Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011)

One of these documentaries for which many of us have been sharpening their teeth and ticking days off as DVD release date was coming closer. Although it premiered on Sundance Festival a year ago, not all folks from around the globe could have attended, so instead they were forced to sit on their asses impatiently! As a big fan of Corman I need to say it's value lays mainly in high rollers of Hollywood uttering words of praise for the man, who let them literally be... who's been often their lifeblood. You have to check out Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern or Martin Scorsese who finally confirm, what we've all known but very rarely got admitted loud – Corman's film school has been the main link between 60's exploitation cinema and 70's auteur fireworks being the ground of new artistic forms developed in family environment.

As far as Corman's career is concerned, Alex Stapleton's movie speaks of few facts I wasn't aware. Documentary builds at large upon the story comprehensively told by Corman himself in his great book How I Made Hundred Movies In Hollywood and Never Lost A Dime, which tells you everything you need to know, hence those ones, who've read the book, might find a history of his career (revealed once again) a bit boring. But let's not forget, that there is still a lot of people outside the fandom, who've never heard of Corman or they've just drifted once or twice toward these regions and never really bothered to grab any solid book about the exploitation pope! "Corman's World..." seems to serve this purpose just fine mixing a biographical side with New Horizons office footage and very inspiring interviews with mentioned above and many others like David Carradine, Ron Howard, Joe Dante, Allan Arkush, Polly Platt, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert De Niro, Peter Fonda and many more. This list is very impressive itself!

On technical side it's a good job – maybe not ravishing, but all right – and it ticks all the boxes of modern documentary. Posters, trailers and press clipppings are being mixed with cinematic part and laid in simple manner, while narration heads toward tension build-up and eventually brings a climax. The movie seems longer than it really is, but that's due to compact construction. Corman's professional and private life in a pill was definitely a challenge, that's why screen time needed to be sped up multiple times, which reasonably trimmed his legendary 380 productions to 50 essential ones in a flash. Director also opted for leaving off Filipino chapter as that's been nicely exposed in another recent documentary - "Machete Maidens" (2010). Apart of that, we get basic treatment, from Corman's mythical schlock entries like "The Monster From the Ocean Floor" and "The Fast and the Furious", through unforgettable Poe flicks like "House Of Usher" or "Tomb Of Ligeia" (favourite Poe movie of Martin Scorsese) and then "The Terror", "The Wild Angels", "The Trip", and finally to New World Pictures period, when Corman made a fortune on such exploitation classics like "Big Doll House", "Grand Theft Auto", "White Line Fever" or "Death Race 2000" (to name only few).



But it wasn't exactly simplest task to do – covering a story of the guy, who has had three production/distribution companies, discovered 50% of Hollywood's biggest names, totally revolutionized production side of filmmaking, invented a new way of budgeting it, created dozen of exploitation sub-genres from a scratch giving a root to the modern action movie, improved and mastered the art of entertainment marketing (including these famous sticky trailers), took over distribution of European art films on US market in the 70's with profits and on the top directed more than 300 movies himself! Not all of these achievements have been discussed in "Corman's World...", but the most important were licked with clear sense of understanding, many to the credit of former Corman's collaborators and workers.

Saying that we need to stress once again, that Total Documentary on any topic is virtually impossible to score – the more extensive the subject, the more you need to shave it off as pedantic exploration of every single pocket carries a danger of down-playing or even losing the storyline completely. Grabbing all these threads together is hard enough and still it rarely happens on the screen! Making of an excellent documentary is very difficult as it needs a perfect insight! Besides, I'm deeply convinced, that no documentary can match a biography book as the latter one doesn't have time limitations and as a verbal medium cuts the distance to the analytical, left side of your brain. A film is a magic powder and it either turns you on or not – connection is more crucial than fishing it all out!

However, "Corman's World..." does one thing nicely. It creates a sense of slight disappointment in viewer's consciousness by picking the bits of actors talk as far as Corman's critical acclaim is concerned. Above all histories of life with their tutor, they spontaneously come up with one justified question, why he never got Lifetime Achievement Academy Award? And then it goes, smoke disperses while director shows Roger Corman tying his bow tie and heading to the L.A. ceremony, where Quentin Tarantino thanks him in the name of fans from around the world for making such a lot of great movies. He finally gets his official recognition, which he maybe didn't give a shit about, but it instantly cements his life-of-film-art status lifting him up from an underground phenomenon to acknowledged filmmaker of undeniable prestige. The thing is, he never chased for awards as money from his operations was smoothly flowing in, but in the end there are not many guys in this business with similar film score and such a massive worldwide cult. Along the line, this documentary should be treated as a cherry on the top!

Death Proof (2007)

Another part of Tarantino's and Rodriguez's concept double feature – Grindhouse, was named "Death Proof". After Rodriguez managed to wrap up the production of "Planet Terror", Quentin followed with his own idea of molesting drive-in fantasies, concerning mostly early 70's road movies & slasher classics. In a way he landed with a fine piece of modern exploitation movie as it ticks all the boxes... the only remaining question is who actually re-opened these boxes first? Was it Tarantino with "Jackie Brown" and "Kill Bill" – the latter one being basically a homage to Filipino early 80's exploitation movies like "Cleopatra Wong" or "The One Armed Executioner" – or were they Japanese artists like Takashi Miike or Kinji Fukasaku? I'd rather point to Japanese, cause one of the flicks, which pushed Tarantino to reinvent the genre, was in fact „Battle Royale”... but that's for journalists and book writers to cover.

One of good things about Tarantino's effort is that we don't really have to sweat in order to crack the easter eggs. We get shoved all names down our throats as the characters start chatting on the screen and just drop them. Direct inspirations for the basic road frame of "Death Proof" would be such classic films as: "Vanishing Point", "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" and "White Lightning" while a slasher factor embraced by the artist would probably wink at such cult 70's flicks as: "Bay of Blood", "Friday The 13th" or "I Spit On Your Grave". As it became a sort of sport in film journalism to chain-link as many titles as it's possible in your super cool review of any genre movie, I'm gonna stop my guess hunting here and get down to it!



I liked "Death Proof", which doesn't mean it was as good as Tarantino's other dishes. I was actually pretty far from fulfillment experienced by watching "Pulp Fiction", "Reservoir Dogs", "Inglourious Basterds" or even "Kill Bill". Having said that, it's entirely possible that "Death Proof" is the worst movie Quentin Tarantino ever made... but it still does the job by delivering the viewers a fresh take on a classic exploitation formula, which made it's comeback since! I'm gonna remind you that famous Roger Corman's formula consisted of three things – sex, action & humour! It came directly from working with American International Pictures, but then got developed even more when Roger started his own company – New World Pictures and knocked out many brainless flicks, considered cult movies today! As Tarantino has deep affinity for this old school of exploitation, he shot his own picture borrowing from it, but using modern standards and his own, wild imagination.

The plot of "Death Proof" is obviously very simple, because you cannot toss a New Giallo on the mass market these days. Sophisticated intrigue would make people drop on the floor in the theater from brain activity overload caused by tension. Tarantino just took the classics onboard and by playing around came with a story of a stuntman-killer named Mike, who has a passion for stalking & finally slashing hot chicks with his death proof car. Character played by Kurt Russell is a fine example of psychotic maniac, his role is as professional as it gets and might be seen as the biggest acting treat of the whole movie. Then we get to watch the chicks, a great package without a doubt. There are eight hot girls, while only four are to survive. As Mike hits the first four victims with his death machine – which gives Quentin an occasion to show this bloody sequence in a replay from many angles – ripped limbs are flying around in handfuls and gals die at the spot! The only thing for Mike to do afterwards is to jump the state as he cannot keep low profile in Texas anymore!

A scene changes and Mike is now in Tennessee. The time comes for real heroines – four smalltime actresses or stuntgirls. A protagonist of the pack is played by Zoe Bell – a professional stuntgirl, who was doing a double for Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill" and thus was a perfect choice for a character of the stuntgirl (easy as that). In "Death Proof" Zoe really shows off her line of work skills by riding on the hood of Dodge Challenger speeding 180 mph and making sure that stuntman Mike will get what he deserves for his naughty behaviour! There are some good dialogue lines in the movie referring mostly to pop & film culture and great music, which saves the day! At least here Tarantino didn't drop below a certain level. The Coasters, Jack Nitzsche, Joe Tex and the whole world of surf, soul, pop rock and indie lost gems. Lap dance done to "Down In Mexico" is one of the very best scenes of "Death Proof" reminding me of cartoonish sleazy vibe of "From Dusk Till Dawn". What can I say? "Planet Terror" comes as a much better shit in Grindhouse package, but then even classic drive-in packages had their lower end. I'd recommend to opt out if you don't like watching exploitation revival flicks at all!

Hell Ride (2008)

It doesn't really surprise anyone that Quentin Tarantino has been casting his shadow on every exploitation revival flick released lately – the guy basically loves the same stuff we do and wants to see it back! Credited as an executive producer of "Hell Ride" – a modern take on an old school biker movie (who ever imagined a comeback of this gritty style?) - we heard he's factually done much more than that. Clearly, it made a good word of mouth and brought a lot of new people to the territory, which they wouldn't normally dare to come anywhere near. Boom and off we go everybody as these old exploitation formulas get their look refreshed and we're here to judge the effect. Only one red flag is up – a market niche fitting this style didn't really break the ground yet, hence things need to be stirred up a little bit. Most likely their way to these pictures will find eventually all crazy maniacs hangin' tough over obscure 60's/70's exploitation oddities, may they only get over all "new sloppines" involved.

To cut it short though, "Hell Ride" is not a good movie by any standards. Plot is thin, acting diluted and occasional nudity or often occuring violence do not make up for it's basic shortcomings. It really makes me wonder how good "The Glory Stompers" (1968) were. Does it hold any aces then??? Yes, a couple I'd say. It's strongest side is the cast including Michael Madsen (unforgettable performance in "Reservoir Dogs"), Dennis Hopper (acting out a great self-homage), Vinnie Jones (a cockney thug in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels") and even David Carradine, who gets an episodic role. A gig is led though by Larry Bishop – an original member of the cast of obscure 60's biker flick, "Savage Seven" (1968) – who directs the movie as well. All these great actors are shown as furious, pissing-in-your-face bikers of two rivaling clubs – The Victors and The 666ers. This great potential of powerful creations is yet wasted by both directing and the script. What a shame, man (man, man)! Another heart-pumping move ahead is still a great soundtrack by Davie Allan & The Arrows, who didn't record new tracks – the classic ones are used and they still make a fantastic job. Biker sound rules, don't forget about it!



However, I didn't like many fuckin' things about this flick. The exposition of characters and both MCs through often used nowadays still shots with name tagging is just gross. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but for my money it failed here. Another thing is nonsense dragging through meaningless episodes, which are neither catchy nor funny although they are blood-sheding and sometimes filled with nude babes. Some of these scenes can be enjoyed, but too little for my taste. The last but not least, I just couldn't eat these bikers mixed up with a bunch of high rollers as an underlying concept. Other elements of the plot are equally lame, we get Pistolero's (Larry Bishop) peyote trip, which basically means, that we have to stare even more at the unnecessary footage. Some characters are killed over dumbest lines you can imagine and after all, we are tormented with constant flashbacks from the past which take down the intrigue instead of developing it... not saying the story of a vengeance for murder we're fed here, is itself a real low point.

The best moment of the movie is when Eddie Zero (Dennis Hopper) comes into the game – few psychotic lines and suddenly everything looks bright. One of my favourite surf tracks ever – "The Rebel (Without A Cause)" from classic "Apache '65" album – starts when he eventually jumps on the bike lifting this scene a lot! The same applies to Vinnie Jones acting out a scene in a pigpen biker house (or whatever that is). To be honest I didn't much like the chopper riding scenes either, they come as pathetic if we put them next to the genre's most spectacular road shots (think "The Hell's Angels 69"). Who should see this movie then? Only the head losing for a flash of a chopper, genre completists, who will never have enough. They've seen so much baaad shit already, that this one is not gonna kick them in the balls. On second thought, maybe Dennis Hopper's fans as well, who want to see a legend of the counterculture starring in one of his last movies, riding the bike... and even asking for a joint. Otherwise, stay cool and away!

Hobo With a Shotgun (2011)

Classic model of marketing and producing exploitation pictures included two things before even first draft of screenplay has been written. They were the title and the poster – however second one started slowly losing it’s ground in the 70’s, when cinematic trailers took over pushing salacious agenda over the edge. This strategy was applied en masse by American International Pictures, who made a real art of feeding drive-in directors with freshly knocked out, shocking, sleazy titles and promptly picking the wind if it was in their favour. The thing is, it really worked for more than 15 years! We got a lot of exploitation shit ONLY DUE TO THIS MARKETING GIMMICK.

When Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino brainstormed during one of their home cinema sessions after they watched some flicks edited by QT as a double feature with essential trailers filling the gap, they settled on finalizing the Grindhouse project. Two feature movies… with ass-cracking trailers. I personally loved Planet Terror"… a little bit less "Death Proof", but the trailers were definitely the shit! First of these shorts featured cold as steel and quick as F16 – Machete. The other one some random hobo with a shotgun. Response was positive, so the screenplays followed and they both made their way onto the screen. This way history – though not without the help of RR & QT –nicely repeated itself!

It’s all good as this Canadian donut, directed by Jason Eisener, brings back unforgettable Rutger Hauer to the mass audience and gives us one more ball-busting performance. This time he’s a scruffy bum, who gets off the train in a small American town just to find out that this stop will not be as easy going as he would expect. He soon discovers he landed in the lawless heart of darkness, where corrupt cops are at ease with bloody acts of criminality committed by a ruthless local gang – ruled by The Drake and his two sons. Pushing the trolley he eventually gets pushed to the ground by all the scum and doesn’t have any other choice than to take a BIG shotgun and shoot down all motherfuckers. While this is obviously a classic western frame, the movie steps up to a total exploitation revival freak-out sampling and reusing themes from "Django" (1966), "Class 1984" (1982), "Death Wish" (1974) and you name it.



While this might seem easy, for the first half an hour it definitely „grabs you by the boo boo”. Scenes are shot with a sense of style not saying that some of them are genuinely beautiful. I personally like Hauer’s monologue over a newborn with pastel, blue & yellow background and slow, vast camera zoom, joined by music theme a la Vangelis. This is a great homage to "Blade Runner" (or at least it seems so), which makes Hauer’s appearance intertwined with director’s genre picking game. Some other moments carry the same resemblance, all for the great entertainment of ardent genre flicks followers. A violence, blood and language are like sweet chocolate cake here – they are not the additional elements, they are the essence.

However, the basic problem of the movie is a quick plot breakdown and disperse of it’s magic! After main character starts to rumble around with his shotgun trying to bring back the justice to town while local papers print bold headlines and the body count, a story slowly falls behind Hauer’s acting and we start feeling out the bottom. Although screenplay doesn’t seem that bad, quick cut action-action eventually tops itself crumbling into randomly tossed pieces. Loss of vibe and suspense follows, which apart of Rutger Hauer’s creation are initial picture’s strongest sides. Still, let’s not forget it’s a very funny movie with plenty of shitstorm action and it ticks very well as an exploitation revival flick. Although „Hobo With A Shotgun” will not pass as please-fuck-me masterpiece, it’s gonna find it’s audience and could be classified as a good mindscrew for another encounter.

Planet Terror (2007)

In the modern cinema there are only two artists directly responsible for recent exploitation/grindhouse style revival – Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, both ardent fans of 70’s tits and guns. While we know very well what Tarantino’s been up to for the last 15 years, we sometimes forget, that he’s brilliant friend and associate has been DOIN’’ HIS OWN THING all this time (Tarantino made sure to sidekick). Strictly nothing else, but pushing agenda to the edge’s limit! What’s his agenda you’ll ask? Bring back home the joy of blood and brains splattering all over with zombies, bikers and chicks DOIN’ THEIR THING. I cannot help to say: Great vision, isn’t it.

"Planet Terror" is a high praise of exploitation Renaissance – intelligent and DEFINITELY predatorial homage to 60’s & 70’s drive-in cinema. Movies like "Night Of The Living Dead", Zombie Holocaust", "Blood Feast" or "I Drink Your Blood" are only couple of flicks which stand right in front of your eyes, when you watch this awesome picture. I sincerely loved Rodriguez’s effort from beginning to the end enjoying the uncut version very, very much. What is here not to enjoy anyway? Stripper character named Cherry with a machine gun leg? Bruce Willis self-parodying his own style of acting? Texas bar owner trying to invent a perfect recipee for a beef barbecue? Toxic zombies eating brains out? For a real exploitation lover I can hardly think of a better treat.



Obviously it watches more like a blockbuster… but it never stormed the box office, when screened with "Death Proof" as a double feature in USA (a homage to B-movie drive-in packages). The reason in my opinion is simple, "Planet Terror" is not just another high budget (boring as fuck) clone, but pure exploitation in it’s essence taken over the top for the fun of it. In this case form is it’s own guardian, thus won’t be appreciated by people, who cannot read it’s correspondences and musings. After all, certain sense of humour is inevitable for watching this picture, without it you’re not gonna get far. Last but not least we cannot undermine cinematography, scenography and aciting in "Planet Terror" – they’re all very tight and themselves call for an applause.

It’s so hilarious indeed when you see Tarantino doing his episodic role. You just start laughing, while a teaser for "Women In Cages" (1971) is played in the background ("Soft flesh for hard cash"). Moments like that make this film a perfect parody – a general proof that two boys had a plenty of fun writing and shooting it. In my eyes "Planet Terror" stands as an example of modern cinema redefining itself one more time and giving at least some people exactly what they want! If you didn’t expect this, then I guess that "Transformers" would be more suitable.

Inglourious Basterds - Tarantino znowu w formie

Tarantino ponownie w formie, to z pewnością pierwsza myśl, jaka została wytworzona w moim mózgu po zakonczonym seansie jego nowego filmu. Nazwany przekornie wobec angielskiej ortografii "Inglourious Basterds", film jest holdem wobec niszowej gałęzi włoskiego "exploitation movie", znanego jako "macaroni combat".

Po raz pierwszy od dłuższego czasu otrzymujemy kino wojenne, które nie gloryfikuje, nie potępia, nie moralizuje, a przede wszystkim ma w dupie to, co zostało uznane za "prawdę historyczna". Skoro prawda umarła, miejmy z niej choć dobra zabawę!

Tarantino w swoim nowym dziele daje nam znać, ze uwielbia odbijać rzeczywistość w krzywym zwierciadle niczym mag mieszajacy ze sobą pomysły Alana Moore'a i Philipa K. Dicka i przyprawiajacy to szczypta komedii.

Akcja filmu dzieje się w ogarnietej II Wojna Swiatowa Francji. Naziści tropią ukrywające sie na wsi resztki Zydow z zamiarem ich calkowitej eksterminacji. Glowny watek zostaje zawiązany, gdy pułkownik Landa z Waffen SS zabija, ukrywajaca sie pod podłogą jednej z chat, rodzinę żydowska pozwalając jednak uciec najmlodszemu z rodzeństwa. Jest rok
1941...

W międzyczasie w Stanach Zjednoczonych, mówiący z przesmiesznym akcentem z Tennessee, porucznik Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizuje pluton żydowskich mscicieli, których zadaniem jest zabijać i skalpowac nazistów na terenie Europy w celu siania totalnego postrachu.

Nadchodzi rok 1944, a grupa Aldo Raine stała sie już do tej pory zmorą niemieckich zolnierzy. W Paryzu tymczasem ocalała z jatki, urzadzonej przes SS, Zydowka imieniem Shosanna kieruje okupacyjnym kinem.

Gdy pewnego dnia zostaje zaczepiona przez niemieckiego snajpera, Federicka Zollera, cała intryga nabiera niespodziewanego kierunku... nie chce jednak psuć zabawy, tym którzy się na film dopiero wybierają!

Nie da się tego filmu oglądać bez wyksztuszenia sporej dawki śmiechu. Są sceny, które mogą rywalizować z powodzeniem z farsą "Wscieklych Psow" i chwyty rodem z "Kill Billa". Ogląda sie bardzo przyjemnie i długiego czasu nawet sie nie czuje. Tarantino po raz kolejny oferuje nam swoją własną wersję rzeczywistości, w której tlo historyczne nie ma znaczenia, dopoki potrafi się docenić dziką fantazje reżysera. Polecam!