Machine Gun Kelly: A closer look at Roger Corman, the king of genre film

Eight days of filming. A micro budget. A gangster inspired by a real criminal from the Great Depression. Machine Gun Kelly is indicative of Roger Corman’s approach: transforming a tight budget into on-screen energy. Among those who have followed in his footsteps is Quentin Dupieux in particular.

Released in 1958, the film follows George Kelly (Charles Bronson in a completely different type of role), an armed robber obsessed with Thompson submachine guns, who is manipulated by his moll, Flo Becker (magnetic mistress Susan Cabot), after a failed hold-up. Contrary to the traditional robbery movie, the filmmaker chose to feature a loser, a swaggering gangster who is superstitious and cowardly. Kelly is an empty man, who is dependent on his gun like a suit that’s too big for him.

This way of revolutionizing genre cinema is a hallmark of Roger Corman. Born in 1926, the filmmaker has produced over fifty films in less than fifteen years, presenting a mix of gothic horror, paranoia sci-fi, biker films and psychedelic thrillers. He helped to mentor and launch the careers of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, and even Jack Nicholson.

Long dismissed for his low-budget style and peculiar plots, the director of The Little Shop of Horrors  and The Masque of the Red Death, is today a central figure of genre cinema, whose muse and favorite actor is Vincent Price.