A Brief History
On September 16, 2001, 83 year old B-movie producer Samuel Z. Arkoff died, bringing an end to an era of movies so bad they were good. Born in Iowa in 1918 to a Russian -Jewish family did not seem to lead to Hollywood, especially with an initial direction toward studying law (graduating from Loyola of LA with a law degree).
Digging Deeper
Still, Arkoff managed to find his way into the movie business, where he produced low budget, slapped together movies that almost invariably succeeded in making money. Responsible for starting the genre of outlaw biker movie and also teen beach movies, some of his most entertaining and ridiculous work was in the horror field, including such classics as Blacula (1972), a blaxploitation film that took advantage of the growing black movie audience with the eternal charm of Dracula, and The Thing With Two Heads (1972), starring football great Rosie Grier (the guy that tackled Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Bobby Kennedy) and Ray Milland as the 2 heads. Obviously 1972 was a weird year!
Another Arkoff classic was I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) starring a young Michael Landon (later starring on television’sBonanza and Little House on the Prairie). Perhaps his greatest horror movie accomplishment was the 1979 blockbuster, The Amityville Horror.
Arkoff actually started in television, and is credited with inventing the “canned” television laugh track. Where would TV be without that?
Arkoff was ever eager to use big name stars in cameo roles, and was responsible for helping start the careers of major movie figures such as Jack Nicholson, Don Johnson, Nick Nolte, Diane Ladd, and Arkoff found work for Dennis Hopper and Bruce Dern when they could not find other roles.
Arkoff cited his method for low budget B-movie success by using his name as an acronym. A- Action, R-Revolution (meaning new or innovative subject or technique), K-Killing (violence sells), O-Oratory (memorable dialogue or speeches), F-Fantasy, F-Fornication (sex sells).
Some of the many great schlock films to Arkoff’s credit include the classics Earth vs. The Spider (2001 and 1958), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off (1973, with Jim Brown and Ed McMahon), Slaughter (1972), Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971, starring Vincent Price), Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966), How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), Panic in Year Zero! (1962), Pit and the Pendulum (1962), Reptilicus (1961), Suicide Battalion (1958), Voodoo Woman (1957), and Dragstrip Girl (1957) are just some of the gems. Arkoff was even parodied himself in the movie in a movie segment of Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), A Fistful of Yenwhen the producer is listed as Samuel L. Bronkowitz.
If you are in the mood to be entertained without having to think too hard, check out some of these Samuel Z. Arkoff movie classics. Millions of people have!
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Which ones are your favorites?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Herberger, Jeff, director. Samuel Z. Arkoff: FANEX Files – The Incredible Story of the Founder of American International Pictures. Alpha Video, 2022.
