Electric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story Of Cannon Films. The title of that documentary is a bit obsolete, at least going by the fact mentioned at the very end of this, that the Menahem Golan/Yoram Globus led documentary, beat this film by 3 months in release. They declined to appear on here, and I think that's for the best.
I'm learning that these foreign filmmakers, when they try to break it in America, their viewpoints come off as...odd. Language barriers, cultural differences, and when they're interviewed, it's hard to understand their perspective. Like the Troll 2 documentary, Best Worst Movie, the Italian director came off as very stubborn, took Troll 2 very seriously. Always on the defensive too, another example is Tommy Wiseau, although a bit different because he also plays it like the movie's unintentional comedy, was intentional.
In a way, bias was cut out of this documentary, and everyone here were pretty fair. Except maybe one, but I understand the bitterness. I'm new in the recognition of movie companies. I know the big ones that distribute, Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal. It's the smaller ones I'm just finding out about, but some of them had their hand on a lot of films. Cannon Films is one of those, I didn't know they produced Over The Top, or Missing In Action, Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Cyborg! They pretty much launched Jean Claude Van Damme's career, revitalized Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson, and their influence in films is still felt today.
Learning all this is awesome, I didn't even know the owners of it during their heyday (1979-89) were Israeli. It made sense on the films they made. Foreigners with their values and believes, trying to go America, it always results in interesting stuff, so to speak.
The focus was definitely on Golan and Globus, the cousins. Golan was directing films, and he came in with his cousin to buy Cannon in 1979. Golan was the filmmaker, Globus was the businessman. All the interviews covered the careers they revitalized, started, whether it be actors or directors. Some veteran directors like John Cassavetes even got a shot by Golan and Globus. Everyone offered great info, but I'm partial to [NOBABE]Sybil Danning.[/NOBABE] She didn't give out the most info, her work in relation to the documentary is Operation Thunderbolt, directed by Golan before the Cannon takeover, and Hercules in 1983. I'm partial because she looked amazing. So hot and mature, but she knew what she was talking about. No slagging off the guys.
Almost everyone else had their negative points, but nothing too bad, and it's criticism. Not mean-spirited. The closest to that though is the MGM president at the time of their distribution deal with Cannon. He basically called the films Cannon got through them, garbage. Not too kind, but MGM had to deal with Bolero. That was the movie that killed the partnership, and I can see why. Hollywood wouldn't touch a film like that, but I would, and did. The plot is stupid, the dialogue is bad and comical, but [NOBABE]Bo Derek[/NOBABE] being nude, yes! Oh she looked great, but compared to a recent interview, I like her look in that. She had no makeup and clearly showed that she aged really well. On the documentary, looks fantastic still, but the makeup's there. Anyways, back on topic, there's just so much content on here that it felt like a 2 1/2 hour movie. It was only 1 hour and 49 minutes, but damn. They covered as much ground as possible, laid it all out there. The only things they didn't cover was Bloodsport and Kickboxer, also the failed Spider-Man movie. They didn't mention that JCVD had a cameo in their Breakin' film. Albert Pyun, director of Cyborg, chimed in on how JCVD got the lead in that film. Pyun wanted Chuck Norris, but JCVD got the job when he did a spin kick, one of his 3 moves, at Golan. Only a 1/4 inch from his face, and Golan was impressed enough that he got the job the next day. That's better than the casting couch.
Breakin got a good deal of love, it basically was their most successful movie, but every good thing Cannon did, they did something negative. A sequel, so quick after the first movie. Lucinda Dickey appears, kind of like a Cannon girl as she's been in a couple of their flicks. I became a fan through the documentary, I don't think I ever saw a film of hers, but now I do. She was in the Breakin films, and apparently did not get on with Shabba Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp. They were breakdancers, she was a gymnast, so yeah. It's hilarious how Shabba Doo was so grand in describing Breakin'. It's this grand movie that joined cultures, it popularized hiphop, this and that. I'm surprised Michael Dudikoff didn't refer to himself in the third person. He was a Cannon golden boy that appeared on this. Unfortunately big names like Norris, JCVD, Stallone, didn't appear here. Still, they got plenty enough.
The documentary serves as a recommend list of movies, because I haven't seen a lot of their stuff. The Last American Virgin, some Chuck Norris films, Lemon Popsicle (the original Virgin, apparently that movie's an American retelling of this), [NOBABE]Mata Hari[/NOBABE], The Wicked Lady, America 3000, all their Ninja films! The list goes on, and to rewatch some as well.
Directors got their cents in. Tobe Hooper, Boaz Davidson, others that worked with Cannon, and writers too. There's also a focus on Michael Winner being an abusive director. He did Death Wish 2 and 3, and his practices were not Union friendly, one of the talking heads said.
Basically the story of Cannon was producing films with a passion, pumping out a shit ton in a short amount of time, low budget stuff. They upped the budget and relied on popular filmmakers like Tobe Hooper to get them some success. They started being too far reaching, signaling their demise as they tried to go big budget, and crashed. Hard. Over The Top, Superman 4, Masters of the Universe, the latter two look lovably cheap, while Over The Top was the case of just wanking too hard. Apparently Sly got paid a shit ton of money, talking heads were throwing out large numbers, it was over 5 million dollars basically. 10, 15, 17, whatever, it was ridiculous. Then they got involved with a man that turned out to be a con artist, as they were strapped for cash. This split Golan and Globus, and that was it. Golan left in 89, Globus stayed on Cannon. The two cousins competed in a movie dealing with the dance style, Lambada. That was hilarious, a race to release their film first, with the same concept, similar plot, even similar titles. Globus had Lambada, Golan had The Forbidden Dance. Or The Forbidden Dance...is Lambada! I just sound out the latter has [NOBABE]Laura Harring[/NOBABE]. I may watch it now.
It plays like an actual movie, because the cousins are basically the heroes. They are odd, Golan definitely, Globus was the more conservative of the two. But I liked them, I was following their story, ups and downs for sure. They strike big with Breakin, they put out great movies, but then things go bad, and you feel sad for them. The documentary ends with the Cannon demise. It's hard to take the tragedy, but then the credits role, a wrapup of the goodness in Golan and Globus, the great things Cannon did, and how their influence is felt today. Avi Lerner mentioned The Expendables, he produced the franchise, and mentioned how Cannon would've loved the movie, even come up with it. The credits are necessary because of the nice things said to wrap it all up. Unfortunately, Menahem Golan passed away in 2014, which is weird when hearing here that Globus got cancer. I haven't seen the opposing documentary, but I think it may be a fluff piece for the guys, and right now that doesn't interest me. There's such thing as too much love, and lionizing.
Fantastic documentary, I'm tempted to watch it again, and it's only been a day since I saw it. That's how good it is.
I want to mention Father's Day. I saw it after Electric Boogaloo. That was fantastic, Troma knows how to pick 'em, as they produced it. Adam Brooks and his group wrote and directed this. Brooks also did a lot of other crew work, and he's the star of the film as the eyepatch wearing Ahab. It must've been a labor of love, the movie looks amazing. I got the same feeling as I did with Hobo With A Shotgun, and it can't be a coincidence that both are Canadian films. Canadian Grindhouse, is that an official genre? Lots of gore, blood, graphic scenes with penises, even eating a dick off! It's crazy, it's hilarious, it's awesome. It looked straightforward, but then it went into otherwordly stuff. Literally, Heaven and Hell. I feel bad though, because I was dozing off during the film. That happens sometimes, I don't give myself enough sleep. It's worse when I go on the bed. That's my fault, nothing to do with the film, you'd think not lying on the bed is easy. I did go back to parts I dozed on, so I caught all the film. Still fantastic. Lloyd Kaufman played God and The Devil, amazing!
I'm learning that these foreign filmmakers, when they try to break it in America, their viewpoints come off as...odd. Language barriers, cultural differences, and when they're interviewed, it's hard to understand their perspective. Like the Troll 2 documentary, Best Worst Movie, the Italian director came off as very stubborn, took Troll 2 very seriously. Always on the defensive too, another example is Tommy Wiseau, although a bit different because he also plays it like the movie's unintentional comedy, was intentional.
In a way, bias was cut out of this documentary, and everyone here were pretty fair. Except maybe one, but I understand the bitterness. I'm new in the recognition of movie companies. I know the big ones that distribute, Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal. It's the smaller ones I'm just finding out about, but some of them had their hand on a lot of films. Cannon Films is one of those, I didn't know they produced Over The Top, or Missing In Action, Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Cyborg! They pretty much launched Jean Claude Van Damme's career, revitalized Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson, and their influence in films is still felt today.
Learning all this is awesome, I didn't even know the owners of it during their heyday (1979-89) were Israeli. It made sense on the films they made. Foreigners with their values and believes, trying to go America, it always results in interesting stuff, so to speak.
The focus was definitely on Golan and Globus, the cousins. Golan was directing films, and he came in with his cousin to buy Cannon in 1979. Golan was the filmmaker, Globus was the businessman. All the interviews covered the careers they revitalized, started, whether it be actors or directors. Some veteran directors like John Cassavetes even got a shot by Golan and Globus. Everyone offered great info, but I'm partial to [NOBABE]Sybil Danning.[/NOBABE] She didn't give out the most info, her work in relation to the documentary is Operation Thunderbolt, directed by Golan before the Cannon takeover, and Hercules in 1983. I'm partial because she looked amazing. So hot and mature, but she knew what she was talking about. No slagging off the guys.
Almost everyone else had their negative points, but nothing too bad, and it's criticism. Not mean-spirited. The closest to that though is the MGM president at the time of their distribution deal with Cannon. He basically called the films Cannon got through them, garbage. Not too kind, but MGM had to deal with Bolero. That was the movie that killed the partnership, and I can see why. Hollywood wouldn't touch a film like that, but I would, and did. The plot is stupid, the dialogue is bad and comical, but [NOBABE]Bo Derek[/NOBABE] being nude, yes! Oh she looked great, but compared to a recent interview, I like her look in that. She had no makeup and clearly showed that she aged really well. On the documentary, looks fantastic still, but the makeup's there. Anyways, back on topic, there's just so much content on here that it felt like a 2 1/2 hour movie. It was only 1 hour and 49 minutes, but damn. They covered as much ground as possible, laid it all out there. The only things they didn't cover was Bloodsport and Kickboxer, also the failed Spider-Man movie. They didn't mention that JCVD had a cameo in their Breakin' film. Albert Pyun, director of Cyborg, chimed in on how JCVD got the lead in that film. Pyun wanted Chuck Norris, but JCVD got the job when he did a spin kick, one of his 3 moves, at Golan. Only a 1/4 inch from his face, and Golan was impressed enough that he got the job the next day. That's better than the casting couch.
Breakin got a good deal of love, it basically was their most successful movie, but every good thing Cannon did, they did something negative. A sequel, so quick after the first movie. Lucinda Dickey appears, kind of like a Cannon girl as she's been in a couple of their flicks. I became a fan through the documentary, I don't think I ever saw a film of hers, but now I do. She was in the Breakin films, and apparently did not get on with Shabba Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp. They were breakdancers, she was a gymnast, so yeah. It's hilarious how Shabba Doo was so grand in describing Breakin'. It's this grand movie that joined cultures, it popularized hiphop, this and that. I'm surprised Michael Dudikoff didn't refer to himself in the third person. He was a Cannon golden boy that appeared on this. Unfortunately big names like Norris, JCVD, Stallone, didn't appear here. Still, they got plenty enough.
The documentary serves as a recommend list of movies, because I haven't seen a lot of their stuff. The Last American Virgin, some Chuck Norris films, Lemon Popsicle (the original Virgin, apparently that movie's an American retelling of this), [NOBABE]Mata Hari[/NOBABE], The Wicked Lady, America 3000, all their Ninja films! The list goes on, and to rewatch some as well.
Directors got their cents in. Tobe Hooper, Boaz Davidson, others that worked with Cannon, and writers too. There's also a focus on Michael Winner being an abusive director. He did Death Wish 2 and 3, and his practices were not Union friendly, one of the talking heads said.
Basically the story of Cannon was producing films with a passion, pumping out a shit ton in a short amount of time, low budget stuff. They upped the budget and relied on popular filmmakers like Tobe Hooper to get them some success. They started being too far reaching, signaling their demise as they tried to go big budget, and crashed. Hard. Over The Top, Superman 4, Masters of the Universe, the latter two look lovably cheap, while Over The Top was the case of just wanking too hard. Apparently Sly got paid a shit ton of money, talking heads were throwing out large numbers, it was over 5 million dollars basically. 10, 15, 17, whatever, it was ridiculous. Then they got involved with a man that turned out to be a con artist, as they were strapped for cash. This split Golan and Globus, and that was it. Golan left in 89, Globus stayed on Cannon. The two cousins competed in a movie dealing with the dance style, Lambada. That was hilarious, a race to release their film first, with the same concept, similar plot, even similar titles. Globus had Lambada, Golan had The Forbidden Dance. Or The Forbidden Dance...is Lambada! I just sound out the latter has [NOBABE]Laura Harring[/NOBABE]. I may watch it now.
It plays like an actual movie, because the cousins are basically the heroes. They are odd, Golan definitely, Globus was the more conservative of the two. But I liked them, I was following their story, ups and downs for sure. They strike big with Breakin, they put out great movies, but then things go bad, and you feel sad for them. The documentary ends with the Cannon demise. It's hard to take the tragedy, but then the credits role, a wrapup of the goodness in Golan and Globus, the great things Cannon did, and how their influence is felt today. Avi Lerner mentioned The Expendables, he produced the franchise, and mentioned how Cannon would've loved the movie, even come up with it. The credits are necessary because of the nice things said to wrap it all up. Unfortunately, Menahem Golan passed away in 2014, which is weird when hearing here that Globus got cancer. I haven't seen the opposing documentary, but I think it may be a fluff piece for the guys, and right now that doesn't interest me. There's such thing as too much love, and lionizing.
Fantastic documentary, I'm tempted to watch it again, and it's only been a day since I saw it. That's how good it is.
I want to mention Father's Day. I saw it after Electric Boogaloo. That was fantastic, Troma knows how to pick 'em, as they produced it. Adam Brooks and his group wrote and directed this. Brooks also did a lot of other crew work, and he's the star of the film as the eyepatch wearing Ahab. It must've been a labor of love, the movie looks amazing. I got the same feeling as I did with Hobo With A Shotgun, and it can't be a coincidence that both are Canadian films. Canadian Grindhouse, is that an official genre? Lots of gore, blood, graphic scenes with penises, even eating a dick off! It's crazy, it's hilarious, it's awesome. It looked straightforward, but then it went into otherwordly stuff. Literally, Heaven and Hell. I feel bad though, because I was dozing off during the film. That happens sometimes, I don't give myself enough sleep. It's worse when I go on the bed. That's my fault, nothing to do with the film, you'd think not lying on the bed is easy. I did go back to parts I dozed on, so I caught all the film. Still fantastic. Lloyd Kaufman played God and The Devil, amazing!
