tavm I just finished watching this documentary about Cannon Films on YouTube. It touches on the company's beginnings in the late '60s when it was run by one of its co-founders, Christopher Dewey who consented to be interviewed for this doc as did John G. Alvidsen who directed one of the company's first notable films-Joe about a bigot's teaming with an upper crust man in looking for the latter's daughter. I reviewed that on this site so look for my review under that title if you're interested. Then it jumps to when a couple of Israeli cousins-Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan-bought the studio for their own productions. They revitalized Charles Bronson's career when he made various Death Wish sequels and made Chuck Norris a major star with his actioners. They also made Breakin'-the quickie attempt to beat Orion Pictures' Beat Street in showcasing break dancing on film. They seemed to do pretty well for themselves but then they overextended their credit to the point to when they made Superman IV and Masters of the Universe, they went into bankruptcy which then led to their split. Various talking heads mention how things went so wrong while also telling how much charisma they had when making deals. In summary, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films is quite a ride in telling the story of how a studio went so out of control before anyone knew what hit them! So that's a recommendation. P.S. I remember as a teen watching two of the studio's films: Treasure of the Four Crowns-a 3-D ripoff of Raiders of the Lost Ark which had some entertainingly scary zoom scenes of things coming at you but not much plot or good acting. And The Last American Virgin which me and my brother watched on HBO and liked many of the nude scenes and raunchy jokes...but was shocked at the unhappy ending that came!

Leofwine_draca ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS is a documentary that does exactly what it says on the tin. That is, to celebrate the wild heydays of Cannon Films, a 1980s production house who put out some of the biggest, silliest, cheesiest, and most effects-fuelled films of that decade.It's a rise-and-fall tale, brought to live via copious clips and lots of interview footage with various stars, directors, and producers who were involved with the films themselves. Thus for a cinema fan - especially somebody who's seen a lot of the films, like myself - it's a real visual treat. The film is a celebration of the Golan and Globus approach - which is to churn out film after film, hoping one or two of them will be a success - and the eventual hubris which saw the company's downfall. It's constantly funny as well, which really helps.

paul2001sw-1 As 'Electric Boogaloo' tells it, Cannon Films was established by two Israeli wheeler-dealers, who came to the United States, established a film production company, and managed to make a huge quantity of low budget, low class movies before eventually their wild ambition caught up with them and they ran out of money. What makes the story more interesting is that this ambition was not just to establish a film-making giant, but also to make movies of at least some distinction: but a combination of unavoidable financial constraints and an inherent belief they could do it on the cheap inevitably sank their grander ambitions. This could make for a riveting film, but in fact, all we get are a succession of clips coupled with talking heads asserting ad nauseam just quite how crazy the company was. How do you actually make a low budget movie? How did the company stay in business for as long as it did, when (according to what we're told), its every film was a disaster? What is the evidence that the founders did, as we're repeatedly told, genuinely love cinema in spite of their abysmal product? We never really learn these facts. Instead, 'Electric Boogaloo' promotes a legend of Cannnon in a way that the studio's own bosses (whose talent for self-promotion is repeatedly attested to) might have envied. In fact, there's an irony here: asked to participate, the two of them made their own movie (and true to their past record, made it first). Without their involvement, there's a hole at the heart of the film they chose to spurn. Although based on the evidence presented here, I'm not sure I'd expect too much of their own effort, either.

Scott LeBrun Fairly interesting documentary charts the rise and fall of The Cannon Group, a company made popular by two Israeli cousins, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. For the most part, they didn't exactly make prestige films, but they did an uncanny job of cranking out scores of B pictures that were often quite entertaining, no matter if the level of quality wasn't the highest. After a number of years, they did leave an impression on the film industry, if only for their impressive knack for "pre-selling" movies, using no more than posters, titles, and concepts.This reasonably entertaining production is from Mark Hartley, who's left his own indelible stamp on the industry by making these kinds of films; previously, he'd done documentaries on the cult and exploitation pictures of both Australia ("Not Quite Hollywood") and the Philippines ("Machete Maidens Unleashed"). Instead of having a narrator to sort of take us step by step through this tale, a series of sit down interviews play in quick succession, with various cast and crew of numerous Cannon efforts giving their thoughts on the movies that they made. Some of the interviews are quite engaging; people interviewed include Franco Nero, Sybil Danning, Laurene Landon (it's actually rather distressing seeing her mime setting fire to a copy of "America 3000"), Boaz Davidson, David Engelbach, Christopher Pearce, Richard Edlund, Tobe Hooper, Greydon Clark, Alex Winter, and others.After "Electric Boogaloo" is over, one does feel that they've gotten a pretty vivid, "warts and all" picture of the Golan & Globus personalities. Golan was the real character: volatile, demanding, opinionated. Globus was the somewhat more restrained of the two, the one who handled more business oriented duties. Ultimately, their hubris caught up with them. Although they could on occasion produce something truly special ("Runaway Train"), they simply ended up getting too ambitious, and getting in over their heads.Many of the interviewees do seem to hold Cannon product in quite a bit of contempt, which is unfortunate, because while much of it may not be Oscar baiting material, it was, most of the time, a good deal of fun. If you're like this viewer, The Cannon Group has given you many hours of viewing pleasure with their B grade action movies, thrillers, sci-fi, and horror features.In the end, it's quite telling that Golan & Globus declined to participate in this documentary, instead beating it to the punch with their OWN non fiction feature titled "The Go Go Boys".Seven out of 10.