Screenhead

There are a slew of new DVDs to be released tomorrow that collectors may be feeling more than a little overwhelmed. Among the new box sets is MGM’s Roger Corman Collection which includes the DVD debut of Corman’s depression era gangster film, Bloody Mama.

Released in 1970, Bloody Mama stars two time Oscar winner Shelley Winters, as well as future two time winner Robert De Niro in his first Hollywood film. Also in the cast are great supporting actors Bruce Dern and Pat Hingle. The film is about Ma Barker and her gang, with the film being Corman’s attempt to cash in on the popularity of Bonnie and Clyde.

Other titles in this collection are two films with Oscar winner Ray Milland, the Edgar Allan Poe story, Premature Burial and my personal favorite, X – The Man with the X-Ray Eyes. The latter film used some interesting colored filters to create the x-ray effects. The special effects may seem dated, but the ending still packs a punch. Other titles include the European race track drama, The Young Racers, the film that kicked off the biker genre, The Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda with Bruce Dern and his then wife Diane Ladd, as well as Nancy Sinatra. Fonda got the starring role because he was willing to learn how to ride a motorcycle when George Chakiris from West Side Story bailed out. The LSD drama, The Trip features a screenplay by Jack Nicholson, who at the time was considering a career change as his acting career was going nowhere. Starring in The Trip are Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper who a couple years later would team up to make a biker film with Jack Nicholson called in to fill a supporting role.

There are a couple of comic Corman films, Gas-s-s, a Viet-Nam era spoof with a mysterious gas killing off everyone over 25. Even better is one of Corman’s last extremely low budget quickies, Bucket of Blood starring Dick Miller as a hapless bus boy who finds success as sculptor, by fatal accident. The film was partially filmed in an actual beat hangout in Los Angeles.

Now if only someone will get around to releasing Roger Corman’s rock and roll films from the Fifties . . .

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