropes, gave them a crash course education, and then kicked them out of the nest. He did what any good manager should do - he grew his people so that they could move up in the business. And grow them he did, lots of very famous names, such as those listed in the book blurb, not to mention the women he mentored: actresses like Pam Grier and Angie Dickinson to directors like Penelope Spheeris, Amy Holden Jones, Deborah Brock, and Katt Shea. He gave women a chance when others simply wanted them for their...um...assets. Roger knew they had assets, and not the ones that were visible. He truly broke new ground, and did it over and over again.
If you're a film fan, this book is for you. If you're a B movie fan, this book is for you. And if you're a Roger Corman fan, this book is definitely for you. Big, beautiful, and yes, even a bit cheesy at times. Everything that makes a Corman film a Corman film.
January 3, 2014
Your enjoyment of this book - a detailed trawl through the output of Roger Corman from the early 50s (and including a quick bio) up to date - is going to depend entirely on your ability to enjoy films where you can sometimes see the zip on the back of the monster suit. In fact, Chris Nashawaty sums this up perfectly in a caption to accompany a picture of the eponymous Creature From The Haunted Sea - “…one of the worst looking (or greatest, depending on your sweet tooth for schlock) monsters in movie history”. I loved the book, which probably tells you just how big and strong my sweet tooth for schlock is.
Thoroughly illustrated with beautifully reproduced film posters (and wow, they knew how to sell movies then!) and clear screen grabs, this is effectively an oral history of the Corman “factory”, told by the people involved. From Corman himself, his wife Julie and brother Gene, through writers and directors and actors and crew personnel, this is frank and often amusing and never less than illuminating. Working to tight budgets (and often tighter schedules), Corman pushed people to be creative and yes, whilst some of the output is stupid, it’s often very entertaining. He also served as a kind of unofficial film school, giving the first chances to many people who are now Hollywood A-listers - from Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern, through Ron Howard, Joe Dante and Jim Cameron, Gayle Ann Hurd and Martin Scorsese, all of them have their say and none of them utter a bad word about their mentor (other than how cheap he was).
The book is broken down into 5 chapters, each dealing with a different decade and I have to confess that my favourites were the sixties and seventies and moving into the early eighties - that’s when the format seemed to hit its stride, when the talent being supported (Dante, Nicholson, Dern, Howard et al) was on the cusp of greatness and when they seemed incapable of doing a bad job, even when the material wasn’t always as good as it could be. The later eighties is interesting (I was a happy supporter of the burgeoning home video market myself and loved scanning the shelves in our local video shop) but the nineties and to the present day is a bit more sobering, with the market drying up and a stream of films that seem to be directed by the same two blokes (contradicting everyone else’s mantra that once you got your start, you moved on). From what I read, none of the SyFy films currently being made will stand up in 30+ years time, as something like Joe Dante’s “Piranha” has. In fact, I was so impressed by the write-up in the book of that film, I bought it on DVD and watched it with my wife and we both loved it.
Roger Corman is a legend, finally recognised by the Oscars for his contribution to films and he’s shaped a lot of culture that we now readily accept today, believing in genre films even when others didn’t appear to. This book does him perfect justice, a thorough, wonderfully written and researched slice of movie history that I think is essential reading for those who like their films (on occasion), to be on the cheap, cheerful, sleazy and gruesome side. I loved it, I wish it was twice as long and I highly recommend it.
Thoroughly illustrated with beautifully reproduced film posters (and wow, they knew how to sell movies then!) and clear screen grabs, this is effectively an oral history of the Corman “factory”, told by the people involved. From Corman himself, his wife Julie and brother Gene, through writers and directors and actors and crew personnel, this is frank and often amusing and never less than illuminating. Working to tight budgets (and often tighter schedules), Corman pushed people to be creative and yes, whilst some of the output is stupid, it’s often very entertaining. He also served as a kind of unofficial film school, giving the first chances to many people who are now Hollywood A-listers - from Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern, through Ron Howard, Joe Dante and Jim Cameron, Gayle Ann Hurd and Martin Scorsese, all of them have their say and none of them utter a bad word about their mentor (other than how cheap he was).
The book is broken down into 5 chapters, each dealing with a different decade and I have to confess that my favourites were the sixties and seventies and moving into the early eighties - that’s when the format seemed to hit its stride, when the talent being supported (Dante, Nicholson, Dern, Howard et al) was on the cusp of greatness and when they seemed incapable of doing a bad job, even when the material wasn’t always as good as it could be. The later eighties is interesting (I was a happy supporter of the burgeoning home video market myself and loved scanning the shelves in our local video shop) but the nineties and to the present day is a bit more sobering, with the market drying up and a stream of films that seem to be directed by the same two blokes (contradicting everyone else’s mantra that once you got your start, you moved on). From what I read, none of the SyFy films currently being made will stand up in 30+ years time, as something like Joe Dante’s “Piranha” has. In fact, I was so impressed by the write-up in the book of that film, I bought it on DVD and watched it with my wife and we both loved it.
Roger Corman is a legend, finally recognised by the Oscars for his contribution to films and he’s shaped a lot of culture that we now readily accept today, believing in genre films even when others didn’t appear to. This book does him perfect justice, a thorough, wonderfully written and researched slice of movie history that I think is essential reading for those who like their films (on occasion), to be on the cheap, cheerful, sleazy and gruesome side. I loved it, I wish it was twice as long and I highly recommend it.
August 4, 2024
Excellent overview of Roger Corman’s career! This book is not a straight-up biography or film critique. The book consists of snippets of interviews from all of the people who have worked with Corman at different times of his life (e.g., Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Sylvester Stallone, Pam Grier, Mary Woronov, Jim Wynorski, Sid Haig, James Cameron, Penelope Spheeris, etc.) as well as Roger Corman, his brother, Gene, and his wife Julie. The book is organized by time of Corman’s career, from his start in the business, through his directing of movies, and his long career as a producer during different stages of movie marketing—drive-ins, VHS, DVD, and TV. There are essays giving an overview of his work during each of these distinct periods of Corman’s career as well as critiques of particularly important films in Corman’s roster. Filled with poster art and movie stills, the book is a great retrospective of Roger Corman’s substantial influence on movies.
August 23, 2024
ซื้อหนังสือมานานแล้ว (เกิน 10 ปี!) เพราะโดนภาพสวยดึงดูด ประกอบกับเคยได้ยินชื่อโรเจอร์คอร์แมนมาบ้าง แต่ไม่ได้อ่านซักที จนล่าสุดเจ้าตัวเสียชีวิต และกำลังจะเริ่มดูหนังเขาที่เอามาฉายในโรงพอดี เลยได้จังหวะหยิบมาอ่าน
เป็นหนังสือที่อ่านง่ายเพราะเป็นการรวมบทสัมภาษณ์จากหลายๆ คนที่เคยทำงานกับโรเจอร์ รวมถึงตัวโรเจอร์เองด้วย รูปภาพและการจัดวางภายในเล่มสวยและดีมาก เหมาะสำหรับคนอ่านที่ไม่เคยได้ยินเรื่องของเขามาก่อน หรือเคยได้ยินมานิดหน่อย แล้วต้องการที่จะรู้จักเขาในภาพรวม ในแง่ที่ว่า เขาทำหนังประมาณไหน เขาปรับตัวให้เข้ากับวงการหนังที่ผ่านมาหลายยุคได้ยังไง ทั้งจากหนังเกรดบีสัตว์ประหลาด หนังย้อนยุคสร้างจากนิยายของโพ หนังวิพากษ์สังคมที่เขาอยากทำเอง หนังฉายไดรฟ์อิน หนัง VHS หนังลงเคเบิ้ลทีวี พวกหนังสแลชเชอร์ หนังกลุ่มผู้หญิงเอาตัวรอด หนังผู้หญิงนักเรียน/พยาบาล หนังวัยรุ่นหนีฆาตกรสว่าน รวมไปถึงหนังต่างประเทศที่เขาเอามาจัดจำหน่าย ที่เขากำกับหรือโปรดิวซ์หรือให้เงินในการทำ
การที่เขาให้มองหาคนทำหนังใหม่ๆ ที่ในแง่หนึ่งก็ถูกยกย่องว่าเป็นการให้โอกาสคน จนทำให้พวกเขาเหล่านั้นมีประสบการณ์และได้เติบโตไปทำหนังเรื่องอื่นที่ใหญ่กว่า แต่ในแง่หนึ่งก็อาจมองได้ว่าเป็นการหากินกับนักทำหนังหน้าใหม่เพราะจ้างด้วยต้นทุนน้อยกว่า หรือบางทีก็ไม่เสียเลย เพราะคนรุ่นใหม่ไฟแรง ทำงานจับฉ่ายแลกประสบการณ์ คนกลุ่มนี้มีมากมายไม่ว่าจะเป็นผู้กำกับ นักแสดง หรือคนเบื้องหลัง ถ้าคุ้นหูหน่อยอาจจะเป็นแบบ Francis Ford Coppola (ผกก. The Godfather), Jack Nicholson (นักแสดง), Martin Scorsese (ผกก.), Ron Howard (นักแสดงที่เริ่มกำกับหนังตอนทำงานกับคอร์แมน), Gale Anne Hurd (โปรดิวเซอร์ Aliens), Peter Fonda (นักแสดง), Bruce Dern (นักแสดง), Peter Bogdanovich (ผกก. The Last Picture Show), Jonathan Demme (ผกก. The Silence of the Lambs), Joe Dante (ผกก. The Howling), James Cameron (ผกก. Titanic), James Horner (คนทำสกอร์ Titanic), Todd Field (ผกก. Tar/นักแสดง), Dennis Hopper (นักแสดง) และอีกหลายๆ คน
โรเจอร์เรียนจบวิศวกรรม แต่ขณะเดียวกันก็ชอบดูหนัง เขาทำหนังที่คิดว่าจะขายได้ ซึ่งในยุคนึงจะเป็นหนังพวกโชว์หวิว เปลือยท่อนบน หรืออารมณ์หนังเกรดบีเลือดสาด หรือบางทีก็เอาฟุตฯ จากเรื่องนั้นมาใส่เรื่องนี้ เขาคอมเมนต์ตัวบทว่าตรงไหนจะขายได้หรือขายไม่ได้ เขาทำหนังในงบที่น้อย ถ่ายในระยะเวลาจำกัด (บางครั้งถ่ายสองเรื่องควบในเซ็ตเดียวก็มี) และมีหนังน้อยเรื่องมากๆ ของเขาที่ไม่ทำเงิน เพราะด้วยกลุ่มเป้าหมายคนดูที่มีอยู่แล้วกับฝีมือการเจรจาของโรเจอร์ ในสมัยก่อน หนังฟอร์มใหญ่ส่วนมากจะใช้นักแสดงรุ่นใหญ่มากๆ มาเล่น ไม่ค่อยมีหนังแนว หรือ genre ที่เขาทำ จนมาถึงในยุคของ Jaws ที่กลายเป็นหนังฮิต และสตูดิโอใหญ่ๆ เริ่มหันมาลงทุนกับหนังแบบนี้ ซึ่งหลายคนมองว่ามันคือหนังที่โรเจอร์ทำ แต่ในงบที่ยิ่งใหญ่กว่า ซึ่งต่อมาหนังจากบริษัทของโรเจอร์ก็ยังเน้นถ่ายด้วยงบน้อยๆ และรับประกันว่าจะทำเงิน แถมยังมีหนังที่เกาะกระแส Jaws หรือ Star Wars และหนังไล่เชือดอื่นๆ โผล่ขึ้นมาในยุคนั้น
ส่วนที่น่าสนใจในหนังสือคือการจ้างคนทำงานผู้หญิงหรือนักแสดงหญิงมา ด้วยเหตุที่ว่าค่าจ้างพวกเธอน้อยกว่า และสำหรับโรเจอร์แล้ว พวกเธอเรื่องน้อยกว่าผู้ชาย (ฮา) การไหลลื่นไปตามยุคสมัยของโรเจอร์ทำให้เรา snap เห็นภาพวงการหนังโดยรวมในตอนนั้นว่าเป็นอย่างไร เช่นยุคนึงมีหนังหญิงล้วนที่มีคนหลายสีผม และมีคนดำพูดเรื่องการเมือง เป็นต้น
ผู้เขียนร้อยเรียงบทสัมภาษณ์เหล่านี้ออกมาได้น่าสนใจ เสริมด้วยคำบรรยายภาพติดอารมณ์ขัน ทำให้หนังสือเล่มนี้อ่านเพลิน และถึงแม้หนังสือจะไม่ได้เจาะลึกถึงหนังแต่ละเรื่องหรือในแง่มุมใดของชีวิตโรเจอร์โดยเฉพาะ แต่ในแง่การให้ข้อมูลที่ครอบคลุมและเห็นภาพกว้างๆ เสริมกับภาพศิลปะจากโปสเตอร์หนังอันสวยงาม เท่านี้ก็คุ้มมากแล้ว
เป็นหนังสือที่อ่านง่ายเพราะเป็นการรวมบทสัมภาษณ์จากหลายๆ คนที่เคยทำงานกับโรเจอร์ รวมถึงตัวโรเจอร์เองด้วย รูปภาพและการจัดวางภายในเล่มสวยและดีมาก เหมาะสำหรับคนอ่านที่ไม่เคยได้ยินเรื่องของเขามาก่อน หรือเคยได้ยินมานิดหน่อย แล้วต้องการที่จะรู้จักเขาในภาพรวม ในแง่ที่ว่า เขาทำหนังประมาณไหน เขาปรับตัวให้เข้ากับวงการหนังที่ผ่านมาหลายยุคได้ยังไง ทั้งจากหนังเกรดบีสัตว์ประหลาด หนังย้อนยุคสร้างจากนิยายของโพ หนังวิพากษ์สังคมที่เขาอยากทำเอง หนังฉายไดรฟ์อิน หนัง VHS หนังลงเคเบิ้ลทีวี พวกหนังสแลชเชอร์ หนังกลุ่มผู้หญิงเอาตัวรอด หนังผู้หญิงนักเรียน/พยาบาล หนังวัยรุ่นหนีฆาตกรสว่าน รวมไปถึงหนังต่างประเทศที่เขาเอามาจัดจำหน่าย ที่เขากำกับหรือโปรดิวซ์หรือให้เงินในการทำ
การที่เขาให้มองหาคนทำหนังใหม่ๆ ที่ในแง่หนึ่งก็ถูกยกย่องว่าเป็นการให้โอกาสคน จนทำให้พวกเขาเหล่านั้นมีประสบการณ์และได้เติบโตไปทำหนังเรื่องอื่นที่ใหญ่กว่า แต่ในแง่หนึ่งก็อาจมองได้ว่าเป็นการหากินกับนักทำหนังหน้าใหม่เพราะจ้างด้วยต้นทุนน้อยกว่า หรือบางทีก็ไม่เสียเลย เพราะคนรุ่นใหม่ไฟแรง ทำงานจับฉ่ายแลกประสบการณ์ คนกลุ่มนี้มีมากมายไม่ว่าจะเป็นผู้กำกับ นักแสดง หรือคนเบื้องหลัง ถ้าคุ้นหูหน่อยอาจจะเป็นแบบ Francis Ford Coppola (ผกก. The Godfather), Jack Nicholson (นักแสดง), Martin Scorsese (ผกก.), Ron Howard (นักแสดงที่เริ่มกำกับหนังตอนทำงานกับคอร์แมน), Gale Anne Hurd (โปรดิวเซอร์ Aliens), Peter Fonda (นักแสดง), Bruce Dern (นักแสดง), Peter Bogdanovich (ผกก. The Last Picture Show), Jonathan Demme (ผกก. The Silence of the Lambs), Joe Dante (ผกก. The Howling), James Cameron (ผกก. Titanic), James Horner (คนทำสกอร์ Titanic), Todd Field (ผกก. Tar/นักแสดง), Dennis Hopper (นักแสดง) และอีกหลายๆ คน
โรเจอร์เรียนจบวิศวกรรม แต่ขณะเดียวกันก็ชอบดูหนัง เขาทำหนังที่คิดว่าจะขายได้ ซึ่งในยุคนึงจะเป็นหนังพวกโชว์หวิว เปลือยท่อนบน หรืออารมณ์หนังเกรดบีเลือดสาด หรือบางทีก็เอาฟุตฯ จากเรื่องนั้นมาใส่เรื่องนี้ เขาคอมเมนต์ตัวบทว่าตรงไหนจะขายได้หรือขายไม่ได้ เขาทำหนังในงบที่น้อย ถ่ายในระยะเวลาจำกัด (บางครั้งถ่ายสองเรื่องควบในเซ็ตเดียวก็มี) และมีหนังน้อยเรื่องมากๆ ของเขาที่ไม่ทำเงิน เพราะด้วยกลุ่มเป้าหมายคนดูที่มีอยู่แล้วกับฝีมือการเจรจาของโรเจอร์ ในสมัยก่อน หนังฟอร์มใหญ่ส่วนมากจะใช้นักแสดงรุ่นใหญ่มากๆ มาเล่น ไม่ค่อยมีหนังแนว หรือ genre ที่เขาทำ จนมาถึงในยุคของ Jaws ที่กลายเป็นหนังฮิต และสตูดิโอใหญ่ๆ เริ่มหันมาลงทุนกับหนังแบบนี้ ซึ่งหลายคนมองว่ามันคือหนังที่โรเจอร์ทำ แต่ในงบที่ยิ่งใหญ่กว่า ซึ่งต่อมาหนังจากบริษัทของโรเจอร์ก็ยังเน้นถ่ายด้วยงบน้อยๆ และรับประกันว่าจะทำเงิน แถมยังมีหนังที่เกาะกระแส Jaws หรือ Star Wars และหนังไล่เชือดอื่นๆ โผล่ขึ้นมาในยุคนั้น
ส่วนที่น่าสนใจในหนังสือคือการจ้างคนทำงานผู้หญิงหรือนักแสดงหญิงมา ด้วยเหตุที่ว่าค่าจ้างพวกเธอน้อยกว่า และสำหรับโรเจอร์แล้ว พวกเธอเรื่องน้อยกว่าผู้ชาย (ฮา) การไหลลื่นไปตามยุคสมัยของโรเจอร์ทำให้เรา snap เห็นภาพวงการหนังโดยรวมในตอนนั้นว่าเป็นอย่างไร เช่นยุคนึงมีหนังหญิงล้วนที่มีคนหลายสีผม และมีคนดำพูดเรื่องการเมือง เป็นต้น
ผู้เขียนร้อยเรียงบทสัมภาษณ์เหล่านี้ออกมาได้น่าสนใจ เสริมด้วยคำบรรยายภาพติดอารมณ์ขัน ทำให้หนังสือเล่มนี้อ่านเพลิน และถึงแม้หนังสือจะไม่ได้เจาะลึกถึงหนังแต่ละเรื่องหรือในแง่มุมใดของชีวิตโรเจอร์โดยเฉพาะ แต่ในแง่การให้ข้อมูลที่ครอบคลุมและเห็นภาพกว้างๆ เสริมกับภาพศิลปะจากโปสเตอร์หนังอันสวยงาม เท่านี้ก็คุ้มมากแล้ว
September 17, 2014
Roger Corman is a legend of the cinema. Corman started his career in the early 50s and is still active today. Along the way he has managed to direct and produce hundreds of films, rarely losing a dime on any of them. They were cheapies, they were B movies, they were exploitation, they were direct-to-video. Monster movies, biker movies, and women-in-prison movies were just some of the genres Corman dabbled in during his heyday. The films had great names (A Bucket of Blood, She Gods of Shark Reef, Naked Angels), they had eye-popping posters, and the films always had great tag lines: “Their bodies were caged, but not their desires. They would do anything for a man—or to him,” boldly declares the poster from The Big Doll House starring Pam Grier.
Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, And Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman: King of the B Movie is an oral history of the Corman universe. It’s a fun peek into the world of shoestring production, told by those who lived to tell the tale.
Corman’s longevity was a result of having a finger on the pulse of what would sell, as well as his ability to expertly navigate the changing landscape of cinema. He knew how to produce B movie fodder for double bills and drive-ins in the 50s. He saw a market for biker films and psychedelic films during the rise of the counter culture in the 60s. Once Hollywood started making his kind of sci-fi and monster movies, but with huge budgets (Star Wars, Jaws), he knew he had to reposition himself. He became one of the first producers to take advantage of the nascent VHS market, making straight-to-video exploitation in the 80s. He also got in on the ground floor, selling films to cable providers in the early stages of that market. Most recently he has been working directly with cable networks like Syfy looking for low-budget, genre-specific productions. Piranhaconda, anyone?
However, Corman’s biggest contribution to cinema may be what is referred to as the “University of Corman” or “The Roger Corman School of Filmmaking”. Corman had a keen eye for evaluating, or perhaps exploiting, talent. He routinely gave young film students an opportunity to write, direct, and act in feature length films. In the 50s and 60s, the Hollywood system was hard to crack unless you had connections. If you were willing to work hard, work smart, and work cheap, Corman was willing to work with you, and he opened his studio doors to a bevy of passionate young folks wanting to break into the film biz. Luminaries who cut their teeth on Corman productions include Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdonovich, Martin Scorcesse, James Cameron, Penelope Spheeris, Ron Howard, John Sayles, Jonathan Demme, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Towne to name just a few.
Crab Monsters weaves together the stories of all of these major players and then some. It’s a loving tribute from Hollywood hot shots who openly admit that they owe much of their success to the opportunities that Corman gave them, and from how much they learned under Corman’s tutelage. Also touching was the general consensus that once these youngsters got a couple of productions under their belt, Corman actually encouraged them to leave and head on to better projects with bigger budgets. Corman was under no illusion about the kind of work he was making. That said, what makes so many of the Corman productions rise above base levels of exploitation is that those making the films were giving it their all, because they knew the value of the opportunity they were being given.
Though Corman’s films were exploitation and gratuitously breast heavy, Corman opened the doors for women as well. Says Gale Anne Hurd (producer Aliens, The Terminator, Walking Dead), “At the time, he was the only person in Hollywood who would ask a woman coming in for a job as an executive assistant, ‘Ultimately, what kind of career path do you want to take?’ I didn’t think there was a career path! It hadn’t occurred to me. And I said, ‘Roger, I’d like follow in your footsteps and be a producer.’ And he said, ‘Tremendous!’” Many of the women and men interviewed for Crab Monsters attest to the fact that the number of women on Corman productions from directors to writers to producers to crew exceeded what was happening elsewhere in the Hollywood system.
Also of interest is that in the 70s Corman started distributing European art house fare in America. Fellini, Kurosawa and Bergman made it to the theaters courtesy of Corman’s support. Corman liked the films, and the ever savvy businessman in him realized that there was money to be made.
Crab Monsters is beautifully laid out with hundreds of pages of photos, posters and graphic goodies befitting Corman’s oeuvre. Needless to say, the book is filled with fantastic anecdotes. Death Race 2000 is one of my favorite Corman productions. Sylvester Stallone tells a great story about straying from the script and inserting his own dialogue into Death Race, confident that he could get away with it because he knew the production was too cheap to do second takes. Stallone then credits that experience with building up his confidence to write the Rocky script.
Corman, too, was willing to improvise in his own way. Alan Arkush (director of Rock ‘N’ Roll High School) relates a great anecdote about Cockfighter. The film was one of the few Corman bombs. The opening weekend was a disaster, but Corman was undaunted. Says Arkush, “We were on the phone with Roger and he’s saying, ‘You know the scene where Warren Oates leans back and closes his eyes? Cut in some naked nurses and some car crashes like he’s dreaming of that.’ We thought he was kidding.” Corman was not.
Ron Howard does a great job summing up Corman’s low-budget but loving ways. “I was fighting with Roger at one point on Grand Theft Auto, trying to get a few more extras in our climactic demolition-derby scene in the stands. Everyone was supposed to be rioting. And he wouldn’t give me more than forty-five extras. The grandstand was supposed to seat a thousand people. And we talked about cheating the angles. But I kept begging for more. And finally he just put his hand on my shoulder in a very paternal sort of way and smiled and said, ‘Ron, I’m not going to give you any more extras. But know this: If you do a good job for me on this picture, you’ll never have to work for me again.’”
And that’s why you’ve got to love Roger Corman.
Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, And Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman: King of the B Movie is an oral history of the Corman universe. It’s a fun peek into the world of shoestring production, told by those who lived to tell the tale.
Corman’s longevity was a result of having a finger on the pulse of what would sell, as well as his ability to expertly navigate the changing landscape of cinema. He knew how to produce B movie fodder for double bills and drive-ins in the 50s. He saw a market for biker films and psychedelic films during the rise of the counter culture in the 60s. Once Hollywood started making his kind of sci-fi and monster movies, but with huge budgets (Star Wars, Jaws), he knew he had to reposition himself. He became one of the first producers to take advantage of the nascent VHS market, making straight-to-video exploitation in the 80s. He also got in on the ground floor, selling films to cable providers in the early stages of that market. Most recently he has been working directly with cable networks like Syfy looking for low-budget, genre-specific productions. Piranhaconda, anyone?
However, Corman’s biggest contribution to cinema may be what is referred to as the “University of Corman” or “The Roger Corman School of Filmmaking”. Corman had a keen eye for evaluating, or perhaps exploiting, talent. He routinely gave young film students an opportunity to write, direct, and act in feature length films. In the 50s and 60s, the Hollywood system was hard to crack unless you had connections. If you were willing to work hard, work smart, and work cheap, Corman was willing to work with you, and he opened his studio doors to a bevy of passionate young folks wanting to break into the film biz. Luminaries who cut their teeth on Corman productions include Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdonovich, Martin Scorcesse, James Cameron, Penelope Spheeris, Ron Howard, John Sayles, Jonathan Demme, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Towne to name just a few.
Crab Monsters weaves together the stories of all of these major players and then some. It’s a loving tribute from Hollywood hot shots who openly admit that they owe much of their success to the opportunities that Corman gave them, and from how much they learned under Corman’s tutelage. Also touching was the general consensus that once these youngsters got a couple of productions under their belt, Corman actually encouraged them to leave and head on to better projects with bigger budgets. Corman was under no illusion about the kind of work he was making. That said, what makes so many of the Corman productions rise above base levels of exploitation is that those making the films were giving it their all, because they knew the value of the opportunity they were being given.
Though Corman’s films were exploitation and gratuitously breast heavy, Corman opened the doors for women as well. Says Gale Anne Hurd (producer Aliens, The Terminator, Walking Dead), “At the time, he was the only person in Hollywood who would ask a woman coming in for a job as an executive assistant, ‘Ultimately, what kind of career path do you want to take?’ I didn’t think there was a career path! It hadn’t occurred to me. And I said, ‘Roger, I’d like follow in your footsteps and be a producer.’ And he said, ‘Tremendous!’” Many of the women and men interviewed for Crab Monsters attest to the fact that the number of women on Corman productions from directors to writers to producers to crew exceeded what was happening elsewhere in the Hollywood system.
Also of interest is that in the 70s Corman started distributing European art house fare in America. Fellini, Kurosawa and Bergman made it to the theaters courtesy of Corman’s support. Corman liked the films, and the ever savvy businessman in him realized that there was money to be made.
Crab Monsters is beautifully laid out with hundreds of pages of photos, posters and graphic goodies befitting Corman’s oeuvre. Needless to say, the book is filled with fantastic anecdotes. Death Race 2000 is one of my favorite Corman productions. Sylvester Stallone tells a great story about straying from the script and inserting his own dialogue into Death Race, confident that he could get away with it because he knew the production was too cheap to do second takes. Stallone then credits that experience with building up his confidence to write the Rocky script.
Corman, too, was willing to improvise in his own way. Alan Arkush (director of Rock ‘N’ Roll High School) relates a great anecdote about Cockfighter. The film was one of the few Corman bombs. The opening weekend was a disaster, but Corman was undaunted. Says Arkush, “We were on the phone with Roger and he’s saying, ‘You know the scene where Warren Oates leans back and closes his eyes? Cut in some naked nurses and some car crashes like he’s dreaming of that.’ We thought he was kidding.” Corman was not.
Ron Howard does a great job summing up Corman’s low-budget but loving ways. “I was fighting with Roger at one point on Grand Theft Auto, trying to get a few more extras in our climactic demolition-derby scene in the stands. Everyone was supposed to be rioting. And he wouldn’t give me more than forty-five extras. The grandstand was supposed to seat a thousand people. And we talked about cheating the angles. But I kept begging for more. And finally he just put his hand on my shoulder in a very paternal sort of way and smiled and said, ‘Ron, I’m not going to give you any more extras. But know this: If you do a good job for me on this picture, you’ll never have to work for me again.’”
And that’s why you’ve got to love Roger Corman.
October 19, 2015
Redundancy seems to be the most common complaint across the reviews I’ve read of Chris Nashawaty’s Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman, King of the B-Movie, and while I agree this is the case (many of the blurbs accompanying photos and old movie posters are torn verbatim from the main text), I don’t care. In the past, I’ve measured a book or any other medium of art by beauty and value – how significantly it alters or supplements my world view. This is as it should be, but such a measure is inevitably retrospective and therefore, in my opinion, incomplete. Art is more than rhetoric, it is nowness, immediate experience. While the retrospective impact of a book is something I still weigh heavily, I’ve reached the point where an artifact is elevated from willfully arranged dead things to art when it becomes an experience. I suppose there is a retrospective element at work here, too, since true experience excludes consciousness – as soon as you become aware of the experience, you’ve stopped experiencing, therefore contemplation of an experience as such is always retrospective. Maybe that is the appeal of experience, losing yourself. But where loss of self otherwise points to stark terror, this kind of loss is a loss to something. Reading this book, I lost myself to irreverent and absurd adventure, to the dormant worlds creativity and effort open up. In a sentence, I had a hell of a time reading this book.
The book sheds light on five key eras in Corman’s career. The first details his rise to fame on the drive-in scene, capitalizing on a hormone-fueled species of teenager ready to break away from the nuclear family’s moral code book. Existential fears, wet dreams, revolts against authority, and questions of identity found apt symbolism in distant worlds and rubber monsters. The second brought a shift to the macabre with a jab at bringing Edgar Allan Poe to the big screen, and securing Vincent Price ensured success for the next decade or so. This was also a time of politics, psychotropics, Hell’s Angels, and civil rights. Corman exploited these elements in his work while using his work as a catalyst for conversation. He still claims to be a staunch liberal, and this era saw his using his politics both for professional success and as a means of directing change. The third era chronicled in the book was that which gave birth to New Worlds, and the fourth focused on the move to VHS. Nashawaty’s account closes on the era of Corman as “elder statesman,” having finally received an honorary Oscar and recognition for his achievements from the film community at large.
Each of these sections are organized in a slightly schizophrenic way, but it works. The chapters open with a brief introduction to the concerns of the time period and the works that dominated the time period for Corman. Most of what follows is excerpts from interviews among a host of people Corman worked with over the years. Most of these actors, directors, producers, etc. were discovered by him and went on to make major names for themselves. The reader hears from Corman’s wife and longtime collaborator Julie Corman, Joe Dante, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Amy Holden Jones, James Cameron, Robert De Niro, Gail Anne Hurd, John Sayles, Lloyd Kaufman, Dennis Hopper, Ron Howard, Diane Ladd, Francis Ford Coppola, Bruce Dern, John Landis, Jonathan Demme, Dick Miller, and many others. Despite the pastiche quality of these people’s thoughts and memories, the book still manages to have a narrative flow. The interviews reveal the issues that mattered to Corman, the ways he innovated on short time and less money, his foresight of the film industry’s trajectory, and his unique approach to the work itself which gave birth to the “University of Corman” so often reflected on (essentially, unexperienced nobodies in the film world were thrown onto sets and told to make do, forcing them to learn the trade as they worked). The interviews make up the bulk of the book, but they are punctuated with close up looks at particular films. These close ups, like the image blurbs, are often highly repetitious of the main text, which can be annoying.
Some of the niches Corman took advantage of include horror, science fiction, nurses, mobsters, motorcycle gangs, women in prisons, ‘60s “trippers,” and so on. A few of the many movies covered here (and Nashawaty really hasn’t put a dent in his filmography) include The Beast with a Million Eyes, The Fast and the Furious, Gunslinger, Attack of the Crab Monsters, A Bucket of Blood, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, Dementia 13, The Wild Angels, Boxcar Bertha, Galaxy of Terror, and Suburbia.
Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses has served several functions for me. (1) It better informed me of a man whose filmography is so ample it’s almost impossible to be expert in it. (2) It put me in the mood to watch a whole lot of shitty B-movies (It’s October, so what better time?). (3) It entertained me with countless behind the scenes anecdotes (like James Cameron’s big break coming with his idea to design a space ship boasting enormous breasts). (4) It served as a reminder that strange worlds may be traversed by those who are willing to work their asses off and dispense with worries of other people’s opinions. Ultimately, Nashawaty has offered up a scrapbook of memories for those who grew up with Roger Corman, and, for those who are new to him, a treasure map to hoards of cinematic bad taste.
The book sheds light on five key eras in Corman’s career. The first details his rise to fame on the drive-in scene, capitalizing on a hormone-fueled species of teenager ready to break away from the nuclear family’s moral code book. Existential fears, wet dreams, revolts against authority, and questions of identity found apt symbolism in distant worlds and rubber monsters. The second brought a shift to the macabre with a jab at bringing Edgar Allan Poe to the big screen, and securing Vincent Price ensured success for the next decade or so. This was also a time of politics, psychotropics, Hell’s Angels, and civil rights. Corman exploited these elements in his work while using his work as a catalyst for conversation. He still claims to be a staunch liberal, and this era saw his using his politics both for professional success and as a means of directing change. The third era chronicled in the book was that which gave birth to New Worlds, and the fourth focused on the move to VHS. Nashawaty’s account closes on the era of Corman as “elder statesman,” having finally received an honorary Oscar and recognition for his achievements from the film community at large.
Each of these sections are organized in a slightly schizophrenic way, but it works. The chapters open with a brief introduction to the concerns of the time period and the works that dominated the time period for Corman. Most of what follows is excerpts from interviews among a host of people Corman worked with over the years. Most of these actors, directors, producers, etc. were discovered by him and went on to make major names for themselves. The reader hears from Corman’s wife and longtime collaborator Julie Corman, Joe Dante, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Amy Holden Jones, James Cameron, Robert De Niro, Gail Anne Hurd, John Sayles, Lloyd Kaufman, Dennis Hopper, Ron Howard, Diane Ladd, Francis Ford Coppola, Bruce Dern, John Landis, Jonathan Demme, Dick Miller, and many others. Despite the pastiche quality of these people’s thoughts and memories, the book still manages to have a narrative flow. The interviews reveal the issues that mattered to Corman, the ways he innovated on short time and less money, his foresight of the film industry’s trajectory, and his unique approach to the work itself which gave birth to the “University of Corman” so often reflected on (essentially, unexperienced nobodies in the film world were thrown onto sets and told to make do, forcing them to learn the trade as they worked). The interviews make up the bulk of the book, but they are punctuated with close up looks at particular films. These close ups, like the image blurbs, are often highly repetitious of the main text, which can be annoying.
Some of the niches Corman took advantage of include horror, science fiction, nurses, mobsters, motorcycle gangs, women in prisons, ‘60s “trippers,” and so on. A few of the many movies covered here (and Nashawaty really hasn’t put a dent in his filmography) include The Beast with a Million Eyes, The Fast and the Furious, Gunslinger, Attack of the Crab Monsters, A Bucket of Blood, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, Dementia 13, The Wild Angels, Boxcar Bertha, Galaxy of Terror, and Suburbia.
Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses has served several functions for me. (1) It better informed me of a man whose filmography is so ample it’s almost impossible to be expert in it. (2) It put me in the mood to watch a whole lot of shitty B-movies (It’s October, so what better time?). (3) It entertained me with countless behind the scenes anecdotes (like James Cameron’s big break coming with his idea to design a space ship boasting enormous breasts). (4) It served as a reminder that strange worlds may be traversed by those who are willing to work their asses off and dispense with worries of other people’s opinions. Ultimately, Nashawaty has offered up a scrapbook of memories for those who grew up with Roger Corman, and, for those who are new to him, a treasure map to hoards of cinematic bad taste.
October 27, 2024
Enjoyed this book so much. You don't have to have seen any of the films mentioned in the book to thoroughly enjoy it. Loved the stories, all of the original posters, and the behind-the-scenes photos. The only complaint I can muster is that there are numerous occasions where the same exact information is repeated, sometimes even told three times. But I would still happily read this book again.
January 11, 2020
One of the best books on the history of movies...and to be clear, the story of Roger Corman is the story of contemporary cinema. Also you get to read about how James Cameron got his start by building a boob spaceship. Amazing.
November 18, 2013
I love films in all its forms. I am comforted just as much by a fancy art house picture as I am by the cheesiest of Z-grade schlock. Needless to say, I have quite a long an memorable relationship with the films of Roger Corman. Growing up, most of the movies I got to see were the ones budding cable networks like USA and TBS could afford to purchase for broadcast. Corman's output, as director, producer or both, were abundantly shown. A lot of them I would seek out because of their reputations, like "A Bucket of Blood," the original "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Death Race 2000." Some I discovered on my own, such as seeing "Piranha" one Saturday afternoon when a cable channel ran it after "Jaws." When I discovered Vincent Price and actively sought out anything I could see, Corman's Poe adaptations were the first things I devoured.
This book is an oral history of Corman's career, so far. He was the guy who gave young people wanting to get into the industry their first jobs, allowing them to learn all kinds of aspects of making a film, sometimes all on the same movie. So many people who became big, and even HUGE, names went through what became known as the University of Corman. Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern, Peter Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard, James Cameron, Bill Paxton and many others not only went through the U of C, but also told their stories of their time there for this book. There are so many great anecdotes here that I believe anyone with a love of film will enjoy this book, no matter if you like Corman's movies or not.
This book is an oral history of Corman's career, so far. He was the guy who gave young people wanting to get into the industry their first jobs, allowing them to learn all kinds of aspects of making a film, sometimes all on the same movie. So many people who became big, and even HUGE, names went through what became known as the University of Corman. Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern, Peter Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard, James Cameron, Bill Paxton and many others not only went through the U of C, but also told their stories of their time there for this book. There are so many great anecdotes here that I believe anyone with a love of film will enjoy this book, no matter if you like Corman's movies or not.
June 6, 2014
It's as advertised; gorgeous coffee table book with insightful commentary from various famous Corman College graduates. I loved it. But at the same time, it's nothing new, there's not one critical comment, and as such it's almost a puff-piece. The newly written 'essays' recycle material from the interviews (which are also recycled in photo captions, sometimes resulting in the same details to be divulged three times in a row). Therefore I'd suggest getting Beverly Gray's Roger Corman: Blood-Sucking Vampires, Flesh-Eating Cockroaches, and Driller Killers less-visual but far more insightful biography as the main source of information.
February 27, 2018
If you read Corman's HOW I MADE A HUNDRED MOVIES then there's no need to bother with this as it repeats verbatim large chunks of that book. It adds nothing new and merely takes up space. There are many added passages from graduates of the 'Corman School' but they add little. Martin Scorsese and FF Coppola make some particularly snide and a-hole-ish remarks. Like Corman's own book it grows less and less interesting as it goes along and he does less and less directing. I got this free off a gift coupon. I wish I had used it for something else.
January 19, 2014
Oral history about famed B-film maker Roger Corman, who is also known for the talent he helped nurture (Nicholson, De Niro, Demme, Ron Howard). Fun to read, but very repetitive. Anecdote are often presented three times in the space of just a few pages: once by the person interviewed, once in a caption to a picture, and once in the short introductory chapters to each section. Most fun are all the full-color reproductions of Corman movie posters.
August 17, 2017
Enjoyable for its wacky stories of low budget filmmaking, but undeniably a big old puff piece as well.
July 31, 2024
Roger Corman died earlier this year at 98. IMDB says he still has two projects in development. He made at least 400 films, none of which won an Academy Award for Best Picture. The Intruder (1962), Corman’s only film to receive attention at Cannes, did not make money. He regarded it as a failure. His first big hit was Little Shop of Horrors (1960), but even his second-feature drive-in slasher movies earned a profit. He deserved to be called King of the B-Movie.
Chris Nashawaty’s Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman, King of the B-Movie explains how his career developed. He had an engineering degree from Stanford and regarded movies as rule-driven entertainment machines that could be efficiently designed for their audience. Taste didn’t enter into it. He once told a director: “There will be nudity from the waist up, total nudity from behind. No pubic hair. Now go to work!” I was surprised to learn that he often hired women directors for his women’s prison and Candy Stripe Nurse films.
He discovered early that “if a franchise formula works, don’t mess with it.” By the 1970s, the big studios realized the same thing, making films like Star Wars and Jaws, which New York Times critic James Canby said was a Roger Corman film with a big budget.
He had a keen eye for young talent who would work for peanuts. He worked them hard and exploited them mercilessly, but he was careful not to tie them up in long-term contracts. He told Ron Howard that if he did a good job on Grand Theft Auto, “You will never have to work for me again.” The Hollywood A-list is full of folks with fond memories of being exploited by Corman.
He understood the economics of the film business and was creative in exploiting it. By 1954, he said, “I could see the trap for an independent low-budget producer like myself. If you made a film and didn’t have much money, you had to wait for the film to be released and earn its money back before you could make the next film.” The key was up-front multi-picture deals.
He made movies on the cheap: “Movies with titles like Night of the Blood Beast and Attack of the Giant Leeches. You could make them cheaply and you didn’t need a big name—you just had to have a great poster. That’s how you sold everything!” In one film, an actor played both a cowboy and an Indian. He reused sets on multiple films. He sometimes used wheelchairs for dollies. He once told director John Demme: “If you want to stay on this film, stay exactly on schedule and exactly on budget.” He knew all the money-saving tricks of the trade. He told directors to shoot a few shots of his actors talking on the telephone where you couldn’t see their lips move: “So in case you need to explain the story, you can dub it in later.”
He changed with the times. When the drive-in business died, he was ready to sell films to the overseas market, and when video stores opened, he was ready with cheap, straight-to-video movies. Nashawaty concludes, “The medium didn’t matter as long as the message was money.”
Chris Nashawaty’s Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman, King of the B-Movie explains how his career developed. He had an engineering degree from Stanford and regarded movies as rule-driven entertainment machines that could be efficiently designed for their audience. Taste didn’t enter into it. He once told a director: “There will be nudity from the waist up, total nudity from behind. No pubic hair. Now go to work!” I was surprised to learn that he often hired women directors for his women’s prison and Candy Stripe Nurse films.
He discovered early that “if a franchise formula works, don’t mess with it.” By the 1970s, the big studios realized the same thing, making films like Star Wars and Jaws, which New York Times critic James Canby said was a Roger Corman film with a big budget.
He had a keen eye for young talent who would work for peanuts. He worked them hard and exploited them mercilessly, but he was careful not to tie them up in long-term contracts. He told Ron Howard that if he did a good job on Grand Theft Auto, “You will never have to work for me again.” The Hollywood A-list is full of folks with fond memories of being exploited by Corman.
He understood the economics of the film business and was creative in exploiting it. By 1954, he said, “I could see the trap for an independent low-budget producer like myself. If you made a film and didn’t have much money, you had to wait for the film to be released and earn its money back before you could make the next film.” The key was up-front multi-picture deals.
He made movies on the cheap: “Movies with titles like Night of the Blood Beast and Attack of the Giant Leeches. You could make them cheaply and you didn’t need a big name—you just had to have a great poster. That’s how you sold everything!” In one film, an actor played both a cowboy and an Indian. He reused sets on multiple films. He sometimes used wheelchairs for dollies. He once told director John Demme: “If you want to stay on this film, stay exactly on schedule and exactly on budget.” He knew all the money-saving tricks of the trade. He told directors to shoot a few shots of his actors talking on the telephone where you couldn’t see their lips move: “So in case you need to explain the story, you can dub it in later.”
He changed with the times. When the drive-in business died, he was ready to sell films to the overseas market, and when video stores opened, he was ready with cheap, straight-to-video movies. Nashawaty concludes, “The medium didn’t matter as long as the message was money.”
May 3, 2025
Throughout the 60's and 70's, when Drive-in theaters were extremely popular, there were a lot of "B" movies made, they were usually lower budget films made with lower production values with lower end unknown stars with titles like "The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent" . The majority of these films were either directed or produced by the great Roger Corman.
Roger Corman was far more than a creater of cheap films, he was a visionary who made money on every film he made (except one) and was smart enough to adjust to the changes in film as they were about to happen as opposed to waiting too long and being passed by. He was a master at quick, budget friendly shoots, often completing films in three days and was not afraid to use stock footage to help edit his films. The list of people that got their starts under him is a who's who of film making royalty. Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, John Sayles, Jack Nicholson, Bill Paxton and Robert Deniro all started at the bottom for pennies working for Corman, yet to a man they all said he was the best.
He at one time had more female directors working for him than the entire studio system does even today. He believed in taking chances on people and was one of the most honest and decent people to have ever directed a film. He didn't allow any "F" words or taking the Lords name in vain on any film, but he was also known for the gratuitous nudes scenes, understanding that "boobs put butts in seats."
He also produced films for young directors like "Rock and Roll High School" as an example, always believing in what stayed true to his vision of making a few dollars while saving a few.
This is an "A-" book, done in coffee table style with full color lobby cards and frame grabs of his massive library with the stories and interviews organized in such a manner that it makes perfect sense. Take a look on Google of his film library and you will be amazed at his success.
Strong recommendation.
Roger Corman was far more than a creater of cheap films, he was a visionary who made money on every film he made (except one) and was smart enough to adjust to the changes in film as they were about to happen as opposed to waiting too long and being passed by. He was a master at quick, budget friendly shoots, often completing films in three days and was not afraid to use stock footage to help edit his films. The list of people that got their starts under him is a who's who of film making royalty. Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, John Sayles, Jack Nicholson, Bill Paxton and Robert Deniro all started at the bottom for pennies working for Corman, yet to a man they all said he was the best.
He at one time had more female directors working for him than the entire studio system does even today. He believed in taking chances on people and was one of the most honest and decent people to have ever directed a film. He didn't allow any "F" words or taking the Lords name in vain on any film, but he was also known for the gratuitous nudes scenes, understanding that "boobs put butts in seats."
He also produced films for young directors like "Rock and Roll High School" as an example, always believing in what stayed true to his vision of making a few dollars while saving a few.
This is an "A-" book, done in coffee table style with full color lobby cards and frame grabs of his massive library with the stories and interviews organized in such a manner that it makes perfect sense. Take a look on Google of his film library and you will be amazed at his success.
Strong recommendation.
June 18, 2025
This book was so fun! I actually don't watch a lot of movies or television (I prefer books), but I do have a major soft spot for camp. So the idea of reading CRAB MONSTERS, TEENAGE CAVEMEN, and CANDY STRIPE NURSES really appealed to me because Roger Corman was a huge producer of pulpy horror, exploitation films, and cheesy Westerns, which are all things that I grew up watching (and still watch) with my brother and dad.
I really liked the production of this book. It's got a ton of amazing color photographs so you can see things like lobby cards, movie posters, and behind-the-scenes shots of iconic movies. I thought it was really cool how super famous actors and directors worked with Corman before they made it big. So many of these movies were low budget but ended up making quite a big profit because they gave the people what they wanted. And the people responded by joyously forking over their cash.
It's an oral history, so huge swaths of the book consist of interviews with actors, directors, and even the Ramones (who starred in one of Corman's films-- I think it was called Rock n' Roll High School). Fair warning: one of the people interviewed was Harvey Weinstein (luckily, I think he only appeared once). That didn't really age all that well. I should also point out that some of the photos depict gore or nudity.
I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would! One of my ongoing projects is trying to clean out my Kindle and I have so many weird books like this because I just impulsively buy whatever looks even remotely interesting as soon as it goes on sale. I went into this book mildly curious and came out of it with a watch-list and another book about Roger Corman that I picked up with my Kindle Unlimited sub: Beverly Gray's BLOOD-SUCKING VAMPIRES, FLESH-EATING COCKROACHES, AND DRILLER KILLERS. Sounds like a blast.
4 stars
I really liked the production of this book. It's got a ton of amazing color photographs so you can see things like lobby cards, movie posters, and behind-the-scenes shots of iconic movies. I thought it was really cool how super famous actors and directors worked with Corman before they made it big. So many of these movies were low budget but ended up making quite a big profit because they gave the people what they wanted. And the people responded by joyously forking over their cash.
It's an oral history, so huge swaths of the book consist of interviews with actors, directors, and even the Ramones (who starred in one of Corman's films-- I think it was called Rock n' Roll High School). Fair warning: one of the people interviewed was Harvey Weinstein (luckily, I think he only appeared once). That didn't really age all that well. I should also point out that some of the photos depict gore or nudity.
I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would! One of my ongoing projects is trying to clean out my Kindle and I have so many weird books like this because I just impulsively buy whatever looks even remotely interesting as soon as it goes on sale. I went into this book mildly curious and came out of it with a watch-list and another book about Roger Corman that I picked up with my Kindle Unlimited sub: Beverly Gray's BLOOD-SUCKING VAMPIRES, FLESH-EATING COCKROACHES, AND DRILLER KILLERS. Sounds like a blast.
4 stars
July 29, 2017
A loving tribute to the now seven-decade-long career of pioneering cheapskate director, producer and sometime actor, this is NOT the place to look for critical appraisals or serious, analytical discussions of Roger Corman's prolific and (often atrocious) output.
But it IS a fantastic, warm tribute, packed with stills from his films (and their filming) and, best of all, Corman movie posters - a thing of schlocky art all by themselves. It's also a reminder that Corman made some genuinely excellent films along the way - his Poe cycle for AIP includes a couple of Vincent Price classics - and of the role Corman played in launching the careers of people like Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, Jams Cameron and even Don 'the Dragon' Wilson.
I also learned a lot from it. Corman's cheapness is legendary but there are countless anecdotes from those who worked with him detailing just how cheap, and just what a brilliant negotiator and a visionary he is/was. I knew nothing about his 1962 attempt at a serious, issue film, the Intruder (starring a pre-Kirk William Shatner and tackling the subject of racial hatred in the American south long before many other directors were willing to touch the subject) or of his involvement, or more accurately, his near-involvement in classics like Easy Rider and the Terminator.
As mentioned earlier, this beautifuly presented book has nothing critical to say and so is, inherently, far from a balanced look at Corman's work and the text and captions are at times repetitive. But it was great fun to read and it's given me a long, long list of Corman 'classics' to track down and enjoy.
But it IS a fantastic, warm tribute, packed with stills from his films (and their filming) and, best of all, Corman movie posters - a thing of schlocky art all by themselves. It's also a reminder that Corman made some genuinely excellent films along the way - his Poe cycle for AIP includes a couple of Vincent Price classics - and of the role Corman played in launching the careers of people like Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, Jams Cameron and even Don 'the Dragon' Wilson.
I also learned a lot from it. Corman's cheapness is legendary but there are countless anecdotes from those who worked with him detailing just how cheap, and just what a brilliant negotiator and a visionary he is/was. I knew nothing about his 1962 attempt at a serious, issue film, the Intruder (starring a pre-Kirk William Shatner and tackling the subject of racial hatred in the American south long before many other directors were willing to touch the subject) or of his involvement, or more accurately, his near-involvement in classics like Easy Rider and the Terminator.
As mentioned earlier, this beautifuly presented book has nothing critical to say and so is, inherently, far from a balanced look at Corman's work and the text and captions are at times repetitive. But it was great fun to read and it's given me a long, long list of Corman 'classics' to track down and enjoy.
May 22, 2024
So many of my generation of film goers grew up watching Roger Corman’s movies and marveling at someone who could put together whole movies in two or three days and present them with the most wonderful movie posters and wow the audience, albeit the drive-in crowd. I knew about the movies but didn’t know how many major directors or actors started or were involved in his movie making. The whole book is just thrown together with essays, actor and director comments, and lots of those lovely posters all thrown together Corman style and that works for me. What could be better?
“And in the course of conversation, he says, ‘Where are you from?’ I said New York City. He said, ‘What do you do?’ I said, ‘I’m a writer.’ And Roger said, ‘Well, I don’t need writers. I’ve got plenty of writers. I need actors.’ I said, ‘Fine, I’m an actor.’ He said, ‘Do you want to work in my next movie?’ I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ They put some dark makeup on me and I played an Indian who got shot in the movie. And after we finished shooting the Indian part, he says, ‘Nice work, blah blah blah. How’d you like to be a cowboy for me?’ I said, ‘Oh, you’re shooting another Western?’ He says, ‘No, the same Western.’ That sort of told me what kind of picture we were dealing with. I said, ‘Oh, God … OK.’ So I played a cowboy and an Indian in the same movie—I think I may have even shot myself!”
Dick miller
“And in the course of conversation, he says, ‘Where are you from?’ I said New York City. He said, ‘What do you do?’ I said, ‘I’m a writer.’ And Roger said, ‘Well, I don’t need writers. I’ve got plenty of writers. I need actors.’ I said, ‘Fine, I’m an actor.’ He said, ‘Do you want to work in my next movie?’ I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ They put some dark makeup on me and I played an Indian who got shot in the movie. And after we finished shooting the Indian part, he says, ‘Nice work, blah blah blah. How’d you like to be a cowboy for me?’ I said, ‘Oh, you’re shooting another Western?’ He says, ‘No, the same Western.’ That sort of told me what kind of picture we were dealing with. I said, ‘Oh, God … OK.’ So I played a cowboy and an Indian in the same movie—I think I may have even shot myself!”
Dick miller
March 15, 2024
Roger Corman is the ultimate king of b- and pulp movies. In this amazing book you see all those legendary film posters: Premature Burial, Ski Troop Attack, Creature From the Hunted Sea... shock after shock... Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Brain Eaters... from Western to horror to exploitation. Everything inside you already wanted to see as a youth. Poe adaptions, Naked Angels, Dawn of a New World, The Arousers (!), TNT Jackson (Pam Grier was always one of my favorite actresses), Boxcar Bertha, Night Call Nurses, Big Bad Mama, Grand Theft Auto, Rock n' Roll Highschool (who remembers the Ramones soundtrack?) Battle Beyond the Star, The Slumber Party Massacre, Stripped to Kill, The Terror Within. You get the impression that he had his hands in every b-movie ever made. Gorgeous collection of his major works you don't want to put down. Highly recommended. Brilliant film posters and titles!
August 7, 2023
What an excellent way to learn about Roger Corman, his career producing and directing B-movies, and the number of people who worked for him and then went on to more popular careers. The people who are alumni of the University of Corman (as they called it) is truly awe-inspiring. The man had an incredible gift for identifying young people with talent who were willing to do anything to work on a movie, often working for well below scale. He also had an incredible gift for identifying evolving markets for his products, which is how he became the "King of the B-Movie". And I was stunned to learn that at one point Corman's distribution company actually distributed a number of foreign films by highly regarded filmmakers (who apparently were not able to get there movies onto screens in the US other than the occasional arthouse. These included films by Fellini, Bergman, Kurosawa and Truffaut.
August 23, 2023
Lavishly illustraed oral history of Corman, his movies and his various production companies -- you come to it more for the handsome, schlocky posters and such than you do for the content, of which there isn't much. It's a bit of design fiasco text-wise, with information repeated across multiple pages, and truthfully I think you'd need to enjoy the kind of movies Corman has made more than I do to get a lot out of it. (I actually have no problem with Corman, but my impatience with "so bad it's good" stuff is demonstrated by the fact that the sort of audiences his films attract are very much not my people; did I mention Harvey Weinstein and John Landis both contribute to this book?) But it's really, really fun to flip through.
March 6, 2020
A love letter to Roger Corman, Crab Monsters shares the impact that Corman has on Hollywood, film-making, and the history of cinema.
The book primarily consists of interviews from the stars, crew, and filmmakers who "graduated from Corman's film school."
I love Corman's B-movies. While they could definitely be exploitative, they were creative, campy, and incredibly entertaining. I think readers who have never watched a Corman film will be less appreciative of this book, but fans will love it. It's a fascinating insight into the creation of films, and into the culture of b-movies in general.
The book primarily consists of interviews from the stars, crew, and filmmakers who "graduated from Corman's film school."
I love Corman's B-movies. While they could definitely be exploitative, they were creative, campy, and incredibly entertaining. I think readers who have never watched a Corman film will be less appreciative of this book, but fans will love it. It's a fascinating insight into the creation of films, and into the culture of b-movies in general.
March 28, 2025
Not a book so much as a collection of interviews and photos. Parts are interesting and funny, but overall it's too long and too one-sided: Corman is great, Corman is good, Corman is a genius, etc. There's almost no interesting criticism: were these movies worthwhile? Are they merely gratuitous and exploitative? There is a very unnerving paragraph included here from pre-fall Harvey Weinstein (this book is from 2013) where Weinstein says without Corman there would be no Miramax. This would have been a more interesting book if it had tried to grapple with some of these ambiguities and not merely heap praise on Corman.
May 15, 2025
peer reviews of the movie maker
Roger Corman gave oodles of young actors, writers, producers, directors, you name it, chances to learn their craft on the job. This book, well illustrated with stills from Corman’s pictures, is mainly giving them all, including many who later became famous after their days with Corman, a chance to say thank you. Which they do, with sincerity, sometimes humor, and despite the monetary pittance they might have made from their Corman days, all seem grateful for all they learned working with him. The war stories from the Corman alums are often fascinating.
Roger Corman gave oodles of young actors, writers, producers, directors, you name it, chances to learn their craft on the job. This book, well illustrated with stills from Corman’s pictures, is mainly giving them all, including many who later became famous after their days with Corman, a chance to say thank you. Which they do, with sincerity, sometimes humor, and despite the monetary pittance they might have made from their Corman days, all seem grateful for all they learned working with him. The war stories from the Corman alums are often fascinating.
July 9, 2018
Having enjoyed Mr. Nashawaty's book on Caddyshack, I sought out this earlier work about the legendary B-movie director, Roger Corman, and I was not disappointed. This book is just absolutely jam-packed with hilarious and inspiring stories of one of cinema's true originals and pioneers. Long live Roger Corman.
October 5, 2025
Loved this book. It brought back a lot of memories, such as the picture stills I used to see outside the movie theater, and many of Corman’s movies that aired on Creature Double Feature on a Philadelphia UHF channel. I had no idea how many Hollywood legends got their start with Roger Corman—there are many! Read this book and find out. Strongly recommend.
February 28, 2019
A lavishly illustrated account of the career with a little about the life of Roger Corman, the self-proclaimed king of the B movie filled with snippets from Corman and graduates of “The Corman Film School.”
July 2, 2019
Great, thorough look at Corman and all that he’s accomplished. Loads of pictures, posters, and stills. just about the only thing it’s missing is a list of all the films produced/directed etc. But you can just get that on imdb so it’s no biggie.
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