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78-549: Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz ; November 23, 1934 – July 1, 2024) was an American screenwriter and director. He started writing films for Roger Corman , including The Tomb of Ligeia in 1964, and was later part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. Towne wrote and won the Academy Award -winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski 's Chinatown (1974); starring Jack Nicholson , widely considered one of

156-582: A Million Eyes (1955), then made another Western, Apache Woman (1955), starring Lloyd Bridges , written by Lou Rusoff . Rusoff and Corman reunited on Day the World Ended (1955), a postapocalyptic science-fiction film, which was popular. Corman was to make The Devil on Horseback by Charles B. Griffith about the Brownsville Raid , but it was too expensive. The Woolner Brothers , Louisiana drive-in owners, financed Corman's Swamp Women (1956),

234-467: A barber shop, Arnold is told the revolutionary president Madero was assassinated and Huerta is now president. Villa has escaped from prison. In the final scene Arnold is wining and dining a girl in a restaurant when Villa enters with Fierro and his aide. He is asked to rejoin the revolution. Villa plans to capture Mexico City. As they cross the border Arnold flies over too. The epilogue pronounces Villa's successful capture of Mexico City six months later at

312-459: A big laugh.) Frankly, this kind of movie is beginning to get to me. You can enjoy one, maybe, or two. Or you can enjoy a particularly well done shoot-em-up. But the Loop has been filled with one action-adventure after another for the last month, and if Villa Rides is not the worst, it is certainly not the best." Film critic A. H. Weiler wrote, "Yul Brynner, Robert Mitchum, cavalry, politicos and even

390-468: A blockbuster film of the same name .) Corman sold the movie to a new independent company, the American Releasing Company (ARC), run by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff . Although Corman had a number of offers for the film from Republic and Columbia, he elected to go with ARC, because they undertook to advance money to enable him to make two more movies. Corman's second film for ARC

468-482: A company producing or releasing low-budget black-and-white films as double features for drive-ins and action houses. In February 1959, Filmgroup announced they would release 10 films. Their first movies were High School Big Shot (1959) and T-Bird Gang (1959), produced by Stanley Bickman. Roger seemed a driven man. Roger wanted to accomplish a lot, he had to have a lot of drive to do it, and he pushed through. He not only pushed through, he punched through! With

546-503: A contract with Columbia." In August 1965, Corman announced he had signed a contract with United Artists to make two films over three years. He also signed with Columbia to make a Western, The Long Ride Home , based on a script by Robert Towne. Villa Rides Lee Arnold has to unexpectedly land his biplane in Mexico due to technical difficulties and here he hears both the Mexican army and

624-417: A delay he is again about to be shot but Huerta stops it as he has received a telegram ordering Villa to go to Mexico City . The telegram is part of a ruse set up by Fierro. Meanwhile Arnold is being escorted to the border in a car with three officers. He persuades them to detour to say goodbye to Fina. He is more interested in stealing money stashed to fund the revolution. Fina is crest-fallen. In El Paso in

702-588: A girls-on-the-lam saga. He returned to ARC for two Westerns, The Oklahoma Woman (1956) and Gunslinger (1956) (with Ireland); Gunslinger was co-written by Griffith, who became a crucial collaborator with Corman over the next five years. He bought a script from Curtis Harrington , The Girl from Beneath the Sea . Harrington made it for Corman years later as Night Tide (1961). Beverly Garland , one of Corman's early regular stock players, recalled working with him: Roger made us work hard and long, I remember that! He

780-407: A historical horror piece about Richard III , Tower of London (1962), starring Vincent Price . It was meant to be the first in a three-picture deal with Small, but Corman did not enjoy working with the producer. For Filmgroup, he also bought the rights to a Soviet science-fiction film, Nebo Zovyot (1959) and had some additional footage shot for it by his then-assistant, Francis Ford Coppola;

858-451: A lot of energy, and a lot of disregard at times... What we did for Roger Corman – I mean, things that you could never do in a real studio, but you did for this guy! Everything seemed unreal with him. – Susan Cabot For AIP, Corman and Griffith made a black comedy, A Bucket of Blood (1959). Corman announced he would follow it with a similar comedy, The Bloodshot Private Eye . It does not seem to have been made. Instead, Griffith reused

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936-432: A major battle at Conejos. Villa leads a far larger group in an attack on a fortress there, fording a wide river. A barbed wire barrier halts them. Behind the lines Arnold and Fierro prepare the plane. As the rebels retreat the army launch a cavalry charge across the river (the barbed wire mysteriously disappears) armed with sabres. They are halted by Arnold in the plane and driven back to the barbed wire. The plane crashes in

1014-477: A meeting with Fante, himself a screenwriter. As a result of that meeting, Towne was granted the screen rights to the novel. The rights eventually lapsed, and the new owner was Mel Brooks . In 1993, Towne wrote the script for free in exchange for the chance to direct the film. Tom Cruise (with Paula Wagner and Cruise/Wagner Productions) served as one of the film's producers. Ask the Dust received mixed reviews and failed at

1092-444: A pleasant experience for any of us. But, we’re all still friends, and that’s what matters most." In a November 5, 2007, interview with MTV, Jack Nicholson claimed that Towne had written the part of Gittes specifically for him and had conceived Chinatown as a trilogy, with the third film set in 1968 and dealing in some way with Howard Hughes. Towne said he did not know how the rumour started and denied any planned trilogy. Towne wrote

1170-523: A science-fiction film, Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954). It was produced by Corman's own company, Palo Alto, and released by Robert L. Lippert . The film did well enough to encourage Corman to produce another film, the racing-car thriller The Fast and the Furious (1955), directed by its star, John Ireland , and co-starring Dorothy Malone . (Decades later, the title would be licensed from Corman for

1248-496: A screenplay for the Corman-directed The Tomb of Ligeia (1965). In 1981 Towne said "I worked harder on... [that] screenplay for him than on anything I think I have ever done." Towne went back to working in television when Corman hired him to write a script for a Western, which became A Time for Killing (1967). Corman left the project during filming and Towne took his name off the credits. Towne said later he "hated"

1326-526: A script by Gordon; and The Cry Baby Killer (1958), which gave Jack Nicholson his first starring role. He had his biggest budget yet for I Mobster (1958), a gangster story, co-produced by Edward L. Alperson and Corman's brother Gene for 20th Century Fox. In September 1958, he was reported as scouting locations in Australia to do a remake of H. Rider Haggard 's She . War of the Satellites (1958)

1404-575: A script called The Red Baron . He bought the rights to another Soviet science-fiction film, Planeta Bur (1962), and had some additional footage added to it by Curtis Harrington . The result was Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965). Harrington used footage from Planeta Bur in another film financed by Corman, Queen of Blood (1966). He also bought the rights to a Yugoslavian film, Operation Titan (1963), and financed additional shooting by Jack Hill and Stephanie Rothman . The result

1482-638: A start to many young film directors such as Francis Ford Coppola , Ron Howard , Martin Scorsese , Jonathan Demme , Peter Bogdanovich , Joe Dante , John Sayles , and James Cameron , and was highly influential in the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He also helped to launch the careers of actors like Peter Fonda , Jack Nicholson , Dennis Hopper , Bruce Dern , Diane Ladd , and William Shatner . Corman occasionally acted in films by directors who started with him, including The Godfather Part II (1974), The Silence of

1560-446: A terrible mistake." Soon after he found work at 20th Century Fox as a messenger in the mail room, earning $ 32.50 per week. Corman worked his way up to a story reader. The one property that he liked the most and provided ideas for was filmed as The Gunfighter with Gregory Peck . When Corman received no credit at all, he left Fox and decided he would work in film by himself. Under the G.I. Bill , Corman studied English literature at

1638-462: A third, which was shot at the same time: Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961). Corman was going to make Part Time Mother from a script by Griffith but it appears to have never been made. AIP wanted Corman to make two horror films for them, in black and white, at under $ 100,000 each on a 10-day shooting schedule. Corman, however, was tired of making films on this sort of budget and was worried

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1716-560: A week before his death, Towne confirmed that the script for each episode had been completed. In 1968, Towne met actress Julie Payne ; they were married from 1977 to 1982. According to Sam Wasson's The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood , Towne was addicted to cocaine during this period and was occasionally violent, which led to a bitter divorce and custody battle over their daughter Katharine (born 1978). In 1984, Towne married Luisa Gaule. They had one daughter, Chiara. He

1794-476: A while for the film to be released and it lost money. Corman was unhappy with his profit participation on the first two Poe films, so he made a third adaptation for different producers, The Premature Burial (1962), written by Charles Beaumont and starring Ray Milland . The film was co-financed by Pathe labs; AIP put pressure on Pathe by threatening to withdraw lab work from them and ended up buying out their interest. For producer Edward Small , Corman made

1872-559: Is a great deal of fun. And that's also not unrelated to my perception of my life working in Hollywood, where you're always wondering, 'What does that guy really mean?'" In 2006, Towne was the subject of artist Sarah Morris 's film, Robert Towne . Morris describes him as an “elliptical figure” whose career exemplifies a certain characteristic mode of working in the film industry, marked by collaboration, shared or changing roles. Morris's 19,744-square-foot (1,834.3 m) painting installation in

1950-429: Is a strong case to be made that Robert Towne is the most gifted scribe ever to write for film. There can be little doubt that he is one of the finest ever." Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood ", and "The King of Cult", he

2028-504: Is brief. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a mixed review, writing, "You would think an interesting picture could be made about Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution , a subject most Americans know next to nothing about. But we learn nothing except that Pancho was a romantic fellow who had a mustache and liked to have people lined up three in a row and killed with one bullet. (That scene, incidentally, got

2106-566: Is captured but the leader of the revolutionary army, Gen Huerta, orders Villa's arrest. When Arnold goes to Gen Huerta to compensate him for the lost plane, he is also arrested, as Huerta has discovered the plane was stolen, and he wishes to maintain good relations with the United States. Villa and Arnold share a cell and debate their morals. Villa is drummed out at dawn to be shot, but Villa demands Captain Fuentes that he be shot by his own men. After

2184-564: The University of Oxford and lived in Paris for a time. Corman then returned to Los Angeles and tried to re-establish himself in the film industry. He took various jobs, including television stagehand at KLAC-TV and a messenger at Fox. He worked as an assistant to literary agent Dick Hyland. Corman wrote a script in his spare time and sold it to William F. Broidy at Allied Artists for US$ 2,000 (equivalent to $ 22,691 in 2023). "Dick thought it

2262-764: The V-12 Navy College Training Program with six months of study to complete. After serving in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946, he returned to Stanford to finish his degree, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering in 1947. While at Stanford University, Corman was initiated in the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon . In 1948, he worked briefly at U.S. Electrical Motors on Slauson Avenue in Los Angeles, but his career in engineering lasted only four days; he began work on Monday and quit on Thursday, telling his boss "I've made

2340-778: The Woolner Brothers and Sorority Girl (1957), starring Susan Cabot for AIP. For AIP, he made The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957), shot in August 1957. He was meant to follow this with Teenage Jungle by Tony Miller. The success of Not of this Earth and Crab Monsters led to Allied offering Corman a four-picture deal for 1958. Corman received his first serious critical praise for Machine-Gun Kelly (1958), an AIP biopic of

2418-697: The Crab Monsters (1957) for Allied, which wound up being one of his most successful early films. For his own production company, Corman made a rock-and-roll "quickle", Carnival Rock (1957), released by Howco. Rock All Night (1957) was a heist film written by Griffith expanded from a TV play, "The Little Guy", with musical acts inserted. He was meant to make Rock'n'Roll Girl for AIP in December 1957. In April 1957, Corman announced he would try to make two films back-to-back from then on to save costs. Corman made two "teen girl noirs", Teenage Doll (1957) for

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2496-520: The Lambs (1991), Philadelphia (1993), Apollo 13 (1995), and The Manchurian Candidate (2004). A documentary about Corman's life and career titled Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel , directed by Alex Stapleton, premiered at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals in 2011. The film's TV rights were picked up by A&E IndieFilms after a well-received screening at Sundance. Corman

2574-418: The Last Years of Hollywood , Towne "secretly employed an old college friend named Edward Taylor as his uncredited writing partner for more than 40 years." (Taylor died in 2013). Towne was credited for his work on The Yakuza (1975) and did script doctoring on The Missouri Breaks (1976), Orca (1977) and Heaven Can Wait (1978). Towne turned to directing with Personal Best (1982). He also wrote

2652-673: The Poe cycle—it featured Price and was made for AIP, written by Beaumont—but was actually based on a story by H. P. Lovecraft . Corman directed a war film in Yugoslavia with his brother, The Secret Invasion (1964), with Stewart Granger and Mickey Rooney , from a script by Campbell. Following this, he announced he would make The Life of Robert E. Lee as part of a four-picture deal with Filmgroup worth $ 3.75 million. Other movies were Fun and Profit by Joel Rapp, The Wild Surfers by John Lamb, and Planet of Storms by Jack Hill . None of these films

2730-654: The Red Death and announced two films, Captain Nemo and the Floating City and House of Secrets . Following The Pit and the Pendulum , Corman directed one of William Shatner 's earliest appearances in a lead role with The Intruder (a.k.a. The Stranger , 1962). Based on a novel by Charles Beaumont , the film was co-produced by Gene Corman and was shot in July and August 1961. It took

2808-659: The behest of star Warren Beatty. Towne received acclaim and was nominated in the Best Original and Adapted Screenplay categories for his scripts The Last Detail (1973), Chinatown (1974), and Shampoo (1975). He won for Chinatown . He later said it was inspired by a chapter in Carey McWilliams's Southern California Country: An Island on the Land (1946) and a West magazine article on Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles. According to Sam Wasson 's The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and

2886-440: The box office. The film was entered into the 28th Moscow International Film Festival . Towne framed several of his signature films as elaborate melodramas . He told The New York Times "I think melodrama is always a splendid occasion to entertain an audience and say things you want to say without rubbing their noses in it. With melodrama, as in dreams, you're always flirting with the disparity between appearance and reality, which

2964-536: The crime thriller Tequila Sunrise (1988), and the romantic drama Ask the Dust (2006). Towne was born Robert Bertram Schwartz in Los Angeles , California , the son of Helen and Lou Schwartz, a clothing store owner and property developer. He grew up in San Pedro and Rolling Hills and attended Chadwick School . He was of Romanian-Jewish descent through his father, and Russian-Jewish descent through his mother;

3042-404: The crowd as he kicks the supporting stools from beneath each man in turn. He is interrupted by the father humming La Cucaracha and the crowd joining in the refrain. But suddenly a Maxim gun starts firing from a rooftop into the soldiers - but the father is not rescued from death. It is Pancho Villa and his men. Villa is puzzled by Arnold's presence. He discovers that he has been running guns to

3120-568: The director" he took his name off; and The New Centurions (1972), where he was to share credit with Stirling Silliphant but asked for his name to be taken off after he saw the film. He did uncredited work for Francis Ford Coppola during the making of The Godfather (1972), including the final scene between Michael and Vito in a garden, shortly before Vito dies. Coppola later thanked Towne for writing this pivotal and "very beautiful" scene in his Academy Award speech for Best Screenplay. Towne also did some work on The Parallax View (1974) at

3198-468: The faint strains of " La Cucaracha " fail to disguise the fact that Villa Rides which dashed into the Forum Theater yesterday, is simply a sprawling Western and not history. As such it incessantly fills the screen with the din of pistols and rifles, and assorted warfare and wenching, shot in sharp color on rugged Spanish sites that strikingly simulate Mexico. Any resemblance to the 1912-1914 campaigns of

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3276-697: The family was Jewish. He had a younger brother, Roger, who co-wrote the 1984 film The Natural starring Robert Redford . He graduated from Pomona College in Claremont , California , studying philosophy and literature. After college, Towne served in the U.S. Army before doing odd jobs including working as a tuna fisherman. Towne originally sought work as a writer and actor. He took an acting class with Roger Corman taught by Jeff Corey where his classmates also included Jack Nicholson (with whom he shared an apartment), Irvin Kershner , and Sally Kellerman . Corman

3354-445: The famous gangster , which gave Charles Bronson his first leading role and co-starred Cabot. Campbell wrote the script. Also for AIP, he did Teenage Caveman (1958), with Robert Vaughn , originally titled Prehistoric World . He helped produce two films for Allied Artists, both from scripts by Leo Gordon : Hot Car Girl (1958), directed by Bernard Kowalski and produced by his brother Gene (the first film they made together) from

3432-415: The film. Towne's script for A Time for Killing had been read and admired by Warren Beatty , who asked Towne to help out on the script for Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Towne later claimed his main contributions were removing the ménage à trois relationship between Bonnie, Clyde, and W.D., making some structural changes. Towne was on set during filming and continued to work during post-production. The film

3510-475: The first film directed by Monte Hellman . Corman went to Puerto Rico and produced another two films back-to-back: Battle of Blood Island (1960), directed by Joel Rapp , and Last Woman on Earth (1960), directed by Corman from a script by Robert Towne . Filming on these two films went so quickly and incentivized by the tax breaks on offer for filming in Puerto Rico, Corman commissioned Griffith to write

3588-590: The first of eight films directed by Corman that were adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe , and which collectively came to be known as the " Poe Cycle ". In 1964, Corman became the youngest filmmaker to have a retrospective at the Cinémathèque française , as well as in the British Film Institute and the Museum of Modern Art . He was the co-founder of New World Pictures , the founder of New Concorde and

3666-513: The greatest screenplays ever written, as well as its sequel, The Two Jakes (1990). For Hal Ashby , he penned the dramedies The Last Detail (1973) and Shampoo (1975). He collaborated with Tom Cruise on the films Days of Thunder (1990), The Firm (1993) and the first two installments of the Mission: Impossible franchise (1996, 2000). Towne directed the sports dramas Personal Best (1982) and Without Limits (1998),

3744-554: The head of a revolutionary army of 50,000. Sam Peckinpah wrote the original script and was set to direct, but Brynner disliked Peckinpah's harsh depiction of Villa and had Robert Towne rewrite the script, with Kulik brought on as director. Towne later said he did this as a favor for Robert Evans , head of Paramount, and hated the experience. This film marked the first of many appearances by Jill Ireland in films with her future husband Charles Bronson, though her part in Villa Rides

3822-678: The lobby of the Lever House in Manhattan, commissioned by the Public Art Fund, was also titled "Robert Towne". In the 2010s, Towne returned to television, working as a consulting producer on Mad Men and writing two episodes of Welcome to the Basement . In 2019, Towne began co-writing, with David Fincher , a Netflix -exclusive prequel television series based on Chinatown character J. J. Gittes, with Fincher serving as showrunner . By June 2024,

3900-451: The local peasant view on Pancho Villa: one seeing him as an outlaw, the other as a hero. A local family take him in and repair his plane and Arnold finds the daughter Fina attractive. Mexican soldiers arrive and beat the men and rape the daughter. The father is taken to the village square and is to be hanged alongside a handful of other men, allegedly for helping Villa. Captain Ramirez chastises

3978-532: The market for them was in decline. He proposed making a film in color for $ 200,000, shot over 15 days. Corman proposed an adaptation of " The Fall of the House of Usher " by Edgar Allan Poe and AIP agreed. The film was announced in May 1959. Richard Matheson was hired to do the adaptation and Vincent Price was brought in to star; Haller did the art direction. The resulting film, House of Usher (1960), shot in early 1960,

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4056-419: The plane but he doesn't like it. They spot a troop train and the next day with the help of the plane they ambush the train. In the evening Villa marries another girl and explains he does it just to please them as "women like to get married". He explains he has married 11 times. The daughter goes to Arnold for solace. Villa is granted an audience with Don Luis the presidential leader of the revolution. They plan

4134-495: The rest. At night the men taunt the daughter (Fina) and one gets shot and is told "where are your manners... go outside to die". Arnold explains she was raped earlier that day. Villa asks for a priest and marries her. The next day Arnold is asked to give a flying demonstration and teach Villa how to fly. Despite being a two-seater Villa goes off alone and manages a few seconds in the air without killing himself and his men all cheer his success. The next day Arnold takes Fierro up in

4212-751: The result was Battle Beyond the Sun (1962). He also released The Magic Voyage of Sinbad (1962), dubbed from a Soviet film. The fourth Poe was an anthology, Tales of Terror (1962), shot in late 1961. One of the installments, "The Black Cat", was a comedy, inspiring Corman to do a whole Poe story comedically next: The Raven (1963). Later, Corman used the sets for that film for The Terror (1963), made for Filmgroup but released by AIP, and starring Boris Karloff (whose scenes were all shot in two days) and Jack Nicholson. Corman did not direct all of this film; additional scenes were shot by Monte Hellman, Coppola, and Jack Hill, among others. The Young Racers (1963)

4290-412: The river but the retreat of the army allows the revolutionaries to charge forward, and the barbed wire is wrecked by the army horses. Villa gains the outer perimeter of the town, but a steep slope must be climbed to reach the town walls. They use bombs to breach the wall. They reach the general and his aides but Ramirez escapes and hides down a well. They toss a bomb down in a bucket to kill him. The town

4368-584: The same script structure and Corman employed many of the same cast in The Little Shop of Horrors (1960). This film was reputedly shot in two days and one night. For Filmgroup, Corman directed The Wasp Woman (1959), starring Cabot from a script by Gordon. His brother and he made two films back-to-back in South Dakota: Ski Troop Attack (1960), a war movie written by Griffith and directed by Corman, and Beast from Haunted Cave (1959),

4446-449: The science-fiction story It Conquered the World (1956). Co-written by Griffith, it was a follow-up to The Day the World Ended . It was a big hit. He optioned a TV play, The Stake , and hoped to get Dana Andrews to star. It was never made. Instead, Walter Mirisch of Allied Artists hired Corman to make The Undead (1957), inspired by The Search for Bridey Murphy . Griffith wrote

4524-479: The screen came to fruition in 2006 with Ask the Dust , a romantic period piece set in Los Angeles based on the novel by John Fante and starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek . Towne had found the novel decades earlier during his research for Chinatown , as he was looking for authentic descriptions of 1930s Los Angeles. He enjoyed the book, considering it "the best book about Los Angeles ever written", and arranged

4602-437: The script for Days of Thunder (1990) and formed a close friendship with its star Tom Cruise . He was one of the writers on Cruise's The Firm (1993), then Beatty's Love Affair (1994). Cruise brought him on to Mission: Impossible (1996) and co-produced Towne's third film as director, Without Limits (1998). He also co-wrote Mission Impossible II (2000) for Cruise. A project Towne had long sought to bring to

4680-691: The script for Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes , hoping to direct, but Personal Best was a financial failure, and he had to sell the Greystoke script. He grew dissatisfied with the production and credited his dog, P. H. Vazak, with the script. Vazak became the first dog nominated for an Academy Award for screenwriting. Towne did uncredited work on Deal of the Century (1983), 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) (), Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987) and Frantic (1988). His second feature film as director

4758-527: The script. In June, Corman made a science-fiction film for Allied Artists, Not of this Earth (1957), written by Griffith. In August 1956, AIP financed a Corman heist movie shot in Hawaii, Naked Paradise (1957), co-written by Griffith. Corman shot it back-to-back with a movie made with his own money, She Gods of Shark Reef (1958). Corman wound up selling the movie to AIP. Corman and Griffith reunited in Attack of

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4836-440: The soldiers and whips him with his money-belt. Arnold is placed with the "Colorados" the junior Mexican soldiers (the seniors have already been hung). They create a game where one of Villa's men Fierro (Bronson) tries to shoot them as they run in small groups to try to escape over a wall... all in the test are killed. Arnold tries to persuade Villa both to quit the game and make use of his plane. Villa lets one soldier escape and kills

4914-419: Was Blood Bath (1966). He also had an investment in the beach party films Beach Ball (1965) and It's a Bikini World (1967). Corman said, "For ten years as an independent I could get financing for $ 100–$ 200–$ 300,000 pictures. Everything had been interesting, artistically satisfying, economically satisfying. But I decided I was going nowhere and wanted to move directly into the business. So I accepted

4992-492: Was Tequila Sunrise (1988), which he wrote back in the early 1980s. Towne told The New York Times that Tequila Sunrise is "a movie about the use and abuse of friendship." Towne expressed his disappointment in The Two Jakes in many interviews. He told writer Alex Simon, "In the interest of maintaining my friendships with Jack Nicholson and Robert Evans, I’d rather not go into it, but let’s just say The Two Jakes wasn’t

5070-462: Was a critical and commercial hit. Following this, Corman bought two scripts, Sob Sisters Don't Cry and Cop Killer . In March 1960, Corman announced that Filmgroup would be part of an international production group, Compass Productions. He directed a peplum in Greece, Atlas , (1961) in August. He was going to direct a thriller from a script by Robert Towne , I Flew a Spy Plane Over Russia . It

5148-524: Was a huge success and although Towne's contribution was credited only as a "special consultant", he began to earn a reputation in Hollywood as a top script doctor. Towne was credited on Villa Rides (1968), which he later said he did as a favor for Robert Evans , head of Paramount. He hated the experience. Towne did uncredited work on the scripts for Drive, He Said (1971), directed by Jack Nicholson ; Cisco Pike (1972), which Towne said turned into "a pretty good movie" but where he got "so angry with

5226-478: Was a longtime member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . In 2009, he was awarded an Academy Honorary Award "for his rich engendering of films and filmmakers". Corman was also famous for handling the U.S. distribution of many films by noted foreign directors, including Federico Fellini (Italy), Ingmar Bergman (Sweden), François Truffaut (France) and Akira Kurosawa (Japan). He mentored and gave

5304-469: Was always fascinating to me, a fascinating man – and a good businessman! He had such incredible energy, it was tremendous – he was a dynamo to be around. I always knew he was going to be a huge success because there was no stopping him. He just made up his mind that he was going to be a success and that was it. ARC changed its name to American International Pictures. Corman was established as their leading filmmaker. They financed Corman's next film as director,

5382-507: Was born in Detroit , Michigan , to Anne (née High) and William Corman, an engineer of Russian Jewish descent. His younger brother, Gene , produced numerous films, sometimes in collaboration with Roger. Corman was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. Corman went to Beverly Hills High School and then to Stanford University to study industrial engineering. While at Stanford, Corman realized he did not want to be an engineer. He enlisted in

5460-730: Was conceived and shot in record time to take advantage of the Sputnik launch; it was his first collaboration with art director Daniel Haller . Corman also produced, but did not direct, Stakeout on Dope Street (1958), directed by Irvin Kershner , Night of the Blood Beast (1958), directed by Kowalski for AIP, using leftover costumes from Teenage Caveman , and Crime and Punishment U.S.A. (1959), directed by Dennis Sanders with George Hamilton in his first lead role. In January 1959, Corman announced he would be moving into distribution. In 1959, Corman founded The Filmgroup with his brother Gene,

5538-418: Was funny and let me pay myself a commission," said Corman. Originally called House in the Sea , it was retitled Highway Dragnet (1954) and starred Richard Conte and Joan Bennett . Corman also worked as associate producer on the film for nothing, just for the experience. Corman used his script fee and personal contacts to raise US$ 12,000 (equivalent to $ 136,149 in 2023) to produce his first feature,

5616-476: Was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film . Many of the more than 500 features directed or produced by Corman were low-budget films that later attracted a cult following, such as The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), The Intruder (1962), X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (1963), and the counterculture films The Wild Angels (1966) and The Trip (1967). House of Usher (1960) became

5694-604: Was known for giving work to untested people of talent. Towne wrote the screenplay for the Corman-financed Last Woman on Earth (1960), in which Towne also played one of the lead roles. The following year he also starred in the Corman-financed Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961). Towne started writing for television on such programs as The Lloyd Bridges Show , Breaking Point , The Outer Limits , and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. . He also wrote

5772-480: Was made, nor was The Gold Bug , a Poe adaptation written by Griffith. Corman made two Poes in England starring Price, the much-delayed The Masque of the Red Death (1964), with Campbell rewriting Beaumont's scripts, and The Tomb of Ligeia (1965), from a script by Robert Towne. Corman made no further Poes; AIP started up a fresh Poe cycle in the late 1960s, but Corman was not part of it. Corman got Towne to write

5850-531: Was not made; neither were two comedies he was to make with Dick Miller and Jon Haze, Murder at the Convention and Pan and the Satyrs . House of Usher had been so successful that AIP wanted a follow-up, and Corman, Haller, Matheson and Price reunited on The Pit and the Pendulum (1961). It was another sizable hit, and the " Poe cycle " of films was underway. Corman hired Charles Beaumont to write Masque of

5928-446: Was one he decided to direct, Five Guns West (1955), a Western, made in color for around $ 60,000, with Malone and John Lund . The script was written by Robert Wright Campbell , who worked with Corman on several more occasions. Corman announced he would make four more projects for ARC: High Steel , Cobra , Fortress Beneath the Sea , and an untitled film from Campbell. Instead, Corman did some uncredited directing on The Beast with

6006-473: Was produced and directed by Corman in Europe for AIP, starring and written by Campbell. Working on the film was Francis Ford Coppola, whom Corman financed to make his directorial debut, Dementia 13 (1963). Back in the U.S., Corman made X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (1963), a contemporary science-fiction film for AIP starring Ray Milland . He followed it with The Haunted Palace (1963), ostensibly part of

6084-400: Was the former son-in-law of late actor John Payne and actress Anne Shirley . Through his daughter Katharine, he was former father-in-law of actor Charlie Hunnam . Towne died at his home in Los Angeles on July 1, 2024, at the age of 89. Writer Uncredited writer Actor Other roles Writer Awards In the book Fifty Filmmakers , journalist Andrew J. Rausch argues: "There

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