The two Israeli filmmakers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus had a very wild ride, and the documentary The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films is their improbable story. Golan began as a director of Israeli films and his cousin Globus (twelve years younger) became his partner; Golan was the idea man and hands-on producer and Globus secured the financing and handled the business deals. Together, they produced over 150 movies.
In the early 1960s, they were very successful in Israel, producing many Israeli hits, including the Oscar-nominated Sallah, which won the Golden Globe. Ambitious, they moved to Hollywood and set up shop with a Roger Cormanesque business model – make lots of cheap exploitation movies. They hurtled to the top of the action movie genre with movies like Death Wish II, American Ninja and The Delta Force. Along the way, they introduced us to movie ninjas, Claude Van Dam and Chuck Norris. The Cannon Group’s signature was the simple revenge story, adorned by naked breasts and vivid explosions. Soon the Cannon Group was making more movies each year than all the Hollywood major studios combined.
What happened? As Icarus, the ever-aspirational Golan began to seek more mainstream credibility by producing art films and big-budget Hollywood fare. Cannon paid Sylvester Stallone twice his usual fee to star in their arm wrestling movie Over the Top. Generally, when a company abandons its tried and true business model…Well, you can guess what happened.
I saw The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. It doesn’t yet have an US theatrical release date, but I’ll try to let you all know when it’s in theaters or available on DVD or streaming. Be sure to keep watching The Go-Go Boys right through the ending credits.