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For every Orson Welles or Quentin Tarantino, directors with meteoric rises to critical acclaim early in their careers, there are hundreds of filmmakers who experience humble, if not uninspiring, beginnings. Look no further than Francis Ford Coppola, whose thankless debut effort featured zero indicators of the vision behind The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. A gifted intellect and wiz-kid with limitless dreams, Coppola signed on for any projects he could align himself with, including the role of splicing together two pre-existing movies into one Frankenstein creation. Before he was lucky enough to undergo a crash course in economic, low-budget filmmaking by Roger Corman, the Megalopolis director started at the lowest rung imaginable with Tonight for Sure, a cheap, bizarre, and aimless sexploitation film crossed with a Western that is proof that you always have to start at the bottom.

October 25 will mark 62 years since the release of the first film directed by Francis Ford Coppola: “Come on Out” (later retitled “Tonight for Sure”), a re-edited feature version of three different shorter nudie films he made while a film student at UCLA. It debuted in 1962, right in the middle of the Cuban missile crisis.

With “Megalopolis” opening, he likely has the longest feature film directorial career ever, ahead of Manoel de Oliveira (61 years), Jean-Luc Godard (58), Jerzy Skolimowsky (58), and Frederick Wiseman (56). Clint Eastwood, whose latest film “Juror #2” premieres next month, spans a mere 53 as a director.

To sustain a career that long necessitates a lot of success, which Coppola has had, led by “The Godfather.” But it has been a perilous journey, elongated (“Megalopolis” the most extreme) by his willingness to spend money to keep directing. Of note, his last studio-financed film was “The Rainmaker,” 27 years — and nearly half his career — ago.

Francis Ford Coppola may very well be the greatest American filmmaker. The Godfather, an epic three-motion-picture coup, redefined gangster movies and film; Apocalypse Now remains the greatest Vietnam War allegory ever made; Bram Stoker’s Dracula is perched atop most lists of horror classics. Coppola hit every genre, created art for art’s sake, and still managed to touch the pulse of moviegoers’ needs, desires, and fantasies.

More than anything, Coppola pursues innovation. This was exemplified in Distant Vision, which presented live cinema, performed twice, broadcast live to select screening rooms in 2015 and 2016, and not included in the list. The 25-minute film was made with students, staff, and teachers at UCLA, Coppola’s alma mater.

Coppola learned his trade at the “Roger Corman Film Academy,” where fresh filmmakers graduated by finishing movies quickly with pocket change for funding. By the time Coppola sandwiched the 1974 paranoid masterpiece The Conversation between The Godfather and The Godfather,...

Alfred Hitchcock’s magnum opus film, Psycho is returning to cinemas from today, 27th May. This stunning 4K restoration of the original theatrical cut includes an extra 13 seconds of restored footage – so it can once again be seen as it was originally shown in cinemas back in 1960, exactly as intended by Hitchcock. To celebrate, here are ten things you probably didn’t know about Psycho:

Melon-terror! What did Alfred Hitchcock use to create an authentically terrifying stabbing sound? A melon. Specifically, a casaba melon. Hitchcock and his sound guy are said to have tested all kinds of melons before settling on the casaba – its thick skin gives a denser sound than other varieties. This, combined with a slab of steak, proved the perfect combination. Body Double: in the iconic shower scene, Playboy cover girl Marli Renfro had the uncredited role of Janet Leigh’s body double – and it is her...

Lock the doors. Turn on the lights. Check under the bed. Crank up the volume. It’s time for another Halloween Parade!

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Click here, and be sure to indicate The Movies That Made Me in the note section so Josh can finally achieve his dream of showing Mandy to his wife!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Scream Blacula Scream (1973)

Mandy (2018)

Carnival of Souls (1962) – Mary Lambert’s trailer commentary

Night Tide (1961) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

A Bucket Of Blood (1959) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s DVD review, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Dementia 13 (1963) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Region B Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s director’s cut Blu-ray review

The Godfather (1972) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

The Godfather Part II (1974) – Katt Shea’s trailer commentary

The Conversation (1974) – Josh Olson...

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Warner Archive has released a gorgeous Blu-ray of Francis Coppola’s Finian’s Rainbow, a flawed but fascinating musical that marked a key moment in the director’s development. At the time, Coppola was a young filmmaker of promise who had worked in erotica (Tonight For Sure) and for Roger Corman (Dementia 13) before scoring a theatrical release for his UCLA thesis film You’re a Big Boy Now (1966). Coppola’s goal was to use that movie as a launching pad for a career writing and directing small personal films, but Jack Warner made him, to reference […]...

Ryan Lambie Feb 21, 2017

Before he made The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola got his start by editing monsters into a Soviet sci-fi film...

Everyone loves a good success story, and Hollywood history's full of them. Actors sleeping in their cars until they get their first lucky break. Writers papering the walls of their lodgings with rejection letters until they finally get a script in front of a receptive producer. Filmmakers who've spent years paying their dues before a studio finally comes calling.

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Director Francis Ford Coppola, before he shot to fame - and, for a time, considerable wealth - with such films as The Godfather, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now, scrabbled around at the lower end of the industry like just about everyone else.

What's the greatest Alfred Hitchcock film? Every film fan will have a different answer, with "The 39 Steps," "Rebecca," "Spellbound," "Notorious," "Rear Window," "Vertigo" and "North By Northwest" all making compelling cases for being the very best. But few of his films had such an impact on cinema as "Psycho," the 1960s thriller that saw him go into darker, more shocking territory than ever before, with some of the most famous sequences in the history of the medium.

Following secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) as she embezzles money from an employer and hides out at a deserted motel owned by the mysterious Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a man with serious mother issues, only to stunningly and unforgettably kill off its lead halfway through the film, the picture turned out to be the biggest hit of Hitchcock's career, and was arguably his last truly great movie. It was released fifty-two years ago tomorrow,...