Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films

Menahem Golan and his cousin Yoram Globus came from Israel to Hollywood, bought a studio called Cannon Films, and for a decade made every kind of film imaginable: martial arts, ninjas, breakdancing, erotic drama, would be art films and Superman IV. The documentary covers the company's rise and collapse. Mark Hartley directs. Cannon's method was the poster before the film. Golan would produce a title and an image and sell it at Cannes; often the film had not been written. Shooting was paid for with the presales, and the next poster was prepared. At one point the cycle had the company producing over forty films a year. Among those speaking are a great many actors, directors and technicians who worked for Cannon, and most of what they say is personal and frequently unflattering. One detail is as interesting as the film. Golan and Globus refused to participate and commissioned their own documentary: The Go-Go Boys tells the same story from their side and came out at almost the same time. Hartley works in this form; he has made comparable documentaries on Australian and Filipino exploitation cinema. Who it is for: viewers curious about eighties B movie culture and studio history. Who it is not for: it is fast and scattered, names and productions arrive one after another, and if you do not know the period they eventually blur together.