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This only authoritative record of
Buchanan's life has recently been reprinted as a softcover book available on Amazon, the story of Buchanan's arduous journey from Texas orphanage to Hollywood director, and a look inside the wacky world of low budget filmmaking.
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Buchanan died in Tucson, Arizona on
December 2, 2004 at age 81. He died of complications from a collapsed lung, according to his wife, Joan Buchanan (they were married for 52 years). Buchanan left behind his wife, one daughter and three sons.
272:(1969) − were largely color remakes of AIP films from the 1950s. Buchanan's instructions from AIP were: "We want cheap color pictures, we want half-assed names in them, we want them eighty minutes long and we want them now".
115:. It was while working here that his acting career got off the ground. He played some bit parts in movies, and the studio gave him the stage name "Larry Buchanan", which he used for his entire career. He enlisted in the
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summarized his work thus: "One quality united Mr. Buchanan's diverse output: It was not so much that his films were bad; they were deeply, dazzlingly, unrepentantly bad. His work called to mind a famous line from
99:. It was while growing up there that he became fascinated with the movies which were shown in the orphanage's theater. He considered becoming a minister early in life, but got into the movie industry instead.
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Among
Buchanan's work, several direct-to-television films which he wrote, produced, and directed back in Dallas under his own "Azalea Films" imprint in the mid-to-late-1960s for
492:
Palmer, Randy (2009). Paul
Blaisdell, Monster Maker: A Biography of the B Movie Makeup and Special Effects Artist. McFarland & Company. p. 246. ISBN 978-0786440993.
611:
Palmer, Randy (2009). Paul
Blaisdell, Monster Maker: A Biography of the B Movie Makeup and Special Effects Artist. McFarland & Company. p. 246. ISBN 978-0786440993.
501:
Palmer, Randy (2009). Paul
Blaisdell, Monster Maker: A Biography of the B Movie Makeup and Special Effects Artist. McFarland & Company. p. 246. ISBN 978-0786440993.
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footage "with a blue gel slapped across the camera lens with the noonday sun clearly visible on surfaces of water, car bumpers, etc."
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In the early 1950s, Buchanan began producing, directing, writing, editing, and acting in his own low budget movies. The first was a
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Fox, Margalit (December 19, 2004). "Larry
Buchanan Dies at 81; B-Movie 'Schlockmeister'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
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in order to learn how to direct movies. He was based in New York, which allowed him to act in stage plays in the evenings.
602:
Craig, Rob (2007). The Films of Larry
Buchanan: A Critical Examination. North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2982-0.
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Buchanan was born in Lost
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for being "so-bad-they're-good". Buchanan chronicled his unusual life in his 1997 autobiography,
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from working in New York at this time and
Kubrick offered to be his cinematographer on
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He left behind an entire career of poorly made films, many of which have become
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130:(1949), which he shot back in Dallas for $ 900. His first feature film was
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prose, said, 'It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it.'"
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One reasonably well-known (if over-the-hill) lead actor (such as
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Goodsell, Greg, "The Weird and Wacky World of Larry Buchanan",
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Goodsell, Greg, "The Weird and Wacky World of Larry Buchanan",
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St. Clair Smith, Douglass (May 1986). "How Bad Were They?".
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It Came from Hunger: Tales of a Cinema Schlockmeister.
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Monsters with eyes literally made from ping-pong balls
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Among the notable features of Buchanan's movies were:
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The Films of Larry Buchanan: A Critical Examination
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22:(January 31, 1923 − December 2, 2004), born
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426:(1968) - an original script by Buchanan
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359:After his death, a long obituary in
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1004:People from Limestone County, Texas
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155:Buchanan is perhaps best known for
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1014:20th-century American male writers
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307:was responsible for the deaths of
16:American film director (1923–2004)
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804:Zontar, the Thing from Venus
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466:(1969) - adapted from the
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408:It Conquered the World
297:. In 1984 he produced
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361:The New York Times
289:was not killed by
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636:978-0-7864-2982-0
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388:The AIP TV Movies
287:Lee Harvey Oswald
283:alternate history
227:The Eye Creatures
149:The Marrying Kind
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134:(1952); he knew
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876:It's Alive!
796:High Yellow
463:It's Alive!
340:John Ashley
269:It's Alive!
211:(1981) and
178:High Yellow
74:It's Alive!
973:Categories
940:Down on Us
719:The Cowboy
531:2012-11-02
475:References
377:cult films
300:Down on Us
128:The Cowboy
124:one-reeler
87:Early life
772:Under Age
726:Grubstake
344:John Agar
291:Jack Ruby
285:in which
217:(1989).
140:Grubsteak
132:Grubsteak
109:Hollywood
97:orphanage
667:Obituary
260:(1969),
254:(1968),
248:(1968),
242:(1967),
236:(1967),
230:(1967),
205:(1979),
199:(1977),
193:(1976),
187:(1970),
181:(1965),
169:(1963),
152:(1952).
26:, was a
645:Filmfax
582:Filmfax
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951:(1989)
943:(1984)
935:(1981)
927:(1979)
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735:(1956)
729:(1952)
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570:: 211.
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446:(1955)
436:(1957)
420:(1956)
410:(1956)
400:(1957)
103:Career
95:in an
93:Dallas
77:, and
480:Notes
662:IMDb
631:ISBN
315:and
820:Sam
669:at
660:at
342:or
146:on
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