Maverick movie maker, indie icon, “Pope of Pop Cinema,” sponsor of the careers of the great and near great, Roger Corman made a singular mark on the movies over a career that spanned half a century.

Directors Demme and Coppola and Ron Howard  and others got their start making movies the Corman way — fast and fun and furious and cheap. Actors such as Jack Nicholson got their foot in the filmmaking door on Corman sets.

Just last week I reviewed “Machine Gun Kelly,” a breakthrough film for the director, producer and impresario, and for actor Charles Bronson. It crackles with energy and plays as if it was shot in ten days. Which it was.

That’s the best way to remember him today, watching one of his gangster movies, his monster pics, his beloved Edgar Allan Poe adaptations.

Got to Tubi or YouTube or Amazon and watch one. They’re all over the free streamers.

He led a life and had a career worth celebrating, and that’s a way to celebrate it.