Well, it's that time of year again! The Melbourne International Film Festival has returned again! This year I will be seeing 10 films! I am so excited! I think I've used enough exclamation marks though. Hopefully, I will stick to my plan of writing about each of the films I see. But if I don't, nothing will happen. I'll feel bad for a week, or something. Anyway, my MIFF adventure started last night at Melbourne Central Hoyts, with the newest (and apparently last) documentary from director Mark Hartley, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, who also directed Not Quite Hollywood, and last years Patrick.
Electric Boogaloo, as you could probably tell from the title, recounts the history of B-movie production studio Cannon Films, focusing on the two men who ran it during the 80s, Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. I've only recently been introduced to Cannon Films, having seen the 1983 Hercules that they made, but I have heard of some of their more legendary flops, like Breakin' and its sequel, American Ninja, Superman IV, and Masters of the Universe. This film goes through the making of these films, and more, and really highlights the craziness of the Golan and Globus, and how they ran the business. The film also explains how the company split them up and failed, for despite their great love of movies, neither man really knew how to make films that would be successful in America.
Like Not Quite Hollywood, the film uses talking heads to get across most of the story of Cannon. And it's incredible how many people they got to talk for the film. B-movie legends like Sybil Danning, Richard Chamberlain, Alex Winter, Dolph Lundgren, and Bo Derek are interviewed, but there are also a lot of behind the scenes people featured as well. Ranging from directors, writers, editors, and cinematographers to CEOs and chairmen of both Cannon and other film studios.
Clips are used from the films that being spoken about to great advantage. More than once I found myself thinking "Hey, that one looks fun! Stupid, but fun. I should check that out sometime." Archival footage of Golan and Globus is also used effectively to show the personalities of the two men, since neither agreed to appear in the film. The one complaint of the film I have is that because of the focus on the two men rather than the company as a whole, it didn't go into great detail about what happened to the company after the two split. I was a little confused as to whether Cannon continued without the both of them, but that's a minor complaint that a quick Google search can fix easily.
All in all, this is a fitting tribute to a studio that may have had great dreams, but just lacked the talent and patience to really make them a reality. The spirit of Golan and Globus really came through the numerous interviews, and you got the idea that they knew how to sell movies to anyone. Making them was a different matter.
This was an excellent start to MIFF, and I am intensely looking forward to the next nine films I have in front of me. Until next time, readers.
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