ART S
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 19, 2001-11
~Exp
mas
By Lyle Henretty
Daily Arts Editor
This past S
Arkoff passed
Arkoff was onei
film producers i
yet one not resp
peers. Arkoff, w
upwards of 500
itable) films, may
grandfather of th
With such tit
"The Thing wit
"The Ghost in t
there is little qu
his film-makin
Arkoff's filmsc
and distribute
intended simplyf
Arkoff bega
Releasing Corpo
James H. Nichol
er for the Reala
pany. Two years
was renamed Am
Pictures (AlP). T
and '60's, AIPr
front of expoloi
production, nea
back the little th
profit. Nicholso
Arkoff kept th
strong with doze
throughout the'
Arkoff cared1
merit and less ab
and so-called co
say. He was inte
ing people and t
of his many ma
money spent ona
screen, not ont
egotistical whim
As one of the(
film producer
turned out sev
Nearly all of the
ous genre pics
some urge or an
teenagers. Zom
flicks, girl-in-c
some of the mo
ploitation filmse
breaking work lI
never have mad
symbol and "Bl
have seen the lig
been for Arkoff a
Arkoff also ga
doses of horror
IN MEMORIAM:
loitation film
ter dies at 82
in all of his manic glory. By way of
Arkoff protege Roger Corman, who
directed and produced several
unday, Samuel Z. exploitation films himself, Price
away at age 83. appeared in some of the most
of the most prolific famous films in his prolific career.
in American history, Beginning with "The Fall of the
ected by many of his House of Usher" in 1960 and contin-
vho had his hand in uing through "The Abominable Dr.
(most wildly prof- Phibes" in 1971. Many of these
y just have been the films were loosly based on stories
e exploitation film. by the eerily disturbing Edgar Allen
les to his credit as Poe, and starred such (washed up)
th Two Heads" and screen legends as Peter Lorre, Bela
he Invisible Bikini," Lugosi, and Boris Karloff.
uestion as to where Despite his rather laxed approach
ng motivation lay. to blockbuster filmmaking, a hand-
were cheaply made ful of Arkoff's films achieved a
d, and they were higher evolution than "schlock
for teenagers. film," to the status level of "cult
an the American classic." He produced both Brian
ration in 1954 with DePalma's essential "Dressed to
son, a sales manag- Kill," as well as contemporary hor-
rt Production Com- ror masterpiece, "The Amityville
later the company Horror." He gave the world its first
nerican International look at "A Nightmare on Elm
Throughout the '50's Street" director Wes Craven when he
moved to the fore- purchased "The Last House on the
tation or "B" movie Left."
irly always making As an executive producer,
ey spent with a tidy Arkoff's final film was 1985's
n died in 1971, but "Hellhole." He stayed busy the last
he studio running 16 years of his life appearing in var-
:ns of horror movies ious documentary films discussing
70's. his part in the history of American
little about artistic film, as well as commenting on the
bout what his critics lives and work of others. He
ntemporaries had to remained happily married to his
crested in entertain- wife of 55 years until her death this
he bottom line. One past July. The couple had two chil-
antras was that all dren. Their daughter Donna is mar-
a film should be on- ried to producer/director Joe Roth.
big names or their It is an amazing feat that Arkoff
s. lasted over thirty years in the film
original "Maverick" business without ever becoming
s, Arkoff and AIP obsolete or loosing the pulse of his
eral films a year. core audience: teenagers. People
ese films were vari- went to the movies, Arkoff often
intended to satisfy said, in order to be titilated. He never
nother in American lost track of the entertainment value
bie movies, biker- of violence, gore, sex, mayham, and,
cage classics, and of course, "Dr. Goldfoot and the
st memorable blax- Bikini machine." Arkoff was not an
ever made. Ground- auture. He was not even a good film-
ike "Coffy" would maker. But his honest desire to make
e Pam Grier a sex money by giving people what they
acula" would never wanted is nearly honorable, especial-
ht of day had it not ly in a world where Hollywood and
nd AIR. billions of dollars cannot accomplish C
ave the world large so seemingly easy a task.-
THE GRANDFATHER OF SCHLOCK
Several big names
made Arkoff films
Courtesy otiThe Motion Picture ano Televistion Archive
Vincent Price and Peter Lorre both saw carreer rebirths due to Arkoff.
By Lyle Henretty
Daily Arts Editor
With the recent death of Samuel Z.
Arkoff, it proves astounding to cull
through his other-worldly backlog of
films to see how many truly great
actors and directors got their start (or
spent their retirement slumming) in an
Arkoff picture. His American Interna-
tional Pictures (AIP) was purly bent
on entertaining the public for profit.
Yet, while Arkoff was not out to win
any awards, some of his film alumni
have won more than a few.
Not surprisingly, the most prolific
filmmaker to come away from
Arkoff's studio was Roger Corman,
himself an exploitation master that has
directed some of cinemas most infa-
mous films, including his Edgar Allen
Poe series, with such titles as "The
Raven" and "The Pit and the Pendu-
lum"
In 1970, Shelly Winters may have
realized her career was ending when
she made "Bloody Mama" for Cor-
man, and Pat "Commissioner Gordan"
Hingle's role was pretty much par for
his course, but the real surprise came
from the completely unimportant role
of "Lloyd Barker." Three years before
making a name for himself mouthing
off in Martin Scorsese's
"Meanstreets," Robert DeNiro as one
of the gang members led by Ma Bark-
er. The Oscar winner has played many
criminals since, notably for his por-
trayal of a young Vito Corleone in
"The Godfather II."
Another Academy Award winner to
claw his way up from Arkoff/Corman
films into superstardom was Jack
Nicholson. Cutting his teeth (literally
and figuratively) as a masochistic den-
tal patient in "Little Shop of Horrors,"
he moved on to star with such lumi-
naries as Peter Lorre and Vincent
Price in "The Raven" and "The Ter-
ror." Jack often played the handsome
young leads, and his hambone perfor-
mances made his outlandish co-stars
seem justified in their showy actions.
Horror icon and the father of both
"Scream" and "A Nightmare on Elm
Street," Wes Craven made his first film
for a small group of movie theater
owners on the east coast. The result
would have remained in their hands
forever had Arkoff not bought and dis-
tributed the film. "Last House on the
Left" can still be rented today in
almost any video store, and remains
one of Craven's starkest films. He also
found time to produce unknown Fran-
cis Ford Coppala's "Dementia 13,"
which pre-dated "The Godfather" by
nine years.
Occasionally venturing outside the
realm of no-budget cinema, Arkoff
executive produced Brian De Palma's
1980 thriller "Dressed to Kill," star-
ring Michael Caine and Angie Dickin-
son.
While many newcomers find their
way into Corman films, veteran horror
stars found themselves grateful to him
as well. Some thirty years after Uni-
versal's horror boom of the 1930s,
genre actors like Bela Lugosi ("Drac-
ula") and Boris Karloff ("Franken-
stein") had trouble finding work. They
joined contemporaries Price and Lorre
and saw small career resurgences.
For a producer who made what
many consider films devoid of art, he
had tremendous luck with the artistic
people he choose to populate his film
sets.
:-.-.- ,
SELET AL ORP
:t~i~2 tiSAM U2~ i <ii:ti L Z ii i A ':.'''e f'F i;;
Serpent(v < _>
Nmen~i 3(1963
i i !.!!;E? st ii ,",.:~,"
5y,
lo
Courtesy of (toptwo) American International Pictures and (bottom two) MGM
Clockwise from top left: "Blacula" mixed the trendy blaxplotation film with the old-
fashioned horror. "The Amityville Horror" is still considered one of the scariest films of all
time. Both "Dressed to Kill" and "The Last House on the left" are rentable today.
:: w::s !;:atss 9? !R s ; a,:k
Tb~~ Iin~d ino(13
diety Vincent Price
t
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1i1
a
"] 1:
a
A& V mk-.l
Goff Smith Lecture
Thursday, September 20, 2001
4 p.m.
Dorothy L. And Harry E. Chesebrough Auditorium
Chrysler Center
North Campus
MichiganEngineering