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The movie we discussed in this week’s episode guide was Roger Corman’s “The Undead.”
As Bill says in his write up: “Next time you have the notion to defend Roger Corman as a good director, watch this movie and repent.”
But there is one group that has not repented: The Motion Picture Academy’s Board of Directors, which recently voted to give ol’ Rog an honorary Oscar.
What do YOU think?
To help you discuss this topic, I could have gone to “Daddy-O’s Drive-In Dirt” and put together a list of the Corman movies done by MST3K but alert reader Dave (aka Finnias Jones) kindly did it for me. (Thanks Dave!)
Producer/Director:
• 311 – IT CONQUERED THE WORLD
• 315 – TEENAGE CAVEMAN
• 317 – VIKING WOMEN AND THE SEA SERPENT
• H01 – THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED (which I consider “canon” though purists might not. I wasn’t there at the time, but both extant versions are good, even if the riffing is inaudible and not the product of Best Brains, just the fans)
• 503-Swamp Diamonds
• 511-Gunslinger
• 806 The Undead
Exec. Producer:
• 406-Attack of the Giant Leeches
• 618-High School Big Shot
• 701 – Night of the Blood Beast
Of course Roger is responsible for many more movies, some better, some worse (CT’s “Wasp Woman” is his, and as producer: “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,” the original “Death Race 2000,” etc.)
So what do you think of Roger? Does he deserve the Oscar or should he be, as one poster wrote in the episode guide thread, “indicted for crimes against cinema”?
(Me: Although I know he has been a mentor to several guys who went on to be good, and while I am grateful for him for providing some great MSTing fodder, I agree with Bill.)
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Bane and boon, of course. I believe he deserves some kind of award for two accomplishments:
:???: Making so many professionally done (if not truly good) films so quickly and with so little money.
:lol: Providing so much fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000 and its children.
Thank you, Roger!
Does Corman deserve an Oscar, $&%# NO! The only interesting parts of his movies were there because of the few talented people he hired (among the many hundreds of untalented ones). The man is a businessman first and foremost, which is everything that is wrong with the movie industry today, just on a smaller scale than Hollywood.
There’s a good article on Corman over at AICN just posted today. It’s by Mr. Beaks, one of their better writers. He covers a lot of the territory we discussed above, but focuses even more on his accomplishments as a producer in the 70s/80s.
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43114