Welcome back to the wonderful world of Roger Corman, where today we take a look at one of his greatest creative successes: 1959’s “A Bucket of Blood,” starring Dick Miller.
Walter (Miller) is a tad on the slow side, working as a bus boy in a beatnik club to make ends meet while forever dreaming of being an artist himself; he rents a room from an old woman, but he otherwise lives a solitary existence. A transitional moment occurs in his life, however, when his landlady’s cat accidentally gets caught in the apartment wall. Walter tries to help the cat escape by thrusting his knife into the wall to cut a hole in the plaster…but, unfortunately, his aim proves a bit too precise, and with his one, quick motion, he realizes that he’s stabbed the cat dead! (The dark humor of Walter’s horrified query after he hears the cat’s abrupt squawk – “You alright, Frankie?” – is straight out of a Farrelly Brothers movie…well, one of the earlier, funnier ones, anyway.)
Taking life’s lemons and making them into lemonade, Walter proceeds to wrap the kitty corpse in clay, knife and all, and is pleasantly surprised to find that his work is praised by the patrons of the club. Unfortunately, he impresses one woman so much that she gives him the gift that keeps on giving – that’s heroin, baby! – and the “transaction,” as it were, is witnessed by an undercover cop. Frantic to escape from the clutches of the law, Walter hits the cop over the head with a frying pan and, voila, he’s got a new piece of art on his hands: “Murdered Man.”
Beatnik #1: Hey, that’s a pretty far-out name for a statue!
Beatnik #2: I saw a statue once. It was called, “The Third Time Phyllis Saw Me, She Exploded.”
Beatnik #1: Man, what kind of a statue was that?
Beatnik #2: I don’t know, but it was made out of driftwood and dripped in fluoric acid. It was very wild.
And, yes, that really is dialogue from the film.
Unfortunately, the owner of the club accidentally stumbles upon Walter’s secret, and he’s just about to turn him in to the police when he’s offered $500 for the cat statue, which has been on display at the bar. Turns out it’s a surprisingly quick trip from “doing the right thing” to “making a quick buck,” and before you know it, Walter’s finding excuses to create new works of art whenever he turns around. And why wouldn’t he? Each further piece continues to be the talk of the club!
“A Bucket of Blood” unabashedly mocks the pretentiousness of modern art, and it’s right on the money across the board. Dick Miller does a great job with his performance, making Walter’s transformation from simpleton to the talk of the art community seem realistic by never letting you forget that he’s just a naïve guy who’s less interested in being an artist than he is in finding friendship and love. (Miller was also in “X – The Man with X-Ray Eyes,” as it happens, but I’d previously only known him for his work at Mr. Futterman in the “Gremlins” flicks.) Of course, it won’t come as any surprise that, before “A Bucket of Blood” is over, things fall apart for poor Walter, but his fate at film’s end may prove shocking.
You can imagine that beatniks didn’t dig this flick, given how much fun it has at their expense, but, personally, I dug it the most. It’s definitely one of Corman’s greatest successes, and it might be the most fun of any of the films I’ve watched thus far for the Scare of the Day feature.
