That Guy Dick Miller

That's Italian.

You can go pump or auto.

The .45 Long Slide with Lazer sighting.

These are brand new, we just got them in.

That's a good gun.

Just touch the trigger, the beam comes on...

Yeah, I remember after shooting this scene

thinking, that guy is good. He outta run for Governor.

Schwarzenegger?

What Schwarzenegger? Me!

Friend of mine was working for Roger Corman.

And he had to go drop something off and I said "Can I go with ya?"

Dick Miller was an essential part of those early Corman films,

he's in quite a number of them.

You got a thought, or do you want to sit there and play with your blocks?

I'll play with your blocks, give him this.

Sometimes he has a small part, sometimes one of the leads.

Bucket of Blood was probably Dick's best role,

he played Walter Paisley.

Oh Walter, I want to be with you.

Let's call the character Walter!

- Yo, Walter! - Hey, Walter, its your wife.

It's just one of those things, it sort of got attached to him.

Walter Paisley is born!

But you did shoot with naked ladies.

No, I don't remember naked ladies.

Dick did his share of gangsters and he did policemen. You know, working stiff parts.

I don't know an actor who has been in the business

as long as Dick has been in the business who isn't hiding a million wounds.

Dick came out here as a writer and that's what he wanted to do.

Our childhood was probably like everybody else's.

Who knows, you know, you hear stories, you don't hear stories.

I've been mistaken for him several times

and I always thought I was better lookin' than him.

Sorry, pal, you're over the limit on this card.

He's that guy. He's the guy that when you're watching

a movie and you see him you say

"There's that guy! He's in everything."

He's like the Washington Monument of actors.

You can't turn on the TV or go to the movies

without seeing this man's career spill out before you.

Listen, punk, I've handled jaywalkers who were tougher than you.

I do hope you'll write my book.

I grew up with Dick Miller. I mean I really did.

- Ever flub a line? - No.

I take Master Charge, American

Express... I blew the fuckin line!

Yeah, maybe once or twice.

Dick Miller is the quintessential character actor.

Lets get outta here. I hate cul de sacs.

There's only one way out and the people are weird.

He's in every Joe Dante movie, isn't he?

What was he in "Innerspace"?

Would you shut up, get back in your cab!

I never thought of being a filmmaker, I was going to be a cartoonist,

I was just a film fan. But then when finally I got a chance to make a movie

I couldn't do it without Dick Miller. I had to have Dick Miller in it.

Joe seems to adore Dick,

they seem to get along fantastically.

What's so great about Dick is, it's the fact that he's so Dick Miller.

He's so himself. Completely, 100 percent,

undiluted pure Dick Miller.

He's so completely authentic.

You're never going to steal a scene from him.

Because how can you steal a scene from somebody who's so real?

You're never going to steal a scene from reality.

- No, that's what I said. - No that's what I said.

- No, I said forget it. - I forgot about it already.

We're in New York because Dick is doing a film.

I'm so excited.

Back in New York, this is my stomping ground,

I started out here - a Bronx boy.

I haven't been here in a couple of years. It's nice.

This one is with Abe Vigoda

and its called "Cutaways".

I've never worked with him before.

He's a nice, quite old gentleman.

My friends are still amazed and the people that I work with

that my brother's an actor and he's been in so many films

and he's such a well known face.

You look at him and you say: "I know that guy."

But he made so many films, someone once told me

he made about 300 which is an awful lot.

Can we have the check?

It's on the house.

- Really? - Sure, what the hell.

Different rules apply when it gets this late,

it's like after hours.

I love having him around. I just love working with him.

Cause Dick's got a New York accent. You feel at home.

Dick is a dyed in the wool kind of New Yorker,

he's a super authentic guy, he's a no bullshit guy.

This is my first professional picture.

"Sorority Girl".

Featuring Dick Miller. Here's some more junk.

This is from "Gremlins". This is a Walter Paisley sign.

I've got Walter Paisley signs all over the house.

- "The Undead". - You played a leper in that movie, right?

Yeah, he cleared up my skin nice.

This is "War of the Satellites".

"Rock All Night".

How many movies did you do for Roger, do you remember?

I've been associated with him in about 49.

49 pictures.

That's he's either directed or produced,

or something or the other.

The first film Dick and I worked on together

was "Apache Woman".

A two week western. It was my third or fourth picture.

I was just learning how to be a director.

I was five when he made his first movie

"Apache Woman" where he plays Tall Tree.

I would've made a great Apache Chief I.

Wouldn't I have, Tall Tree?

Good Chief. You Chief now

And I think really that's the secret to his longevity in the film industry

is his height. Because there's always room for somebody

who is that small.

You'll have to ask Dick about his secret.

I have no idea what his secret is.

I was playing an Indian in my first picture,

and I felt good about it. He says: "When you finish your work here,

how would you like to play a Homesteader for me?"

I said: "Yeah, sure. When does that start?"

He says: "Tomorrow! ".

So I played a Cowboy and an Indian in my first movie.

I think, part of the success of Corman,

was that everything was well planned in advance.

Roger Corman was a well-educated young man

who sort of stumbled into the movie business.

Corman was his own director and producer and he knew

how to make these films, quickly and efficiently

and had no pre-tense about them being great art.

Won't know when they're laying that track for two weeks yet.

- We're all waiting for that big letter. - Yeah, and I'm waiting to carry it.

Roger was on a Western kick then.

I played cowboys for him, I played a Pony Express rider for him.

I was making a buck.

Dick came out as an actor from New York

and started getting cast in all those movies

and became this presence.

Frankly, at the time of those movies, I wasn't aware of Dick.

But looking at it in retrospect, he's the thread that you see throughout those movies.

He's like the everyman.

Jonathan Haze, by the way, is the one who introduced me to Roger the first time.

- What do you do, kid? - I'm here to keep Mr. Johnson healthy.

I don't even think we had each other's phone numbers.

- No, who had telephones? - Right.

- How about I go rustle some cows? - Ah, don't be stupid.

- Who s stupid? - You! Whose got any cows out here?

Alright, I'll go rustle some chickens.

That was all pretty much ad-Iibed.

But it was the first time that Dick and I got to work together as a comedy team.

- It's not here? - Si, way back in there.

It's too big for this little squad, I think.

And it gave Roger some ideas about us playing comedy

that paid off later on with "Bucket of Blood" and "Little Shop of Horrors".

Jonathan Haze, Dick calls him Jackie.

But, he's Jonathan Haze. They've been together as friends since New York.

They're known each other longer than Dick knows me.

When Jonathan Haze said he was going to introduce me to Roger,

I thought, I'm gonna sell him some Science Fiction if I could.

Didn't happen.

Roger at that time, he said: "What do you do?"

I said I'm a writer. He said: "We don't need writers,

we need actors." I said: "I'm an actor!"

The State Theater in Boonton, New Jersey.

That's where I saw my first Dick Miller movie

which was "Not of this Earth".

Mornin'. I represent the Air Wave Vacuum Cleaning Company.

- You the gentlemen of the house? - This is my house.

Crazy. I'd like to show you the product.

I didn't know Dick, because I hadn't seen any of his other movies.

But the vacuum cleaner salesman definitely made an impression on me

so that when I saw him again, in another AIP picture,

"Oh, that's the guy! That's the vacuum cleaner guy."

I know that better than you do, sergeant. How well are you doing?

Half my men are dead. Nothing can stop that thing.

In "Not of this Earth" Dick plays a door-to-door salesman.

This, as they say in the vernacular,

is the darling of the vacuum cleaning world.

And it was really one of the high-points,

if not THE high-point of the picture.

It's a vacuum cleaner. You purchase, you don't wanna purchase.

You wanna purchase, you purchase.

I don't want ya to purchase, mister. I just wanna give you a free demonstration.

You wanna purchase, you purchase. You don't wanna purchase, you don't purchase.

I ain't gonna force you to purchase.

It was a well-written scene,

but Dick re-wrote it just slightly, just changed a little bit of the dialoge.

Crazy. I said: "Wait a second.

Among my many occupations,

I was also a door-to-door salesman."

I said: "And I didn't have a spiel, I just spoke naturally."

It's a very simple operation.

You know, when people try to do homages to these B-movies,

they do it sometimes with a wink. The actors who worked for Corman, never did that.

There's no condescending to the material. Its done with conviction.

I must have met a thousand cops

and everyone of them is stupid!