Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Movie Review: "Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films" (2014)

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Director: Mark Hartley
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

A look at the history of Cannon Film Group, Inc. and its two big producers, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.

"Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films" is a documentary written and directed by Mark Hartley. It is Hartley's third documentary focusing on low budget and exploitation film making, the first two being "Not Quite Hollywood," which looks at Ozploitation cinema, and "Machete Maidens Unleashed!," which looks at Filipino genre movies. This one, as you may guess from the title, is all about a Cannon Films and its two big wheeler and dealers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Many actors, writers, and directors worked with them while they were operational, including Bo Derek, Elliot Gould, Olivia D'Abo, Molly Ringwald, and Alex Winter. Oddly enough, the two men themselves, Menahem and Golan, declined to be interviewed, and instead, decided to make their own documentary called "The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films."

Cannon seemed to have a specific philosophy when it came to film making: "if you make it cheap enough, it will likely turn a profit." The studio stuck by this motto for a long, long time, churning out movie after movie in rapid fire succession. Sure, most of them were and still are absolute shit, but that didn't matter to Menahem and Yorum. They had a true passion for what they did and absolutely loved every aspect of film, though they seemed to lack any discerning ability to determine what actually made a decent, marketable piece of cinema. They were turning out what they genuinely thought were decent, well made movies, when in fact, they were just garbage. Some of their films include "The Happy Hooker Goes to Hollywood," "The Apple," and of course, "Breakin'." They would also produce numerous Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson, and Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, like "Missing in Action," "Death Wish II," and the classic "Bloodsport."

This is an extremely interesting and nostalgic documentary because, we must admit, there are numerous films in the Cannon library that are guilty pleasures of ours. After watching this informative interview and clip-show, we have found there are many more movies we absolutely must see for the pure absurdity of them. If you are a fan of cinema, especially B-movies, this enlightening documentary is definitely worth checking out.


My Rating: 8/10
BigJ's Rating: 8/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%
Do we recommend this movie: Yes!

**To review this movie for yourself on one of the best websites on the internet, visit filmfed.com!*

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