He Be Back!

The Last Stand  (Lionsgate, 2013)

Before the Camera:


Arnold Schwarzenegger  (Raw Deal)
Forest Whitaker  (TAG - The Assassination Game)
Eduardo Noriega  (Vantage Point)
Jaimie Alexander  (Thor)
Peter Stormare  (Fargo)
Luis Guzman  (Boogie Nights)
Zach Gilford  (Rise: Blood Hunter)
Sonny Landham  (Predator)
Harry Dean Stanton  (Alien)
Rodrigo Santoro  (Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle)
Christiana Leucas  (Hollywood Whores)
and
Johnny Knoxville  (Grand Theft Parsons)
as
Lewis Dinkum








Behind the Camera:


Directed by Jee-Woon Kim

Produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Edward Fee, Miky Lee, Michael Paseornek, Hernany Perla, Linda Pianigiani, John Sacchi, and Guy Riedel
Written by Andrew Knauer

After serving as California’s governor for seven or eight years, we finally get Arnold Schwarzenegger back where he belongs – back on the Big Screen kicking tush as an aging but still formidable Action Star! In this new flick Ah-nuld plays Ray Owens, a small town sheriff in the Southwest town of Somerton. His accent is never mentioned, but there is one throwaway line acknowledging his immigrant status. Of course that doesn’t explain that whitebread American moniker he’s carrying, but let’s not get bogged down.

Ray and his deputies, including Alexander, Gilford, and Guzman keep the peace in the kind of Southwestern town where the only gunshots are either blanks starting the local track meet, or town eccentric Dinkum (Knoxville in a smaller role than the trailers imply) shooting off something from his gun collection at a side of beef. Then one morning Ray gets suspicious of trucker Peter Stormare and his pal at the local diner – because, well, he’s Peter Stormare, and as the saying goes: Peter Stormare always plays a good guy said no one ever. As Ray and his crew conduct a somewhat laconic investigation, trouble begins brewing on two fronts: in Las Vegas, Columbian drug lord Cortez (Noriega) escapes the custody of FBI agent Whitaker and is soon flying across the desert towards Mexico in an incredibly fast stolen prototype car; and Stormare and his crew take over the farm of Somerton farmer Stanton, working on something at the edge of his property, which is on the Mexican border. Eventually Schwarzenegger realizes he’s in a 21st century variation on Rio Bravo – in that classic John Wayne flick the Duke and his deputies have bad guy Claude Akins in jail and have to hold off the baddie’s brothers, who come to town to break their baby brother out. Here, the bad guy is going to be coming through his town on his way South of the Border, and Sheriff Ray only has the help of his deputies to stop the incredibly well armed Cortez cartel confederates from tearing Somerton a new one.

"Dem dat school lonch lady - I tohd her no mystery meat! Run for da school bos!"

I’ve always liked Schwarzenegger onscreen – with just about all of his movies coming across the entertainment finish line for me. There’s nothing earth shattering or ground breaking here – what we have is a good old fashioned meat and potatoes action flick, with guns a blazin’; fists a flyin’; and stuff blowin’ up real good. Arnold looks pretty danged good for 65, though the years do take a toll on his movement, as one early scene where he visits the town diner (where he gets suspicious of Stormare, actually) Arnold moves stiffly, as though his knees are working against him. Otherwise he gets around well, and any stunt doubling is well handled, not standing out as glaringly obvious.

Guzman, Knoxville, Schwazenegger and Alexander.

Stormare and Noriega serve as the two fronts of the bad guy camp. Stormare overacts a bit, as he always does; Noriega is okay as the main villain – his youthful arrogance serving fairly well against the seasoned Schwarzenegger. I might have enjoyed a different actor in that role more, though. It might have been cool to have seen Danny Trejo playing the character – though he might be sticking to his new found good guy status more now. Guzman is funny playing his standard issue Grumbly Gus; and Knoxville goes all out as the gun toting goofball, and he even gets in a couple of bits where it seems he’s bringing his Jackass talents for risking life and limb to bear putting himself through some painful paces. Director Jee-Woon Kim acquits himself pretty well, keeping things mostly moving – though there are a couple of slow spots in the middle of the movie. Basically, this one is what it is. Either you’re interested in seeing an 80’s icon back in the action saddle 20+ years later, or you aren’t – there’s not really any middle ground on this one. If you like the idea of hearing some tough guy talk in that trademark Austrian accent – I definitely give this a recommendation. If you prefer your action heroes a little less weathered you might want to hang on for the next action flick to stop at the station.





Let's Get Out of Here ?


Rodrigo Santoro says it very roughly about an hour into the movie - apparently no longer wanting to be near the school bus.







Eye Candy ?

Jaimie Alexander is already on the list - which is good as this film wouldn't have gotten her there.

but we will add one other this time out:

Hello Christine Leucas!

Buddha Man's Capsule Review

Buddha Man says: "The Last Stand is one of the finest action
movies starring a former California governor I've ever seen!"

Thank you sir. And until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #105!

Raw Meat  (American International Pictures, 1973)

I finally just recently saw this crazy British flick when TCM aired it in the wee hours Friday night at a part of their excellent "TCM Underground" series. The movie is summed up rather poorly at the top of the poster. The first sentence is okay - but let's amend the second to "Neither men nor women, they are less than animals...don't wander off in the London underground...don't venture down by yourself in the dead of night...or you may find that you're just raw meat for the tribe!"









Three Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain  (Columbia TriStar Pictures, 1998)

I haven't seen this fourth movie in the series - I saw the first one and was not much impressed. However, I might actually sit down with this one one of these days. Here's why: 1.) Look at the hair they put on Hulk Hogan. 2.) It's Victor Wong's last film. and 3.) Jim Varney - HELLO!















Don't Open the Window  (Hallmark Releasing, 1975)

This one was made in 1974 and known at times as Let Sleeping Corpses Lie and The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue. It was the latter title my British pen pal used when he highly recommended this zombie movie to me decades ago. Sadly, I've lost touch with that pen pal - and I've still never seen this movie! Damn it!






Thanks to Maynard over at the Horror Movie Diary for correcting the above, which I'd originally listed as Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, and while it may have made for an interesting horror movie (zombie dogs?) the real title is now stitched in to place!



Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Saturday Night at the Movies 1/26/13!

Who cares what picture we see?



Dick Miller just has to! So let's pick:

This blend of traditional animation and live action ala Who Framed Roger Rabbit? bombed miserably at the box office - and consequently squashed any further theatrical activity from these guys - but it's really a fun flick, thanks to a game cast and director Joe Dante - who manages to stuff about 37,000 cool genre actors and in-jokes in amongst the hijinx.



I think it's well worth a watch, and it resides in the video vault on a nice DVD we could be watching any time - even tonight - you know - if you wanted to come over and watch it!



Until next post you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Celebrity Interview: Eddie Deezen!

Eddie Deezen jumped onto my radar pretty early in his career - appearing as Eugene in the film Grease. Playing a perfect nerd, Mr. Deezen popped up in scads of movies over the next couple of decades, always bringing something hilarious to the table. In 1991 he voiced a character in the animated feature Rock-A-Doodle and opened up a whole new career as a voiceover actor in dozens of animated series and some video games, most famously as Mandark in Dexter's Laboratory on Cartoon Network and in the film The Polar Express as Know-It-All.

I became Mr. Deezen's acquaintance through mutual friends online, and he agreed to an interview. Thankfully it was not conducted at the top of a tall Ferris Wheel. Here we go:

Craig Edwards: When and where did the world gain an Eddie Deezen?

 

Eddie Deezen: I WAS BORN ON MARCH 6, 1957 AT 8:47 P.M. IN CUMBERLAND, MARYLAND.

Midnight Madness (1980)

CE: What are your earliest pop culture memories?

 

ED: GOOD QUESTION. I REMEMBER TALKING ABOUT THE BEATLES WITH MY MOM AND FAMILY WHEN THEY CAME TO AMERICA. I WATCHED THEM ON "THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW" THAT GREAT NIGHT IN FEBRUARY OF '64. I REMEMBER GOING TO WATCH "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT" AND "HELP!" IN THE THEATERS AND THERE WAS JUST CONSTANT SCREAMING FROM BEGINNING TO END OF THE MOVIES- GIRLS SCREAMING AND YOU COULDN'T HEAR THE DIALOGUE- AND THIS WAS OUT IN CUMBERLAND, MD. - HARDLY A BIG MEDIA CITY OR SOCIAL MECCA.

CE: When did you know you wanted to work in the entertainment industry?

 

ED: I THINK AFTER DISCOVERING DEAN MARTIN AND JERRY LEWIS MOVIES IN THE SUMMER OF '73. I WAS KIND OF A LOST SOUL IN HIGH SCHOOL, DRIFTING THROUGH, NOT MANY FRIENDS, ACNE ON MY FACE AND I WATCHED THIS GUY, THE YOUNG JERRY LEWIS, AND HE DEFINITELY INSPIRED ME TO WANT TO DO SOMETHING WITH MY LIFE. WITHOUT JERRY, I THINK I'D HAVE JUST DIED OUT. I THINK IT'S SAFE TO SAY JERRY LEWIS DID SAVE MY LIFE- PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY.

Beverly Hills Vamp (1989)

CE: How did you go about breaking in?

 

ED: I BROKE IN AS A STAND-UP COMIC AT THE COMEDY STORE- JANUARY 26, 1976. I DID THREE GIGS AT THE COMEDY STORE, BUT STAND-UP COMEDY WASN'T FOR ME. MY TV DEBUT WAS ON "THE GONG SHOW" WITH CHUCK BARRIS ON NOVEMBER 29, 1976.

I wonder if Eddie was featured on any of the cards?

CE: What was your act on The Gong Show? Do you remember who your judges were?

 

 

ED: I DID A STAND-UP COMEDY ACT. THE THREE JUDGES WERE JAYE P. MORGAN, PAUL WILLIAMS AND JAMIE FARR. PAUL W. GONGED ME.

The Deezen Gang - Midnight Madness

CE: What was the first project you worked on?

 

 

ED: I DID SOME LOW-BUDGET COMMERCIAL, BUT "GREASE" WAS ACTUALLY MY FIRST REAL PAYING JOB. SO, I STARTED AT THE TOP. I WAS VERY LUCKY.

CE: You're well known as a Beatles fan. How did you discover them?

 

 

ED: I GOT REALLY HOOKED BY READING BEATLE BOOKS AFTER I FIRST CAME TO L.A. IN 1975. I WAS EXTREMELY LONESOME, SO I READ BOOKS ALL THE TIME, AS I HAD NO FRIENDS. AND I READ "THE BEATLES" BY HUNTER DAVIES, THEIR FIRST BOOK. AND I JUST GOT REALLY HOOKED ONTHEM. MY FIRST BEATLES ALBUM WAS "HELP!" IN HIGH SCHOOL, I HAD THAT. I HAD THE RECORD "AIN'T SHE SWEET" AS A KID AND MY BROTHER BROKE IT AND I WAS FURIOUS AND I THINK I CRIED, SO I DID ADMIRE THEM AS A KID. I ALSO REMEMBER LISTENING TO "PLEASE MR. POSTMAN" AS A KID, SO I GUESS I ALWAYS HAD SOME AFFINITY FOR THEM. I LIKED JOHN BEST AS A KID.






Zapped! (1982)

CE: Tell us something about one of the Beatles that we don't know.

 

 

ED: JOHN LENNON USED TO SLEEP IN A COFFIN, AS A TEENAGER.

CE: What was it like as a Beatles fan to work on a movie like I Wanna Hold Your Hand?

 

 

ED: I BASICALLY WAS PLAYING MYSELF. "RINGO" KLAUS IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER I'VE EVER PLAYED, IT WAS JUST ME BEING ME.

Ringo Klaus in action!

CE: Did that similarity lead to you contributing any lines or bits of business, or was it all already on the page?

 

ED: THAT WAS MY JOKE, COP: 'NOW I'VE GOT YOU, YOU LITTLE S**T!" ME: "WHO YOU CALLING "LITTLE"?"

My favorite scene in 1941 - Eddie's cruel side...

CE: What are some of your favorite projects you've worked on?

ED: "GREASE" WAS LIKE A TWO-MONTH PARTY, THE GREATEST PARTY YOU'VE EVER BEEN TO, AND IT JUST LASTED FOR TWO MONTHS. I LOVED "POLAR EXPRESS". BOB ZEMECKIS IS MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE FILM DIRECTOR. TOM HANKS, THE NICEST GUY YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE. A FUNNY, GREAT GUY. JOHN TRAVOLTA MADE "GREASE" SPECIAL, HIS KINDNESS, FRIENDLINESS. ALL THE "GREASE" CAST WAS AWESOME. I LOVED "I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND", BOB ZEMECKIS WAS THE BEST AS A DIRECTOR. I LOVED "WARGAMES" BECAUSE I GOT TO USE CUE CARDS FORB THE FIRST TIME. "MOB BOSS" I GOT TO MAKE OUT WITH MORGAN FAIRCHILD. MORGAN WAS A DOLL, A GREAT COMEDIENNE, FUN TO WORK WITH. ALL THE FILMS WERE SPECIAL IN SOME WAY. AS A CARTOON, I ENJOYED "DEXTER'S LABORATORY" THE MOST.







CE: Are there any productions you appeared in that you recommend people stay away from?

 

 

ED: HMMMMM..."GREASE 2" PERHAPS. MAXWELL WAS A WONDERFUL GUY, MICHELLE WAS VERY NICE, BUT AS A MOVIE, UH, WELL, EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN TASTES, YOU KNOW.

That advice appears to have worked for me - I've seen Grease dozens of times - but I've still never seen Grease 2!





CE: I'm going to mention a few of my favorite movies you appeared in. Will you tell us a little something about each?

 

CE: Grease. 

ED: JOHN TRAVOLTA, THE KINDEST ACTOR EVER. JEFF CONAWAY TRIED TO GET ME LAID WITH A HOOKER. I WAS A SCARED 20-YEAR-OLD KID. IT NEVER HAPPENED. RANDAL KLEISER, A FINE DIRECTOR, A NICE MAN. RIDING AROUND IN A CAR WE HIJACKED WITH OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN. JACK NICHOLSON YELLING AT US TO QUIET DOWN FROM A NEARBY SET. HE CAME ON OUR SET AND I RAN UP AND SHOOK HIS HAND.

 

 

 

 

CE: Laserblast.

ED: I HAD A HUGE CRUSH ON A GIRL IN THE CREW NAMED BETTY GOLDBERG. I WONDER WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO HER???? IT IS THE ONLY FILM I DID IN WHICH MY CHARACTER DIES. THE ONLY ONE.

 

 

I did a little research on Betty Goldberg. (Not sure I can really call it research. I looked her up on the IMDB.) If all of her credits are the same person - she directed a couple of episodes of The White Shadow before Laserblast - for which she was the script supervisor. She was script supervisor on low budget movies like The Incredible Melting Man and bigger shows like Beverly Hills Cop from the 70's throughout the 80's. Since then she has taken to writing - with some TV movie credits up to 2002. Not sure what's she's been up to the last ten years or so - but there's some kind of update!

 

But I digress.







CE: 1941.

ED: BEING DIRECTED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG, A GREAT HONOR. JOHN BELUSHI, A SUPER NICE GUY. I LOVED HIM. DAN AYKROYD, A REALLY NICE GUY. I LOVED JOHN CANDY SO MUCH. NICEST GUY EVER!!!







CE: Midnight Madness.

ED: WE HAD TWO DIRECTORS ON THAT ONE, WHICH WAS UNUSUAL. A PRETTY FUNNY FILM.








CE: Zapped!

ED: SCOTT BAIO WAS A VERY NICE GUY.







CE: Wargames.

ED: I RODE TO THE SET (WE WERE DRIVEN BY A DRIVER) WITH MATTHEW BRODERICK. HE WAS A GREAT GUY. I KEPT FORGETTING MY LINES AND THE DIRECTOR HAD ME READ THEM FROM CUE CARDS. THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I EVER USED "IDIOT CARDS". THAT IS A VERY GOOD FILM. MY DIRECTOR, MARTY BREST, GOT FIRED, BUT THEY KEPT MY BIT IN, LUCKILY. MATTHEW'S FIRST FILM.







CE: Surf II.

ED: A FUN SHOOT. LOTS OF CUTE GIRLS IN BIKINIS. ONE OF MY FEW "LEAD ROLES". A FAIRLY FUNNY FILM. RON PALILLO, A VERY NICE GUY. I GOT TO BE PUT IN A STRAIGHT JACKET!!!







CE: Mob Boss.

ED: A WONDERFUL DIRECTOR, FRED OLEN RAY. I LOVE FRED. SO MUCH FUN TO SHOOT. I HAD A BALL. MORGAN FAIRCHILD, A LOVELY LADY.







CE: Beverly Hills Vamp.

ED: FRED OLEN RAY AGAIN. A FUN SHOOT. GREAT TIMES.







CE: Three words: EddieDeezen.com. Beatles Quiz. Please give us 34 words about that.

ED: YOU CAN ENTER MY BEATLES QUIZ AT eddiedeezen.com I PUT IT UP ON MY FACEBOOK SITE TOO. THE PRIZE IS $100.00, PLUS A $25.00 FREE MOVIE PASS TO REGAL CINEMAS, PLUS AN AUTOGRAPHED PHOTO.







CE: What's more fun for you? Live action acting, or voiceover acting?

ED: BOTH ARE FUN, IT REALLY DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ARE WITH AND HOW GOOD THE SCRIPT IS. I HAVE TROUBLE MEMORIZING LINES, SO VOICEOVERS ARE USUALLY EASIER ON ME.

Know-It-All, Eddie's character from The Polar Express

CE: What's the perfect Eddie Deezen breakfast?


ED: TOMATO JUICE, LOTS OF EXTRA CRISPY BACON, EGGS OVER EASY, TOAST, DECAFF WITH CREAM AND SUGAR, ICE WATER (BAD FOR MY HIGH CHOLESTEROL, BUT I LOVE THAT BACON!!!)







CE: Friday the 13ths. Can't believe they made that many, or why did they stop?

ED: I HAVE NO IDEA, NOT PART OF MY WORLD OR MY UNIVERSE. BUT I KNOW WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN SUBJECTIVE TASTES IN MOVIES (AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN LIFE.)

Laserblast got laser blasted by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew...

CE: What advice would you give someone who wants to work in the entertainment industry?

ED: IT IS THE VERY TOUGHEST, HARDEST FIELD IN THE WORLD, JUST BECAUSE OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND. THERE ARE MILLIONS OF ACTORS AND ACTRESSES, SO MUCH TALENT, BUT ONLY SO MANY ROLES, SO MANY PROJECTS. BUT IF YOUR HEART IS REALLY IN IT, I SAY, GO FOR IT. GIVE IT YOUR BEST TRY. BE TRUE TO YOUR DREAMS, YOUR HOPES. YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF. AND ALSO, YOU WILL MEET THE COOLEST, MOST WONDERFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD IN SHOW BUSINESS. CREATIVE, GOOD-HEARTED, WONDERFUL PEOPLE. A FEW GNARLY ONES, A FEW NASTY ONES, BUT MOSTLY GREAT FOLKS.

 

 

 

 

CE: Thanks again, Mr. Deezen! I've been a fan of yours since renting Laserblast - on BETA! I'm very excited for this interview post!

ED: I WISH YOU A GREAT AND SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR IN 2013, CRAIG. WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST!

 

 

 

And to you as well, Mr. Deezen!




Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #104!

Let's do something a little different in this regular department by throwing in with the:

My Favorite Martian Bloghop!

Our blog buddies Nigel and Maurice over at The Geek Twins are among the co-hosts for this blog event - which is all about spotlighting the aliens in pop culture that we love!



Well, since it happens to fall on Monday - our regular department spotlighting three movie posters - I see no reason to break tradition - and to keep it nice and tidy - we will indeed spotlight some of this blog's favorite Martians!






War of the Worlds  (Paramount, 1953)

Quite simply, a classic. I have loved this movie since first seeing it on KPLR Channel 11 many moons ago. The effects, the design of the Martians and their flying ships - extraordinary!












Mars Attacks!  (Warner Bros., 1996)

A very silly and fun movie - not the first flick to be based on a bubblegum card series - that honor belongs to 1987's The Garbage Pail Kids Movie. But Mars Attacks takes a stellar cast and puts it through some goofy paces. I actually encountered several of the main actors heads from this movie while working on another movie - which I'll reveal in the Teenage Production Assistant post about that movie!










The Day Mars Invaded Earth  (20th Century Fox, 1963)

I think I saw this one on one of my creature feature Friday or Saturday shows way back when  - but I have no real memory of it - so I would like to check this one out again!










Thanks very much to Maurice and Nigel for featuring this bloghop on their blog - bringing it to my attention - and thanks to you for coming by to see the results! Come back often, and comment whenever the mood strikes!


Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Saturday Night at the Movies 1/19/13!

Who cares what picture we see?


Why wouldn't Inger Stevens? I can't think of a reason! So here's the pick:

After achieving stardom making spaghetti westerns with Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood came home to the good ol' Us of A to making a domestic version of those cowboy pasta flicks. It's a great cast - and Eastwood's always fun in Western duds.



This just jumped into the video vault on Blu-Ray - so we should be viewing a pristine hi-def copy - you know - if you came over to watch this with me this evening...


Until next post - where we'll be joining up with a little celebration called the My Favorite Martian Blogfest - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

The Video Vault of Mora Tau 1/17/13!

Here's a wild look back at 70's TV - and a promo for ABC's weekday afternoon and Saturday lineups - that will either bring back memories, or make you glad you missed that year in television!

From around the same time - the US government licensed the Batman TV show for a public service announcement about equal pay for women - Yvonne Craig and Burt Ward reprise their roles as Batgirl and Robin respectively, but Adam West - at the time desperate to escape the cowl - didn't come back. Check out the clip and see if you can figure out who's playing Batman here - and no fair cheating! Crime doesn't pay - and in this case neither does Googling!

Who remembers the TV spinoff of the classic flick Animal House? Well, don't worry if you don't - here's a little promo that shows you what America got to see for a very few weeks in 1979...

Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Portrait of the Artist as The King of Pop Cinema!

Welcome back to the library lair of that most literary of Batman villains for a little book review business...

 

 

Bookworm's Book Club

I first read this book back in 2001 or 2002 – when it came out in paperback. I was then working in a bookstore, and I made a habit of grabbing lunch from the food court and dashing back to the store to read a book in the back of the store. I read Ms. Gray’s book across a few of those lunches and thoroughly enjoyed it – but I didn’t end up purchasing it as money was very tight in those days. (Booksellers do not make crazy crazy money, believe it or not.)

Beverly Gray

In the last few months I became an online acquaintance of Beverly Gray after discovering her ultra cool blog Beverly in Movieland while doing research on something Corman related for my blog. She is wonderful to know, teeming with film lore and personal experiences in the trenches working for Roger Corman’s various companies across periods from the 70’s to the 90’s.



In the late 90’s, having been out of his employ for four or five years, Ms. Gray went to work on a biography of Roger Corman. Catching wind of it, he summoned her to a meeting. In that meeting he advised he would only participate in the book’s writing if the end result would cast him in a mostly favorable light. Ms. Gray advised she was going to follow advice he’d once given her and rely on her own judgment. This she did, and  then proceeded with the book – ending up with a fair and balanced look at Roger Corman – his strengths, his idiosyncracies; his foibles, and even his feet of clay.



Roger Corman demonstrates the proper method of machine gun manhandling on the set of Bloody Mama (1970).

Meticulous research and interviews with dozens of people who worked for Corman across his decades in the film business make up the bulk of the book – and it’s a pretty fascinating story for anyone remotely interested in independent filmmaking or the production of what are now thought of as “B movies” – an appellation that Roger Corman would be quick to scoff at in most cases – as he still believes pretty much the only true B films are those that played as the second feature to a larger budgeted A picture in movie theaters of the 30’s and 40’s. I think he’s softened on this a bit in more recent years as the meaning of the phrase has shifted through use (or misuse). The resulting biography came out in 2000, and sold well, landing high on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list the first week of release. The paperback edition sold well too.


Now, a dozen years later, Ms. Gray has gone back and reworked the original book into an expanded ebook – with new information and interviews conducted as recently as October 2012 figuring into the expanded edition.

Roger Corman on the set of his most recent directorial effort - Frankenstein Unbound - in 1990.

Ms. Gray’s writing is terrific – taking us from Corman’s birth through his reception of an honorary Oscar in 2009 and the recent Syuh-Fyuh channel movies he’s been cranking out the last couple of years. There was obviously a boatload of work that went into the research and interviews – and what’s really cool is that nearly every quotation is on the record and attributed – with only a half dozen or dozen quotes (out of hundreds) that are assigned to “a New Concorde staffer” or “a veteran of the New World days.” This alone presents a solid picture of the book’s balance in its representation of Mr. Corman’s life and career. If the book was a hatchet job – there would be far fewer names quoted in the book and much more anonymous attribution.




Unfortunately, Mr. Corman did not agree with this assessment – and after Ms. Gray’s refusal to let him edit the manuscript of anything he felt to be negative or derogatory – he apparently spread the word that the book was to be a hatchet job, though it seems to have prevented few of his former employees from sitting down with Ms. Gray. He also wrote off whatever friendship they had at that point – though Ms. Gray still expresses warmth and respect for her former boss – he does not share that warmth. She indicates that their few happenstance meetings since the book’s publication have been cordial – but it’s also true that two different interviews with Ms. Gray about her former boss - one for a Corman documentary and one for a DVD special feature - have been cut from the finished projects at Mr. Corman’s – or his office’s - insistence.

Roger Corman - the Elder Statesman of Exploitation Cinema.

If anyone were to ask me what to read to know more about Roger Corman – I would absolutely recommend this book – and I’d offer the suggestion (as does Ms. Gray) to pair it up with Roger Corman’s own memoir – How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime – as the two books together do offer the most indepth portrait of an intensely private man that you’re ever likely to get. (I would also offer Ms. Gray’s advice to enjoy Mr. Corman’s book with a grain of salt, as his own recollections of his past actions might be skewed a bit by his ego and memory – which can get a bit fuzzy at times according to others present at the time.)


Currently the book is only offered in Kindle format – Ms. Gray has indicated she is working on a version for the Nook but it’s a ways off. If you don’t have a Kindle – there are computer and smartphone app versions that would still allow you to purchase and read this terrific biography – so what are you waiting for?


And if you'd like to check out my interview with Beverly Gray - where she tells some fascinating stories about her life and work - you can check it out here.


Oh, how about a link to the book on Amazon? (Duh!)

Amazon Kindle Edition

My highest recommendation for this one, kids - check this one out!


Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #103!

Love Me Deadly  (Cinema National, 1973)

This is one I've never seen - actually had my hands on it in a furniture store (!) in the 80's that started renting some videos - but I didn't end up seeing it. It's apparently really about everything that poster hints at - and I've always wondered how graphic it actually gets...









House of the Damned  (20th Century Fox, 1963)

No idea about this one - but what the heck - it sounds cool!










Tales That Witness Madness  (Paramount, 1973)

Our second trip to 1973 this round gets us one of the latter day anthology flicks that Amicus was doing so well in those days. I've not seen it - but funny thing - I thought I was going to get to - at that same furniture store I mentioned two posters back? Well, I saw Tales...Madness on a video box and scooped it up to rent - finding myself completely disappointed when I read it closer and it was instead Tales of Ordinary Madness - the Charles Bukowski drama starring Ben Gazarra - not what I was looking for in my horror filled youth - but I'd watch either of those movies now!








Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here.