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Cannon Group

Started by Sebastian Cobb, April 11, 2021, 08:56:58 PM

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Sebastian Cobb

I'd heard of Cannon as a byword for 80's schlock before but didn't really know what they were about, so I ended up watching Electric Boogaloo : The Wild Untold Story Of Cannon Films and was fascinated at their story.

It turns out I'd seen some of their work before, namely Over the Top and Death Wish III, both of which I found ridiculous but fun and well-made technically compared to a lot of ridiculous B-movies. I'd also seen Lieforce, a mad scifi about space vampires with impressive but dodgy special effects and a fair bit of nudity.

I didn't realise their earlier films were quite as sleazy, I've not watched any of them yet but will check a couple out probably just to see how daft they are. After watching the documentary I watched Barfly, which was an adaptation of some of Bukowskis work, who I'm not that keen on but they did a good job of capturing the grubbiness and I quite enjoyed the film, Mickey Rourke and Fay Dunaway did a good job.

Finally I watched Runaway Train last night, which was a great 80's action film, with unusually ambiguous characters for a mid-80's action job.

Are there any personal faves people have, or any dodgy/ridiculous ones to look out for?

If you can't be arsed watching the documentary but want to know more, this is an alright precis of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1-_DEXoq4I

Goldentony

Having a look at the filmography now, LETS HAVE A LOOK

ENTER THE NINJA - Not nearly as good as REVENGE OF THE NINJA a few years later, NINJA III THE DOMINATION is in a league of it's own, forgot they'd made the third one actually. Yeah the first one with DJANGO as the ninja isn't that great sadly but REVENGE is excellent, way more violent, waymore NINJA MAGIC and the third one has fights on golf courses and all sorts of shit, also great

Mad to see they didn't make the first EXTERMINATOR aswell but did make the second which sort of makes sense now, first one's a really grim, fun New York vigilante thing and the second one is like Turtles In Time, like both of those anyway

Fully stand behind the two HERCULES films with the Hulk in the lead, watched them both recently and first off I remember lasers, smoke and someone fighting a fucking bear in space?? not sure if any HERCULES fans will be upset at the historical inaccuracy, but i've just looked the plot up and it starts with something like HE FIGHTS AN APELIKE CREATURE AND TAKES HIS THUNDERBOLT

AMERICAN NINJA - first one I dont like, way too much AMERICAN and not enough NINJA but 2 and 4 are really enjoyable

DEATH WISH 3 is maybe almost the best film they ever did, Morpheus and rocket launchers lads, Bronson wise I really like 10 TO MIDNIGHT, if you like Charles Bronson threatening people with dildos this and KINJITE FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS are for you

there's loads of good ones i'd forgot about so i'll contain them to this hereon, COBRA is full marks 10 out of 10 perfect 80s action cop thriller that apparently started off as a version of Beverly Hills Cop, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 I have a lot of love for, dunno if you'd call it underrated, maybe rated about right but I prefer this to LIFEFORCE. 52 PICK UP is FUCKING GREAT IN ALL POSSIBLE WAYS its got ROY SCHEIDER as a DIRTY POLICE BASTARD.

Breaking it up for the eyes, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE is another one I love a lot but your mileage may depend on your TOLERANCE OF HE MAN ('HE IS A MAN') but it's another good one with insane costumes and lasers and swords and shit but is mostly confined to either matte paintings or downtown Los Angeles which I like a lot because its like a really camp Terminator. PENITENTIARY III is hilarious.

BLOODSPORT is my favourite out of all of them. I've not seen THE BARBARIANS or AMERICA 3000 but WANT TO im TYPING LIKE A TWAT because its FUNNY


St_Eddie

The cult classic that is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was a Cannon release.

Keebleman

They were absolutely everywhere in the 80s, as ubiquitous on cinema screens as that Bacardi ad ("...if - you're drinking Bacardi!").  They even took over the proto-multiplex chain ABC so that, for example, Cardiff's three-screen cinema became the Cannon.


El Unicornio, mang

Crazy that they had the movie rights to Spider-Man in the 80s and did nothing with it.

Looking through the list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Cannon_Group_films , The Company of Wolves is probably my favourite. There's some good entertaining trash in their catalogue though, and some genuine crimes against humanity like Superman IV. Actually glad they didn't make Spider-Man, they'd have filmed it in Wolverhampton (standing in for NYC) with Michael Dudikoff flown in from the states at his own expense to play Peter Parker.

Goldentony

CYBORG was filmed using a lot of left over shite meant to be used in the HE MAN ('HE IS A MAN') sequel

non capisco

Quote from: Keebleman on April 11, 2021, 09:58:15 PM
They were absolutely everywhere in the 80s, as ubiquitous on cinema screens as that Bacardi ad ("...if - you're drinking Bacardi!").  They even took over the proto-multiplex chain ABC so that, for example, Cardiff's three-screen cinema became the Cannon.

I practically lived in the Gravesend Cannon cinema during my lonely, acne-blighted teenage years. This ident rings some extremely loud and bittersweet Proustian bells.

St_Eddie

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on April 11, 2021, 10:19:30 PM
Looking through the list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Cannon_Group_films , The Company of Wolves is probably my favourite.

The Company of Wolves is a superb film.  Criminally underappreciated.  It should be noted that ITC Distributors funded the film and distributed it throughout the UK.  It was also shot in England (Shepperton Studios).  Cannon picked it up for distribution in the United States.  Director Neil Jordan stated on the audio commentary for the film that Cannon marketed the film as a horror film and that he was perturbed by this as he didn't consider it as a horror film and that felt that selling it as such may have been misleading to audiences.

Dex Sawash


Just tried watching Gas Pump Girls, it wasn't good.

dissolute ocelot

It's a great documentary. And many excellent recommendations for viewing, although I've still not seen The Apple (1980), which is some kind of musical satire of the entertainment industry set in the future year 1994, and from clips resembles a cross between Breaking Glass and Jesus Christ Superstar. It doesn't seem to be widely available.

steveh

Golan and Globus' own documentary on the story of Cannon, The Go-Go Boys, is worth watching for their side of the story, though considerably less entertaining than Electric Boogaloo. They rushed it out just before the latter was released, seemingly as a spoiler tactic, but it's not overly hagiographic. There's a quick review of Electric Boogaloo I did in an earlier thread on Cannon.

Have mentioned on here a couple of times before about being a student in London in the latter half of the eighties and seeing way more Cannon product than anyone really should. This was a time when there were often just 3-4 releases a week and one of those would be either made by Cannon or distributed by them.

Their West End cinemas also ran a lot of screenings of older films, usually as double or sometimes even triple features with continuous performances (you come in when you like and go when you like). So for the one film you wanted to see you'd have to sit through a lesser Cannon production first so they could keep more money for themselves, such as one of the interminable Lemon Popsicle sequels in an English dub. Oddly enough, very few titles from that time made enough impression for me to still remember them.

The Apple is really bad on many levels but if you're into trashy cinema it's worth at least one watch.

Sebastian Cobb

Yeah I had a quick look for the Go-Go Boys one when they mentioned it, but it didn't look as easy to get my hands on.

steveh

Looking through that Wikipedia list of Cannon films... Hard Rock Zombies I rewatched not that long ago and quite enjoyed it still though it only has 4.4 on IMDB. Invaders from Mars is another Tobe Hooper one which was fine but not great. Various docs suggest he was so coked out of his head that it was often left to other people to do the real work on his films of that period.

Breakin' / Breakdance, Breakin' 2 / Breakdance 2: Electric Boogaloo and Rappin' / Breakdance 3 Electric Boogalee are all an interesting snapshot of the times if not great pieces of work by any means. Wikipedia says "Breakin' is considered to be the final financially profitable film released by Cannon" - and they went on for another decade afterwards.

Jake Thingray

It should be mentioned that Golan and Globus made stupid films like American Ninja in apartheid South Africa, in order to benefit from government subsidies there, and they helped kill off what was left of the British film industry with their "take-over", more like asset-stripping, of Thorn EMI.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 11, 2021, 08:56:58 PM
I'd heard of Cannon as a byword for 80's schlock before but didn't really know what they were about, so I ended up watching Electric Boogaloo : The Wild Untold Story Of Cannon Films and was fascinated at their story.
I enjoyed the doc too, but found a bit too much of it was scumbags sticking the boot in - people who were happy to work with / for them when they were on top, but suddenly discovered their moral compass when the cheques stopped rolling in. Frank Yablans, who was fired by MGM for fraud and then became a religious movie producer (the last refuge of the charlatan) has his views presented as the entire truth, which isn't great. Golan and Globus were undoubtedly scumbags, but so is pretty much everyone else involved in the movie business.

Cannon gave money to Zeffirelli, Godard and Cassavetes too, so they weren't entirely shlock-meisters. And won an Oscar in 1986. Some of my favourite movies of theirs:

Lifeforce
Cobra
The American Ninja series
American Cyborg: Steel Warrior
Ninja 3

Oh, and Nu Image, who did the Expendables and lots of other big budget B-movies of a similar ilk, was formed by a couple of Cannon executives, so their modus operandi is still going strong.

steveh

Quote from: Jake Thingray on April 12, 2021, 03:17:18 PM
they helped kill off what was left of the British film industry with their "take-over", more like asset-stripping, of Thorn EMI.

It's really a whole disastrous string of people, companies and at times fraudulent activities.

EMI sold off their ABC Cinemas / Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment division to asset stripper Alan Bond who then sold them on to Cannon. Cannon then sold Elstree Studios to Brent Walker, who sold off most of the backlot and a chunk of the other facilities for a Tesco superstore before the local council bought what was left, which they continue to run as a studio.

Desperate for money in the late eighties, Cannon sold off the EMI film library to Weintraub in the States and after passing through several hands it's now ended up owned by Studio Canal, who apparently have little interest in doing anything with it outside the biggest earners, meaning an important part of UK film history is very underseen.

Then there was the whole dodgy end to Cannon involving Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti, who ended up being found guilty of fraud. In that fallout, Cannon cinemas got divided up and passed through a whole load of companies with more and more of the sites being sold off for redevelopment with each new owner. What's left are now either Odeons or Cineworlds.

A lot of money that should have gone back into British cinema and the creators of films never got there due to moviemaths and ownership of titles being bought out of bankruptcies. The same thing then happened in the nineties with the Weinsteins and Miramax, who had some big successes with British films but thanks to creative accounting and naive contracts the money never made it back to the UK.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 11, 2021, 08:56:58 PM...
Finally I watched Runaway Train last night, which was a great 80's action film, with unusually ambiguous characters for a mid-80's action job.

Are there any personal faves people have, or any dodgy/ridiculous ones to look out for?

A rare existentialist action film - as you say, it is rather great. Often, when there is a huge length of time with someone having the idea/writing the script and the film being made doesn't bode well.

As to films to look out for, I would say...

Pirates - a Roman Polanski flop of epic proportions, but one that I think has quite a lot going for it, especially its star, Walter Matthau. Polanski wanted Jack Nicholson but he wanted too much money; with hindsight it probably would have saved money if they gave Nicholson what he wanted and not made the film. Although I've read that there was a lot of criticism about Matthau's accent and whether he was suitable for the one, from what I've read (e.g. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-07-20-8602220484-story.html) opinion wasn't as consistent as it's made out. Personally, I think he's brilliant in it.

Track 29 - penned by Dennis Potter, directed by Nicholas Roeg, starring Theresa Russell and Gary Oldman. Understated trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkPNhF6f0KE (Roeg also directed Castaway that was distributed by Cannon.)7

52 Pick-Up - already been mentioned, a decent Elmore Leonard adaptation.

Joe - early standout role for Peter Boyle as the titular character, who is simply incredible. A well-to-do executive and bigoted blue-collar stiff bond over a hatred of hippies and what's happening to the younger generation... it doesn't end well.

Powaqqatsi - didn't get the love of Koyaanisqatsi, which it followed, but still rather stunning.


Sebastian Cobb

I watched Masters of the Universe last night, although it's a bit of a mess and the odd choice to mix the childish fantasy elements with high schoolers who must've been hovering around 18, I thought it was great fun, it's always good to see Meg Foster as a baddie and Courtney Cox did a good job too. If I watched this as a kid I think I would've really enjoyed it.

greenman

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 14, 2021, 12:16:20 PM
I watched Masters of the Universe last night, although it's a bit of a mess and the odd choice to mix the childish fantasy elements with high schoolers who must've been hovering around 18, I thought it was great fun, it's always good to see Meg Foster as a baddie and Courtney Cox did a good job too. If I watched this as a kid I think I would've really enjoyed it.

It does I think come across as one of the more obvious cases were the film makers were more interested in the villians, indeed I seem to remember reading it was actually a bit of an attempt to make a "cosmic" comic film on the sly, tried to hire Jack Kirby to do designs and honestly Langella's Skelator feels a lot closer to Darkseid/Thanos than he does the cartoon character.

amputeeporn

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 14, 2021, 12:16:20 PM
I watched Masters of the Universe last night, although it's a bit of a mess and the odd choice to mix the childish fantasy elements with high schoolers who must've been hovering around 18, I thought it was great fun, it's always good to see Meg Foster as a baddie and Courtney Cox did a good job too. If I watched this as a kid I think I would've really enjoyed it.

Loved it when I was a kid, as did my best friend. He's now a muscle bound lieutenant in the navy and I'm a pale, thin writer type - but because he recently told me his fantasy would be to play Skeletor in a movie, I think it would be pretty funny one Halloween for him to get that costume and for me to be the thinnest, weakest, palest, most thinning-haired He-Man possible.

Doc sounds great - can't wait to watch it and maybe check out some of the shlock.

Shaky

Quote from: amputeeporn on April 15, 2021, 08:08:44 PM
he recently told me his fantasy would be to play Skeletor in a movie, I think it would be pretty funny one Halloween for him to get that costume and for me to be the thinnest, weakest, palest, most thinning-haired He-Man possible.

You HAVE to do this. I'm roaring my head off just thinking about.

"Yeah, Skeletor's been hitting the 'roids and He-Man's got leukemia now. Time, eh?"

greenman

Quote from: St_Eddie on April 11, 2021, 09:38:48 PM
The cult classic that is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was a Cannon release.

I think you can definitely see the inflated beyond expectations budget in the shear size of the underground set as well.