Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (2001) **** (out of 4)Only God himself knows how many documentaries I've seen on "B" movies because I've really lost count over the years. However, I do know this here is probably the best of the bunch as it sinks its teeth into the exploitation flicks of the 30's, the low-budget teenage films of the 50's and more explicit sexploitation films of the 60's. Roger Corman, Forrest J. Ackerman, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Peter Bogdanovich, Doris Wishman, David Friendman, Dick Miller, Harry Novak and even Vampira are interviewed among others. The documentary does a great job at telling how the studio system was bombing at the box office and the likes of Corman were making millions by spending very little. The doc also does a great job at showing how difficult it was to make these films with some of them coming in in just three days. Clips from various classics are shown as well.

This documentary is loaded with fascinating clips and interviews with people involved with exploitation films of the 50's and 60's. Such people as Roger Corman, Doris Wishman, Harry Novack and others give insight into the making of horror, sex, and other low-budget movies that makes one wish that era was still around.It's great to see a clip of the beautifully strange Pat Barrington in The Agony of Love (an interesting film you should check out). Someone should make a film of Ms. Barrington's life. Vampira even pops up here! I recommend this highly and have seen many of the films mentioned. Drive-in movies had a special quality of their own and it's a shame there are so few left in America.

a good look at the whole exploitation phenomenon that began in the 50s. unlike "mau mau sex sex," this film does a really good job of informing the viewer how and why exploitation movies became so popular. it looks at social and political forces that guided the rise and demise of the industry. it looks at landmark films, directors and producers. and rather than focus just on their effect on exploitation films, it looks at their effect on mainstream films as well. if you want to know about exploitation films of the 50s and 60s, this is the documentary to check out. as one reviewer noted, many of the films mentioned are released by "something weird video," another label to explore is "troma" which has many similar titles. B+.

It says a lot about my movie collection that I could identify the movie before it was mentioned, and I own the vast majority of them. This probably wasn't meant to be a promotional piece for Something Weird Video, but if you like the movies talked about in this excellent documentary, the vast majority are available from SWV.