I've read pretty much every English language book on Roger Corman going and have enjoyed them all, but this one is easily the best. It's far and away the best researched and also the only one that takes a critical view. I love Roger Corman, Corman movies and books about both, but they all tend to tell the same stories and repeat the same myths. This one actually looks behind the myths and tries to get a better sense of the man, and as a result the most believable, complex picture of Corman is conveyed.
A lot of the myth was true of course - the drive, frugality, genuine directing talent, incredible ability to adapt and survive in a changing filmmaking environment (he continues to so do today even in the world of downloads and internet), an eye for young talent, awesome contribution to cinematic history, creation of genres, promotion of female filmmakers.
But there is other stuff here which has gotten far less publicity, although it feels true (and human, as opposed to the superman figure of the authorised books): a constant negative depiction of women in his recent movies (strippers and rape victims); Corman's health issues (back troubles and so on) and family crises (his daughters were good girls but his two sons would raise hell and wound up suing their parents to get information about the family trust); a sometimes difficult relationship with his wife; the drastic drop in quality in his cinematic output ever since the early 80s; lack of sense of humour (the greatness of his early comedies all came from Charles Griffith, with whom he had a major falling out); a sense of cheapness so ingrained it seems pathological, the manipulation of underlings, poor treatment of employees (firing them before the holidays so they don't get holiday pay), temper tantrums, homophobia.
Gray does have affection and admiration for Corman, often talks about his good points, and has spoken to lots of people about him, but there were times I thought she was a little unfair. For instance, can you really blame Corman for being stingy when so many people he'd done business with/competed with over the years have gone bust (eg AIP, Dimension, the people who bought New World off him). He really is last man standing from that era. Also some of the incidents that Gray refers to involving Roger and Julie Corman happened in her time when working for them - to then write about it without knowing she was going to use it for a future book feels like she's betraying their confidence or something.
I did only feel the above things once or twice. This is on the whole an excellent, enthralling work, about the only Corman book which places as much emphasis on his output from the 1980s to 2010s as his earlier stuff. By all means also read his book and the one by Ed Naha but if you're into Corman this is a must.
No comments:
Post a Comment