B-movie king Roger Corman mentored many of the star directors of 1970s Hollywood, including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Ron Howard.

Watch Francis Ford Coppola's debut feature film, the low-budget horror movie 'Dementia 13.'

Francis Ford Coppola began working on 'The Godfather' to bail his production company out of dire financial straits.

Watch 'Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse,' the documentary about Francis Ford Coppola's notorious production behind 'Apocalypse Now,' shot by Coppola's wife, Eleanor.

The 'Movie Brats'—the nickname given to 1970s film directors like Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and others—ushered in a new era of Hollywood.

Francis Ford Coppola was not even close to being Paramount Pictures' first choice for director of 'The Godfather.'

Francis Ford Coppola's 'One from the Heart' was a financial disaster, leading him to bankruptcy and taking more commercial work—like the children's movie 'Jack'—to pay off his debts.

'The Empire Strikes Back' was influenced by Francis Ford Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now,' a movie George Lucas was originally supposed to direct.

The Coppola family tree has many branches in Hollywood, including actors Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman.

Francis Ford Coppola spent years trying to adapt Jack Kerouac's Beat Generation novel 'On the Road' but ultimately handed it off to another filmmaker.

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is a Hitchcock superfan

Famed director Martin Scorsese breaks down what makes four Hitchcock films (“Dial M for Murder,” “Rear Window,” “Vertigo,” and “Psycho”) so remarkable and discusses how Hitchcock’s style influenced his own work, including his 1980 film, “Raging Bull.”

How American politics influenced 'Star Wars'

George Lucas believed that myths were how societies communicated notions of good and evil, and that modern myths were found on movie screens. This deep dive from the Los Angeles Review of Books explores how Lucas' disillusionment with the Vietnam War and his disgust with President Richard Nixon informed some of the themes in "Star Wars."

‘Horror hosts’ helped build the genre’s cult following

Horror is now considered high art, but much of its cult popularity is due to the B-movies that defined the genre. Starting in the 1950s, many of these low-grade films were licensed on the cheap by television networks to fill airtime, introduced by “horror hosts”—MCs with campy, over-the-top personas.

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are noted fans of Norman Rockwell

The famous film directors are admirers and collectors of the American painter. Lucas, in particular, relates to Rockwell’s process, which resembles casting for a film. In 2010, the Smithsonian American Art Museum introduced a Rockwell exhibit showcasing works from Lucas’ and Spielberg’s private collections. This video from that exhibit features both directors talking about how and why they became interested in acquiring Rockwell’s work.

'Plan 9 from Outer Space' gained an audience after it was trashed by critics

The science-fiction film went mostly unnoticed in its original theatrical run, often playing in double-features aimed at teenagers. It wasn't until 1980, when film critics Harry and Michael Medved dubbed it the "worst film ever made," that it began to attract a cult following. In 1994, Johnny Depp starred in a biopic about its director, Ed Wood.

Read a 1971 magazine feature on Lucas' debut film, the sci-fi 'THX 1138'

Almost a decade before the arrival of "Star Wars," George Lucas directed "THX 1138," a grim science fiction film about a dystopian future in the vein of George Orwell's "1984." This article from the October 1971 issue of American Cinematographer features a young George Lucas, who developed the film from a short he worked on while a student at the University of Southern California just a few years earlier.

The inaugural Cannes Film Festival featured legendary directors

The festival’s first year was 1946. It featured 11 films from some of the world’s best filmmakers, including Jean Cocteau, Alfred Hitchcock, George Sydney, and Billy Wilder.

The jump scare, a horror genre trope, was invented to keep costs low

RKO Pictures hired Val Lewton to produce horror films in the Universal model: small budgets, big spectacles. His first movie was 1942's "Cat People" and he used tension and offscreen terror to save money. A perfect example is the movie's jump scare, a misdirection technique that catches viewers off guard.

Listen to an in-depth, career-spanning interview with Steven Spielberg.

In this conversation with the Ringer's Sean Fennessy, the esteemed director reflects on his early life and how it inspired a career in moviemaking. In particular, Spielberg notes the impact of seeing Disney's "Fantasia" at a young age and how it terrified him in a way he found fascinating.

Spielberg was inspired by Hitchcock, Kubrick, and other visionary directors

The influence of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” can be seen in the cinematography and tone of Spielberg classics like “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

Movies that killed these 17 actors' careers

Hollywood's history is checkered with flubs and successes, and many actors have suffered from portraying specific roles, even if the films were successful. This list goes into 17 acting careers that took a nosedive after a specific role, including Elizabeth Berkley in "Showgirls" and Sofia Coppola in "The Godfather: Part III." Read the rest here.

Hollywood's 'golden age' was controlled by vertically integrated studios

Hollywood in the early to mid-20th century was largely controlled by the "Big Five" studios: Paramount, Warner Bros., Fox, MGM, and RKO. The studios were vertically integrated, overseeing every aspect of film production, distribution, and exhibition. During this era, actors like Cary Grant and Judy Garland were under contract with specific studios—typically for seven years. Garland signed with MGM at age 13, which counted on them to draw audiences.

Famed director Brian De Palma idolizes 'Vertigo'

Brian De Palma, director of “Carrie,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Scarface,” discusses the influence of Hitchcock on his career, including how it led him to abandon engineering and pursue a career in filmmaking. He says Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” in particular changed his understanding of “cinematic language.”

Some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters were designed by Drew Struzan

The artist is responsible for iconic posters advertising "Indiana Jones," "Hook," "The Goonies," and more. His distinctive style—sometimes painted by hand, sometimes drawn with an airbrush—defined the era of the family-friendly family blockbuster.

'Bonnie and Clyde,' the 1967 film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, was the first major American movie to feature graphic violence.

Director Arthur Penn used the then-new Squibb technology, which triggered realistic and bloody bullet wounds, to portray graphic violence, at the time a taboo in American cinema.

10 films that influenced Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock influenced generations of filmmakers who came after him, but this article focuses on the films that influenced the master himself. Among the titles on the list are Lyman Howe’s “A Ride on a Runaway Train,” which allegedly inspired the sexually charged ending of “North by Northwest,” and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s “Les Diaboliques,” which many people believe is responsible for the pivotal shower scene from “Psycho.”

'American Graffiti' gave George Lucas the credibility to have 'Star Wars' produced

The idea for "Star Wars" was initially rejected by studios. It wasn't until "American Graffiti," Lucas' 1973 nostalgic comedy, became an unexpected hit that anyone was willing to produce what Lucas called his "space film."

Legendary director Brian De Palma hated his first viewing of 'Star Wars'

The "Carrie" and "Mission: Impossible" director was invited by his friend George Lucas to watch an early cut of the first "Star Wars," a draft that lacked many of the special effects that would be added later. De Palma was highly critical, telling Lucas that "The Force" was an awful name for the spiritual power Luke Skywalker eventually comes to embrace.

Hitchcock regularly made cameos in his own films

Long before Tarantino was born, Hitchcock was casting himself in his movies’ bit parts, allowing careful audience members to find the director walking through the fictional world he’d created. The history behind that decision was an accident.

‘Halloween’ is one of the most profitable indie films of all time

The 1978 John Carpenter movie grossed $70M in its initial run despite a modest budget. It helped pioneer the “slasher flick” subgenre, though it wasn’t filled with cheap thrills. As Roger Ebert pointed out in his review of the movie, Carpenter’s filmmaking techniques—alongside his original score—were a work of art.

Watch Christopher Nolan—director of 'The Odyssey' and 'Oppenheimer'—pick some of his favorite films from the Criterion Collection's closet, including works by Orson Welles, Spike Lee, and others.

How Spielberg changed film

Before "Jaws," summer was Hollywood’s off-season. Steven Spielberg’s 1975 thriller changed all that, launching the era of the summer blockbuster. From "E.T." to "Jurassic Park," Spielberg’s films redefined how stories were told, how audiences reacted, and how studios marketed.

The studio behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled promotion before its national release

Before its national release in 1975, the studio behind "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" decided the musical movie was too strange, campy, and unwieldy for most audiences and cut its promotional efforts, hoping to minimize its losses. That decision led to the film flopping commercially. It wasn't until a theater began screening the film at midnight that it caught on, attracting a devoted fanbase who attended weekly screenings and dressed as their favorite characters—a tradition that continues to this day.

How Alfred Hitchcock changed cinema

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock changed moviegoing with "Psycho." At a time when audiences came and went during screenings, he enforced strict start times, banned late arrivals, and kept plot details secret. The result? A $32M hit that helped shape modern theater etiquette.

The 'golden age' studio system often controlled actors' personal lives

The "Big Five" studio system minted stars, but it also tightly controlled their personal lives. Homosexuality, in particular, was seen as a liability. One example is Rock Hudson, a major star in the 1950s and '60s, who was forced into an arranged marriage with his agent's secretary.

Steven Spielberg’s movies have a unique style

Despite their distinct genres, Spielberg films often have much in common with one another. For example, supernatural phenomena, middle-class values, and camera techniques—including long, uninterrupted shots and a dolly-zoom method called the "Spielberg Face.”