With his recent 80th birthday and announcements not only of his retirement from the film business but his desire to sell the entire library of his work, the time to embark on a (potentially neverending) exploration of the career of Roger Corman—arguably one of the greatest and most prolific filmmakers of the 20th Century—has never been more appropriate. In this column we'll delve into Corman's vast career from 1954-2003. I thought about making actual theatrical release a prequalifier for this column, but that would be unfair to so much of the great badfilm that was released direct-to-video from the mid-'80s on (for which Corman served as producer, executive producer or both), besides with a career that spans over 275 films and 50 glorious years, who am I to establish a cut-off point? We will however have a starting point: Corman's years as a director, 1954-1970.
—the Kommandant
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