After gaining attention from critics for Who's That Knocking At My Door and industry professionals with his work attitude on Woodstock, Scorsese finally landed his first major gig when he drew the attention of infamous film producer and director Roger Corman. Corman was not only a reliable purveyor of every kind of cheap genre film his studio, American International Pictures, could churn out; he was also a sharp eye for talent. By this point, he had already launched the careers of Jack Nicholson, Peter Bogdanovich, and Francis Ford Coppola to name a few, as well as breathe new life into the careers of John Carradine and Boris Karloff.
Scorsese would be driven through the same rigorous process those men were: the mission would be to deliver a cheap, easy to sell movie using actors Corman had already selected for Scorsese in less than 30 days. The result is your typical outlaw movie that became a dime a dozen following the humongous success of Bonnie and Clyde but with enough of Scorsese's own flourishes to make the film still his own.
