Schlock!: The Secret History of American Movies (2003)

In the tradition of A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE, SCHLOCK: THE SECRET HISTORY OF AMERICAN MOVIES surveys one of the most fertile yet underappreciated eras of American cinema: the 1950s and '60s. During this period when the Hollywood studio system was on the wane, a talented group of independent filmmakers churned out scores of imaginative, no-holds-barred exploitation films and b-movies that thrilled drive-in audiences, pushed creative boundaries, and offered the perfect training ground for nascent filmmakers like Peter Bogdanovich and Francis Ford Coppola. This fascinating documentary examines the golden age of schlock through interviews with the era's key players, including legendary producer Sam Arkoff, sexploitation queen Doris Wishman, b-movie maestro Roger Corman, and many more schlock icons.