Diller versus Evans

Am reading Barry Diller’s excellent memoirs which discuss his time running Paramount in the 1970s which made me decide to compare his regime with the fabled Robert Evans regime that proceeded it. (These lists below attribute films to various regimes as well as I can... it's entirely possible some started development under other regimes)

So films from the Evans regime which film bros (deservedly) always bang on about...  

Love Story, The Godfather Part 1 and 2, Harold and Maude, A New Leaf, Willy Wonka, Play It Again Sam, Lady Sings the Blues, Paper Moon, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Serpico, The Conversation, Daisy Miller, The Parallax View, Chinatown, Death Wish, The Longest Yard, Three Days of the Condor, Hustle, Italian Job, Medium Cool, True Grit, Goodbye Columbus, Rosemary’s Baby, The Odd Couple, Romeo and Juliet, Barbrella, if..., Oh what a Lovely War, Downhill Racer. 

Great stuff. 

But films from Evans regime which film bros forget he made (or blame on Charlie Bludhorn)...

 The Molly Maguires, The Adventurers, Darling Lili, Friends, Little Fauss and Big Haley, Norwood, a weirdly large number of flop Neil Simon adaptations (Plaza Suite, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Star Spangled Bannered Girl), Murphy’s Law, TR Baskin, Such Good Friends, Bad Company, The N***** Charley Films, Save the Children, Sterile Cuckoo, Hello Down There, My Side of the Mountain, Where’s Jack, Blue, No Way to Treat a Lady, 5 Card Stud, Skidoo, The Brotherhood, A Talent for Loving, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Scalawag, The White Dawn, Paint Your Wagon.

Not so great stuff. You just don't hear Peter Bart go one about these as much. 

Films from the Diller regime which film bros go on about:  

Saturday Night Fever, Bad News Bears, Marthon Man, King Kong, Mikey and Nicky (in its own way), Looking for Mr Goodbar, Saturday Night Fever, Pretty Baby, Grease 1 and 2, Heaven Can Wait, Foul Play, Days of Heaven, Up in Smoke, The Warriors, Escape from Alcatraz, Meatballs, North Dallas Forty, Star Trek 1 and 2, American Gigolo, Friday the 13th series, Urban Cowboy, Flying High 1 and 2, Ordinary People, Popeye, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom, Mommie Dearest, An Officer and.a Gentleman, 48 Hours, White Dog, Flashdance, Trading Places, Terms of Endearment, Uncommon Valor, The Keep, Footloose,  Top Secret, Beverly Hills Cop, Witness.

Again, a great line up of films. 

But there are films from the Diller regime which seem to be forgotten: 

Won Ton Ton the Dog That Saved Hollywood, Lifeguard, Handle with Care, First Love, The One and Only, Going South, Oliver's Story, An Almost Perfect Affair, Prophecy, Bloodline, Sunburn, French Postcards, Nijinsky, Rough Cut, The Hunter, Coast to Coast, Going Ape, Dragonslayer, First Monday in October, Paternity, Ragtime, I’m Dancing as Far as I Can, Some Kind of Hero, Partners, Jekyll and Hyde Together Again, It Came from Hollywood, Ladies and Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Racing with the Moon, Best Defence, River Rat, Thief of Hearts, Falling in Love, King David, Rustlers Rhapsody, Compromising Positions. 

Don't forget the flops, that's all I'm saying. 

Movie review - "Star Portal".(1997) *

 One of the cheapies made in Ireland by Roger Corman, this has a strong source material, Not of This Earth but is just ineptly done. I like Athena Massey and it's cute to see her blending in to the world learning about sex and taking her clothes off, and Steven Bauer was sweet as a doctor with glasses who pursues her rather like Ryan O'Neal in What's Up Doc? but there's no suspense or horror and the film gets dumber and more incompetent as it goes on.

Movie review - "The Undead" (1957) **** (re-watch)

 Oh the rating is too high but I love this film. It's ambitious, its spookiness, the quality of its script, the dialogue - Griffith said Corman cut out the iambic pentameter but there's a bit in there. Acting quality varies - Richard Garland slightly OTT, Pamela Duncan is okay but Alison Hayes is wonderful and Val Dufour a great slimy shrink plus Mel Welles has the time of his life as a gravedigger.

It throws in dancing girls, Satan, a little person (Billy Barty), witches.  The ending has emotional power with Duncan giving up her life.

Movie review - "Eat My Dust!" (1976) *** (rewatching)

 More forgiving of this the second time. Chuck Griffith, given a directing gig after the success of Death Race 2000, then gave Roger Corman New World's biggest hit to date - he keeps it fast, furious and light. It's a cartoon with violence and stakes to match.

It does have characters - Ron Howard as a Ron Howard type, pursuing hot rich girl Chris Norris. Adults chase after them. It's chaotic mayhem, a Road Runner cartoon, with sped up car action (most car films should use this one's idea for credits - speeding along a road sped up).

The New World Pictures Stock Company

 Surely one of the strongest stock companies ever in studio history? Up there with Warners in the 40s?

The key players:

1) Paul Bartel - a skilled director and marvelous scene stealing actor, big, bald, funny and warm, absolutely splended

2) Mary Woronov - leggy, spectacular camp, huge fun, always good

3) Dick Miller - good luck for Joe Dante and Jonathan Kaplan and for good reason, always a pleasure to see him

4) Roberta Collins - I count her as a stock company because she rarely played the lead (unlike say Pam Grier and Candice Rialson) - gorgeous, and fun

5) Don Steele - DJ who I'm sure was a big deal and all but who means nothing outside the US other than these films which is fine as he's fun

6) Other directors - routinely roped in for bit parts in New World films (I exclude Bartel from this, despite being a director, because he was a proper actor): Jon Kaplan, Chuck Griffith, Joe Dante, etc.

7) Barbara Steel - the black haired beauty lived up several New Worlds with her campy enigmatic appearance

Movie review - "Death Race 2000" (1975) (rewatching) ***1/2

 Random thoughts

- Paul Bartel was right to push for comedy. Roger Corman was right to push for action. They got the balance right. The action is good the stakes do feel real and it's quite moving as the surviving racers realise they're being picked off.

- Simone Griffeth is the heart of the movie. She has warmth and accessibility - the audience surrogate. She's overshadowed by the flashy characters but she's the bread in the cake. Teams very well with aloof, mysterious David Carradine.

- Support cast are spectacular.

- The nudity is well handled. Everyone looks like an athlete. It all makes sense in the Ancient Rome decadence of the world.

Movie review - "Hollywood Boulevard" (1976) *** (re-watching)

 I've seen this a lot. I have such affection for it.

Random thoughts

- the rape sequence is very unpleasant but it does show Candice Rialson to be genuinely traumatised by it. And later on when watching the film at the drive in she's traumatised again. And then is almost raped again in a scene played for comedy

- likewise in the scene where Tara Strohmeier is shot dead it has a real impact - ditto when Rita George is killed

- the love for movies is so endearing, the injokes, the names, the cut in footage, the whole vibe.

- the drive in sequence drags and isn't fun - rape played for gags isn't great

- the camraderie between the three girls is very lively and a shame there isn't more

- the romance between Jeffrey Kramer and Rialson is sweet

- the ace in the hole were the actors - everyone is good,Rialson is wonderful, Kramer amiable, but Mary Woronov and Paul Barrel are the stand outs. I really liked Rita George too she's very pretty and competent I'm surprised she didn't have more of a career

- sometimes the exploitation is awkward (the wet T shirt scene), other times offensive (the rape sequence), other times very effective (the producer in bed with two girls, the three girls lying around topless) - I know Dante and Arkush didn't have their hearts in exploitaiton but they could do it well (eg slasher scene)

- the basic mystery is fine with clever leading that we think the killer is Kramer

Movie review - "Rock n Roll High School" (1979) **** (re-watching)

 Saw this again because I read the book about it. It's just fun. Such a good heart. The film is about love. PJ Soles loves The Ramones, Joey Ramone loves pizza, Dey Young loves Tim Van Patten, Paul Bartel comes to love the Ramones, Mary Woronov loves Facism and is defeated. So much energy. Blowing up schools is probably less funny now with all these shootings but this is a great time.

Movie review - "Deathsport" (1978) ** (re-watching)

 David Carradine, who hated the end movie, said the original script was great, but is that the case or just something that pepole say? It's very confusing - I can imagine it always was. It's in the future where there are city states and mutants and sort of jedi warriors.

I don't know why they just didn't make it like Ancient Rome, with rich people and poor people enlisted to entertain. That's simple and works. This is meant to be a competiton to entertain the masses but we never get the sense - they're driving in the desert. Who's watching? Is it on TV?

 What happens when the head dude dies? What's the stuf with Carradines novel? What job does Carradine have? Where are the mutants?

David Carradine is in great shape and ideal for this. Claudia Jennings is ideal action heroine with that splendid built. I

Corman insisted on nude scenes and they do liven things up I just wish they hadn't been torture-y scenes. Jennings and Carradine have pleasant chemsitry and you believe the characters would go for each other.

Some motorbike stuff isn't bad. I liked the duel between Carradine and Lynch,.

Good on Allan Arkush for trying to fix it. But I think what he needed to do was to clarify the story. That may have been impossible.

Charles Griffith wrote an unsued script. They couldn't use it?

Book review - "I Want You Around: The Ramones and the Making of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School" by Stephen B. Armstrong

 Affectionate, thorough account of the making of the cult classic. It had, as is generally well known, quite a turbulent birth, evolving from the "three girls" template at New World, then becoming a disco musical, before emerging as a rock musical, through the passion of Alan Arkush who really knocked it out of the park. It combined his irreverence towards authority and love of rock and old movies (like If, Marx Brothers and Hard Days Night). 

The film was blessed with luck in many ways - the script got progressively better, it seems, as opposed to worse; Arkush was the perfect director; PJ Soles the perfect star (though it's her and Dey Young who are the heart and soul of the film); New World had developed an excellent stock company by this stage including Dick Miller, Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov; they got the ideal band with the Ramones (apparenrlty Cheap Trick were considered... that might have worked).

Lots I didn't know - like Rosanna Arquette was up for the lead and tried to alpha Soles into not doing it ("well I'm going to get the part"), Young was last minute, the film previewed badly

I felt the writer was a little unfair to the writing of Charles Griffith (there's reference to "another Griffith stinker" - did Griffth write Deathsport?). Maybe his sccripts for this film were bad but the man is a genius. Or was.

Script review - "Attack of the Crab Monsters" by Charles Griffith

 Not sure of the date of this. Mark Hanna's name left off it. Better than the film. Artfully structured. Spends more time on the romance. The film could've been longer. Probably could have indicated more where scenes were meant to be dragged out/full of romance/sexual tension. Also characters did blend in, there's a lot of them. But terrific script.

Movie review - "Gunslinger" (1956) **1/2 (re-watching)

Early Roger Corman Western, his first collaboration with Charles Griffith (I think) - Mark Hanna is credited too I never knew for sure what he brought to the party.

It starts well - Beverly Garland sees hubby sheriff shot to death in front of her. She shoots one killer then shoots someone dead at the funeral which is cool.

John Ireland is good as the good-bad man who becomes involved - Ireland was most effective as a second lead. He was ideal against strong women - he would've been good supporting Bette Davis, etc. Garland is fine, Allison Hayes very good.

Plenty of plot and character, Corman doesn't do the script justice in terms of mood, characterisation, atmosphere. Griffth was ahead of him talent wise in the 1950s.

Movie review - "Rock All Night" (1957) ** 1/2 (re-watching)

 I saw I gave this two stars the last two times I watched it - now it's up to two and a half. I enjoyed it more. The cheapness. The oddness. The cheekiness of a film padded from a 30 minute siege play, with some musical acts, Roger Corman stock company, Abby Dalton singing badly, The Platters singing two songs at the top and never being seen again (how would Corman have used them more? as a hero?), Mel Welles as a beatnik agent (very Charles Griffith), Barbara Mouris as a boxer's wife, Beach Dickerson as a boxer, Ed Nelson as a person who gets killed.

It's not really believable Miller can talk down gangster Russell Johnson at the end but there's lots going on. The film has a charm and it's only 60 minutes.

Movie review - "The Swinging Barmaids" (1975) *

 Little known 70s Chuck Griffith script even though a director - Gus Triokis - is a little bit known as is the star William Smith. It's an exploitation film about a serial killer who knocks off cocktail waitresses at a strip club. Smith isn't the serial killer he's the cop.

We see it from the serial killer's point of view which is a drag. He goes around befriending and killing women. It's a movie for people who like that kind of thing.

It's got none of Griffith's humour and imagination but has a solid structure.

Movie review - "Beast from the Haunted Cave" (1959) **1/2 (re-watching)

 The South Dakota locations give this freshness, though it must've been a tough shoot, But they're really out there in the snow. Some good acting by Frank Wolff. Michael Forrest is a dull hero but the role is dull. Chuck Griffith resuses the Key Largo plot again - Wolff's moll falls for Forrest - but it's a smart low budget script.

Could've done with more monster. The last section in the cave is fantastic with the monster in creepy caves capturing people in webs.

Movie review - "Attack of the Crab Monsters" (1957) *** (re-watching)

 The script is good. Not the direction which throws away chances of suspense - arriving at the island, the missing former inhabitants - and drama - a promising love triangle is barely dealt with.

But there's creepiness with the voices of the other scientists calling out, the outrageous huge crab claws, the intensity of the cast. It could've been a masterpiece but for a cheapie film you can see why it was a big hit.

Movie review - "Atlas" (1961) ** (re-viewing)

 Roger Corman's attempt to jump on the peplum bandwagon suffers from a lack of extras and genuine spectacle, as he himself admitted. There's too many scenes which look cheap - battles, crowd scenes. These are inherently expensive.

It's a shame because the film has a lot going for it. The basic story is good - Frank Wolff cons Michael Forrest (Atlas) to fight for him, and Forrest falls for Wolff's gal, Barbara Mouris. Woff is superb - hugely pleased with himself, evil, clever, sly. Forrest is okay a bit bland - the plot requires him to be an idiot for act two. Mouris is very good as a gangster's moll, basically - leggy, warm, fun, smart, haunted.

I did like the battle at the end from the US shot bits where Dick Miller can be seen fighting a few times.

Movie review - "Bucket of Blood" (1959) *** (re-viewing)

 Fun to watch this again. Doesn't have the same heart as Little Shop of Horrors because Dick Miller is more of a killer (even if the first two killings are accidental). Also Barbara Mouris (a good actor) isn't into him in any way other than admiring his heart. I think that was a mistake dramatically.

I loved Julian Burton as a beat poet he's brilliant. Tony Carbone is another beatnik. Bert Convy is that undercover cop who is killed.

I saw a good quality copy. It's nicely shot. Low budget but tech qualities are fine. Not up Little Shop but good.

Movie review - "Creature from the Haunted Sea" (1961) **1/2 (re-watching)

 The last of the Corman-Griffith black comedy trilogy. It's a madcap adventure with lots of fun stuff - the irreverent nature, the fact a clean shaven Robert Towne plays a leading role, the circumstances of its inception, the comedy of the monster with ping pong ball eyes.

It's not that a good movie. It was made too fast, even for Corman - it seems rushed and it's not that well directed. Little Shop of Horrors had more heart because Jonathan Haze was motivated by love and the monster just wanted to be fed - it wasn't his fault he was hooked on blood. There was a lovely core to the film. 

This doesn't have that. Everything is a joke, and there are funny jokes, but there's no heart. Towne falls for a local girl who comes up at the end out of nowhere when it's been set up he's going to fall for Betsy Moreland, the creature is introduced far too late (this is the biggest flaw of the film), Tony Carbone is a joke gangster, ditto Betsy Moreland when some seriousness or at least genuine emotion would've helped. My attention drifted off a bit.

The best thing about it is the garnish around the side - the gags in the narration, the Beach Dickerson being allowed to impersonate animals, Dickerson impersonating animals, Moreland singing a song 'Creature from the Haunted Sea' on a boat while there's fighting (apparently this was added by Monte Hellman - I assume it's a homage to Claire Trevor in Key Largo), the gags about Towne's secret agent name. It's quotable.

Movie review - "Little Shop of Horrors" (1960) **** (re-watching)

 Look, I get it. The humour is broad, and hammy - and really, really old school Jewish. It's like vaudeville. Roger Corman's direction isn't great. He just sort of puts the camera there. But he could harness Charles Griffith who has a clever idea, wonderful structure and off the wall ideas. The basic concept of course but side gags like a cop whose kid has died, and the odd characters like Dick Miller eating flowers and Jack Nicholson loving pain.

It's rough and broad and mad but still holds up.