I did 10 years of comedies and 10 years of Westerns. I really like to stay away from car chases. I prefer the more intimate film. You have a much more direct association with the emotions.

Today you have something like A Film by Joe Harry. That is patently asinine and ridiculous.

All of a sudden I found myself doing things like 'Robot Monster' and 'Cat-Women of the Moon,' and I didn't know what the devil was going on. But if you're going to do areally bad movie, at least you do one that is at the top of the all-time bad-movie list.

I made my way on to a grey list, a black list even. That's something I'm very proud of, actually.

I would do the occasional score. I thought it was the most thrilling thing. It was instant. You made the music and they played it right away to millions of people. I found it thrilling.

There's no way I can compete with someone who can write rap or rock and roll. Nor do I wish to. But I've always kept up to date with music changes. I worked very hard not to type myself.

I'm generally pessimistic about the dumbing down of America - especially with summer movies.