Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel

First off I consider myself a huge fan of Roger Corman and his unique life's work. I've read about him over the years and saw my share of tv or bonus material interviews with him.But someone in this case A&E and director Alex Stapleton smartly decided to do a documentary on the great Mr. Corman . The film is very well done with the only quibble being that it emphasizes the early part of his career from the 50's and 60's over his 70's and 80's work with New World Pictures and New Horizons video. I've seen a wide variety of his work from his drive in era fare like Little Shop of Horrors and The Wild Angels thru his 70's peak with a slew of gems like Rock-n-Roll High School, The Great Texas Dynamite Chase and Piranha to his recent made for Syfy Channel fare .If you want to share Roger's world you need to be committed,be willing to work really hard for short money ,be innovative and take chances and never let budget limitations make you settle for less. The interviewed people range from huge names like Martin Scorsese ,Jack Nicholson,Ron Howard and Peter Bogdanovich to known commodities like Joe Dante,Dick Miller,Mary Woronov,and Pam Grier. You also get to meet and know his family wife and business partner Julie and brother Gene and longtime friends like Polly Platt who know the man not just the filmmaker.Actually you don't really get to know him all that well but I think it's safe to say that he like most people like some privacy. The sheer amount of talent Roger has given opportunities to is amazing .Suffice to say Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda as well as the late David Carradine owe a huge debt to Roger for his casting and helping to develop projects with and for them. Martin Scorsese who is kind of muted in his praise as compared to some of the others does admit to learning from Rogers way of making films fast,organized and structured. Nicholson and Howard you can tell are really friends of his as they almost gush over him Jack even cries at one point. And the younger generation of film makers is represented here by Eli Roth and Paul W.S. Anderson who acknowledge that they grew up watching and are inspired by the works of Roger Corman. Scorsese makes an excellent point in that it's important that the younger people learn about and learn from Roger Corman as he's getting on in years ( but still working) and there will never be anyone else ever like him again. Anyone who's a fan will eat this up.Others who want to know more about a different way and of a different era in film making should check this film out.And on a side note Shout!Factory has been releasing a steady diet of Corman Classics on dvd of which I own many .I recommend that the hardcore fans and the generally curious both pay them a visit.

A fun and entertaining look into Filmmaking and one of Hollywood's most colorful filmmakers!

This documentary is decent but ultimately it is a bit disappointing. I've read Corman's biography and a lot of the commentary in this documentary comes straight from that book.It's production values are good as it has interviews with many hollywood icons who reminisce about their days working for Corman. What's here is good, it's just not what I was hoping for. I was looking for more in depth information about the earlier part of his career and maybe some new stories. What we get is just a smattering of information from the various parts of his career. Still, what's here is pretty good.Recommended for Corman fans and independent movie makers.

I finally watched this doc. Interesting, but left me wanting to know what the real RC is really like and what makes him "tick." That was missing in this documentary. Sure, we see a whole lot of FFs (famous folks) talking superficially about Roger Corman, but I wanted to really get into what drives this amazing man. Just what is he feeling when he watches audiences watching his films? Why was he so attracted to the genre of films he has worked in all of these years? I also wondered why there was no mention of some of his 80's campy films like Battle Beyond the Stars. BBTS was a million dollar sci fi flick (it was the first film I worked on as an artist and Corman's largest production budget as of that date). Strange, because of all the discussion about Star Wars (note to director/editor: insert here clips of BBS and Roger talking about James Cameron being promoted to the art director's position, etc...). There were some very obvious and strange exclusions in this doc.

I recommend Corman's World. As in Roger Corman. It's fun just to see it time trip. Young Joe Dante. Old Joe Dante. Young Martin Scorsese. Old Martin Scorsese. And most of all, young Jack Nicholson. Old Jack Nicholson.I watched it on Amazon streaming rentals.My perception was the sentiment of his honorary Academy Award was wasted on Corman. He's just not a sentimental guy. It was like "funerals are for the living."All the old guys that started with him wanted to make sure the honor happened. He's still churning out low budget, almost unwatchable honeys.

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Great doc about a true H'wood Maverick. It's telling that so many of our greatest film-makers participated in this loving, informative and entertaining film. Would love to see 1978s doc CORMAN: HOLLYWOODs WILD ONE re-released - a good amount of footage of young Demme, Arkush, Dante, etc. is culled from that. It's available on VHS on Amazon. Sweet movie.

I enjoyed it. I would recommend to cinema buffs, B movie fans, as well as Corman fans. Jack Nicholson adds a sincere commentary/appreciation to it. And I'm not a huge Roger Corman fan. Nevertheless,I was pleased with this purchase.

An entertaining experience as anybody familiar with Roger Corman's history in film production,usually in financially reduced circumstances would expect ,but with an undertow of sadness,understanding that the era of Robomonsters,Killercars,Hippy bikers,sexploitation,public domain quickies,and all sorts getting cinema releases to be virtually over as you him see working(with little enthusiasm)on a quick cash-in on a straight to cable job.But if this film encourages more people to check out 'The Intruder'(with a great charismatic performance from a young William Shatner), a rare example of social commentary in one of his films & an equally rare financial failure ,it will have achieved something.This documentary, which does show Corman to have been responsible for promoting many 'quality films' along with the exploitation/cash-in/quickies he's more generally associated with & the major part he played in starting careers for many, but even with all the star interviews & testimonials from those he's associated with, this film gives little insight into Cormans' real personality or his motivations.And it certainly could do with some extras, just some trailers or press material, photos or posters from his many movies would have been worthwhile & entertaining additions.An interesting documentary but with just a bit of thought and effort could have made this a much better DVD.

there's a few films from the 70'S that i used to watch on VHS back in the 80'Sfilms like Piranha and Death race 2000Shout factory have released theses films now on blu-ray so i thought to buy themone of the things i found out from watching Piranha was that this film was a Roger Corman ProductionRoger corman was Executive producer for this film, Joe Dante Directed it thou which is another storyso out of curiousity i researched Roger corman films and he's Produced and Directed lots of filmssince the late 50's, he started his own company in 1970which he was Executive producer for many B Horror films during the 70'Sthere's a Documentary on his life released by Anchor bay so i thought to buy itand definitely worth the money and made want to buy some other films of histhat were made during the 70's from his company New world picturessome of them have been released on blu-ray by shout factoryINSEMINOID, DEATH RACE 2000 which i have bought now which U.K. buyers will needan all regions/region free player to play the Discs cause there region A lockedbut one of SHOUT FACTORY'S blu-ray's PIRANHA has now been released by second sight ukwhich has all the extras from the U.S. blu-raythere other ones you'll have to buy direct from amazon.com if you want themthis Doco goes for about 86mins, this Documentary details Roger's life from the first film he Directedback in the late 50's until 2010 when he's producing his latest B grade Horror filmwith interviews from all Legendary Directors nowthat were starting out with Roger corman back in the 60's & 70'svery interesting Documentaryinterviews with Martin scorsese, Ron Howard, Joe Dante and other Directors that are legends these daysthere's also interviews with many actors that are also Legends nowJack Nicholson, Peter fonda, John carradine, Robert De niro, Pam Grier, the list goes onalso interviews with Roger's wife Julie corman and the man himself Roger corman who's now in his 70'sand still Producing films, low budget B films, some are really Good films are some that are just terriblethere are some Low budget Horror films that hes done that i love than an Over the topHollywood production, it's about opinions really you either love his films or just like some of themor don't like them at allone of Roger corman's very interesting Quotes in this Docois you can still make a Good Horror film for under $1 milliion or even under $500,000 much lessand the film can still be successful, unlike Hollywood where the major Producersare spending tons of money, well over 1 million dollars to make a similar film like he's doing.there some bonus featuresabout 15mins worth of extended interviews that did not make the Docoand another 15mins of special messages to Roger corman from everyonethat was interviewed for this Documentaryi gave this blu-ray 5 stars, if you love Roger corman's films or just curious and like some of his filmsfrom the 70's then still get this Documentary anywayvery interesting to watch on the man's life

This was a fascinating documentary. It gave an insight into the man who gave a break to actors/directors/others such as Robert de Niro, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg,Peter Bogdanovich, and Jonathon Demme. He kick-started the film careers of so many well-known people in the movie business. The big question is "What happened to Roger Corman?"I believe that the documentary, through its interviews with those who have been close to him over the years of movie -making, provides an insight into what is probably the answer to that question. Personally, I derived the distinct feeling that whilst Corman was prepared to take many chances, some of which were financial, he just lacked the nerve to raise his risk-taking (particularly financial) to the next level. Basically, he comes across as a tightwad who ensured that he produced movies with little regard to quality but a disproportionate regard to expenses. Nevertheless, Corman's influence upon the movie business over the years cannot be denied. I am in complete agreement with Bruce Dern who is somewhat indignant that Corman's contribution to the industry has been comprehensively ignored by the establishment.

I enjoyed every moment of this affectionate documentary about Hollywoods greatest outsider. He gave so many of today's Hollywood royalty their first starts that this is star studded stuff. Clearly he's an irascible energetic rogue and always will be. Film lovers should definitely watch this.

Roger Corman is one the biggest legend alive today. So many important figures will be nothing without him : Nicholson, Scorsese, James Cameron, Joe Dante, Ron Howard, Bogdanovich and many others.... The documentary is just excellent. A person of the name of Roger Corman must have such a documentary.