And The Oscar Goes To: Roger Corman

…Ho yeah, it happened. On the evening of November 14th, and with surprisingly little fanfare.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bestowed an honorary Academy Award to Roger Corman at the Inaugural Governor’s Awards in Los Angeles this past Saturday. The event was attended by many of Corman’s former colleagues, including Jack Nicholson (who appeared in a handful of early Corman pictures, such as the original The Little Shop of Horrors and The Raven), Ron Howard (whose directorial debut was the Corman-produced Grand Theft Auto in 1977) and Gale Anne Hurd (who was Corman’s executive assistant during her New World tenure). The award was presented by Quentin Tarantino.

In the words of the Exeter, formerly of Metaluna, “Whether you consider me a saint or a sinner is unimportant…” That is to say, many have lauded this irony-defining turn of events because of Corman’s overall contributions to film. What other penny-pinching schlock-meister can stake a claim as mentor to an entire generation of filmmakers, including (taking a breath…) Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, James Cameron, Martin Scorcese, the aforementioned Ron Howard, Joe Dante and Peter Bodganovich? Others have blanched, focusing on the, well, shall we say “dicey” worth of many (most) of Corman’s actual output (I know, I know, I love Caged Heat too).

Personally? While I myself often find Corman’s oeuvre overly apologized for (for every Masque of the Red Death there are a dozen Carnosaur 3: Primal Species), I still think that anyone who’s gotten so many greats their start deserves some praise, and why not a little gold guy?

Truly we monster fans owe him a great debt, after all he’s given us Audrey 2, the Creature from the Haunted Sea (of the like-titled film, not only the goofiest monster to ever stalk the sea, but one of the few monsters of the era that defeats the human protagonists!) and John Carradine’s Frankenstein of Death Race 2000. Not a monster per se, but awesome all the same.

Thanks and congrats Mr. Corman, we at Famous Monsters salute you!