I have a very personal relationship to film. I've gone to films all the time since I was a kid. I thought I could have some fun trying to make them. I always thought I was pretty close to what people were thinking. There's lots of tricks to be played, things to be done in film. Film is so close to the way the mind works - the way the mind communicates with itself. Film is a dream, an emotional coda.
Armitage was born in Hartford, Connecticut. His mother was a Writer who wanted to get into movies, so they moved to Beverly Hills in 1956, when Armitage was 13.
In 1966 Armitage became an associate Producer on Peyton Place, "primarily to deal with the young kids on the show, to help them loop their lines." Armitage recalls his period at Fox as an "incredible experience... I went from Producer to Producer all over the lot pitching ideas, I created series, I wrote a couple of things for television and, about that time, started writing screenplays.
Armitage left Fox in 1967 to focus on movies. He wrote a script called Carrot Butts about animated cartoon characters coming to life. This was sent to the Cormans, who liked it but could not get financing. However Armitage then wrote Gas-s-s-s for him.
In 1972 Armitage wrote and directed Hit Man[1], recently acclaimed in John Cribbs' Obscure Genius series.
In 1975 Armitage was quoted in an article as saying:
In 1976 he directed Vigilante Force. The picture was not a large success and Armitage's career then became bogged down in "development hell", apart from the movie Hot Rod. Armitage spend the 1980s mostly writing screenplays which were never made.
In 1990 Armitage wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Miami Blues[2].
In 1997 Armitage directed the further acclaimed Grosse Pointe Blank
"What a culture shock," he reflected later. "I’m still reeling. In Connecticut there wasn’t a hot rod in sight. Out here it was people racing up and down the street, building their own cars—it was teenage paradise, the kids were running everything." He attended UCLA where he majored in economics and political science. While waiting for his real estate licence to come through, Armitage entered the film industry in 1965 via the mail room at 20th Century Fox. He later said:
