If you were a child of the 70s or early to mid 80s chances are that you’ve seen at least a couple of Cannon Films’ movies. Headed by two Israeli born, movie loving cousins, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, Cannon Films were known for producing low budget movies, and lots of them. They would use funding for their next production to fund the current one. They wanted to produce more films a year than anyone else, and mostly succeeded. However questionably.
That is until they agreed to produce Masters of the Universe and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. The biggest budgets Cannon ever had to manage, and the films bombed spectacularly, leaving Cannon Films a gleeful yet distant memory. The cousins resigned in 1989, but went on to create more films independent of Cannon, even struggling for years to produce a Spider-Man film with Stan Lee as J. Jonah Jameson!
Until now. Mark Hartley has a documentary coming out devoted to the schlockmeisters called Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films. The film recounts the story of Cannon Films through interviews with directors and former staff, and archival footage. The film is a portrait of two men who loved movies so much that they didn’t even care if they were good. If you’ve ever seen Enter the Ninja, The Apple (This film is a must see), Missing in Action, Breakin’ or it’s sequel Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, American Ninja, The Delta Force, Cobra, or any of the other many films produced by Golan-Globus for Cannon, you need to see this hilarious and heartfelt documentary.
Warner Brothers is screening the film at select Landmark Theaters on Thursday, September 17th in the following locations: Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco (Embarcadero Center Cinema), San Francisco (Guild Theatre), St. Louis, Washington D.C
With screenings at certain Alamo Drafthouse locations in Austin, Detroit, Kansas City, New York City, and Washington D.C. following on September 23rd.
