room102 A documentary about legendary director/producer Roger Corman, covering his career of over 400 movies. Beside starting the career of many famous directors and actors (Jack Nicholson in particular), it shows the influence of his films on cinema and that even exploitation movies are OK as long as you like what you do and give the audience what they want.Watching this documentary really got me thinking that there's no huge difference between Roger Corman and Ed Wood: Both did "commando" low budget movies with minimum budget and shooting. So is it a matter of talent? Some of the scenarios described by the people involved really sound like scenes taken from "Ed Wood".This documentary features lots of clips from his entire career and interviews with lots of famous actors and directors.

Hollywoodshack Roger Corman often told a story about how he was robbed by a cabdriver after getting out of the Navy and lost all his clothes. Then he became a film maker after getting a degree in engineering at Stanford. The story wasn't in the film. Another major omission was the film remake, Not of This Earth, that was Traci Lords' first non-pornographic film. I liked many of Corman's films from the fifties that were skimmed over in ten or fifteen minutes. First, losing a contract for Easy Rider became the root of Corman's sixties failures, then the success of Jaws and Star Wars became the blame for Corman's seventies failures. It's always easy to blame a competitor for your own shortcomings. After 400 films, maybe he just ran out of new material. I just grow tired of the dumbing down of documentaries into after 5 minutes--bang--five minutes--fight--five minutes--explosion--five minutes--crash--five minutes--nude clip! I would like to learn something interesting beneath the shallowness of all that.

kosmasp If anyone ever made a movie about you, you'd wish it was made like this. I'm pretty sure Roger Corman himself is happy about the end result. It's a mix, where you are treated to the past and the present (of course the present is the past, at the time you'll be able watch this, but you get what I mean) of Corman body of work. New and old collaborators are there to be interviewed.At the end there is a special treat, though I guess fans will know this (actually should know this), before watching the movie. But to newbies or people not as aware to Corman (like myself) this works wonders. You really start to respect the man. And while it is rose tinted most of the time, it also involves some controversial material in it too. Still this is here to celebrate a man and that is what it does

MartinHafer If you are my age or perhaps a bit older, than there's an excellent chance you've seen several of Roger Corman's films. If you are a young whippersnapper, then perhaps you haven't. Regardless, he is an important man who all people who consider themselves to be cinemaphiles should know, as his track record of successful movies is unique. While he rarely had a decent budget, again and again, he managed to squeeze as much into the film as he could--and usually made them very entertaining. Some of the films are patently silly--such as his 1950s horror films--yet they are usually entertaining. Some of them are socially significant--and yet they are usually entertaining. The bottom line is that the films he produced or directed are NEVER dull. Bad, often...but dull, never! This film is a tribute to the man and his films. You'll see a lot of his actors and directors from years past (mostly not all that famous, but Jack Nicholson and Ron Howard are interviewed as well) as well as his wife--who helped produce many of his films. In addition, there are LOTS of clips. Overall, a very well made tribute film--one that infuses the viewer with enthusiasm for his work. Lovingly made, the part that surprised me the best was seeing Nicholson tear up when talking about the man! Well worth seeing and a must for any film student, as they could learn from his tight-fisted example! By the way, of all the clips they showed, the best of these films must be "The Intruder" (with William Shatner). Surprisingly, this is one of the only one of almost 400 films Corman made that LOST money!!