American International Pictures
The Golden Years
Book Review
Zombos Says: An enjoyable, informative read.
Gary A. Smith presents a chronological rundown of the American International Pictures’ offerings from 1954 to 1972. The format of American International Pictures: The Golden Years, takes a little time to get used to as Smith combines various sources of information to paint an interesting production history using articles and reviews from trade publications like Boxoffice, The Hollywood Reporter and Showman’s Trade Review, excerpts from the movies’ pressbooks, critical reviews from The New York Times, Variety, and other newspapers, and quotes from notable creatives involved with AIP like Roger Corman, actors, and other key players involved with production and distribution (from personal interviews provided by Mark Thomas McGee who wrote Fast and Furious: The Story of American International Pictures).
Smith, in his introduction, states he wanted to trace the history of the company through their continual use of publicity, and that not every movie is covered. What really stands out through all this movie by movie, year by year, rundown is how AIP evolved with the audience’s social tastes, and how they always kept their core audience (teens and drive-in crowd) front and center when bringing movies, either domestic or foreign, onto their yearly release schedule.
Under their initial American Releasing Corporation (ARC), with offices in the Lawyer’s Building “not far from Hollywood and Vine,” James Nicholson and Samuel Arkoff struck a deal with producer Roger Corman to distribute his third movie, The Fast and the Furious. And so it began.
Roger Corman (Producer): “I had offers from Republic and Columbia to distribute The Fast and the Furious, but I saw that I was in a trap. If I had to wait for each picture to pay off, I would be making one movie a year. So I gave the picture to Jim [Nicholson] with the stipulation that I would not have to wait for the picture to be released to get my money and I wanted a commitment for two more pictures.”
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American International Pictures
The Golden Years
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