Filmmaker Roger Corman passed away last weekend at the age of 98!.The man worked writing, directing, and producing movies for seventy years. Whether you saw one of his low-budget features or not, his work has impacted the movie-going experience of just about everyone who’s watched a movie in that time. Let us tell you how!
But first: a bunch of vintage posters and lobby cards for films directed by Corman and his protégés can be found in this weekend’s blockbuster-sized movie poster auction!
Roger Corman as Director
The Trip (1963), directed by Corman from a Jack Nicholson screenplay.
Roger Corman’s career as a director started at American International Pictures. 1955’s Five Guns West was Corman’s directorial debut (he’d already produced two movies) and the second film ever put out by AIP. He would direct two more movies before the year was out, with the third being where he really found his groove. The Day The World Ended told the story of a small group of survivors in a post-nuclear America terrorized by radioactive fallout, interpersonal treachery and a giant mutant. Sci-fi/horror with a message would be Corman’s stock-in-trade for the rest of his career.
Corman’s career really hits stride in 1959. That year, he made A Bucket of Blood – regarded as the first modern horror comedy – with AIP. He followed that up in 1960 with the sci-fi/horror/comedy blend Little Shop of Horrors, which would go on to inspire a musical, a movie adaptation of that musical, and countless man-eating alien plants across pop culture. It also featured a young Jack Nicholson in an early film role. In fact, Nicholson’s film debut had happened just a couple years earlier in a Corman production and they would continue to work together throughout the 1960s.
1960 also saw Corman kick-off his Poe Cycle. This series of eight films were all based, however loosely, on stories by American horror literature trailblazer Edgar Allen Poe. All eight starred Vincent Price, even though none of them are connected story-wise. This series cemented Price’s reputation as a horror movie legend, putting his career on the path it would follow until the end of his life.
Roger Corman as a Producer
Poster for The Godfather Part II, which featured Corman in a cameo.
Corman would only direct movies for about fifteen out of the seventy years he was working. His real gift was behind the scenes as a producer. First with American International Pictures and later with his own company, New World Pictures, Corman specialized in developing quality films for cheap. He had quite the eye for talent, giving directors their first big break with financial successes. A very early example is 1963’s Dementia 13, written and directed by first-time filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Corman would have a cameo as a U.S. Senator in Coppola’s The Godfather Part II as a thank you.
In 1968, Corman produced the directorial debut of film journalist Peter Bogdonavich, who would go on to make The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, and Mask. In 1972, he hired a young Martin Scorsese to create Boxcar Bertha. It was Scorsese’s second feature film, and his first to center on gangsters. 1974 saw Corman give Jonathan Demme his big break, which Demme paid back by casting Corman as the director of the FBI in The Silence of the Lambs. Joe Dante, Ron Howard, and Penelope Spheeris would also make their narrative feature debuts with Corman in the 1970s. James Cameron, the highest grossing director of all time, got his start in special effects under Corman at New World Pictures.
The Corman Legacy
All the films we’ve discussed so far represent a tiny fraction of the 385 films that Corman worked on in some capacity throughout his long career. Through his championing of Jack Nicholson, Vincent Price, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, James Cameron, and many others, there’s a strong argument to be made that Roger Corman was one of, if not the, most influential figures in the post-WWII American film industry. Even if you never saw a movie he directly made, we guarantee you’ve seen and enjoyed something from one of his many protégés.
As such, a ton of films included in this weekend’s movie poster auction were touched by Corman. Directly, that includes posters and lobby cards for The Tomb of Ligeia, Death Race 2000, The Trip, and more. Indirectly, that includes posters for the likes of Raging Bull, Stop Making Sense, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, The Godfather Part II, and other movies whose makers got their start with Corman. The man’s legacy is unbeatable.
If you’ve got a collection of movie posters and memorabilia that you’re looking to sell, drop us a line! Our specialty is taking our clients’ collections maximizing their return on investment with a minimum of effort on their part. Or if you’re still collecting, follow us on social media @b2pcollect to see what’s coming down the pike next!
