The Late Great Larry Cohen

Every movie buff has his or her favourite directors. For many their favourite directors are drawn from a number of A-listers: Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Steven Spielberg, and so on. Some of us, however, also include directors from outside the A-list. Among my favourite directors of all time is Larry Cohen. I cannot say Larry Cohen made B-movies, as his movies were of a high quality despite having low budgets. I cannot say that he directed exploitation films, as his movies always had some intellectual substance to them. Indeed, most of his films addressed social issues in some way, shape, or form. What I can say about Larry Cohen is that he directed movies that were as good as they were often outlandish. Working with limited budgets, Larry Cohen directed movies that were every bit as good as those produced by the major studios. Before his career in film he also had a notable career in television. Larry Cohen died at the age of 77 on March 23 2019.

Lawrence George Cohen was born in Washington Heights, Manhattan on July 15 1941. Growing up he was an avid movie fan, usually watching as many as four movies a week. He was drawing his own comic books by the time he was eight years old. As a teenager he would sneak into NBC Studios to watch television shows being shot there. Eventually he worked as a page at NBC. He attended the City College of New York.

In 1958 Larry Cohen went to work for Talent Associates. He told Talent Associates' president, Alfred Levy, of his interest in writing. Mr. Levy thought it was a good idea for Mr. Cohen to write a teleplay. The first script he wrote was rejected, but he continued trying, even receiving tutoring from a story editor at Talent Associates twice a week. Finally he sold his first script, an adaptation of Evan Hunter's "87th Precinct" novel Killer's Choice for Kraft Television Theatre in 1958. It was followed by another episode of Kraft Television Theatre in 1958, this one an adaptation of William L. Stuart's novel Night Cry. He would also write an episode of Zane Grey Theatre that aired in 1960.

The Sixties would see Mr. Cohen very active as a television writer. In fact, he created four different TV shows. The first, Branded, staring Chuck Connors as a cavalry officer accused of cowardice, has persisted in reruns to this day. Both Blue Light and Coronet Blue would develop cult followings. Like Branded, his fourth series also proved somewhat successful. The Invaders starred Roy Thinnes as David Vincent, who is trying to stop an alien invasion that is already well underway. He also suggested the idea for the TV series Custer, although it would be created by Samuel A. Peeples and David Weisbart. He wrote episodes of the shows The Witness, Way Out, The United States Steel Hour, Surfside 6, Checkmate, Sam Benedict, Arrest and Trial, The Nurses, Espionage, The Fugitive, The Defenders, and The Rat Patrol. He served as an executive producer on the show Never Too Young. It was in the Sixties that Larry Cohen also broke into film as a screenwriter. His first screenplay was for the Magnificent Seven sequel Return of the Seven (1966). He also wrote the screenplays for Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1969) and El Condor (1970).

In the Seventies Larry Cohen broke into motion picture directing with the black comedy Bone (1972). He followed Bone with Black Caesar (1973) and its sequel Hell Up in Harlem (1973). It was arguably with It's Alive (1974) that people began to take notice of Larry Cohen. It was a horror movie with a most unlikely monster: a mutant killer baby. For the remainder of the Seventies Larry Cohen directed the movies God Told Me To (1976), The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977), and It Lives Again (1978). He wrote the screenplay for The American Success Company (1980). He continued writing for television, writing episodes of the show Cool Million and Columbo. He created the TV show Griff. He also wrote the TV movies In Broad Daylight, Man on the Outside, and Calling Doctor Storm, M. D.

In the Eighties Larry Cohen directed the films Full Moon High (1981), Q (1982), Perfect Strangers (1984), Special Effects (1984), The Stuff (1985), It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987), A Return to Salem's Lot (1987), Deadly Illusion (1987), Wicked Stepmother (1989), and The Ambulance (1990). He wrote screenplays for the movies Best Seller (1987), Maniac Cop (1988), and Maniac Cop 2 (1990). He worked on the screenplay for I, the Jury (1982) briefly before being fired. He wrote the TV movies See China and Die (1981) and Desperado: Avalanche at Devil's Ridge (1988).  He directed See China and Die as well.

In the Nineties Larry Cohen directed his final feature film, Original Gangstas (1996). He wrote the screenplays for the movies Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence (1993), Body Snatchers (1993), Guilty as Sin (1993), Invasion of Privacy (1996), The Ex (1996), and Misbegotten (1997). He directed the TV movie As Good as Dead (1995). He wrote an episode of the TV show NYPD Blue as well as the TV movies Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice, Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Heatwave,  and The Defenders: Choice of Evils.

In the Nineties Mr. Cohen wrote the TV movie The Gambler, the Girl and the Gunslinger. He directed an episode of Masters of Horror. He wrote the screenplays for the movies Phone Booth (2002), Cellular (2004), Captivity (2007), and Messages Deleted (2010).

Aside from such classic directors as Michael Curtiz, John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Alfred Hitchcock, Larry Cohen was one of the first directors of whom I was aware. His movies were frequently shown on cable television in the late Seventies into the Eighties. I was very happy when learned that the Larry Cohen who had worked in television was the same Larry Cohen who had directed movies in the Seventies and Eighties. Over the years he had provided me many of hours of enjoyment, whether it was through the TV show The Invaders or such feature films as Black Caesar, It's Alive, and Q. Indeed, I have often thought that Larry Cohen would make the sort of movies I would make.

To wit, Mr. Cohen worked in a variety of genres. He directed everything from comedies to horror movies to sci-fi movies to crime movies. Often his movies could be counted as belonging to several different movies at the same time. Q was simultaneously a crime thriller and a giant monster movie. The Stuff blended science fiction, horror, and satire. God Told Me To blended horror with elements of science fiction and police procedurals. What is more Larry Cohen could take the most far-out concepts and make them seem entirely plausible: killer babies, Azetc gods stalking New York City, yogurt-like products with rather alarming side effects, and so on. And while Larry Cohen always worked on shoe-string budgets and without A-list actors, his movies often had more substance than many big budget blockbusters. Over the years he tackled a number of social issues in his films, from racism to abortion to political corruption to religion. Larry Cohen's movies were rarely simple entertainment. That he made them very entertaining makes Mr. Cohen all the more admirable as a director.