Original subtitles

[Static]

♪♪

-You know, something I was thinking about

while we were watching that last movie --

I think the world might be slowing down.

'Cause have you noticed

when you're watching late-night movies

how people 50 or 60 years ago talked faster

and moved faster than we do today?

Is this my imagination? I don't think so.

Darcy, do you know what I'm talking about?

-No, not really. [Laughter]

-Well, I'm not talking about those silent films

where the Nazi storm troopers march in triple-time.

You know, that's 'cause the silent films were shot

at 18 frames a second, but for some reason,

they show 'em on TV at 24 frames a second,

so it looks like everybody's moving faster.

And by the way, that burns my bacon.

You would think after about 30 years

of watching these silent films at the wrong speed,

somebody'd figure it out

and show 'em at 18 frames a second on TV

so we can see how the people really looked.

But that's getting off the subject.

What I'm talking about is, like,

if you watch a screwball comedy from the 1930s

or even a biblical epic or something,

the dialogue is just wham, bam, back and forth.

You don't have any pregnant pauses or mumbling.

You know, the dialogue is very fast.

Like in "Little Shop of Horrors" --

you know, no stuttering, no hemming or hawing.

People talk, answer, reply, listen,

talk, answer, listen, reply, but they don't ever stop.

Anyway, Darcy, answer me.

-Sorry, what?

-See? You hesitated.

You're a millennial. [Chuckles]

Darcy the Mail Girl, ladies and gentlemen,

here to field your incoming on the final movie

of the last night of the "Last Drive-In" season.

And, of course, it's Roger Corman night.

Are you sad?

-I'm always sad on the last show.

-'Cause we never know if it's the lastshow

of the last shows. [Laughter]

Anyway, are you following what I'm saying here?

At first I thought this was

maybe just a style that they used

in the movies, that they wanted to keep it moving

no matter how dramatic the scene.

But I don't think so, for two reasons.

One is these people don't ever seem to be rushing.

They're just talking at a normal, comfortable speed.

It's just faster than we talk today.

And the second reason is that my grandpa

had some tapes of these old meetings of the Bonehead Club

with, uh, formal speeches and kidding around

and awards presentations and roasts.

And I got the same impression.

These guys talk faster than we do.

You know, I should explain the Bonehead Club.

The Bonehead Club was a men's club in Dallas.

They called themselves Boneheads

because they were dedicated to practical jokes

and embarrassing themselves

and embarrassing anybody else who ever crossed their path.

Anyway, they would do stuff like...

My favorite thing that they did was they would bury rifle shells

on the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza.

But anyway, they would invite nationally prominent people

to speak and then cut off their tie

and tell them they only had 22 seconds

to make all their remarks.

They always had 57 members

'cause that was the number of Heinz varieties.

I never understood that joke.

But anyway, it was kind of a real-life version

of the Raccoon Lodge on "The Honeymooners,"

if you know that reference.

I think they shut it down

'cause everybody wanted to kill 'em.

But they talked fast at their meetings.

And one time I took a bunch of old movie scripts

from the '30s and '40s

and I compared the number of pages in the script

to the running time of the movie.

And you can verify it from that.

The old scripts were about 150 pages

for a 100-minute movie.

Today's scripts are about 110 pages

for a 120-minute movie.

So, the only way to explain this is that they talked faster.

Also, I was thinking about the number of times

back when I was doing stand-up comedy

that I would notice how slow people were to respond.

'Cause I would pick guys out of the audience

and I would say, "Are you married?"

Just -- Just so I could see --

I already knew he was married.

I just wanted to see how long it would take the person to answer.

And some guys would sit there forever.

And of course, the audience would laugh

'cause they thought the guy was avoiding the question.

It might be that he just couldn't answer

any faster than that.

And it was especially funny when his wife was sitting beside him

waiting to see what he said.

But go to some event where people are aged 80 and older --

they have absolutely no trouble answering immediately.

You say, "How old are you?" and the guy pipes right up -- "87!"

You know, and sometimes they're great ad-libbers, too.

You know, they're likely to say,

"87, but I tell the ladies I'm 85."

You know, or -- So, obviously, big difference

between the ability of this generation

to just spit out what they're thinking about

and the ability of our parents' and grandparents' generation

to say the same thing.

I have a friend who teaches acting to young people.

And he has students who always allow a full second or two

to lapse before they respond to their partner.

And of course, by then,

all the spontaneity goes out of their response,

and so their acting is cornball.

So, when did we become mutes? That's my question.

Wasn't this supposed to be the tech century,

where everything got faster?

And I have a theory about it.

We don't like things being faster.

We're chicken.

We're too chicken to say anything.

We have a thousand forms of shorthand.

We stammer to make people think we're thoughtful

and we stare to make people think we're tough

and we hem and haw to make people think we're really trying

and we do everything except talk.

And, uh, this is boring

even if Sly Stallone is doing it.

You know, if you've seen it more than two or three times --

more than two or three times, it starts to get boring.

So, let's speed it back up. Okay?

I'm sure Roger Corman would agree with me.

Roger always wanted these movies to be short.

So, Roger will be with us at the first break,

because it's time for one of the most famous

and infamous movies released by New World Pictures,

the company he formed after he stopped directing in 1970,

quickly turning it into one of the most successful

independent distribution companies in the world.

And I'm talking about "Humanoids from the Deep,"

the sensitive story of Doug McClure

in a plaid jacket trying to figure out

why mutant sea creatures

are raping the local women

and eviscerating every dog in sight

in a small town up by Mendocino.

Helped by a supermodel scientist studying salmon food,

he might just have time to save the carnival

and protect Native American fishing rights.

But not if the evil corporate goons keep firebombin'

the beachfront houses and beatin' up the cast.

Sure, we've seen it before, but have we seen it

with a ventriloquist dummy sex scene on the beach?

I think not.

Let's look at those Drive-In Totals and get started.

We have...

Drive-In Academy Award nominations for --

Vic Morrow as the evil cannery magnate

who says, "You're not gonna stand in our way."

Anthony Pena as the local Native American activist

with an attitude

and a big shot Sacramento lawyer.

Greg Travis as "Mad Man" Mike Michaels,

the local deejay who can't die soon enough.

Linda Shayne as Miss Salmon.

And Rob Bottin,

the guy who built the rubber suits,

for doing things the drive-in way.

Four stars.

Joe Bob says check it out.

I was gonna give a Drive-In Academy Award nomination

to Barbara Peeters, the director,

but she kind of disavowed the movie.

I mean, she said Roger ordered some additional footage

after she turned it in.

She claims Roger wanted more sex and violence.

Like that was a big surprise to her.

So, yeah, not exactly a drive-in kind of gal.

But we'll -- we'll ask Roger.

I'm sure he has a perfectly good explanation.

Would Roger put gratuitous sex or violence in a movie?

-Hell, yeah. [Laughter]

-You know, I'm -- I'm appalled by your attitude, Darcy.

[Laughter]

♪♪

[Static]

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♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-You know, it's almost not worth going out anymore

given the fact that the salmon have all but disappeared.

Yeah. I'd be happy with a good tuna fish, salmon.

-[Chuckles] -Huh? Huh?

If something else isn't scaring the fish,

that'll do it for sure, huh, Tommy?

-[Laughs] -Hey, how's the beard, Deke?

-Aw, it's starting to itch real good, Tommy.

We're in for a big run!

-Well, don't shave that shaggy mess

until we fill all our holds, okay?

-You got it.

-Morning, Hank.

-Hey, Jimbo. Perfect day, right?

Well, damn near perfect.

-Hey, Johnny. You going out today?

-Jim, there ain't enough fish out there

for me to pay for my gas.

If you get that cannery, inside of two or three years,

ain't gonna be any fish at all.

-Oh, canneries mean progress for towns like ours,

and progress means money.

See, you and your people, you don't understand that.

But I'll tell you one thing,

you're not gonna stand in our way.

-That's what Custer said, Slattery.

-I know. You won the battle, but we won the war.

Alright, boys! Let's kick ass!

Lot of salmon out there with Slattery's name on it. Let's go!

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Okay, Jackie, turn it on!

Come on, Jackie! Get on the winch now!

-Okay, Pop.

-I think we got something, Harry.

-Sure looks like it.

-Yes, sir, we have got a catch.

Jesus, do we got a catch!

♪♪

-Looks like we got ourselves some big ones, Deke.

♪♪

[Motor sputters, stops]

-Goddamn it. Now what?

♪♪

-Outta gas, Pop.

-Outta gas?

You mean to tell me you've been out here all day

and you didn't even check the gas

in the goddamn winch motor?

-Sorry, Pop.

-Oh, come on, now. Sorry doesn't get it, son.

So get it filled up for me, will ya? Quick!

♪♪

[Creature screeching]

♪♪

Smitty! Get the engine started.

Uh, let's try to hook this thing up

to the, uh, stern cleats here.

What do you think, huh?

♪♪

-Shit.

-Hey! Let's get that engine moving.

-Smitty, what the hell are you doing up there?

-There's no oil pressure, Deke.

I guess the damn pump's finally gone out.

-Oh, shit! Why me?!

[Winch creaking]

♪♪

-We got to -- We better get this up.

Harry, get that front cleat.

Oh, geez, you hear that? It's gonna break!

Hey, forget that over there, Jackie.

Just come and give us a hand here now.

Come on!

♪♪

Something's dragging it out faster than we can get it in.

♪♪

Come on, boy! Get further down. Reach over and pull.

Come on, Jackie, pull it!

[Creature screeches]

♪♪

We gotta get the pressure off this boom!

♪♪

Jackie!

Give me a hook. -Help!

[Creature screeches]

-Mayday! Mayday! This is the Bucko.We're in trouble.

-Grab hold, Jackie. Grab hold.

♪♪

♪♪

I gotta save my boy!

I gotta -- I gotta get in there! -Deke!

-I gotta save my kid! Gotta save my kid!

♪♪

I gotta get his ass out! -Deke!

[Shouting indistinctly]

-Deke! Nothing you can do.

♪♪

[Explosion]

-I don't see anyone in the water.

Start it up. Call the Coast Guard.

Well, go on.

[Explosion]

Aha! I gotcha! [Laughs]

-Boats don't just blow up for no reason at all, Jim.

-The Buckoleaked oil like a sieve, Hank.

-Which'd make it damned easy to rig an explosion.

Big companies don't like to settle in a town

where things like this keep happening,

and there's some around here don't want a cannery.

-Well, what do you mean by that, Hank?

Do you think Johnny's involved in this?

-Hank, something scared 'em. -[Crying]

-They were shooting at something,

and it wasn't Johnny Eagle.

-What's the matter? -Come here, baby.

-What is it? What's the matter with him?

[Dog growling softly]

-Hey, boy, what is it? Baron, come over here.

-Well, go on. Sic 'em, sic 'em!

♪♪

-Think it's a raccoon?

-Most likely.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Dog barking]

[Creature roars]

♪♪

[Birds chirping]

-Come on, Baron. Come on, boy.

[Whistles]

Baron?

Baron, where are you?

Come on, Baron.

Baron, what's wrong?

♪♪

[Cat yowls]

[Sighs]

Hey, Jim, come here a minute!

Oh, God. What do you think that is?

-I don't know.

Never seen it anywhere before.

Goes off that way.

-Let's follow it.

-Yeah.

♪♪

Baron! [Whistles]

Hey!

-Come on, Baron. Come on, boy!

-Baron!

[Whistles] Baron!

Here.

-Come on, Baron.

Where are you, boy?

-Baron! [Whistles] Hey, pup!

♪♪

[Men laughing]

-Hey, screw the festival, the wives and kids.

What we need is a little private party.

All this booze and some of them hot numbers

from over in Humboldt County.

-Shit, ol' Jenny'd find out

and use your ass for salmon bait.

-Hisass? Hell, the fish'd migrate to Atlanta.

-Hey, come on, will you knock that shit off?

My old lady told me she'd kick my ass

if we open any of that before the festival.

-Well, I'd say easy enough. Let's open 10 or 12.

-Ah, let's put that beer away. I got ice melting in the hold.

♪♪

-[Whistles]

Baron!

-Come here, boy!

-Baron!

♪♪

Baron!

[Whistles]

♪♪

♪♪

-Oh, God, Jim!

-No way! [Laughter]

Hey, asshole!

♪♪

[Flies buzzing]

♪♪

[Dog whimpering]

-That's funny.

The only dog left alive is the Indian's.

♪♪

Boys, we got ourselves a problem.

[Jazz music playing on radio]

[Low growling]

♪♪

♪♪

[Thud]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Jazz music stops]

♪♪

[Metal clangs]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Clatters] -[Gasps]

[Telephone rings] [Gasps]

Hello?

Oh! Linda, hi.

No, nothing. I just got kind of startled.

I was hearing some noises.

♪♪

Yeah, I'm ready. When are you coming over?

♪♪

Alright, see ya.

Bye-bye.

[Faint thud in distance, clock ticking]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Handle jiggling]

♪♪

-[Screams] -[Gasps]

-What the hell are you doing?!

-You asshole.

-The back door was locked.

I thought I'd come in the side door.

-You know, you could've been stabbed.

-Hey, well, if you'd have done that, uh...

then we couldn't do this.

-Um...

You know what? I think I'm just a little too scared.

Besides, Tom and Linda are gonna be here any minute now.

You know what I mean?

[Static]

-And so begins one of the most beloved titles

of New World Pictures in the 1970s and 1980s.

And because of the title,

we don't just know that something is out there --

we know that something is humanoid

and that it's from the ocean.

Fortunately, the master of titling and retitling is back

with us tonight -- Roger Corman,

founder of New World Pictures, as well as --

How many distribution companies have you owned, Roger?

There was New World and then you had Concorde

and I think New Concorde.

-It was all the same company.

What happened is I started New World

and within really a very short period of time,

we emerged as the number one independent, uh, distributor.

And three entertainment lawyers, uh, approached me

with the idea of buying New World.

What they really wanted was the name

because we were famous --

well, quasi-famous,

uh, not only for American low-budget films,

but we were distributing for Fellini, Bergman,

Kurosawa, and so forth.

-Right. You were doing distribution

for the legendary directors of arthouse cinema.

-Our pictures won more

Academy Award for best foreign film

than everybody else combined.

So the name was important to them.

-The brand name you built was everything.

-So, I ended up just selling them my distribution arm,

which is what they wanted, and the name,

which was easy because I knew I'd be able

to start my own distribution company immediately,

a new distribution company.

That was no problem.

-Would it be accurate to say that you found companies,

build up a library of films, sell the company,

and the following day create a new company

in the same building with the same staff

ready to build up a new library of films?

-Uh, everything except the same staff.

I had -- I put together a new distribution staff,

but my production staff and so forth all remained the same.

I simply -- I had to start from scratch on distribution.

-I think my old boss Ted Turner was the first man

to realize the value of a film library

when he bought all the titles of MGM in the early '80s.

About the same time that you sold New World.

Is the library value the ultimate payoff

for a distribution company?

-It's one of the payoffs.

It-- It's two things.

It's maintaining yourself

as a current production distribution company

and also exploiting the library,

particularly in syndication, uh, TV.

That was at that time. -Right.

Though I guess syndication is less important now

that audiences have all moved to streaming.

-Now, I'm no longer in distribution at all,

uh, and I've sold most of my library.

So I'm simply now at my age, I'm an independent producer.

I make one or two pictures a year

just to sort of stay in the game

and because I love the game.

-So, Roger, how important is a title?

-A title is very important.

"Humanoids from the Deep" --

I felt that was one of our best titles.

It turned out to be quite a good picture,

so it was a major success for us.

-Now, this movie was filmed under a working title,

"Beneath the Darkness."

And a few cynical people, Roger,

have implied that the working title

was a way to lure unsuspecting name actors like Doug McClure,

Vic Morrow, the supermodel Ann Turkel

into a project

that might not have attracted their attention

had it been called "Humanoids from the Deep"

on the script they were sent.

Any truth to that?

-It is 100% true.

[Laughter]

-Okay, so, New World Pictures became one of the few

instant successes in the distribution business.

You were wildly profitable after just one year.

Now, would it be accurate to say that the nurse movies

were responsible for that?

Let me see if I can name them in order.

"The Student Nurses," "Private Duty Nurses,"

"Night Call Nurses," and "The Young Nurses."

I believe several of those you titled yourself?

-Yes.

The choices were all mine, but it was two types of films.

Our first two films were "The Student Nurses,"

which was a big success for us,

and the second film was "The Big Doll House,"

a women-in-prison film, which was even bigger a success.

So we were off to really a -- a wild start.

Ah, it -- it was just amazing how fast we grew.

-And the other interesting factor

in New World's success, which you alluded to earlier,

is that you were distributing

the films of foreign filmmakers that you admired,

such as Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini

and François Truffaut.

And I was delighted to find out,

as you told me many years ago, that Ingmar Bergman was thrilled

when he found out his pictures were being shown in drive-in.

-[Laughs] Well, that's true.

What happened was this.

We were very successful with, uh --

with Ingmar Bergman's picture the "Cries and Whispers."

Now, come fall, drive-ins started to fall off

because the -- the weather was turning bad.

They stayed open for a while with bad weather,

but the major studios weren't giving 'em any films,

and we were.

And I got the idea.

I thought, here we're sitting

with all of these prints of "Cries and Whispers."

It's finished its distribution run.

Why don't I put one in a drive-in and see what happens?

And I figured this was either gonna be a big success,

a big way to go, or it's going to be totally failed.

Uh, an art film in a drive-in.

We did average business.

Nobody was so pleased as I was

to do average business

putting Bergman's film in a drive-in.

And he wrote me a letter thanking me

for bringing his film to an audience

that he never expected to get to.

-Alright. One more question and then back to the movie.

Others tried to copy the New World's success.

There was a company called Crown International.

Uh, Atlantic Releasing had a big hit with "Valley Girl."

One of your protégés, Menahem Golan,

started a company called Cannon Films

that flew high for a while and then crashed.

There were small one-hit-wonder companies with movies

like "Harper Valley PTA" and "Billy Jack"

only to crumble two or three movies down the line.

What was your secret?

You were releasing more movies per year than the major studios,

and yet you never had that big crash

that all the independents seem to have.

-They would have one or two successes,

but they didn't have the production knowledge

or the production know-how to keep going.

I might add two other companies.

Bob Shaye at New Line,

which became much bigger than we were,

just told me, he said,

"Look, I took the word 'new' from New World.

And I knew what you were doing, and I founded, uh, New Line."

And so they grew...

Uh, the only two who really grew,

and actually they grew bigger than we were,

were New Line and the Weinstein brothers.

-Alright. Well, our audience is dying to see

what happens to the buxom Denise Galick.

That's the name of the actress

roaming around her house with a barbecue fork

because there might just be a gill man outside

attempting a home invasion.

So, roll the movie.

[Chuckles] Ah!

The follow-up movie made by the people

who made millions with "Harper Valley PTA"

was a movie called "Chattanooga Choo Choo,"

starring Joe Namath and Barbara Eden.

And it had box office numbers on opening weekend --

I remember this.

Um, I've never seen numbers like this.

One theater in Dallas

had a Memorial Day weekend gross

of $28.

That's the entire take for a four-day weekend.

And so that ended their foray into independent distribution.

There were no actual suicides

associated with "Chattanooga Choo Choo,"

but I would imagine quite a few of the producers considered it.

[Laughter]

♪♪

[Static]

[Up-tempo folk music playing]

♪♪

[Indistinct conversations]

♪♪

-Evening, Mayor.

-Why, hi, Jim, Carol.

Nice seeing you. -Hi, Jim!

-Hey, when we gonna get some duck hunting in, young fella?

-Just lost my dog.

Oh, sorry. Where's your husband?

-God only knows.

Him and the boys took off 20 minutes ago.

-Mm. Come on in, Jim.

♪♪

[Applause]

-Hey, Jen. -Hi, Billy.

-Hey, Jen.

-Have you been drinking?

-Sure, I been drinking.

[Chuckling] Come on, woman.

[Up-tempo folk music plays]

-Come on, or we'll miss the dancing. Come on!

-Yeah, and the beer.

-Oh! [Laughs]

The hell with the beer, Peggy.

-Hey, what's this, Jim?

You remembered! Alright.

♪♪

♪♪

[Applause]

-Thanks, folks, thanks.

Now, before Jo Williams and her Whitewater Boys

get going again,

I want to introduce you to some very important visitors

to this year's festival.

From Canco, Incorporated,

their president, Mr. Charles Borden.

[Applause]

And his special assistant, Mr. James Edwards.

And their associate, Dr. Susan Drake.

[Applause] -Whoo!

-Thanks, folks, really.

-Here comes the pitch.

-Now, before the fun starts, I just want to say

that we at Canco are 100% behind you and your town,

and we're here tonight to promise you

that our cannery will be the best thing to happen here

since God made the river and the ocean.

[Applause]

And while we're at it, I'm gonna make you another promise.

We'll bring jobs to Noyo.

And you may not believe this,

but we're actually going to increase the catch.

Dr. Susan Drake here,

great little scientist,

has been conducting research at our labs upstream

for the last seven years,

and she says now that they've got the handle

on how to make salmon grow bigger, faster,

and twice as plentiful!

[Applause]

-Now, that's news we like to hear.

That's news we can really celebrate.

So, Jo, strike up the band.

Let's have some great dancing and enjoy ourselves

at this year's festival.

[Cheers and applause]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Thank you so much.

-Well, from what I hear,

we should be thanking you for the work you're doing.

Jim tells me he's gonna be taking you

for a little pleasure fishing tomorrow.

-Yeah, I even picked out a rod and reel for you tomorrow.

-That's sweet of you.

-Hey, Jimbo, what do you think about this gal?

Gonna do great things, huh?

-I'll believe it when I see it.

-You'll see it.

♪♪

-Mm! -[Chuckling]

[Down-tempo folk music playing]

-Jerry, what was that? -What?

-There was -- There was -- There was something outside.

-What?! I didn't hear anything.

♪♪

♪♪

-Every damn watchdog on the dock torn to pieces,

except for Johnny Eagle's.

-Yeah, so Slattery was saying. You got any ideas?

-No, I haven't come to any conclusions yet.

-Seems like Slattery has.

♪♪

♪♪

[Door closes]

[Music stops, crowd murmurs]

-Somebody killed my dog, Slattery.

You got any ideas?

-Well, that's a coincidence.

Somebody killed seven of our dogs last night at the dock.

Yougot any ideas?

-I don't kill dogs to get what I want.

I'm gonna put an end to this.

I'm going to court.

I'm gonna file suit for the return

of all Indian lands along the river.

I'm gonna stop your cannery, Slattery!

But I'm gonna do it by the law. Your law!

-Boys, this breed wasn't even invited to this party.

He's upsetting the folks.

Moore, get him outta here.

-[Shouting indistinctly]

-Get this animal out of here.

[People murmuring]

Folks, sorry for the inconvenience.

Come on, let's hear some music. Go on with the party now.

-Slattery, you cheap bastard!

I'm sick of your messenger boys!

Why don't you fight like the man you pretend to be?!

-I'm telling you for the last time.

Get your drunk ass out of here before I kick it out!

-You think you can, you white ass?!

Come on, let's go! You and me!

-You don't think I can, huh?

-I know you can.

-Yeah, you know I can, I know I can,

everybody else knows I can.

But how're ya gonna convince a dumb Indian, huh?

Go on, let him go. Let him go.

Aah! -[Grunts]

Go on, get up.

Get up, or I'll kill ya!

[Grunts]

-What's happening?

-[Grunting]

[Groans]

-Oh! -Hank!

-Nail him, Hank. -What's going on?

-Hank! -Get it, baby!

-Alright! -Go on, Hank.

-Aah! -Get him again, baby!

-Nail him a good one!

-Just get back, will you, love?

-Aah!

-Jim, look out!

[Punches thudding]

-[Groans]

-Ah! -Get him off my back, bro.

-Now, you stay where you are.

[People murmuring]

-Oh!

[Gunshots]

-Alright, boys. That'll be about enough.

Now, pick yourselves up and go on home.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Hooting]

♪♪

[Birds calling]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Well, let's just wait and hear

what Johnny Eagle has to say.

♪♪

What makes you think we can win, Johnny?

-I just talked to Jim Lauher in Sacramento,

and he's so sure this is a landmark case,

he's gonna take it on for free.

♪♪

-What can we do to stop 'em now?

-File suit against Noyo County

for violation of our treaty fishing rights,

and Canco's tied up in court.

Lauher's ready to slap it to 'em right now.

So let's vote on it and get this thing moving.

[Waves crashing]

♪♪

-They'll be feeding near the bottom, bro.

-Right.

♪♪

[Ominous music plays]

-It's mine! I got one! It's mine! Ho ho!

[Camera shutter clicks]

The first one of the day!

-Hey, and it only took you two hours!

-But you're gonna change all that, aren't you?

-I'm sure gonna try.

♪♪

♪♪

-Hey, Jerry, does it hurt?

-Yeah, a little.

But, uh, you could make it feel a lot better.

-You got a one-track mind, Jerry Potter.

-Yeah.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-But what'd you use for bait? -Spit on it.

-Spit on it, yeah. [Laughs] [Reel whirring]

Hey, let me at that! Let me at that!

-Sounds like a whale!

-Okay, tighten up the drag before you reel it in.

-Come on, Charlie -- uh, Mr. Borden.

-I'm trying.

-Okay, Mr. Borden, straighten out the pole.

-It won't come up.

-Reel it in slow and steady.

-I'm trying.

[Groaning] It's a monster.

-Keep it up. We're almost there.

♪♪

-Easy. Easy.

Easy. Just one more second.

-[Grunts]

[Camera shutter clicking]

♪♪

-Will you just get me a drink?

-Yes, sir!

-You see what it was? -No, I didn't.

-Well, what was she shooting at?

-I don't know, but something cut that line, Jim.

-What?

-I think you've been out on the water too long, Tom.

-Could you tell what you were shooting at with that thing?

-Oh, I won't know that until they've been developed.

-Hardly wait to see that.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Aah!

♪♪

-Aah! -Aah!

♪♪

-[Laughs]

♪♪

-Come on, Jerry, don't be an ass!

Jerry!

-Raaah!

♪♪

♪♪

[Both laughing]

[Gasps]

♪♪

-Jerry?

Jerry?

Come on, Jerry.

Jerry.

[Screaming]

♪♪

♪♪

[Screaming]

[Creature shrieking]

♪♪

♪♪

-Linda!

I'm going down to meet the boat.

You wanna come?

-[Screaming]

Oh, no, no!

-[Growling] -Please, no! No!

Please, no!

Please, no! [Sobs]

[Static]

-Okay, Roger, we just watched a 15-minute sequence

and we've had all kinds of social issues --

corporate greed,

broken Native American treaties,

racism,

the casual small-town bigotry of beer-swilling rednecks.

So, we're about to have genetic food modification

as an issue,

and of course, amphibious monster rape.

You always have a lot going on in the subtext of your films.

Is that accurate?

-That is completely accurate.

I am to the left politically

and I never want to interfere

with the entertainment value of the film.

If it's a horror film, you get the horror.

If it's a science fiction film, you get the science fiction.

But at the same time, as a subtext,

there are thoughts that I would like to get in personally.

And I think it acts as a -- a catalyst

to a certain extent to the combination.

It makes the film more complex and more interesting.

But the key thing is never to overdo that,

to remember that the number-one element

is the entertainment value that you've advertised.

-Well, you're a well-known Hollywood liberal.

You always put social justice causes, uh, into your movies.

You made a passion project in 1962 called "The Intruder,"

starring William Shatner,

about racism in the rural South --

award-winning movie that you once told me

was the only movie you ever made that lost money.

And that became a turning point in your career.

-Yes, uh-huh.

It was the only film at that time

that I'd ever made that lost money.

And the reason was, I believe,

although the film did win a couple of awards

and the reviews were wonderful...

One of the New York newspapers

said, "'The Intruder' is a major credit

to the entire American film industry."

But it lost money.

And I think it lost money for two reasons.

One, the public just didn't want to see a picture

about racial integration.

And two -- and this is where my lesson came in --

I was too earnest.

I was delivering a message.

I was not delivering entertainment.

Which led me to the themes of my films after that,

where, as I said, I made certain

that I always delivered the entertainment value

and the themes I was interested were always subtextual.

They were all secondary.

-Well, I don't know if you're aware of this, Roger,

and I'm not sure who told me this,

but whoever owns "The Intruder" made a sale

to English TV in 2012

that put the movie into the black.

So, it took 50 years,

but your undefeated record was restored!

[Laughter and applause] -That is true.

It was 40 or 50 years after we made the film

that we finally got, uh, the end of our investment back.

-At any rate, after "The Intruder,"

you always put social and political themes

into the subtext, as you said.

And you were loading up New World with female employees

long before women had broken the glass ceiling in Hollywood.

Especially notable were directors Stephanie Rothman

and Barbara Peeters, who directed this movie,

which makes it ironic that "Humanoids from the Deep"

became a source of feminist protest

when the movie was released.

Barbara Peeters apparently objected

to some second unit footage

shot after she finished the film.

Is that right?

-Yes, well, it was true

that I had many, uh, women assistants and directors.

I might mention Gale Anne Hurd, who produces "The Walking Dead"

and has had many feature films, as well.

And Barbara Peeters, I thought, was a good director.

I think she had done a picture for me first.

-That's right. Barbara had previously done, uh,

"Summer School Teachers" for New World.

She also did art direction on one of the nurse movies,

and she had done second unit work on "Eat My Dust,"

Ron Howard's first movie for you.

-And I remember talking with her at the beginning

because I always have a discussion with the director

to point out the goals, what we're looking for --

the usual thing that I assume other producers

also do with their directors.

I remember I ended up by saying to Barbara,

"Remember, the key is this.

The humanoids come out of the ocean,

they kill the men,

and they assault the women."

She said, "Got it --

they kill the men and they assault the women."

[Laughter]

-If I had to boil it down, yeah,

that's the long and short of the movie.

-Now, having been a director myself,

I don't hang around on the set every day

watching the director shoot.

And the first few days were going well,

so I came back to Hollywood.

When I looked at the first cut of the film,

Barbara had done half of what she was supposed to do.

The killing of the men was so gory

you couldn't even look at the screen.

We had to cut it back a little bit

because of the excessive gore in the killing of the men.

In the assaulting of the women,

she photographed shadows on the rocks.

And I thought, "This is nothing."

So I brought in Jim Sbardellati,

the assistant director, and I said, "Look,

there's -- there's nothing with the women in this.

There's got to be the equivalent of the women to the men."

So Jim shot some additional scenes,

which were really quite good.

But they were still with--

It was an R-rated film.

It was still within the bounds of being R-rated.

-But Barbara didn't like the second unit stuff.

She didn't like Jim's stuff, right?

-Barbara objected.

And I said, "Barbara, you didn't do your job.

I had to have somebody come in and finish the job for you."

The net result was it was one of our most successful films.

And I think Barbara has just sort of lived with the fact

that she made a very successful film.

-Well, Roger, you're the perfect person

to answer this question,

'cause we talk about it all the time.

But you started making movies at a time

when all nudity was forbidden by the Hays Office.

And you made movies during the '60s and '70s

when nudity was considered

a liberating, hip symbol of freedom.

And then you made movies in the '80s

when there was kind of a backlash against that.

And you've made movies since the '80s

when it became fashionable to avoid nudity.

As a matter of principle, there are young directors

who proudly state, you know, they don't do nudity.

So, a sort of full-circle return to the '50s.

What was your policy at New World,

if you had one, about nudity?

-Well, there was no written out or official policy.

It was just the way I wanted to function.

At a time when you didn't, uh, have nudity,

we had no nudity.

Uh, but actually, starting when New World started in 1970,

a little nudity was allowed.

So I took advantage of that fact

because I felt it was an additional selling point,

and we had a little bit of nudity

in our very first two pictures,

"The Student Nurses" and "The Big Doll House."

And we continued doing that.

And then we started to fade away from it

because it was no longer a novelty.

It was no longer, in my opinion, a selling point

because it was done so often, it had lost its meaning.

-Well, would it be accurate to say

that you like strong female characters

in charge of their lives

who also enjoy taking their clothes off?

-Yes, you could put all that together.

I'll go along with that statement.

-Alright. Let's get back to the escalating tension

at the Salmon Festival in Northern California.

Roll it.

You know, I do a one-man show called

"How Rednecks Saved Hollywood" and I think I mention

ten Roger Corman movies from the '70s.

You kept going back to the South again and again,

making movies about aggressive women

in Daisy Duke short shorts and halter tops,

fighting against the syndicate

trying to take over their moonshine operation, right?

Criminally minded Southern women like "Big Bad Mama,"

"Boxcar Bertha," which was Martin Scorsese's first film.

He made it for you at New World in Arkansas.

The social justice subtext there was --

don't mess with a Southern girl, 'cause she can kick your ass.

[Laughter]

♪♪

[Static]

-Paul, you got those beers?

-Coming right up.

[Mid-tempo country music playing]

[Indistinct conversations]

-How you doing, boys?

-Doing good.

♪♪

♪♪

-Boys, I want you to listen to me.

We got ourselves a problem,

and the buck's gotta stop right here now.

Johnny Eagle means business.

You know who's over at his place right now?

Bunch of those Indians from the reservation.

You know what he's doing?

He's talking them into filing a lawsuit against us

in connection with the canneries.

Yeah, I was just over there just now and I overheard him.

That's not all.

He's got himself one of those big-shot city attorneys.

You know, one of those minority lawyers.

Gonna take their case on for nothing.

-Except the publicity he'll get.

-Maybe we gotta hire ourselves a lawyer, Hank.

-And then what?

Wait two years till it comes up in court?

You think those cannery folk are gonna wait around

till we solve our problems?

No way.

We got to take care of Johnny Eagle and his people.

Or we ain't gonna have no cannery.

-How?

♪♪

-What do you mean, how?

Any way we can, that's how.

-See ya, bro.

-Jim, how's the face?

-Ah...

Eh, I'll live.

-Thanks again.

-You look worse than I do.

-[Chuckles]

Thanks anyway. Both of you.

-Any man done the same thing.

-Jim, there's something I want to talk to you about.

The cannery.

-Johnny, I'm for it, you're not.

There's nothing more to say.

[Car doors closing]

[Engine stops]

-It's funny. I mean, he doesn't even like those guys.

But he feels the town needs 'em,

and he -- he wants what's best for the town.

-So do I.

I'd like to discuss it with you, Tommy.

-Hi, guys. -Hi, hon.

-Hey, I caught a bunch of steelheads the other night.

Need some help eating them.

How'd you guys like to come along?

-Oh, sure, yeah.

-Great.

[Motor starts]

[Mid-tempo country music playing on radio]

♪♪

-Hey, honey. Why don't you take it off?

Let's see some skin.

-Nothing comes off till I see it.

-Okay, how's this?

-Oh, come on, show me more than the head.

-Well, the head's the best part.

-Oh, come on.

-For you, okay. -[Laughs]

-Billy, she's really doing it.

Oh, my God! Get me out of this thing.

Billy, what's holding ya?

Come on, Billy! Come on, I'm not passing this up.

What are ya, a klutz? I'll miss the excitement!

Hey.

Hey, honey, wanna see my woodpecker?

-Will I get splinters?

-Don't worry, baby. I've been sanded.

[Chuckles]

Hey, baby, I'll bet you never made it with twodummies.

Like they say, two heads are better than one.

-Well, Chuck, works every time.

-What would you do without me?

-Well, just watch.

-Hey, come on, what do you think you're doing?

-Two's company, three's a crowd, Chuck.

-He iskinda sexy.

-Not as sexy as you are, baby.

[Creature growling]

-[Screaming]

♪♪

Oh, my God!

♪♪

[Whimpering]

♪♪

-[Growling] -[Screaming]

♪♪

-This is where my dad used to bring me when I was young,

and he'd tell me about the old ways.

-It's peaceful up here.

-That's why I want to save it for my people.

Hey, we don't want to sue anybody, but we have --

[Motor running] -What is that?

-Shh.

I don't know.

I don't get many visitors up here.

Come on, let's get out of here.

[Motor starts]

-Take the south fork, then go downstream.

[Motor shuts off]

[Owl hooting]

-You still hear them? -No.

-No, maybe it's just someone fishing for crayfish.

-Yeah, maybe.

Look, if you two want to take my truck

and go back to town, go ahead.

-No way. We came up here to talk and eat.

-And I make great cornbread.

-Okay, let's clean some fish, then.

Whew!

[Bird calling]

-Let her drift as close as you can.

-[Whistling]

[Humming tune]

[Gasps] Oh!

-Hi, honey. -You scared me.

I thought you were cleaning fish.

-No, Johnny wanted me to come out and see if you were alright.

-Aw, that's so sweet.

-Yeah, well, he doesn't know

what a tough, self-reliant woman you are.

-Aw.

[Water gurgling]

♪♪

♪♪

-Just there.

-Shit, I don't like this.

-Shut up, Suzie. We agreed.

-Let her drift in a little closer.

-You got it.

[Motor stops]

♪♪

-Let's do it.

♪♪

-Cornbread!

-Tommy, get down!

[Explosion]

-Come on, let's go back. Damn forest will blow.

-Who was it?

-I don't know. I couldn't see them.

♪♪

Linda, that's like spitting on it.

-Linda, take my truck! Go into town and get some help!

[Door closes]

[Engine starts]

[Creature screeching]

-You coward!

Keep running, you bastard! [Gunshot]

All the way back to town!

♪♪

Aah!

♪♪

[Creature screeching]

♪♪

[Gasping]

♪♪

[Grunting]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Creature screeching]

[Creature growling]

♪♪

[Creature screeching]

[Gunshots]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Glass shatters]

-[Screaming]

♪♪

[Tires squealing]

[Creature screeching]

♪♪

♪♪

[Crunch]

♪♪

♪♪

[Screaming]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Static]

-And that's the last we see of Linda

as she plunges off the bridge and explodes in a fireball.

One of the things you once told me, Roger,

that surprised me

is that your car crashes, car chases, car explosions,

all the things you love about cars...

You love to destroy cars

and you encourage your directors to destroy cars.

You told me that those action stunts are not that expensive.

-They're not that expensive because we always buy used cars

that are a rough match for the actual car

that's in the picture.

And the key is the car must not only crash --

it must explode at the same time.

So you get two for one, as it were.

-[Chuckles] Alright.

Well, every director who ever worked for you, Roger,

from Peter Bogdanovich to Martin Scorsese

to Jim Wynorski,

has some story that starts off,

"Let me tell you how cheap Roger is."

You have a reputation like that of Harold Ross,

the founder of The New Yorkermagazine.

He once asked Dorothy Parker why her article was late

and she said, "Because somebody borrowed the pencil."

But anyway, I've heard these stories, like the time

they needed extra lights for a nighttime car chase,

but instead you told all the crew members

to line up their cars on the side of the road

and turn on their headlights.

Or the time on this movie

when young special effects guy Rob Bottin

only had enough money to build one fully functioning humanoid,

but you gave instructions to the camera crew

is to how to make that one humanoid

look like many humanoids.

I have to assume that you got a good deal

on the actor that we just saw, the one that got killed

by a creature in the tent on the beach

because you allowed him to bring along the ventriloquist dummy

that he uses in his regular act. [Laughter]

That's David Strassman, who is a professional ventriloquist,

and his dummy is named Chuck Wood.

Um, I assume you got a cut rate

from the rather elderly banjo band

at the Salmon Festival dance.

Uh, you told me one time

that you would cut two minutes out of a film

so that it could be shipped in four film cans instead of five

and you would save 20% on shipping.

What was the ideal length of a film, Roger?

-I think the ideal length of the film for me

was 80 minutes or less

because each shipping container could take two reels.

So, um, four reels was the ideal,

and the best you could do

was to put 80 minutes in four reals.

So, if a film was 81 minutes or something like that,

I would take a minute out in order to fit that.

But we were very cost-conscious

and actually, the cost of the shipping of films

was very important to us.

And just that extra minute or two minutes,

uh, would cost us a great deal of money.

-But to your credit, I never once heard anybody say,

"Roger refused to pay me" or "Roger backed out on a deal,"

which is rare for Hollywood.

In your Academy Award acceptance speech,

when they gave you the honorary Oscar in 2009,

you thanked one person --

Julie, your wife of 50 years and your producing partner.

Uh, and congratulations on your golden anniversary.

And then you used your 25-second time limit

for the most compact and efficient speech

about independent filmmaking that I have ever heard.

And you talked about film as a, quote, compromised art form.

Uh, that's the word you used, representing

the compromised world that we live in.

And then you praised and encouraged the gamblers

who innovate with original ideas.

You can take more than 25 seconds here, Roger.

What did you mean by compromised?

-Ah, it's a compromised art form

because it's a part art form and part a business.

If you're a writer or a painter or a composer,

just one person sitting in a room

can create, uh, Michelangelo's statues

or, uh, the Mona Lisa.

But if you're making a motion picture,

you need an entire crew.

And to do that, you must have money to make the film.

And if you're going to continue, you had better make certain

that at least most of your films are commercially successful.

-Right.

-So you're working partially as an artist

to make the finest film you can.

Yet at the same time, you're compromising that

by a little bit of awareness of the business,

of how much the film will cost to make,

how the treatment, the subject matter is used.

-Well, you've made movies in a time of constant change.

You know, change in formats, change in distribution systems.

You started as a messenger at 20th Century Fox

back when the studio system still controlled everything.

You worked as an independent filmmaker

throughout the drive-in era.

You invented the biker film, you invented the drug film,

when the studios wouldn't touch those subjects.

You transitioned into cable TV, into VHS,

into laser disc, into DVDs, into Blu-rays, into streaming.

And each time the business changed, you still made money.

Each time a new genre popped up, like erotic thrillers

in the '90s or mutant monster movies

for the Syfy Channel in this century.

I believe your greatest achievement in that category

was the "Sharktopus" franchise,

which included "Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda"

and "Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf." [Laughter]

-I remember -- I remember, uh,

the catch line on one of those.

I think it was "Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda."

The catch line was, "A Love Story."

We like to play around with our catch lines.

-But you've always grasped right away what the new rules are

and how to navigate those.

How -- How do you do that?

-You just have to do it. Uh, you have no choice.

If the business is going to change,

you must change with it, and you must change instantly.

You must recognize change as it's happening

and not hang on to the old rules

when the new rules have come up.

You simply move to the new rules.

-Alright.

Well, we're going back to "Humanoids from the Deep,"

which was an attempt to repeat your success

two years earlier with "Piranha,"

and with almost as enormous a result.

I assume "Piranha" had the bigger box office.

-That's right. "Piranha" was a big success.

And, uh, "Humanoids" was a big success,

but not quite as much as "Piranha."

-You've actually returned 26 years later

to the place where you started --

monster on the ocean floor.

You just now have monsters that don't stayon the ocean floor.

You have more money,

so the monsters actually come ashore

and destroy carnival attractions and eat the cast.

-Yes. [Laughter]

-[Laughing] Okay.

Roll the film.

Ah!

'Course, any vicious sea creature movie in the '70s

would be compared to "Jaws."

Uh, you had "Orca," "Piranha,"

"Tentacles,"

"Killer Fish," "Barracuda,"

"Tintorera," "Killer Shark,"

uh, "Blood Beach,"

"The Last Shark," "Up From The Depths,"

"Screamers," "Devilfish,"

"Mako: The Jaws of Death." [Laughter]

Anybody remember "Mako: The Jaws of Death,"

that shark movie?

Uh, the poster said,

"Filmed without the benefit of shark cages

or any other protective device."

And what they don't say is it's also filmed

without the benefit of sharks.

[Laughter]

But, Darcy is a shark cage diver

-I am, yeah.

-That -- That still blows my mind.

Did the sharks like you?

-[Laughs] They did. -Did you pet them?

Did you feed the sharks? Did they rattle your cage?

-Not like you do.

[Laughter]

♪♪

[Static]

-Hi.

-Good morning.

-I'd like to rent a boat. -I wouldn't advise it.

Not this morning, anyway.

-Thanks.

-And they didn't come home last night.

Jerry didn't come home, Peggy didn't come on.

I talked to her mom this morning.

What do you suppose happened to 'em?

I'm getting worried about 'em.

What's going on around here? I don't know what's going on.

-And you always call your old man when you stay out?

-I don't have to call my old man.

He always knew where I was.

-Jerry and Peggy missing, Linda's dead.

What the hell is going on around here?

-I want to know what Linda was doing in Eagle's truck.

-Yeah, what about that?

-Do you see what I see?

-What's that breed got in his boat?

-You got some explaining to do, Johnny.

-Alright, let's put him in real gentle now.

Come on.

-Ah, Tommy.

-Tommy!

Oh, my God!

-We already called the hospital. -Tommy!

-I'm going with him. -Yeah, you stay with him.

-Come on, get it outta here! -Let's go!

-Come on!

[Tires squealing]

-How tall were they?

-Six and a half, maybe seven feet tall.

-How many did you see?

-Four or five. -Hank! Hank!

What the hell's going on? What happened to my brother?

-Well, you're not gonna believe this either.

They're telling us some kind of sea monster.

-That's right, sea monsters.

They burned his house, attacked your brother,

even took their dead away, right?

-Alright, I'm going out. Anybody coming with me?

-What for? -To find evidence.

Something sank the Bucko, killed our dogs,

now it's attacking humans.

Whatever it is, it ain't him.

I need a mate, Slattery. How about it?

-It's a waste of time.

-You afraid?

-Afraid of what?

-Potter?

-My kid didn't come home last night.

Neither did Peggy. I gotta look for my kid.

I ain't got no time to look for phony sea monsters.

-I'll go with you, Jim.

-Wait a minute.

I'm not sure I want you running off before I talk to you.

-You want to go with me, Hank?

-I got my priorities, Jim.

I have to be at the hospital when your brother comes to.

-Alright, then you're gonna have to trust him to me.

I need him. He's been there. He knows what we're looking for.

-I'm going with you, Jim. -I don't need anybody else.

-Oh, get off your antique manners, Hill.

I'm a professional scientist.

Let's go.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-This is where we first saw them.

-Look at this.

-Let's see.

-She knows a lot more than she's letting on.

[Camera shutter clicks]

♪♪

-What do you suppose she's after now?

-Seeing if they left any visiting cards, I guess.

♪♪

[Camera shutter clicking]

♪♪

-[Sighs] They've definitely been here, alright.

-You wouldn't be kidding me now, would ya?

-You think there are any more of those creatures around here?

-I thought I heard something under there.

I said, I thought I heard something.

The attack pattern that you described

is that of a nocturnal predator,

which means it'll probably keep to himself during the day

unless their territory is threatened.

-This their home territory?

-I'm not sure.

We found evidence that they were here last night,

but that doesn't mean anything.

If you're right about their size,

the upstream food supply won't support them.

They'd probably move to the ocean.

-Seem damn sure of yourself.

-I have to be with men like you around.

-Come on, let's get outta here.

♪♪

-Like this?

-That's pretty close, but the head, it's much bigger.

-They must have developed more than I figured.

And may be more intelligent.

[Reel clicking] -Johnny, take it!

Ah, damn, it's a salmon.

First time I ever thought

I'd be disappointed in seeing a fish.

-Think of it this way --

If we're finding salmon this size here,

we can't be too far from finding what we're looking for.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-I just talked to my wife on the radio.

Doctors say my brother's gonna be alright.

-Good. Have they talked to him yet?

-No, he's still unconscious.

But his vital signs are strong.

How much do you know you're not telling, Drake?

Will you put those damn binoculars down for a minute?

-You've seen what I've seen.

-You say they're intelligent.

You're surprised by the size of their jaw.

Outside of that, you seem to think

your sketch is pretty accurate.

-The coastline, Jim.

-What about it?

-There seem to be caves out there.

Where do they lead to?

♪♪

♪♪

There's your evidence!

[Creature screeching]

[Camera shutter clicking] -You're nuts.

-No! Don't shoot! Not yet.

No!

[Gunshot] [Screeching]

Now! Shoot!

[Gunshot]

[Gunshot] [Screeching]

[Gunshot]

-Aah! [Creature screeching]

♪♪

♪♪

[Gunshot]

[Screeching]

♪♪

[Screeching]

♪♪

-You alright?

-That's twice I owe you my life.

♪♪

[Coughs]

♪♪

[Camera shutter clicks]

♪♪

♪♪

Oh, my God.

♪♪

Who is it?

♪♪

-My God, it's Peggy.

-She's still alive. Let's get her outta here.

♪♪

[Camera shutter clicking]

♪♪

[Creature growling]

-[Screams]

[Screeching]

♪♪

[Static]

-So, Ann Turkel, as Dr. Susan Blake,

is saved from the clutches of the sea creature

by a perfect crossbow shot by Johnny Eagle,

played by Anthony Pena.

Ann Turkel was a 6-foot-tall Voguemodel

when she started acting at age 27.

Her first movie was opposite Richard Harris

in a forgotten flop called "99 and 44/100% Dead"

And then she married Richard Harris

and became a regular in the gossip columns

as he went through his various bouts with alcohol.

She also was involved in the creation

of the tan-through swimsuit,

those bathing suits that have the little holes in 'em

so you can tan without taking 'em off.

And then in recent years, she's been involved

in animal rights causes and children's causes,

and she's one of the Trumpettes, the Hollywood actresses

who vocally supported Donald Trump.

Anyway, Roger,

aren't you introducing the monsters

a little early in this one?

They just killed four or five of 'em

and they're in almost every scene now.

I've heard you talk about your theories

of monsters before,

and normally you do not show off your monster this early.

-Well, the theory was based upon practicality.

When I first started, I think "Monster from the Ocean Floor,"

our film was shot in six days

and the monster just cost, I think, something --

one or two hundred dollars.

So, my theory was based upon the fact

that I didn't want to show that monster too much

'cause it really wasn't very good.

-I think that can also be better for suspense, in a way.

-And it was also a little bit of a theory

based upon a narrative drive,

that you just saw hints and pieces,

sometimes you saw a shadow of a monster,

until you reveal the full monster at the end.

The idea being that you led up to the reveal

and also to cover the fact that the monster wasn't so good.

-[Laughter] -Okay.

-Now, as I got a little more money,

and on "Humanoids from the Deep,"

the monster was actually quite well made.

And it looked so good that I thought,

well, we can show a little more of it early on now.

We can step away, to a certain extent,

from the previous theory, as I was trained as an engineer

and that's the scientific method.

You experiment and see what experiment works out.

-Well, once New World became known as the school of Corman,

the place you went to get your start in the business,

how did you decide what directors to hire?

You must -- You must have had hundreds of people

trying to work at your company.

-Well, I had Francis Coppola,

who came out of the UCLA film school,

and he worked as my assistant,

then as a second unit director, then as a director,

because in each job he proved that he knew what he was doing.

So I was able to make the decision that he could direct.

-How did you know that Peter Bogdanovich could direct,

though, when he had never directed anything

or gone to film school?

-I had met him at a screening of a film somewhere,

and we were talking afterwards

and he had an amazing knowledge of film.

I was really impressed simply by the knowledge of film he had.

So I hired him as an assistant, uh,

and he worked with me as an assistant

and shot a couple shots

on some films as a second unit director.

And again, he proved his ability on each one of those things.

So I then said, "Okay, you're ready to direct."

-So, they had to prove themselves first.

-Probably the only person who started full out as a director

without -- actually, there were two people.

Ron Howard,

who played the lead in "Eat My Dust,"

a car crash film,

and, uh, it was a very big success.

And, uh, when I offered him the lead in "Grand Theft Auto,"

which was a follow-up, he said that he would do two jobs

for the same price -- three jobs.

He would write, he would act, and he would direct.

And I remember saying,

"Ron, you always looked like a director to me."

-Ah. Who was the second director?

-The other person who came in straight as a director

was Marty Scorsese.

I had seen an underground film he had made in New York

and I thought it was very good.

And I simply chose Marty to direct based upon, again,

talking with him and knowing how much he knew about film

and seeing, uh, the underground film he had made.

-I don't know if he ever told you this story,

but he once told me that he was terrified

that you would show up on the set one day and fire him.

-Here's what happened. Uh, I was on the set.

We were shooting in Arkansas,

which was the same state I shot, uh, "Bloody Mama" in.

An, uh, by the third day of shooting,

AIP called me and said,

"We don't like what Marty's doing.

You've got to step in and take over

and replace him as director."

And I said, "No, you guys are wrong.

I think he's doing a really good job.

I'm not gonna do that."

So he was never, uh, fired.

They wanted me to fire them.

And I said, "No, I think this is good work."

And indeed, it was excellent work.

"Boxcar Bertha" was a very good film.

-I agree with you.

And, uh, by the time I met you in the '80s,

you were mostly promoting directors

out of the editing suite.

Uh, some directors started in your publicity department.

They can start almost anywhere in the New World organization,

but it seems like the majority of them

were editors turned directors.

-Yes, Joe Dante, Allan Arkush, Amy Jones,

a couple others, were all originally editors.

As a matter of fact, I believe editing on a number of films

is almost like going to film school.

You see what the director has shot

and then you work with the director.

But you understand how the shots go together, how they're set up.

So, you're learning, really, uh, working with the director.

While cutting the film,

you're learning how to make a film.

-Something you've done more than once

that I find very interesting

is that when you have trouble with your lead actor,

you fire him or her

and you move all the other actors up one level.

For example, on "The Saga of the Viking Women

and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent,"

Abby Dalton ends up in the lead role.

-That's right.

The leading lady, um,

caused a little bit of problems at the last minute

and actually didn't even show up for the first day of shooting.

So I said, "Abby, just move up.

And everybody move up one position."

And then I brought in somebody else to replace the last person.

-So, every Viking woman got a promotion.

And then "The Wild Angels,"

you had George Chakiris in the lead role,

but he said he couldn't ride a motorcycle.

-Yes, he'd come off "West Side Story"

and he had the right image for the audience.

And he took one motorcycle lesson

and he said, "Roger, I -- I can't ride that thing.

You're gonna have to get somebody

to ride the bike for me."

And I thought I'd seen too much and shot too many Westerns

where the leading man leaps on the horse in a close-up,

you cut to the long shot,

and the stuntman rides the horse away.

[Laughter] -You can always tell, right?

-So, Peter was set for the second lead.

I said, "Peter, you're now the lead."

Bruce Dern was set for the third lead.

I said, "Bruce, you're now the second lead."

And we proceeded from there. [Laughter]

-A string of promotions that would set the stage

for their career-defining roles

three years later in "Easy Rider."

Alright, Roger, I need you to stick around

for one more segment as we move toward the solution

to the mystery of how the monsters were created.

You're not big on scenes explaining

what the science is behind the monsters.

-No, not really.

-Okay. Roll the film.

And by the way, the music in "Humanoids"

is composed by James Horner,

who would go on to create a hundred film scores

in a 40-year career, including "Titanic,"

for which he won the Oscar.

Two Oscars,

because, um, he also wrote the Celine Dion song.

He got an Oscar for that.

And, um...

how would he come to be involved with "Titanic"?

Well, he met a guy cutting trailers at New World Pictures

and they became friends -- James Cameron.

So, all roads lead back to Roger.

♪♪

[Static]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-What the hell are these things, anyway?

-[Sighs]

First, as far as I can tell,

the species has only just appeared.

But there has to be a reason that a humanoid creature

evolved so quickly.

Note the gills on the side of the head.

-Yeah, like a fish,

but they do pretty well out on the land.

-Yes, as far as we can tell.

But their natural habitat is clearly the water.

Though I think they're in the process

of becoming amphibious.

Now, look at the size of the cranium.

That means they have tremendous brain capacity.

It does not mean, though,

that they have the ability to use it all.

And look -- webbed hands.

-Why don't you gentlemen go on back to Noyo?

We'll let you know what we find.

-Forget it. We're not leaving till we get some answers.

-Don't worry.

-Mr. Borden strongly suggests that we keep this quiet

until Canco has had a chance to review it.

Your theory could be totally incorrect.

-What the hell are you talking about?!

I've been trying to tell you people about this

for a long time, and you pushed it aside!

Well, look at it, Edwards! It's right in front of you!

You stupid ass! Look at it!

And you still say my theory's incorrect?

My theory is not incorrect,

and I'm not gonna keep quiet any longer,

and these people have a right to know,

and I'm gonna tell them.

String up DNA film 232 in the conference room.

Now,Edwards.

[Projector whirring]

-Okay, DNAfive is a growth gene.

What you're seeing here is a film

of our early DNAfive experiments with frogs.

These are tadpoles in the larval stage.

Normally, tadpoles take 12 weeks to become adult frogs.

Now we add DNAfive, which carries genetic information

that stimulates the growth hormone in frogs.

With the aid of DNAfive,

adulthood is reached in a matter of days.

-So, what's the point?

-We were duplicating this process

to accelerate the growth of salmon

when heavy tidal surges tore apart

one of our experimental tanks.

3,000 DNA-treated salmon escaped into the ocean.

I wanted to notify the authorities,

but my employers at Canco stopped me.

-What if the other fish are salmon?

-Exactly.

It's my theory that feeding on the DNAfive-treated salmon

may have brought about evolution in more primitive fish,

like coelacanth,

which was discovered in this area a few years ago

by a local marine biologist.

-What the heck is a coelacanth?

-It's a prehistoric type of fish,

which hasn't evolved in millions of years --

but may have, feeding on salmon containing DNAfive.

I took these in the tunnel this morning.

In one lifetime, this creature seems to evolve

through four growth stages.

It starts out as a fish,

but is humanoid in its final stage.

-Why are they attacking us?

-Well, most bright animals

protect their territory and their food sources.

They may be intelligent enough to perceive man as a competitor.

-Why the girls?

-It's my theory that these creatures

are driven to mate with man now

in order to further develop their incredible evolution.

-Well, it's enough to scare the hell out of me.

-Let's hope the people in the town believe us.

-Jake. The festival.

-Oh, my God.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-This is "Mad Man" Mike Michaels

broadcasting live from the big Salmon Fest.

We're down here at the K-Fish radio, the Big Fish,

and here's my favorite little billboard, Kitty.

Aw, how ya doing, Kitty?

Listen, she's gonna be down on the north end of the midway,

and if you catch her, you get a free visor.

Alright!

And now I'm sitting here with this year's

little local beauty, Miss Salmon -- Sandy.

How ya doing, Sandy?

-I'm fine! -Oh, that's great.

[Down-tempo folk music playing]

-Jo, can you speed it up just a little bit?

How 'bout something like "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay"?

-John, we sure aren't in the mood.

-Well, Jo, hell, I'm not either, but after all,

we've had people come from 200, 300 miles away

to have a good time.

We ain't never failed 'em before.

Come on, now. Speed it up a little bit, huh?

-Okay, okay.

-Come on, folks! Enjoy yourselves!

[Up-tempo folk music plays]

There you go. That's better.

Come on, folks. Enjoy yourselves a little bit.

There you go. That's better. Hey, that's great.

So, listen, we're having a great time down here.

We're waving to people. Hi, how ya doing?

And, uh, we're playing records,

and we're just doing a whole lot of things.

Listen, if you got a phone, why don't you give me a call?

I'd love to talk to you.

But I can't talk to you for too long, I...

I may have my hands full.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

This is the Big Fish, K-Fish,

the voice of Noyo, Noyo, Noyo.

♪♪

-Hey, Lloyd.

♪♪

Any luck?

-They must've eloped.

-Did you check the cave?

-Potter and Larson went to check the caves,

but I think it's a wild goose chase.

-Gonna get me a beer. -Yeah, yeah.

-What about Johnny Eagle and Jim? They back yet?

-I haven't seen 'em.

-They ain't gonna find shit.

That Indian, he's probably out there

making it with a buffalo.

[Men chuckling]

-Yeah. -Hey, here -- beer.

-Guys. -Alright.

Give us four!

-Hey, isn't that Jim's boat?

♪♪

♪♪

-Find anything, Jim?

-Plenty.

-What's this? One of Johnny's sea monsters?

-Hang on to your cookies, Slattery.

♪♪

[Crowd gasping] -God.

[Murmurs, groans]

-What is that?

[Women screaming]

-Hold it! We think we know where these things come from.

But we have no idea how many there are.

-Jake, Jake, Jake. We found Peggy.

She's gonna be alright.

I'm -- I'm sorry, Jake.

[Creature screeching]

[People screaming]

[Gunshot]

-Don't panic!

[People screaming]

-Wait a minute, there seems to be

some sort of disturbance going on.

I'm not sure if it was an accident or something.

Oh, my God.

[Screaming continues]

[Growling]

[Creature screeching]

[Screaming continues]

-There's 50 gallons of gas in the hold.

Start pumping it. -Yeah.

-What is happening?

[Creature roaring]

[Screaming continues]

-Yes, folks, this is Mad Man Mike Michaels live,

if I'm lucky, from Noyo Harbor.

The scene here is one of total --

and I mean total -- panic.

People are running every which way.

Wow, one just smashed right through the booth

not 15 yards away from me.

It's going after a young woman! She's...

♪♪

♪♪

[Crowd screaming, creatures growling]

-You better get the highway patrol out here.

[Creature growls, screaming continues]

-Keep pumping the gas, we'll blow 'em to kingdom come.

[Creatures screeching]

[Calliope music playing]

♪♪

♪♪

[Creatures screeching] [Screaming continues]

-[Screaming]

-Careful, Sandy! Watch out!

Get behind me!

Oh, this is macabre. This is horrible.

These creatures are coming right at me.

There's slime all over them.

This unbelievable. I can't believe it.

They're tearing people's limbs off.

Sandy, watch it! Watch out, Sandy!

Folks, this is crazy.

[Screaming continues] [Creatures growling]

[Static]

-And as the nasty sea creatures go on the rampage,

we see what a good example this movie is

of the school of Corman.

Miss Salmon is played by Linda Shayne,

who would go on to a long writing/directing career.

Even as we speak,

she's directing a movie in Europe.

She took the role of Miss Salmon to break into the business.

She later co-wrote the movie "Screwballs,"

a high school comedy hit for New World.

She wrote a part for herself in that movie.

She was second unit director on "Big Bad Mama," too.

So Linda is an example of somebody who,

she had recently graduated with honors

from University of California at Berkeley,

but she had no contacts in the film business.

So she just said, "Well, I'm a cute blond,

I'll break in with that," and it worked.

She became a writer and an associate producer at Disney.

Uh, she wrote, produced, and directed a children's film

called the "Purple People Eater" with Ned Beatty,

Shelley Winters, and Chubby Checker.

And, um, by the way, the radio announcer

she works with in her scenes -- that's Greg Travis,

who would go on to a great character actor career --

"Starship Troopers," "Showgirls,"

Rob Zombie's "Halloween 2," uh,

"Night of the Living Dead 3D."

He does a hilarious stand-up character

called David Sleaze, The Punk Magician.

Uh, and Mark Goldblatt edited this film.

He became one of the top editors in Hollywood, um,

and took time out to direct another favorite on this show,

"Dead Heat."

Alright, Roger,

I have not asked you the most important question.

What's your next movie? [Laughter]

-I have three scripts I'm working on.

-Of course you are.

I can't imagine you retiring at 95.

So, what do you got?

-Uh, the three are

a remake of "The Unborn,"

which was a big success for us.

It was a psychological horror film

that we made in the 1990s that was, uh, very successful.

-I remember "The Unborn." Very good movie.

-And the second one is a picture called "Crime City."

When the hurricanes devastated Nassau in the Bahamas,

I saw some footage that somebody had taken

of the total destruction of the city.

And I bought that footage,

and then I had him go back.

He shot it with a drone.

I had him go back and shoot set shots on the ground.

So I had the entire destroyed island, um, already shot.

And I am developing a script called "Crime City"

based upon the destroyed island.

-That's amazing. That reminds me of the way

you used to reuse existing footage in the very early days.

So, what's film number three?

-The third and actually my favorite

is a picture called "Death Games."

When I shot "Death Race 2000" in the 1970s,

the film was one of the biggest hits we ever had.

Matter of fact, it won some poll

as the greatest B picture ever made.

I sold the remake rights to Universal.

It's been remade four times,

and they're thinking of making it a fifth time.

And I thought, well, uh, that combined with the fact

that George Miller came up to me in a party

and said, "I want to thank you."

And he said -- I said, "What for, George?"

He said, "I saw 'Death Race 2000' in Sydney

and I thought I could make a film like that."

And he made "Mad Max." -Wow.

-And then "The Hunger Games" --

which frankly, is to clear-out steal from the "Death Race,"

they just changed it from the death race

to the hunger games -- was a success.

And I figured there's something in that concept

so that all the different versions of it work.

Let me see if I can work out a new concept

that is totally original, but it has the elements

that made all of these other films successful,

and that is "Death Games,"

on which we're working on the final draft at the moment.

And I'm -- I'm very enthusiastic about that picture.

-You know, I'm not surprised that when I ask you

about what your next project might be,

you tell me you're working on three projects at once.

And -- And I understand you made a deal

with a Chinese company in recent years?

-I've worked in China.

I've made several pictures in China with --

particularly one with IQiyi, their equivalent of Netflix.

Uh, so I have some contacts there.

And the Chinese producer that I've worked with,

Henry Luk, made an offer

to buy the Chinese rights to my library.

And it was so much more

than anybody else could offer

that I said yes.

-Wow, so we're g-- we're gonna see Chinese versions

of the complete Corman library?

-We'll see a number.

It was very interesting, because combined with that,

I sold the American rights to what I consider

to be the best current independent company,

the Shout! Factory.

And the Shout! Factory took certain rights,

and Henry Luk's company took the others,

and they agreed they would take turns in picking.

And Henry had the first pick, and I wondered what --

what of all of our library he would pick.

And we have pictures like -- like "Death Race"

that we consider to be our, uh, best.

And instead, he picked a martial arts film.

He said, "I'm simply going to make Chinese versions

of 'Bloodfist' in Hong Kong with Chinese martial arts actors,

and I expect to score."

-Wow. "Bloodfist" is great.

But -- But -- But now he has to find the Chinese equivalent

of Don "The Dragon" Wilson.

-That's right, Don the Dragon was our great star.

-You must have made 20 films with Don the Dragon.

-We made a lot of them. He was great.

One of the reasons was, the other stars,

like Jean-Claude Van Damme and so forth

were not actual martial arts champions.

And the martial arts magazines really didn't like 'em.

And my idea was,

uh, since I couldn't afford actors like that,

I would go to somebody who wasn't an actor

who -- who was a real champion.

And Don the Dragon

was the world's light heavyweight champion

and considered, pound for pound,

the greatest martial arts fighter in the world.

And he was happy to sign for a small amount of money.

So "Bloodfist" turned out to be a very big success for us.

-Well, I love "Bloodfist," and in fact,

I loved any time you and Don worked on a project together.

And I appreciate your spending this evening with us

for the finale of the third season of "The Last Drive-In."

I can't wait to see what you do

in your next 67 years in the film business.

Um, you know, whenever your successful alumni

talk about you --

John Sayles, Francis Coppola, Joe Dante,

Amy Jones, Peter Bogdanovich,

Jonathan Demme, Jonathan Kaplan,

Gale Anne Hurd...

The list goes on.

Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Allan Arkush,

Stephanie Rothman, Néstor Almendros, László Kovács.

Um, they always talk about the little pep talk

or the planning session that you do with them

prior to the first day of shooting.

And if I can sum up the things that you usually say,

it's do the hard stuff first;

have a great plan, but be prepared to change it;

and if you open big and close big,

the stuff in the middle won't matter.

Does that sound familiar?

-Absolutely. Right on.

-Well, you-- you've certainly done

all the hard stuff yourself.

You've -- You've changed your plan so well

that you never lost money.

Um, you opened big by becoming

the most successful indie filmmaker in history,

and you closed big several times as you sold your companies

or you sold film libraries

and you moved on to the next challenge.

I wish we had time to show every one of your movies on this show,

including "The Saga of the Viking Women

and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent."

Sorry, I had to say it just one more time.

And please give our regards to Julie -- Julie Corman,

who -- who also has an unblemished record

as a producer.

Actually, she produced one of our "Last Drive-In" favorites

"Chopping Mall,"

as well as three dozen other titles.

So, thanks for the time, Roger.

-Thank you, Bob. And this has been fun.

As usual, you make it just a conversation.

-It's been an honor. Thank you.

And now for the shocking conclusion of --

and I'm not using the word shocking lightly --

"Humanoids from the Deep."

Roll it.

You know, the stuntmen on this movie

didn't want to wear those creature suits,

or maybe they just didn't want to enact

what the creatures were doing,

and so almost every creature attack is Rob Bottin himself

actually inside the suit.

Um, Rob would become famous

just one year after this movie for "The Howling,"

and then he would go on to do effects work

on "The Thing," "Robocop," "Total Recall,"

"Basic Instinct," "Legend," "Innerspace," "Fight Club,"

and the last thing he's known to have worked on

is an episode of "Game of Thrones" in 2014.

But the last time anybody in Hollywood

actually saw him was 20 years ago.

He apparently dropped off the grid, checked out,

went to a cabin in the hills or something.

And I'm jealous, 'cause we have cameras in ourcabin.

[Laughter]

♪♪

[Static]

♪♪

♪♪

[Baby crying]

♪♪

-Oh, honey.

[Crying continues]

♪♪

Come here, baby, yeah, come here.

Oh, come on.

Come on.

Come on.

[People screaming, creatures growling]

♪♪

♪♪

[Screeching]

[Growling, screaming continue]

[Gunshot]

-Hey, Lloyd!

Lloyd!

-Please! My sister's hanging on!

-Hey, Lloyd!

-You gotta help us! -Who's down there?

-My sister! She's hanging on the dock!

-Huh? Take me to her! Come on!

-Help me. Help me.

-Amy, give me your hand.

-Help me! Help! -Come on. Amy!

Come on, reach up and give me your hand.

-[Wailing] -Amy, grab my hand!

Amy! [Creature growling]

[Gunshot]

Amy.

Hold on, Amy! Hold on!

Come on.

Come on, climb up. Climb up!

Come on! Climb up!

Come on! Help her!

Help her!

-Here. Send 'em to hell!

-Go on, Amy.

Alright, just get outta here!

Get outta here! [Creature screeching]

[Screaming]

[Gunshot]

[Gunshot]

[Screeching]

-Give me your hand, Slattery.

Damn it, give me your hand!

-[Groaning]

[Creatures roaring, people screaming]

[Creatures screeching]

[Screaming continues]

[Creatures screeching]

-Tie her up!

[Creatures screeching]

[Gunshot]

[Gunshot]

-Johnny. -Yeah?

-Where's my wife?

-I took her home from the hospital.

-Go to her, Jim!

[Creatures screeching]

-Hey! Watch it now! -Get him!

-I got my stick handy here.

-He's still going! Get him!

[Creatures screeching, men shouting]

-Edward Mary Jane 356 calling Edward Mary Jane 357.

Do you read me?

[Baby crying]

[Thud] -[Screams]

[Creature screeching]

Stay here, baby, okay?

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Thud]

♪♪

♪♪

Oh, God!

♪♪

Aah!

[Creatures screeching]

[Creatures growling]

Aah!

♪♪

Get away!

♪♪

♪♪

[Creature screeching]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Thud]

♪♪

♪♪

[Creature growling]

♪♪

[Door rattling]

[Banging]

-Carol!

-Carol! Carol, Carol.

-Oh! Oh!

-Carol, you alright?

-Yeah.

-John?

-He's okay. The baby's alright.

-Thank God.

-[Sobbing]

-It's alright, baby.

♪♪

[Woman crying]

♪♪

♪♪

[Man coughing]

♪♪

♪♪

It's alright, son, it's alright.

♪♪

Hank!

Hank. -Huh?

-Hank. -Huh?

-Hank, where's Drake?

Dr. Drake, is she alright?

Dr. Drake!

-Yeah, yeah, yeah. She did all she could.

-Where is she? -Went back to her lab.

Went back to her lab. -Hank.

-Jim, let's go home now, okay?

I mean, everything's okay, isn't it, Sheriff?

[Sirens wailing]

♪♪

[Woman whimpering]

-Peggy, concentrate.

-[Whimpering]

-Hang in there, Peggy!

-[Sobbing]

-We're almost there.

That's it. You're doing great.

Push, Peggy.

-[Whimpering]

-That's it. Go on, Peggy. Push, push!

-[Screaming] -Peggy!

Oh, my God!

-[Screaming]

[Pop]

[Creature screeching]

-[Screaming]

[Screeching]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Static]

-It's a modern ecological fa-- fable --

Yuki! Hey, you guys. Stop, stop.

Hold it just a minute. We got one more thing to do.

Shades of "Alien" in the derivative,

but highly satisfying conclusion to "Humanoids from the Deep."

You know, normally you would see Carol defending that baby

and you wouldn't be that concerned

'cause you know they don't kill babies in movies.

Except they also don't kill children and dogs in movies,

and the very first kill in the movie was a little boy,

and then we had multiple dead dogs.

So there's a feeling they might just break the rules, you know?

That's Cindy Weintraub playing the wife

of Doug McClure,

and she's the one who was upset

because she said she didn't want to do nudity,

but they used a body double in a shower scene

to make it look like her.

But that's actually strange because less than a year later,

she's in "The Prowler."

Remember, we showed that on the original marathon.

And in "The Prowler,"

she's the one who goes for a skinny dip

during the graduation dance

and gets eviscerated in the pool by the killer.

She gets her neck sawed off in a Tom Savini special effect.

I could swear she's nekkid in that scene, but maybe not.

Anyhow, we were preoccupied with having Roger

guesting on the show,

and so we didn't talk much about Doug McClure, the lead.

Interesting actor. He had such a youthful look.

Um, he was a surfer and he started out

as a Universal contract player

and he was still playing the roles of guys in their 20s

well into his 40s.

He was 44 when this movie was made.

Um, best remembered by the general public

for "The Virginian," but people watching this show

would probably remember him for "The Land That Time Forgot,"

that better-than-average Edgar Rice Burroughs movie

from 1974.

And Vic Morrow as the evil Slattery, bless his heart.

Um, two years later, he would be decapitated

by a helicopter blade while filming --

filming, uh, "Twilight Zone: The Movie."

And that's the copter -- copter accident

that also killed two young children

that he was working with.

Uh, Vic had a strange career. He was born in the Bronx.

He was a thoroughly classically trained New York actor.

But his movie debut was as the street punk

in "Blackboard Jungle" in 1955.

And he was so memorable in that role

that he only got roles as heavies the rest of his life.

The sole exception was the TV series "Combat!"

He starred in that, did a lot of genre films.

He was great in "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry,"

"Bad News Bears" in 1976.

He was the mean coach opposite Walter Matthau.

Uh, but come on, Darcy. Come on over.

Um, I know...

Ah. [Chuckles]

[Applause, whistles] -Arrr.

[Laughter]

-Nice work. Nice work.

-Thank you. -You really...

You're -- You're closin' big. That's good.

Are you, um... Is this a...

Why are you holding the Ken doll?

-I'm the feminist version of the humanoid.

-You're -- You're a feminist humanoid?

-I need some boys to make my babies.

[Laughter] -Alright.

-I can't -- Are you ever gonna --

Are you gonna take off the mask?

-No, do I have to?

-Well, it's hard to hear you, so...

Alright.

I already know what you're gonna tell me.

-Do you, now? -Yeah.

You like the "Humanoids" 1996 remake better.

I know you do, because Clint Howard is in it,

along with Robert Carradine, Emma Samms.

-But it was made for TV -- no gore.

-So there's a Clint Howard movie that you don't like?

-I mean, I like him,

not every movie he's ever been in.

I'm really glad that they decided to go

the exploitation route here

instead of keeping it as a "psychological thriller."

-Oh, I don't think they ever intended it

to be a psychological thriller.

I think that was just something they used to make sure

Doug McClure's agent and Vic Morrow's agent

and Ann Turkel's agent

didn't tell their clients not to do the movie.

Especially Ann Turkel.

I mean, she was married to King Arthur.

[Laughter]

-I do understand why some folks

might find this film a little offensive.

It's quite crude, but it's a silly monster movie,

and I enjoy it on its own tawdry level.

And I'm so happy we got to show it, especially with Roger.

-You know, I got to -- I forgot to mention Anthony Pena,

who played Johnny Eagle, the Native American activist.

He had been a star baseball player at UC Santa Barbara

and a star football player at Cal State Fullerton.

And he was trying to get an acting career going,

but he was teaching high school at the time he made this movie.

He ended up having about 30 roles in the '80s,

mostly playing Native Americans,

even though I'm pretty sure he was Mexican.

He's from San Antonio.

Alright.

I can tell by that look in your eye

that we have one last letter.

-Yes, we do.

You're gonna have to help me 'cause I have flippers.

-Okay.

-It's from Daniel Richardson of Bedford, Indiana.

He sent in two movies that he's made,

along with some posters.

-He sent in all kinds of goodies here.

Here, I'll give you the goodies

and I'll just read the letter.

-Okay. thank you.

-Okay. Uh...

"Joe Bob, I am a huge fan.

Been a part of the Mutant Family since I was a kid.

I first discovered you on "MonsterVision."

I even met you back in 2015.

You were at the Days of the Dead horror convention in Indy

and you were one of the nicest guests I've ever talked to.

And you also had the coolest guest panel."

'Course I did. I always do, always have great guest panels.

-Don't ruin this. -Okay.

"So, the other night when I was watching 'The Last Drive-In,'

you made that epic 'keep rolling' speech.

I have to say that I even got a little choked up

listening to you. It was inspirational as fuck."

That's the night we did "One Cut of the Dead," remember?

-Yeah. So many people love that speech.

-'Course they did. And I worked on it.

-Oh, my God, you are spoiling this whole thing.

-Alright. "The crazy thing..." [Laughter]

"The crazy thing was, me and my filming partner Simon

did exactly what you were saying just a few years earlier.

I guess what really hit close to home was the feeling that me

and Simon was on the right path all along.

Being from Bedford, having no money,

working a full-time factory job,

I always assumed I would never be able

to achieve my dream of making a film

and seeing it on the big screen. I've tried before and learned

that when it comes to making a movie with your friends,

everybody wants to make a movie

until it's time to make the movie,

and then everybody has an excuse and bails.

But I also know it would never happen unless I pushed forward.

So when I met Simon, who had a similar goal,

we decided to make our exploitation film,

and it was truly hell.

Everyone had a full-time job. We usually shot on weekends.

A lot of the time, we were dealing with people

flaking out or other disasters.

We had to recast several times and rewrite several more times.

There were times the movie just seemed dead in the water.

Pre-production took four years.

Took an additional three to shoot

with a long hiatus in the middle.

The urge to just quit and walk away surfaced many times.

And not that anybody said anything to our faces,

but I got the feeling that all of our family

and friends assumed we'd give up.

I found that I was doubting myself a lot.

But after seven long, grueling years, we completed it!

Even though we had our world premiere at this small

bar and grill with a crowd of less than a hundred,

all just friends and family,

I finally got to see my movie play on the big screen.

It truly was the greatest moment of my life.

So as I listened to you give

your 'Braveheart' meets 'Patton' speech,

I got emotional because I realized

that you get it, you get it.

And even though we didn't have a Joe Bob

to verbally kick us in the pants,

after hearing your words,

I knew we had made the right decision.

Then when you said, 'And send me your movie,'

my eyes welled up. After all the shit

we endured to make this film and all the ups and downs,

it has all built to this.

Because even if you somewhat like our films

or just flat-out hate 'em,

I can die knowing that Joe Bob Briggs

has watched a film that I directed,

and that may be my biggest accomplishment.

So thank you for not only kicking ass in general,

but for being a beacon of hope for all of us

Z-level filmmakers from small towns

that may never break out.

Thank you for providing so much knowledge

and entertainment week in and week out.

Glad to have you back on TV, by the way.

And -- And if it won't be too much trouble,

give Darcy a thank you, too."

Okay, this is a part about you, so...

-Yeah, you can skip that. -I'll skip on to...

No, no.

"She has been -- she has really been cool

with the fan interaction on Twitter.

I have never live tweeted before,

but it really has made the "Last Drive-In" experience

so much more enjoyable."

Um...

People really do like you, like,

talking on Twitter throughout the movie,

-I appreciate everyone that does it with us.

-Alright.

"I've connected with so many others in the Mutant Family

and it is insane. So thank you, Joe Bob.

Promising to keep the spirit of the drive-in alive,

Daniel Richardson, Bedford, Indiana."

Alright, Daniel, we will watch these movies.

And we did get a lot of warm response

to that little talk I made about "One Cut of the Dead."

And we're still trying to come up

with a way of honoring you guys.

Guys, as you put it,

the Z-level, no-budget guys, even if it's on YouTube

or somewhere else, even if it's on Darcy's Patreon page.

And at any rate, we are going through the films

that are sent in and we're gonna put them

together into some kind of little "Last Drive-In" festival

as soon as we get back to normal.

But one reason I wanted to have Roger Corman on tonight,

last night of the season, is that his life

and what he has to say about filmmaking

can actually be applied to anything,

not just movies.

Because what did he say?

Be brave enough to do the rough things first.

You know, figure out what your roughest days

are gonna be and attack those.

Number two, have a great plan, but be prepared to change it.

And number three, open big and close big,

and the stuff in the middle won't matter.

So, everybody in the country has rough days,

rough things to figure out.

Everybody in the country needs a new plan.

You know, everybody in the country is trying

to open a new chapter

and open it big and move toward a big closing,

hopefully after years of ignoring all the little stuff

that gets in the way in the middle.

So...

We've been in this cabin long enough.

Darcy, you got anything to say? We're going back to the city.

-I don't have anything to wear for that.

-Wear that! Wear that.

They'll love that.

And so... -Alright, I'm on it.

-Gotta be something big, though.

You know, go full bore with it.

-I think I got this. -Alright.

-Thank you, Austin, Matt, Justin,

Yuki, John Brennan,

um, Hannah, Crystal,

Kevin, Joe,

Mike "Jibs," uh...uh...

Chris, Yves, Marcus, Bret,

Aimee, John Burgio, um,

Tristan, Fletcher,

Ashley, Rives, Jolene, Jarod,

Dan, Vincent,

T., Mike, and Tommy at Butter Tree Studios.

Aaron at, um, EHS.

Everybody at Shudder.

Craig, Nick, Sean, Sam.

Of course, Charles Kaufman and Bread & Cie.

Eli Roth, Bruce Campbell,

Anna Biller, Bill Lustig,

Clint Howard, Jeffrey Combs,

Chris Jericho, Melissa Rose,

and Roger Corman.

I've been doing interviews with Roger Corman for four decades,

and he's responsible for a lot of the things that I do.

Um, but everyone in our online family.

-Mutant Fam! Whoo! -[Chuckles]

Yeah, Mutant Fam.

You -- You invented Mutant Fam, didn't you?

-I mean, it's not hard to come up with.

-Alright, come on, guys. We're leaving the cabin

to the next generation of dead teenagers

and we're heading back into the land of the living.

So, come on, Darcy.

Let's -- Let's do the canoe thing again.

Let's -- Let's -- Let's leave like a --

Can you see in that thing -I can't see shit.

-Huh? -No.

-Alright. Alright. Come on. I'll help you.

-No! -Come on. Just this way.

This way. Alright.

-Guide me. -[Chuckles]

[Crickets chirping]

[Door creaks]

♪♪

♪♪

-Wait, wait, hold on. -What?

-Aren't you forgetting something?

-What?

-What you always say?

-Oh.

The drive-in will never die.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Animal howls]