If there ever was a director/producer who influenced modern Hollywood more than Roger Corman it would be hard to find. Anyone who’s anyone has seemingly gotten part of their “big break” under Corman’s banner. From Martin Scorsese, David Carradine, Ron Howard, Robert De Niro, James Cameron, Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola and many others have passed through Corman’s hands on their way to greater success. Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel follows Corman’s career as a documentary, bringing in many of the famous names from his past to discuss his career.
Focusing on the sheer volume of talent that came through his doors in the 60s and 70s, the film focuses on the director’s influence as well as his unique style and approach to film-making. Forgetting about Corman the man, the film focuses purely on Corman the filmmaker. Getting into the independent scene after bad experiences in the studio system, he would work with American International Pictures and eventually found New World for his cinematic adventures. Going from the serious, like The Intruder, to a seemingly trashier line of film-making Corman’s film-making (and some decent candor from those involved) would normally make this a must see documentary.
Corman started in the studio system and eventually wound up on his own after a disagreement with Fox. Starting out on his own, Corman would create the modern indie scene by going out on his own with his New World Pictures. Corman’s mainly known for cheap genre films, Corman is a pioneer of film-making for profit on a minimal scale. Claiming never to have lost money on a picture, Corman is best known for churning out films at a high pace of varying levels of poor quality.
Unfortunately the film’s main problem is that it wants to make Corman too much a hero and everyone who got in his way in the studio system, as well as AIP, into grander villains than they really were. Presented from his perspective, we get Corman as the hero instead of as a normal person. It’s a problem because the film is fairly biased in his favor and as such things that could shed light on both sides of his problems with Hollywood en masse are ignored for this narrative of Corman as this unappreciated brilliant filmmaker/producer when the reality isn’t nearly as concrete in that regard.
It ultimately taints a film that could have shed significant light on someone who’s had a remarkable influence on the modern art of film-making. Corman’s insights into the current blockbuster era of film-making are something to behold, as his dissection of $200 million budgets and modern Hollywood film-making is something to behold.
There’s something to be said about how Corman views the world he lives in and how the excess of Hollywood is viewed through the eyes of a guy who at one point didn’t want anything to do with it. Corman’s World is an interesting, if significantly flawed, look at a man who has done more than most to influence modern film-making and film-makers.
