R.I.P. Charles B. Griffith
Written by Joe D on October 3rd, 2007
A Real Gone Cat
We’ve lost another rarity, an original voice in the Galaxy of Film. Charles B. Griffith, the creative motor behind some of Roger Corman’s best, most original films.
Bucket Of Blood, Not Of This Earth, Little Shop Of Horrors, and a weird one I liked as a kid The Undead, it had a ton of atmosphere maybe because a lot of it was filmed in an old ice house, also a lot of the dialog is in verse.
A Scene from The Undead, shot in an Ice House
Bucket Of Blood is a very funny film that also documents the Venice Beach beatnik scene and the whole bongo playing coffeehouse artiste genre. Not Of This Earth is a super creepy evil alien takeover story with some excellent voice over and a cast of crazy characters. Check these out if you get a chance.
Charles B. also wrote some seminal biker flick’s for Corman and American International. Check out John Cassavetes and Mimsy Farmer in Devil’s Angels and Peter Fonda with Nancy Sinatra in The Wild Angels.
Cassavettes in a Biker Flick? How Cool Is That!
Looks like a Jack Davis Drawing to me
Griffith would crank these scripts out in a week or two days or however much time Roger gave him maybe that’s why they’re so full of “spontaneous poetry”. Yeah daddio he was the Jack Kerouac of B movies or as Quentin Tarantino dubbed him “The Poet Laureate Of The Drive-In“.
Groovy Graphics
So Fare Thee Well Charles B. Griffith. They’re all laughing and snapping their fingers at The Big Drive-In in The Sky.
Trailer For A Bucket Of Blood
Here’s a cool interview with him:http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/05/35/charles_b_griffith.html
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Hey!
Thanks for the comments over at my blog. I likewise loved your tribute here — particularly the photo of Griffith, as well as THE DEVIL’S ANGELS one-sheet (that film’s a personal favourite of mine).
I’ll indeed let you know if I do publish the rest — I was hoping for a more “craft of screenwriting” oriented magazine, but haven’t really sent it out anywhere just yet.
I’ll be sure to check out your blog more reguarly now that it’s come to my attention!
Best,
Aaron
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I especially love your conclusion here. If only I wished there would be a lot of finger-snapping in heaven! If only I believed in heaven!