God Bless Roger Corman and the Ground He Walks Upon! Hallelujah, and AMEN!

A couple of summers ago, my wife went to bed with Roger Corman practically every night.

The Missus often needs some background noise to sleep to, and Corman’s audio commentary on films like The Trip or a few of the Poe flicks is her catnip.

Put on a Corman commentary, and my sweetie’s just driffffffting away.

If you’ve heard the legendary filmmaker’s dulcet tones, you know what I’m talking about:
Corman’s voice is like audio laudanum, velvet smooth grandpa tones that comfort yet always fascinate.
Never boring, just so very, very soooothing.
What’s he saying?
Mmmmm….Doesn’t really matter…it’s one of the best drugs around…

(BTW, I met Corman when I was a kid and he was a really nice guy, taking the time to talk to nearly all the fans pestering him. He seemed quite genuine and appreciative that we’d spend our money on his product.)


Speaking of Corman’s commentaries:

I’m wishing that Attack of the Crab Monsters’ current unavailability is a result of a new DVD being created (as opposed to legal hassles), perhaps remastered with a Corman audio commentary track? The movie’s only about an hour long—it would be easy to do! Please? I’ll even buy it with real money!

However:
The commentary for Death Race 2000 didn’t work for The Missus because Corman shared it with cult icon Mary Woronov, who played Calamity Jane in the flick.
While it’s a good commentary for all fans of the movie, and very informative--it just didn’t work for
She Who Must Be Obeyed.




If you’ve never experienced the liquid gold that is the sound of Mack Daddy Roger C.’s voice (and don’t have one of his DVD commentaries handy), there’s an awesome interview with him at DVD Talk;
listen and fall into Corman’s vocal web!
(Don’t worry, kid. The first one’s free—you won’t get hooked!)


So, as you might have guessed, The United Provinces of Ivanlandia considers Roger Corman to be a god among men, and admire his many achievements.

He has made one of my honestly-genuinely Top Ten favorite flicks:
The aforementioned Etc. of the Crab Monsters (Ivanlandia megapost forthcoming, promise!), as well as many other faves:

The Wild Angels (1966)

The Raven (1963)

The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

The Intruder (1961)

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967)

The Day the World Ended (1955)

Von Richthofen and Brown (1971)

The Haunted Palace (1963)

And so many more…(and that’s not counting the gazillion films he’s produced!)



Why do I like his films—or at least the above films?
(Because not everything the great man has done is perfect….)

I’d say that they were
Intelligent Entertainment

Well-balanced: high- and low-brow with a sick sense of humor

Using innovation to overcome financial limitations

The triumph of the imagination (in how the films were made)

They appeal to my brain and my gutz

Startling!

Cutting edge/ripped from the headlines

Willfully exploitative!

Politics and mayhem!

Anti-heroes!

Boobs!

Rip-offs!

Genre madness!

New World Pictures!

At Slash Film, Russ Fischer writes:
“There isn’t a genre filmmaker working today who hasn’t been influenced by Corman, and I think you’d be hard-pressed to find any major US director who hasn’t been influenced by him in some manner.”


Writing about the Corman-produced Humanoids From the Deep, Michael (Psychotronic!) Weldon wrote:
“Like it or not, it was a hit and is not dull."

And that about sums up Corman.


In a February 17, 2008, editorial in The Washington Post, columnist Ann Hornaday suggested that rather than the usual dusty waxworks usually trotted out for the Honorary Oscar, Corman should get one.

She wrote:
His is a style rooted in Hollywood's love of ballyhoo, exploitation and pulp spectacle. He was independent before there were "indies," guerrilla before it was hip. What's more, he has had an incalculable effect on the art form, training plenty of directors and actors -- more than 40 by our count -- who got their starts in movies with titles like "Dementia 13" and "Caged Heat" before going on to win Oscars themselves.

Nearly 400 films later, Roger Corman is, astonishingly, still working. His is a lifetime of nothing but achievement. Give him the Oscar, Academy, or we call out the brain-eating crabs.


Like most fans of the Cinema of Weirdness, I supported Hornaday’s suggestion, but never expected it to happen:
Those self-important blowhards at the Academy give Corman an Oscar? No way.

Then, just the other day—
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!
THEY’RE GIVING
ROGER CORMAN
AN HONORARY OSCAR!!!



But there’s a catch (isn’t there always?)—

The Hollywood Reporter says:

“In a break with tradition, this year the Academy's honorary awards will be handed out at the new event in November. While the awards will be acknowledged during the Oscarcast on March 7, the show won't devote the same amount of time to toasting the honorees on air as in past years.”

Which mean that while Corman gets to be in the audience, and who knows, maybe they’ll even deign to let him present one of the “lesser” awards like makeup or visual effects, his actual ceremony, the “c’mon up and get it,” the clip show, the accolades, the prerecorded messages, all that won’t be presented when the 2010 Oscars are aired.

Is that what this means, because I’d love to be wrong about this one.
Are they really giving with one hand and taking away with the other?


And that the show is doing this not only to Corman (so what if he gave half of Hollywood their first job?), but to people like Lauren Bacall and Gordon Willis
—artists with long histories in Hollywood who’ve worked on some of the cinema’s big classics
—to do that to them just seems
sacrilegious.


And these world-renowned filmmakers are begin given the short shrift because why?
Ohhhh, because somebody somewhere is whining that the Oscar Ceremonies are too long.
Hey pal, who’s putting a gun to your head and making you watch?
Where are the advertisers?
Shouldn’t they be standing up for more airtime, for longer Oscars?


Why do people give a shit how long the Oscars are? It’s not like you can’t go to the bathroom!
And I’m sorry I don’t remember where I heard/read this before, but I’ll reiterate:

Do people ever complain how long a World Series game or the Stuporbowl lasts? Because those go on for hours and hours! And quite frankly, are quite
BORING.
So you sports-geeks get to watch endless replays of touchdowns and home runs that throw TV scheduling WAY out of whack, but us movie-geeks can’t have a broadcast once a year that goes over three hours?
Fuck you, you crybabies.


As a kid, watching the Oscars was great because it was a clip show: lots and lots of clips of different flicks—because although I grew up near Manhattan, I didn’t get to see everything, and the Oscars were an opportunity to see more of an as-yet-to-be-seen movie than just the trailer.

But how come Hollywood just can’t ever get it right? Sigh….



Of course, with the Intertubes, a clip show isn’t needed, I suppose
—but awful jokes from the likes of Jack Black and Ben Stiller are. Hooray.

There’s a small consolation: While Corman’s ceremony won’t take place in the big hall with everybody else, it will probably be available to watch on YouTube or elsewhere.

Be that as it may, at least he’s getting something.

Roger Corman deserves it.

“All hail our insect overlords—whether in the backyard or Hollywood!”

Today’s movies are:
The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971)
Encounters at the End of the World (2008)

Offbeat and intense, The Hellstrom Chronicle won the Best Documentary Oscar in 1971. Unfortunately, despite the movie’s success, it’s not available on DVD yet—but I’m still hoping! I’ve done some research, but really can find no info as to why it’s unavailable. Perhaps the flick is trapped in a power-play between greedy and feverish egos. Who knows what lurks in the hive-mind of Hollywood? Perhaps an argument between executive producer David L. Wolper and distributor Warner Bros.? (And Warner Bros., when is a DVD of Ken Russell’s The Devils coming out? But I digress…)

ABC-TV always used to show The Hellstrom Chronicle opposite NBC’s Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights back in the day, and I remember seeing it multiple times before I was in my teens. I’d like to think that I remember teachers telling us to tune in and watch Hellstrom because it was educational, but I’m really not sure.



Using the format of the documentary, director Walon Green (co-screenwriter of The Wild Bunch and Friedkin’s awesome Sorcerer*) and writer David Seltzer (screenwriter of The Omen and Frankenheimer’s Prophecy), along with fantastic insect microphotography from Ken Middleham (Saul Bass’ Phase IV and William Castle’s Bug) and a moody, creepy score from Lalo Schifrin (if you don’t know who he is, shame on you!), have made a completely un-objective documentary with actors playing parts, a sort of unfunny mockumentary.









In other words, a science fiction film where the insects take over the world.



But it’s this lack of objectivity, and an adherence to a bitter thesis that keeps The Hellstrom Chronicle fresh. This flick is like anti-bug agitprop: a warning against the eventual victory of our soulless insect overlords.



It’s the complete antithesis of every “nature is cute and nice” documentary, making The Hellstrom Chronicle even more awesome. While Hellstrom’s ideas are all based on fact and genuine theories, that he’s a composite fictional character adds to the sci-fi feeling of the movie.



Hellstrom’s narration is fantastically bleak as well, beyond what any “real” scientist would say, with a sardonic edge of grim resignation: it’s nothing but descriptions of how ruthless and vicious bugs are, and their Darwinian single-mindedness and superior adaptability will leave them the winners of a despoiled planet.

As such, the narration’s very reminiscent of the narration for some of Werner Herzog’s documentaries. If you’ve ever heard the way Herzog describes nature in his docs (“the birds do not sing; they SHRIEK in agony”), it will be easy for you to imagine the German director in the role of Hellstrom, describing the way a wasp’s jaws crush a bee’s head in a gleefully gruesome manner, or intoning with morbid solemnity how it would take man billions of years to rebuild after an atomic war, while insects could repopulate the planet in a matter of weeks. Fun stuff all around!

Here’s actor Lawrence Pressman channeling Werner Herzog, warning us we are dooooomed! YAY!

And speaking of insects, The Oscars are happening soon. These awards only mean anything to me when they are attached to a film I already like, like The Hellstrom Chronicle. Then I can get on my soapbox and gripe, “How come this Academy Award winner isn’t on DVD yet?”



Otherwise, I’m not surprised when undeserving films win.
But I am annoyed about how it only seems to be five or six flicks that garner every nomination. Booooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring! I’m not saying that they have to truly open their minds, just un-narrow them a bit. But really, does it matter?



I do seem to remember—but no, I’m not going to look anything up at Oscar-dot-poop--what if I’m wrong?—that there used to be more variety among the nominated. But then again, who cares? There are Johnny Paycheck songs to be listened to.



The fab Werner Herzog has been Oscar nominated this year for Encounters at the End of the World, a movie I liked, but also had reservations towards.

I caught Encounters at the End of the World in June 2008 at NYC’s Film Forum, a place I don’t visit as much as I used to when they had interesting film series about Don Siegel and Sci-Fi/Horror Fests. Anyhoo, at the time I wrote:

Uncle Werner goes to Antarctica! And while this flick is superficially a lot of fun (there’s plenty of laughs), there’s a mean spirit behind much of it, which leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Herzog zaps the foibles of a few blowhards, but to what purpose? The people he makes fun of are flunkies—why hold them up to ridicule? And if you’re mad at these people, Herr Herzog, please tell us why? The film also lacks a focus, being too much like a travelogue, moving from one subject to the next. Herzog should have concentrated the documentary on the marine biologist who was making his “last” dive. It seems that he and Herzog bonded over a love of apocalyptic sci-fi movies.



Meanwhile, this man has dived in freezing water and discovered new species of life! That should have been the topic of Encounters at the End of the World.


(photo of Herr Direcktor by the magnificent Rick Hall over at Toe Stubber)


As it stands, despite my gripes, if you’re a Herzog fan, this is a definite renter. There’s much to chortle over (grumpy Werner is in fine form), and there is some really incredible footage in this flick. And who knew that seals sounded like transmissions from Mars?

For an even more deliciously cynical and sarcastic look at life (and bureacracy) at the research stations of Antarctica, visit Big Dead Place: it's written by the people who actually work there!



Turning away from my notes….
I really-o truly-o want Uncle Werner to win the Oscar just to hear what he says. I hope he doesn’t punk out and not drop a heaping pot of scathe on the Academy; or at least a sharp and witty biting of the feeding hand. C’mon, Werner, you like kung fu movies more than Godard, so make it interesting!

[* = regarding Sorcerer, a flick I and the Missus enjoy very much, although I think she regards it as an existential comedy (which isn’t a bad way to look at the flick, actually): she started this when we first watched the film together, and now, in our household Sorcerer is always referred to as (scary voice) : “FOUR DOOMED MEN!”

[Alternative Universe Digression: I would KILL to see an NC-17 film called FOUR DOOMED MEN! if it was directed by John Carpenter, produced by Robert Aldrich, written by Walter Hill, starring William Smith, Joe Spinell, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton as the FOUR DOOMED MEN!, with cameos by Ernest Borgnine and Warren Oates.]

Here The Missus and I are at the infamous Ruby’s on the boardwalk at Coney Island, circa 2004, back when we were a'courting. (With the so-called revitalization of Coney Island around the corner, Ruby’s is probably doomed, but with this kooky global economic crisis, who knows?)

Remember, Haneke’s original German-language Funny Games and the Brazilian cop-movie mind-fuck Elite Squad are two of her favorite films. No wonder I love her!]

WHOA! In my investigating, I found that over at the excellent Ferdy on Films etc. site, Marilyn Ferdinand has given a thorough examination of The Hellstrom Chronicle, well worth reading.
Please check out her review, and the site in general: good stuff!

And as we finish writing, on the stereo comes Van Halen’s “Atomic Punk!” YeeeeeeeeeeeoW!