Paul1957

The actress Lauren Bacall, the producer-executive John Calley, the independent film entrepreneur Roger Corman and the cinematographer Gordon Willis are set to receive honors from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at its first special Governor Awards dinner, scheduled for Nov. 14.

The academy’s board of governors chose the honorees on Thursday night, setting the stage for a gala presentation of awards that had previously been given during the annual Oscar broadcast.

The Irving G. Thalberg award will be presented to Mr. Calley, who has been both a producer of films like “The Da Vinci Code” and an executive at Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures and United Artists. Honorary Oscars will go to Ms. Bacall, whose many credits followed a screen debut in “To Have and Have Not,” to Mr. Corman, known for low-budget films like “The Little Shop of Horrors,” and to Mr. Willis, whose work includes “The Godfather” and “Annie Hall.”

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...don-not-bruce/

A shame that he won't be able to accept it in front on the TV audience, but the man deserves it.

Groucho

Finally, the Academy makes up for snubbing Corman 50 years ago:

Rockmjd23

Bout time.

MoviePage

So they choose legends Roger Corman, Lauren Bacall, and Gordon Willis to receive the honorary awards the first year they're not presenting them on the live show? That goes past wrong and approaches outrageous. Oh well, more time for random montages and dance numbers!

MoviePage

Oh, and I would think the thread title should at least include Bacall along with Corman.

Groucho

Teenage Caveman > The Big Sleep

Rockmjd23

If it's not going to be shown live that sucks. I'd be looking forward to a montage of Corman clips.

Geofferson

Ash Ketchum

Just think of all the great people who got their first breaks from Corman who could join him on stage when he gets the award...from Jack Nicholson to Ron Howard to...(Quick! Name a real talent to emerge from the Concorde days...Katt Shea? Adam Simon? Luis Llosa? Okay, I guess we'll have to settle for Carl Franklin.)

Numanoid

And the e and i in "recieve" should be switched.

NoirFan

Corman gets kudos for taking a chance on unproven young talent like Nicholson, Coppola and Bogdonavich, but let's be honest here. 99.99999% of the films he directed and/or produced are complete junk.

dom56

So they going to give Corman the award for this.

Ky-Fi

I really love his early 60's Poe adaptations with Vincent Price. I thought some of them---particularly Masque of the Red Death--were on par with the best of Hammer's horror films of the time.

NoirFan

And let's not forget The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, The Intruder, and a handful of others. Take a look at that IMDB filmography though - of those 386 (!) production credits, how many are at an artistic or even technical level above the typical Mystery Science Theater fodder? As a canon, it is hardly deserving of an Oscar. Still, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. He seems like a pleasant enough guy, and the sheer size of his body of work is impressive, even if it's actual content is not.

TomOpus

I love that movie!

Gerry P.

Gordon Willis has contributed a lot more to cinema than Bacall ever will, so include him instead. No one in Hollywood has had more accolates for less effort than Bacall.

As for Corman, he is an innovator and a true legend in the business of movies. Without his involvement we wouldn't have drive-in classics like:

Saint Jack
Dillinger
Death Race 2000
Cockfighter
Caged Heat
Gas-s-s-s
Bloody Mama
The Trip
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
The Wild Angels
The Shooting
Ride in the Whirlwind
X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes
The Raven
Tales of Terror
Little Shop of Horror
A Bucket of Blood

chris_sc77

Hey! They gave the best Picture to Crash.
Whatever this s it looks like an improvement.

Zen Peckinpah

I think Dillinger was an AIP release.

Dr. DVD

I think the award for Corman is more for all of the directors whose first gigs came as a result of him. To name a few:

-Francis Coppola
-Martin Scorsese
-James Cameron
-John Sayles

Gerry P.

Ah, you're right. Milius had moved on by that point.

rexinnih

Congrats to all on the recognition.

Rockmjd23

There is a lot of junk in there but there are 15-20 films I would consider above average and 10 or so that I would consider near great.
He did produce a whole lot of crap though.