Hollywood Boulevard (1976)

Perhaps the ultimate in 'cut and paste' film making Hollywood Boulevard (1976) was shot for Roger Corman's New World Pictures in ten days and incorporates stock footage from a number of previous New World productions.  Apparently the result of a bet between Corman and Jon Davison over how cheaply and quickly the latter could produce a new movie, Hollywood Boulevard also gave directorial debuts to the jointly credited Allan Arkush and Joe Dante.  Aptly enough for a film built around swathes of pre-existing footage, Hollywood Boulevard is a film about film making, centered around the fictitious 'Miracle Films' and the low budget movies it turns out under the auspices of director Eric von Leppe.  In classic Hollywood form, it follows the journey of an aspiring, but naive, young actress, from arriving in Hollywood to finally making it as a star, the latter not because of her onscreen performances, but instead because of her incidental involvement in a series of murders linked to her movies.  The murders - at first passed off as bizarre on-set accidents - provides the film with its ongoing plot, as it becomes increasingly obvious that someone linked to von Leppe's productions is a serial killer. 

The plotting is pleasingly circuitous, with various bizarre events (all designed to incorporate stock footage from various Corman-produced movies) follow each other as the underlying story gradually emerges.  Our heroine is initially duped into being the unwitting getaway driver for a bank robbery, an experience that her agent succeeds into spinning into a job as a stunt driver on one of von Leppe's films which, in turn, leads to her being offered an acting role, along with two other young starlets.  This latter development allows the film to parody New World's successful 'three girls' formula used on their 'Nurse' and 'Teachers' series (amongst others).  The films that they work on are pretty good parodies of the types of movie that New World were turning out at the time: a Philippines based war movie (which uses lots of battle footage from several 'women-in-prison' and war movies)  and a science fiction western (which uses lots of footage and props from Death Race 2000).  (The latter film comes about as a compromise between von Leppe, who wants to make an historical western, and Miracle's producer who thinks that movies set in the future are more marketable: 'Everyone likes the future - it's where we'll all be spending the rest of our lives').  

In contrast to many other 'cut and paste' movies, Hollywood Boulevard makes good use of its stock footage, integrating it neatly and amusingly into the narrative.  It also boasts a great cast of B-movie performers, with Corman favourite Dick Miller outstanding as the agent (who at one point watches himself in The Terror (1963) at a drive-in, lamenting that his acting career never came to anything), Paul Bartel suitably imperious and manic as von Leppe, while Mary Woronov plays the hard-bitten leading lady feeling threatened by the presence of the three new girls.  Candice Rialson plays the lead very likeably, her characterisation effectively putting over the actress' combination of ambition and amiable naivety.  Arkush and Dante's direction moves the film smoothly through its gears, encompassing action, suspense, black comedy and finally slasher movie.  Frequently in extremely poor taste, the film moves to a suitably bizarre climax as the killer perishes while chasing Rialson around the 'Hollywood' sign, with one of the giant letters falling on them, fatally crushing them.  Being the only surviving victim make Rialson a media sensation and star of her own biopic.  Hollywood Boulevard is enormously good fun, a B-movie that cleverly parodies the whole business of low budget movie making whilst simultaneously acting as a loving tribute to both B-movies and those who make them.