Carver's final AFI project was a short film based on Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart starring Alex Cord and Sam Jaffe.[5] The Los Angeles Times described it as "an effective mood piece, a beautiful work in ominous life and shadow".[6]
"I loved AFI", said Carver. "It was an opportunity to use some very talented people."[2]
Roger Corman
The Tell-Tale Heart was widely screened and attracted the attention of Roger Corman who had made a number of adaptations of Poe's works. Corman hired Carver to work at New World Pictures.[7]
Carver spent his first year at New World cutting trailers. He later estimated he cut 100-150 trailers in that time.[7] He also wrote a number of scripts for Corman, including one on Admiral Byrd that floundered when they could not secure rights from Byrd's estate. He was working on a script about a black female private eye when Corman gave him the chance to direct with The Arena (1974), a film about female gladiators shot in Italy.[2][8]
Big Bad Mama and Capone
Corman was pleased with The Arena and gave Carver another directing job, a gangster film starring Angie Dickinson, Big Bad Mama (1974). Paul Bartel, who directed second unit on the film, described Carver as "very well organised" and "having great control of the medium".[2] It was a big success at the box office.
In a 1975 interview Carver said "All I want to do for now is a string of good commercial pictures but in my own style. I'm not looking for a multi-million-dollar picture; $1 to $2 million will do for now."[2] The same interview described him "as intense and dynamic as his films... an aggressive achiever who has already accomplished enough for three people."[2]
Drum
Carver was mentioned as a possible director for the third film in the "Billy Jack" series, Billy Jack Goes to Washington,[2] but in the end Tom Laughlin decided to do it. Instead Dino De Laurentiis hired Carver to replace Burt Kennedy as director on Drum (1976). Although the movie was completed successfully and proved profitable, Carver described the experience of taking over another director as "horrible".[7] In a later interview Carver described Burt Kennedy's attitude towards him as "very gracious": "He sat down with me, explained the situation. He warned me that part of the cast would follow him off of the movie. He went over a lot with me."[9]
He did some uncredited work on a TV movie, Angel City (1980).[12] Carver left the production, because the producers refused to fire actor Ralph Waite, who, according to Carver, came to the set drunk.[9]
The development of Walker, Texas Ranger led to a lawsuit filed by Carver and his production partner Yoram Ben-Ami, which they lost. Carver in 2020: "We failed to convince the Supreme Court that there were similarities. Now, you and I and anybody else knows that there are similarities between Lone Wolf McQuade and Walker, Texas Ranger."[9]
Later career
His late-'80s movies tended to be less distinguished – Oceans of Fire (1986), a TV movie; Jocks (1987), a teen comedy with a young Mariska Hargitay; Bulletproof (1988), an action film with Gary Busey; River of Death (1989); Dead Center (1993); The Wolves (1996). He also directed a number of movies uncredited. As he explained in an interview from August 2020: "I became known as a “go-to” director with other producers. When a movie got in trouble and a producer needed a director to step in to “save” their picture, they called me. It was fun for a while and good money."[9]
Eventually Carver left directing and went into photography. "Roger spoiled me", Carver reflected later, saying other producers "wore me down and chased me back to doing photography."[4] He opened a photography lab in Los Angeles in 1995.[13]
^ abcdefghThomas, Kevin (December 21, 1975). "9 Directors Rising From the Trashes: Nine Directors Rising From the Trashes 9 Directors Rising From the Trashes 9 Directors Rising From the Trashes From the Trashes From the Trashes From the Trashes". Los Angeles Times. p. m1.