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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:08,638 --> 00:00:10,107 NARRATOR: Cannon Films, 2 00:00:10,174 --> 00:00:13,143 the home of high-powered, high-voltage 3 00:00:13,210 --> 00:00:16,746 motion picture entertainment. 4 00:00:16,813 --> 00:00:20,250 We're taking motion picture excitement over the edge, 5 00:00:20,317 --> 00:00:24,154 and your box office over the top. 6 00:00:24,221 --> 00:00:25,589 Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus 7 00:00:25,655 --> 00:00:27,324 were the heavyweights. 8 00:00:27,391 --> 00:00:29,893 They were the George Foremans and the Muhammad Alis 9 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:31,061 of the indie market. 10 00:00:31,128 --> 00:00:33,263 I hold them in huge affection, 11 00:00:33,330 --> 00:00:34,864 (CHUCKLING) even though they ruined our movie. 12 00:00:34,931 --> 00:00:36,266 (ROARS) 13 00:00:36,333 --> 00:00:38,635 It's hard to say the words "Cannon Films" 14 00:00:38,702 --> 00:00:40,004 without laughing. 15 00:00:41,271 --> 00:00:43,407 Nuts. Just crazy, nuts. 16 00:00:43,473 --> 00:00:44,674 (ROARS) 17 00:00:45,909 --> 00:00:48,278 Slightly to the sidelines of, 18 00:00:48,345 --> 00:00:50,080 I don't know, serious filmmaking. 19 00:00:50,147 --> 00:00:51,815 (SNARLING) Ugh! 20 00:00:51,881 --> 00:00:54,985 The audience wasn't prepared for the craziness. 21 00:00:55,986 --> 00:00:58,355 Looniness. (CHAINSAW WHIRRING) 22 00:00:58,422 --> 00:01:00,991 Guys, really? I mean, that's insane. 23 00:01:02,392 --> 00:01:03,693 I felt a little stupid doing it. 24 00:01:05,129 --> 00:01:07,731 They put a stamp on pop culture. 25 00:01:10,234 --> 00:01:12,436 You were rooting for them. (SCREAMING) 26 00:01:12,502 --> 00:01:14,038 We had no idea what we were doing. 27 00:01:14,104 --> 00:01:16,373 We were just making it up as we went along. 28 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:17,241 (GROANING) 29 00:01:17,307 --> 00:01:18,508 How could it fail? 30 00:01:31,088 --> 00:01:33,157 (SONG PLAYING) 31 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:37,361 (CAMERA CLICKING) 32 00:01:39,729 --> 00:01:40,730 (HORSE NEIGHING) 33 00:01:50,074 --> 00:01:51,275 (GROWLING) 34 00:01:58,615 --> 00:01:59,616 (GUN COCKING) 35 00:02:02,152 --> 00:02:03,753 (GUNSHOTS) 36 00:02:18,335 --> 00:02:21,971 Menahem Golan is the father of the Israeli cinema. 37 00:02:22,038 --> 00:02:23,440 Every three movies out of four 38 00:02:23,507 --> 00:02:25,275 were produced by Menahem Golan, 39 00:02:25,342 --> 00:02:26,843 some of them directed by him. 40 00:02:26,910 --> 00:02:29,379 He'd made something like 40 pictures before I met him. 41 00:02:29,446 --> 00:02:31,648 As a kid, he was in the theaters 42 00:02:31,715 --> 00:02:32,749 watching the movies, 43 00:02:32,816 --> 00:02:35,085 then he wanted to see the projector, 44 00:02:35,152 --> 00:02:36,720 then he wanted to touch the film. 45 00:02:36,786 --> 00:02:38,555 MENAHEM: This is where I met for the first time 46 00:02:38,622 --> 00:02:39,989 the Hollywood of Humphrey Bogart, 47 00:02:40,056 --> 00:02:42,025 Gary Cooper, Billy Wilder. 48 00:02:42,092 --> 00:02:45,395 And I used to spend here at least four times a week. 49 00:02:45,462 --> 00:02:47,297 I fell in love with Hollywood, right in this building. 50 00:02:47,364 --> 00:02:49,433 He lived cinema. 51 00:02:49,499 --> 00:02:51,935 He was shooting movies in Israel, 52 00:02:52,001 --> 00:02:53,637 and he didn't have food at home. 53 00:02:53,703 --> 00:02:55,272 ITZIK KOL: And he came and said, "Look, I don't have a car", 54 00:02:55,339 --> 00:02:56,740 "I don't have a Frigidaire" 55 00:02:56,806 --> 00:02:58,508 "and I don't have even a house." 56 00:02:58,575 --> 00:03:01,010 "The only thing what I have is a wife and three daughters." 57 00:03:01,077 --> 00:03:02,346 "If you can put a mortgage" 58 00:03:02,412 --> 00:03:04,681 "on my wife and my three daughters," 59 00:03:04,748 --> 00:03:06,082 "it's okay with me." 60 00:03:06,150 --> 00:03:09,018 Money was never a real issue for Menahem. Filmmaking was. 61 00:03:09,085 --> 00:03:12,356 Then he brought Yoram into the business afterwards. 62 00:03:12,422 --> 00:03:14,258 Yoram was a younger cousin. 63 00:03:14,324 --> 00:03:16,826 Yoram Globus was the businessman 64 00:03:16,893 --> 00:03:18,128 behind the movie-making. 65 00:03:18,195 --> 00:03:20,430 Menahem Golan was the movie-maker. 66 00:03:20,497 --> 00:03:23,933 They had a distribution company, a production company. 67 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,469 Menahem was directing. 68 00:03:25,535 --> 00:03:27,804 And they were the industry. 69 00:03:27,871 --> 00:03:29,939 They had a number of certainly very successful 70 00:03:30,006 --> 00:03:31,575 domestic Israeli films 71 00:03:31,641 --> 00:03:33,510 that threatened to break out. 72 00:03:33,577 --> 00:03:35,312 Tevye and His Seven Daughters, 73 00:03:35,379 --> 00:03:37,647 some kind of Fiddler on the Roof knock-off. 74 00:03:37,714 --> 00:03:39,048 WILLIAM STOUT: Menahem's wife had brought 75 00:03:39,115 --> 00:03:40,484 their new baby to the set, 76 00:03:40,550 --> 00:03:42,386 and Menahem sees the baby. 77 00:03:42,452 --> 00:03:44,754 "Oh, darling, the baby. Give me the baby, give me the baby." 78 00:03:44,821 --> 00:03:46,590 (IMITATING MENAHEM) "Put the baby, put the baby in the basket 79 00:03:46,656 --> 00:03:47,857 "and the basket in this wagon." 80 00:03:47,924 --> 00:03:49,526 His wife is going like, 81 00:03:49,593 --> 00:03:50,960 "Menahem, you know, you just can't put..." 82 00:03:51,027 --> 00:03:52,162 (IMIATING MENAHEM) "Later, please, please." 83 00:03:52,229 --> 00:03:53,597 "Not now." "Action!" 84 00:03:53,663 --> 00:03:55,131 Boom, everything takes off, the horses go racing. 85 00:03:55,199 --> 00:03:56,933 It looks like the baby in the basket 86 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:58,101 is almost about to fall off. 87 00:03:58,168 --> 00:03:59,903 And his wife lunges to catch the baby 88 00:03:59,969 --> 00:04:01,471 and he grabs her and he goes, "Darling..." 89 00:04:01,538 --> 00:04:03,373 "Never in the middle of the shot, please!" 90 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:05,275 And that's Golan. 91 00:04:05,342 --> 00:04:07,477 MAN: They already had their eye on an international market. 92 00:04:07,544 --> 00:04:09,813 The Raid on Entebbe was a natural for them to do 93 00:04:09,879 --> 00:04:12,216 because Israel was at their feet. 94 00:04:12,282 --> 00:04:13,350 Put your hands on your head! 95 00:04:13,417 --> 00:04:15,051 To the back! Keep going! 96 00:04:15,118 --> 00:04:18,888 Menahem and Yoram were the kings of Hollywood in Israel. 97 00:04:18,955 --> 00:04:21,991 This is a grenade, and we can blow the plane up! 98 00:04:22,058 --> 00:04:23,227 SYBIL: They got the military. 99 00:04:23,293 --> 00:04:24,628 SAM: We are shooting a scene 100 00:04:24,694 --> 00:04:26,630 and four Hercules are in the background. 101 00:04:26,696 --> 00:04:28,965 BOAZ: And the pilot was taking off and landing, 102 00:04:29,032 --> 00:04:30,700 taking off and landing. 103 00:04:30,767 --> 00:04:33,169 And he said, "Listen, I cannot work anymore. I'm tired." 104 00:04:33,237 --> 00:04:36,640 SAM: So Menahem, he is very adamant about shooting. 105 00:04:36,706 --> 00:04:40,510 He cannot take it that something will stop his momentum. 106 00:04:40,577 --> 00:04:42,379 So he just picked up an Uzi... 107 00:04:42,446 --> 00:04:44,481 Points it right at the head of the pilot. 108 00:04:44,548 --> 00:04:47,251 And said, "You better go back to the cockpit" 109 00:04:47,317 --> 00:04:48,652 "and do what I'm telling you." 110 00:04:50,354 --> 00:04:51,755 You can't stop him. 111 00:04:51,821 --> 00:04:54,258 QUENTIN: One of Menahem's young sidekicks 112 00:04:54,324 --> 00:04:55,925 was a guy called Boaz Davidson, 113 00:04:55,992 --> 00:04:58,562 who came up with the Lemon Popsicle series of films. 114 00:04:58,628 --> 00:05:02,399 BOAZ: Lemon Popsicle was based on my escapades 115 00:05:02,466 --> 00:05:04,067 and growing-up pains. 116 00:05:04,133 --> 00:05:08,037 Since we were dealing with discovering of sex, 117 00:05:08,104 --> 00:05:10,940 we had to go where people didn't go before. 118 00:05:11,007 --> 00:05:13,377 Menahem didn't want to make this kind of movie. 119 00:05:13,443 --> 00:05:15,679 Yoram was a little bit more daring 120 00:05:15,745 --> 00:05:17,547 because he was a little bit younger, 121 00:05:17,614 --> 00:05:19,449 but both of them were very conservative. 122 00:05:19,516 --> 00:05:21,285 I think some of the intelligentsia 123 00:05:21,351 --> 00:05:24,788 saw it as something which was very vulgar. (MOANING) 124 00:05:24,854 --> 00:05:26,756 BOAZ: A neighbor told my mom that, 125 00:05:26,823 --> 00:05:28,792 "Your son did Lemon Popsicle?" 126 00:05:28,858 --> 00:05:31,295 Steady. Keep it there. It's growing. 127 00:05:31,361 --> 00:05:33,330 She said, "Yes". She spitted on the floor 128 00:05:33,397 --> 00:05:36,833 and she said, "Wow. This is horrible". 129 00:05:36,900 --> 00:05:38,635 You all right? Could be better. 130 00:05:38,702 --> 00:05:39,803 "Horrible." 131 00:05:39,869 --> 00:05:41,738 It was a population of 3.5 million people, 132 00:05:41,805 --> 00:05:43,973 and the first run of the movie, 133 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:45,975 1.3 million people saw it. 134 00:05:46,042 --> 00:05:49,279 BOAZ: The number one box office success of Israel 135 00:05:49,346 --> 00:05:50,714 until this very day. 136 00:05:50,780 --> 00:05:53,149 So Menahem and Yoram made huge amount of money. 137 00:05:53,216 --> 00:05:55,952 They had a goal, and it was a dream, 138 00:05:56,019 --> 00:06:00,256 and the dream was to be successful all over the world, 139 00:06:00,324 --> 00:06:01,725 and mainly in Hollywood. 140 00:06:01,791 --> 00:06:04,494 It happens they bought this small company 141 00:06:04,561 --> 00:06:05,762 which was called Cannon. 142 00:06:05,829 --> 00:06:07,797 We ran the company for 13 years. 143 00:06:07,864 --> 00:06:09,666 It created something like 70 pictures. 144 00:06:09,733 --> 00:06:12,201 JOHN G. AVILDSEN: They were doing various skin flicks, 145 00:06:12,268 --> 00:06:13,403 exploitation, 146 00:06:13,470 --> 00:06:15,672 or buying Swiss skin 147 00:06:15,739 --> 00:06:18,342 and adding some extra scenes to it. 148 00:06:18,408 --> 00:06:19,976 CHRISTOPHER: We made Inga in Sweden, 149 00:06:20,043 --> 00:06:21,445 and when you're shooting in a foreign language, 150 00:06:21,511 --> 00:06:22,979 in Swedish, in this case, 151 00:06:23,046 --> 00:06:25,549 it becomes Bergmanesque, it becomes an art film, 152 00:06:25,615 --> 00:06:27,451 but our art film had lots of nudity in it. 153 00:06:27,517 --> 00:06:28,752 NARRATOR: Don't bother to translate it. 154 00:06:28,818 --> 00:06:31,721 It means the same in any language. 155 00:06:31,788 --> 00:06:33,590 Dewey said, "We've raised some money" 156 00:06:33,657 --> 00:06:34,924 "to make this other picture," 157 00:06:34,991 --> 00:06:37,293 "but we've realized it's a terrible idea" 158 00:06:37,361 --> 00:06:38,895 "and we've got to make something" 159 00:06:38,962 --> 00:06:40,564 "or otherwise we're going to have to give the money back." 160 00:06:40,630 --> 00:06:41,765 "Have you got any ideas?" 161 00:06:41,831 --> 00:06:43,633 JOE: You goddamn nigger-loving hippies 162 00:06:43,700 --> 00:06:44,901 getting away with murder. 163 00:06:44,968 --> 00:06:47,036 Sex, drugs, pissing on America, 164 00:06:47,103 --> 00:06:48,405 fucking up the music. 165 00:06:48,472 --> 00:06:49,873 I'd like to kill one of them. 166 00:06:49,939 --> 00:06:51,475 (GUNSHOT) 167 00:06:51,541 --> 00:06:54,110 Joe turned out to be one of the biggest pictures of 1970. 168 00:06:54,177 --> 00:06:55,512 It reflected the headlines. 169 00:06:55,579 --> 00:06:57,914 Hippies and hardhats and the war, 170 00:06:57,981 --> 00:07:00,584 and whether Nixon was a good guy or a bad guy. 171 00:07:00,650 --> 00:07:02,852 People said, "Gee, you've gotta see this, Charlie. 172 00:07:02,919 --> 00:07:03,987 "It's terrific." 173 00:07:04,053 --> 00:07:05,221 JOE: All you gotta do is act black 174 00:07:05,288 --> 00:07:06,623 and the money rolls in. 175 00:07:06,690 --> 00:07:08,358 I sweat my balls off 40 hours a week 176 00:07:08,425 --> 00:07:09,659 in front of a fucking furnace. 177 00:07:09,726 --> 00:07:11,327 They get as much money as I do. 178 00:07:11,395 --> 00:07:14,664 When we started making movies, Inga was $50,000. 179 00:07:14,731 --> 00:07:17,667 Joe cost us $372,000. 180 00:07:17,734 --> 00:07:20,404 And by the time we did The Happy Hooker, 181 00:07:20,470 --> 00:07:22,171 it was $1.2 million, 182 00:07:22,238 --> 00:07:24,408 and that was just a heck of a lot of money to have to raise 183 00:07:24,474 --> 00:07:25,842 from individuals. 184 00:07:25,909 --> 00:07:27,811 And Menahem and Yoram came along and said, 185 00:07:27,877 --> 00:07:30,179 "We want to make movies now in the United States." 186 00:07:30,246 --> 00:07:31,848 They came to town, 187 00:07:31,915 --> 00:07:33,550 for lack of a better term. 188 00:07:33,617 --> 00:07:34,851 MAN: They just wanted 189 00:07:34,918 --> 00:07:37,687 to put together an instant library 190 00:07:37,754 --> 00:07:39,956 of films that had their name on it. 191 00:07:40,023 --> 00:07:43,693 "Here's the thing, it's 17 January today." 192 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,230 "You're shooting on 4 March with Klaus Kinski." 193 00:07:47,296 --> 00:07:49,265 NARRATOR: Sick with revenge. 194 00:07:49,332 --> 00:07:51,267 Twisted with hate. 195 00:07:51,334 --> 00:07:53,069 You make me sick. 196 00:07:53,136 --> 00:07:55,439 Don't! (SCREAMING) No! 197 00:07:56,506 --> 00:07:57,941 NARRATOR: Schizoid. 198 00:07:58,007 --> 00:08:00,043 MAN: So at the beginning, they started to do 199 00:08:00,109 --> 00:08:01,678 the same kind of movies. 200 00:08:01,745 --> 00:08:04,748 MAN 2: Low-budget movies with a hint of sex. 201 00:08:04,814 --> 00:08:06,115 MAN 3: Horror movies. 202 00:08:08,452 --> 00:08:09,853 Help me! 203 00:08:11,488 --> 00:08:12,789 BOAZ: The movie X-Ray 204 00:08:12,856 --> 00:08:15,191 was one of those slasher movies. 205 00:08:15,258 --> 00:08:16,726 Barbi Benton was the star 206 00:08:16,793 --> 00:08:19,362 and you couldn't do a movie with Barbi Benton 207 00:08:19,429 --> 00:08:20,830 without showing her body. 208 00:08:20,897 --> 00:08:24,267 MARTINE BESWICK: Their idea of films at that time 209 00:08:24,333 --> 00:08:25,569 had to have a lot of nudity, 210 00:08:25,635 --> 00:08:27,170 because that's what the public wanted, 211 00:08:27,236 --> 00:08:29,773 according to their mentality, their thinking. 212 00:08:29,839 --> 00:08:30,940 MAN: When they were shooting. 213 00:08:31,007 --> 00:08:32,576 The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood 214 00:08:32,642 --> 00:08:34,110 I remember Martine saying 215 00:08:34,177 --> 00:08:35,745 that when she would walk off the set 216 00:08:35,812 --> 00:08:37,614 they were bringing fucking into the thing. 217 00:08:37,681 --> 00:08:38,882 BESWICK: There in the pool, 218 00:08:38,948 --> 00:08:41,217 they had all these extras at it, 219 00:08:41,284 --> 00:08:43,653 and I was absolutely furious, 220 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:45,755 because this is not what I signed on for. 221 00:08:45,822 --> 00:08:48,825 What I want is a boffo socko, kiss my grocer's movie. 222 00:08:48,892 --> 00:08:51,595 BESWICK: It was about a conniving studio 223 00:08:51,661 --> 00:08:54,030 who were really rotten and horrid, 224 00:08:54,097 --> 00:08:56,265 and, of course, that's exactly what I was dealing with 225 00:08:56,332 --> 00:08:57,834 with Golan and Globus. 226 00:08:57,901 --> 00:08:59,335 RUSTY LEMORANDE: They either piled gifts on you 227 00:08:59,402 --> 00:09:01,638 and treated you like a favorite child, 228 00:09:01,705 --> 00:09:03,072 or they were mean and bullish 229 00:09:03,139 --> 00:09:05,575 and made you fear for your career. 230 00:09:05,642 --> 00:09:08,044 They carry with them the Israeli temperament. 231 00:09:08,111 --> 00:09:10,313 MAN: They would go through walls 232 00:09:10,379 --> 00:09:11,548 in order to get what they want. 233 00:09:11,615 --> 00:09:13,483 Menahem had no trouble yelling. 234 00:09:13,550 --> 00:09:15,018 Up would come the hands, 235 00:09:15,084 --> 00:09:17,621 and the Israeli accent would get thicker and thicker. 236 00:09:17,687 --> 00:09:19,288 They were screaming at each other, 237 00:09:19,355 --> 00:09:20,557 just screaming. 238 00:09:20,624 --> 00:09:23,392 "(MUMBLING) Chris! (MUMBLING) Chris!" 239 00:09:23,459 --> 00:09:25,662 You know, my name kept coming up. 240 00:09:25,729 --> 00:09:26,796 I kept saying to this reporter, 241 00:09:26,863 --> 00:09:27,831 "What are they talking about?" 242 00:09:27,897 --> 00:09:29,465 "What are they talking..." 243 00:09:29,533 --> 00:09:31,835 And they were deciding which deli to take me to lunch. 244 00:09:31,901 --> 00:09:36,506 It wasn't anger, it was just fierceness and robustness 245 00:09:36,573 --> 00:09:38,041 and passion. 246 00:09:38,107 --> 00:09:39,308 MAN: They were extremely fond of each other. 247 00:09:39,375 --> 00:09:40,844 Clearly they were family. 248 00:09:40,910 --> 00:09:42,812 MENAHEM: We are unique partners, I think. 249 00:09:42,879 --> 00:09:44,280 It's more than brothers. 250 00:09:44,347 --> 00:09:47,183 We forge each other's signatures on checks, 251 00:09:47,250 --> 00:09:48,585 if you understand... 252 00:09:48,652 --> 00:09:50,453 That is the maximum way you can get to. 253 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,422 You couldn't break that relationship that they had. 254 00:09:53,489 --> 00:09:54,858 They trusted each other completely. 255 00:09:54,924 --> 00:09:58,562 Yet there was a real Yin and Yang quality. 256 00:09:58,628 --> 00:10:00,163 They seemed to approach filmmaking 257 00:10:00,229 --> 00:10:01,565 entirely differently. 258 00:10:01,631 --> 00:10:05,835 Menahem is a dreamer and he's a grown-up kid. 259 00:10:05,902 --> 00:10:08,037 And he's doing everything he's always wanted to do. 260 00:10:08,104 --> 00:10:11,541 He would sit and dream about projects 261 00:10:11,608 --> 00:10:13,843 and people and stories. 262 00:10:13,910 --> 00:10:16,846 And Yoram was a shrewd businessperson 263 00:10:16,913 --> 00:10:19,148 who had to keep everything tight 264 00:10:19,215 --> 00:10:20,349 so Menahem can work. 265 00:10:20,416 --> 00:10:23,787 He wasn't ebullient, he wasn't loud, 266 00:10:23,853 --> 00:10:26,122 he wasn't a center of attention. 267 00:10:26,189 --> 00:10:27,090 He stood in the shadows. 268 00:10:27,156 --> 00:10:30,326 Maybe the best film salesman 269 00:10:30,393 --> 00:10:31,628 the world has ever known. 270 00:10:31,695 --> 00:10:33,630 I'm Yoram Globus. He's our president. 271 00:10:33,697 --> 00:10:35,732 Nice to meet you. 272 00:10:35,799 --> 00:10:38,034 Dour, watchful, a little bit suspicious. 273 00:10:38,101 --> 00:10:39,736 Cold and hard and tough. 274 00:10:39,803 --> 00:10:42,105 YORAM: It's Yoram. Where is my money? 275 00:10:42,171 --> 00:10:45,141 You promise and promise and promise and you are not paying. 276 00:10:45,208 --> 00:10:48,645 They were opposite, but together when they went to banks, 277 00:10:48,712 --> 00:10:51,681 it was exactly the combination you needed 278 00:10:51,748 --> 00:10:54,751 to raise money for this dream, 279 00:10:54,818 --> 00:10:56,119 and they did. 280 00:10:56,185 --> 00:10:58,254 We came to America to make American movies 281 00:10:58,321 --> 00:11:01,057 that could be sold to independent distributors 282 00:11:01,124 --> 00:11:01,925 around the world, 283 00:11:01,991 --> 00:11:03,526 with production values... 284 00:11:03,593 --> 00:11:04,761 (SCREAMING) With a good story, 285 00:11:04,828 --> 00:11:06,730 with... call it star system, 286 00:11:06,796 --> 00:11:09,599 and bring it to the world, not via the major companies. (SCREAMING) 287 00:11:09,666 --> 00:11:13,269 They invented the way the independent company work today. 288 00:11:13,336 --> 00:11:14,437 They create a poster 289 00:11:14,503 --> 00:11:16,472 of a movie they intend to make. 290 00:11:16,539 --> 00:11:19,175 They sell it to foreign buyers. 291 00:11:19,242 --> 00:11:22,511 They take that money, they make the picture 292 00:11:22,578 --> 00:11:24,247 and deliver it the following season. 293 00:11:24,313 --> 00:11:26,049 NARRATOR: Now a special experience 294 00:11:26,115 --> 00:11:28,151 in movie-going entertainment. 295 00:11:28,217 --> 00:11:29,919 The Apple. (GRUNTS) 296 00:11:29,986 --> 00:11:33,356 The Apple, the Mount Everest of bad musicals, 297 00:11:33,422 --> 00:11:34,858 and Menahem directed it. 298 00:11:34,924 --> 00:11:37,861 * Magic Apple, mystery Apple 299 00:11:37,927 --> 00:11:40,897 * Take a little ride Let me be your guide 300 00:11:40,964 --> 00:11:42,531 * Through the Apple paradise * 301 00:11:42,598 --> 00:11:45,268 The Apple was going to be Menahem's Tommy. 302 00:11:45,334 --> 00:11:46,836 * Hey, hey, hey. 303 00:11:46,903 --> 00:11:49,372 DEL VALLE: It was his attempt to be Ken Russell. 304 00:11:50,506 --> 00:11:53,209 "I'm better than Ken Russell!" 305 00:11:53,276 --> 00:11:55,979 He thought it was going to be incredibly commercial, 306 00:11:56,045 --> 00:11:58,948 He thought it was incredibly imaginative and creative. 307 00:11:59,015 --> 00:12:01,317 I can't explain, The Apple to you. Can anybody? 308 00:12:01,384 --> 00:12:05,889 It's the story of creation, according to Menahem. 309 00:12:05,955 --> 00:12:08,157 STEWART: A classic story of good and evil 310 00:12:08,224 --> 00:12:11,227 set in the music industry in the future. 311 00:12:11,294 --> 00:12:15,799 NARRATOR: In 1994, the world is controlled by one power. 312 00:12:15,865 --> 00:12:17,934 The Apple is success. 313 00:12:18,001 --> 00:12:19,769 DAVID: Menahem's idea of the future 314 00:12:19,836 --> 00:12:21,705 is 2025, Tel Aviv. 315 00:12:21,771 --> 00:12:24,240 ALAIN JAKUBOWICZ: He wanted to show the world of the hippies, 316 00:12:24,307 --> 00:12:25,942 except Menahem is not a hippie, 317 00:12:26,009 --> 00:12:29,312 so he didn't really know how to approach it. 318 00:12:29,378 --> 00:12:30,513 ALL: Peace. 319 00:12:30,579 --> 00:12:34,117 In every way, it is bold. 320 00:12:34,183 --> 00:12:36,485 It will have a song called 'I'm Coming'. 321 00:12:36,552 --> 00:12:39,889 * Ooh, coming 322 00:12:39,956 --> 00:12:42,959 * Coming for you 323 00:12:43,793 --> 00:12:45,294 * Feel me coming. 324 00:12:45,361 --> 00:12:46,796 STEWART: I was perfect for the role of Bibi 325 00:12:46,863 --> 00:12:48,898 because I was so naive. (LAUGHS) 326 00:12:48,965 --> 00:12:51,367 I was like, "Oh, he's coming over here for me. Okay." 327 00:12:51,434 --> 00:12:55,638 That's how I read it, even with the dance and everything. 328 00:12:55,705 --> 00:12:57,340 Pretty bad. I know it's pathetic. 329 00:12:57,406 --> 00:13:01,377 He was so sure that the movie is going to be a hit, 330 00:13:01,444 --> 00:13:02,846 a big hit. 331 00:13:02,912 --> 00:13:04,347 STEWART: So when we were at the screening 332 00:13:04,413 --> 00:13:06,015 and the opposite happened, 333 00:13:06,082 --> 00:13:08,517 he was devastated. (BOOING) 334 00:13:08,584 --> 00:13:10,153 They gave complimentary soundtracks, 335 00:13:10,219 --> 00:13:13,056 and when the movie was over, they threw them at the screen 336 00:13:13,122 --> 00:13:15,124 and they were embedded in the screen. 337 00:13:15,191 --> 00:13:17,693 ALAIN: I think he was in advance of his time 338 00:13:17,761 --> 00:13:19,028 when he did The Apple. 339 00:13:19,095 --> 00:13:21,164 (LAUGHS) 340 00:13:21,230 --> 00:13:23,632 One of the great things that we are all looking for 341 00:13:23,699 --> 00:13:25,468 is more life, 342 00:13:25,534 --> 00:13:27,170 life, another life, 343 00:13:27,236 --> 00:13:29,906 life beyond what we are limited 344 00:13:29,973 --> 00:13:32,776 to on our earth, 345 00:13:33,576 --> 00:13:36,179 life beyond E.T. 346 00:13:37,246 --> 00:13:38,815 Life up there. 347 00:13:38,882 --> 00:13:41,717 And that's what cinema provides us. 348 00:13:41,785 --> 00:13:44,020 They loved film more than any, 349 00:13:44,087 --> 00:13:46,655 like, executive or mogul 350 00:13:46,722 --> 00:13:48,457 that I'd ever talked to. 351 00:13:48,524 --> 00:13:50,259 You were talking with them about something else, 352 00:13:50,326 --> 00:13:53,096 they'd say, "Listen, talk with me about movies." 353 00:13:53,162 --> 00:13:55,832 They'd have four hours free, they'd go to a movie, 354 00:13:55,899 --> 00:13:57,466 even though the film was in German 355 00:13:57,533 --> 00:13:59,202 and they didn't speak German, they would go to the movies. 356 00:13:59,268 --> 00:14:01,704 Cannon is the only company who loves cinema. 357 00:14:01,771 --> 00:14:04,707 We don't have other hobbies. Cinema is our life. 358 00:14:04,774 --> 00:14:07,343 "When can you start?" I said, "Well, I'm getting married on Saturday." 359 00:14:07,410 --> 00:14:09,212 (MIMICKING MENAHEM) "How long will that take?" 360 00:14:09,278 --> 00:14:10,914 NARRATOR: They run their company like a factory, 361 00:14:10,980 --> 00:14:12,348 a no-frills operation 362 00:14:12,415 --> 00:14:14,818 where long hours and low pay are the norm, 363 00:14:14,884 --> 00:14:17,553 where every penny ends up on the screen, 364 00:14:17,620 --> 00:14:19,022 not on an expense account. 365 00:14:19,088 --> 00:14:22,091 "Boys, we'll eat lunch in the office." 366 00:14:22,158 --> 00:14:23,827 Menahem ran down the hall, 367 00:14:23,893 --> 00:14:24,928 went to the assistant's room, 368 00:14:24,994 --> 00:14:26,562 grabbed his plate of Chinese food, 369 00:14:26,629 --> 00:14:28,264 and said, "Give me that." 370 00:14:28,331 --> 00:14:30,867 And ran back and said, "We got you some Chinese food." 371 00:14:30,934 --> 00:14:32,368 The door would open 372 00:14:32,435 --> 00:14:35,271 and an assistant would bring in some Styrofoam cups 373 00:14:35,338 --> 00:14:37,974 and a couple of those Styrofoam carry-out trays. 374 00:14:38,041 --> 00:14:39,275 Meetings took place 375 00:14:39,342 --> 00:14:40,977 while he's shoving pickles in his face. 376 00:14:41,044 --> 00:14:43,579 99% of the budget of a picture 377 00:14:43,646 --> 00:14:45,048 is going to the screen, 378 00:14:45,114 --> 00:14:48,384 not with all the limouisine-shmimousine, 379 00:14:48,451 --> 00:14:51,955 lunches-bunches and all this nonsense. 380 00:14:52,021 --> 00:14:53,990 They're not about the schmoozing, 381 00:14:54,057 --> 00:14:56,025 they're about getting things done. 382 00:14:56,092 --> 00:14:58,261 We are not the kind of people 383 00:14:58,327 --> 00:15:01,097 of Ma Maison or Jimmy's in Hollywood, 384 00:15:01,164 --> 00:15:02,398 the restaurants, you know. 385 00:15:02,465 --> 00:15:04,100 We are not going to Apollo Lounge. 386 00:15:04,167 --> 00:15:06,569 We do not play tennis. Look at me. 387 00:15:06,635 --> 00:15:07,636 I don't, I'm sorry. 388 00:15:07,703 --> 00:15:09,105 "I don't go to tennis courts," 389 00:15:09,172 --> 00:15:11,674 "I don't go to big, lavish parties in Malibu." 390 00:15:11,740 --> 00:15:14,377 Well, the reason he didn't was because he wasn't invited. 391 00:15:14,443 --> 00:15:18,447 I just had in my head what a movie producer should be 392 00:15:18,514 --> 00:15:21,885 and Menahem just didn't quite fit that picture. 393 00:15:21,951 --> 00:15:23,186 (CAMERA CLICKING) 394 00:15:23,252 --> 00:15:24,854 The shirts were too tight. 395 00:15:24,921 --> 00:15:26,422 The end of the screening, he'd be trying to button his pants. 396 00:15:26,489 --> 00:15:29,525 You know Jabba the Hutt? Menahem Golan. 397 00:15:29,592 --> 00:15:32,295 If Jabba the Hutt were on meth or something. 398 00:15:32,361 --> 00:15:35,831 The only thing that motivated and guided these two men 399 00:15:35,899 --> 00:15:37,300 was the love of movies, 400 00:15:37,366 --> 00:15:39,969 and this goes back to when they were kids in Tel Aviv 401 00:15:40,036 --> 00:15:41,704 watching American movies. 402 00:15:41,770 --> 00:15:43,206 He wanted to remake 403 00:15:43,272 --> 00:15:46,409 the picture he had seen as a young guy and loved. 404 00:15:46,475 --> 00:15:47,977 Menahem said, "I have a wonderful idea." 405 00:15:48,044 --> 00:15:49,445 "I want all the monster men." 406 00:15:49,512 --> 00:15:51,514 "Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi." 407 00:15:51,580 --> 00:15:53,116 I said, "But they're dead." 408 00:15:53,182 --> 00:15:55,919 VINCENT PRICE: Welcome to the House of the Long Shadows. 409 00:15:55,985 --> 00:15:58,154 The masters of horror are moving in. 410 00:15:58,221 --> 00:15:59,956 Vincent Price, that's me. 411 00:16:00,023 --> 00:16:01,490 Peter Cushing. Christopher Lee. 412 00:16:01,557 --> 00:16:03,526 You're not going to make a movie with these guys 413 00:16:03,592 --> 00:16:05,328 that is going to frighten anybody. 414 00:16:05,394 --> 00:16:08,297 (GIRL SCREAMING) 415 00:16:08,364 --> 00:16:09,832 It's not going to be a horror movie. 416 00:16:09,899 --> 00:16:11,267 (BOTH SCREAMING) (BAT SHRIEKING) 417 00:16:11,334 --> 00:16:13,702 It's going to have to be a nostalgia piece. 418 00:16:13,769 --> 00:16:15,404 (OPERATIC SINGING) 419 00:16:15,471 --> 00:16:17,606 But I think they were happy to send themselves up. 420 00:16:17,673 --> 00:16:20,343 Piano wire. He must have heard her singing. 421 00:16:20,409 --> 00:16:23,446 I knew it wasn't going to be successful as a theatrical movie. 422 00:16:23,512 --> 00:16:26,849 With all those horror stars and a kind of horror title, 423 00:16:26,916 --> 00:16:28,451 it got a PG rating. 424 00:16:28,517 --> 00:16:30,386 (SCREAMS) 425 00:16:30,453 --> 00:16:32,355 So you've got a family horror movie. 426 00:16:32,421 --> 00:16:34,723 There were cinemas out there that needed to be filled 427 00:16:34,790 --> 00:16:37,226 with something, and that's what Cannon did. 428 00:16:37,293 --> 00:16:38,494 Really what they made 429 00:16:38,561 --> 00:16:40,229 was whatever they could put together 430 00:16:40,296 --> 00:16:42,131 that had an actor in it, that had a name 431 00:16:42,198 --> 00:16:43,466 that they could pre-sell. 432 00:16:43,532 --> 00:16:45,134 OLIVER: Dutch, Sylvia Kristel. 433 00:16:45,201 --> 00:16:47,370 She was huge, and a big name. 434 00:16:47,436 --> 00:16:50,739 She exuded quiet, erotic desire. 435 00:16:50,806 --> 00:16:52,375 "I'm horny, but stay away." 436 00:16:52,441 --> 00:16:55,378 She was famous for the Just Jaeckin films. 437 00:17:01,750 --> 00:17:04,553 NARRATOR: The first time since the original Emmanuelle 438 00:17:04,620 --> 00:17:06,522 that these two outstanding talents 439 00:17:06,589 --> 00:17:09,625 have been brought together in Lady Chatterley's Lover. 440 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:42,125 They sold Sylvia Kristel in a sexy picture. That's what they'd sold. 441 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,030 NARRATOR: D.H. Lawrence's classic masterpiece 442 00:17:47,096 --> 00:17:49,332 is now a major motion picture. 443 00:18:01,977 --> 00:18:03,346 They were blown away. They liked it. 444 00:18:03,412 --> 00:18:04,647 They thought it was a great picture. 445 00:18:09,785 --> 00:18:12,588 NARRATOR: Sylvia Kristel is Mata Hari. 446 00:18:12,655 --> 00:18:15,691 Dancer. Lover. Spy. (GASPS) 447 00:18:15,758 --> 00:18:17,860 When I met her, she was addicted to cocaine. 448 00:18:17,926 --> 00:18:21,664 By the time she got to Budapest, she was addicted to booze. 449 00:18:21,730 --> 00:18:24,767 OLIVER: The Italian hairdresser would go, "Oh, Madonna, 450 00:18:24,833 --> 00:18:26,102 "look at the way she looks!" 451 00:18:26,169 --> 00:18:27,803 She came in looking like a gargoyle. 452 00:18:27,870 --> 00:18:28,871 She couldn't act... 453 00:18:28,937 --> 00:18:30,306 Your friend Karl 454 00:18:30,373 --> 00:18:32,141 may have already engaged me to seduce you. 455 00:18:32,208 --> 00:18:35,411 OLIVER: It's an important role, and she struggled. 456 00:18:37,613 --> 00:18:39,248 The commercial pushing 457 00:18:39,315 --> 00:18:42,251 of erotic scenes in this film, ruined it. 458 00:18:42,318 --> 00:18:43,719 They called from LA saying, 459 00:18:43,786 --> 00:18:46,222 "Now she's got to get laid in the trenches as well." 460 00:18:46,289 --> 00:18:47,623 She's getting laid enough. 461 00:18:52,561 --> 00:18:54,830 It's all to do with taste in the end. 462 00:18:54,897 --> 00:18:57,100 That's sort of the Cannon way. 463 00:18:57,166 --> 00:18:59,302 It completely resembles 464 00:18:59,368 --> 00:19:02,138 something, minus good taste. 465 00:19:02,205 --> 00:19:04,740 I've taken the script, you know, I'm opening the first page, 466 00:19:04,807 --> 00:19:07,510 and then so I start reading, and it says, 467 00:19:07,576 --> 00:19:09,445 "Na-na, na-na, suck my banana." 468 00:19:09,512 --> 00:19:11,747 This was one of the first lines of the film. 469 00:19:11,814 --> 00:19:15,351 What they didn't have in taste, they made up for in enthusiasm. 470 00:19:15,418 --> 00:19:17,220 Alright, let's cut this shit, 471 00:19:17,286 --> 00:19:19,722 and now let's all get serious. 472 00:19:19,788 --> 00:19:22,758 * Dance all night, play all day 473 00:19:22,825 --> 00:19:24,127 * One, two, three 474 00:19:24,193 --> 00:19:26,429 * Don't let nothing get in the way * 475 00:19:26,495 --> 00:19:28,597 Last American Virgin was a... 476 00:19:28,664 --> 00:19:32,101 Almost by-the-numbers remake of Lemon Popsicle. 477 00:19:32,168 --> 00:19:33,469 They changed very little. 478 00:19:33,536 --> 00:19:35,504 They just brought the plot to America. 479 00:19:35,571 --> 00:19:39,175 When I first got the script, I thought, "What is this film?" 480 00:19:39,242 --> 00:19:40,776 "It's... it's got two different tones." 481 00:19:40,843 --> 00:19:44,847 On one hand there's this sexploitation aspect to it, 482 00:19:44,913 --> 00:19:46,149 and then the other half of it 483 00:19:46,215 --> 00:19:48,584 was this really wonderful love story. 484 00:19:48,651 --> 00:19:50,819 It had all these controversial issues 485 00:19:50,886 --> 00:19:53,122 with the abortion and the prostitution. 486 00:19:53,189 --> 00:19:54,823 Alright, cowboys, who's gonna be first? 487 00:19:54,890 --> 00:19:56,392 I wanna get this over with. 488 00:19:56,459 --> 00:19:57,993 FRANKLIN: Then the crabs, there's cocaine 489 00:19:58,060 --> 00:20:00,696 and there's high-schoolers doing all this stuff. 490 00:20:00,763 --> 00:20:02,898 Now, you two have fun. (SIGHS) 491 00:20:02,965 --> 00:20:05,100 WOMARK: The good guy and his best friend who's super good-looking 492 00:20:05,168 --> 00:20:08,304 who always is with the young ladies. Gets somebody pregnant. 493 00:20:08,371 --> 00:20:10,139 It's actually the girl he gets pregnant 494 00:20:10,206 --> 00:20:12,141 is the girl that our hero really loves 495 00:20:12,208 --> 00:20:14,577 and, of course, the good-looking guy bails on her 496 00:20:14,643 --> 00:20:16,945 and our hero has to basically take her to the hospital 497 00:20:17,012 --> 00:20:18,281 the day of the abortion, 498 00:20:18,347 --> 00:20:20,115 and in order to pay for the abortion, 499 00:20:20,183 --> 00:20:21,650 he's a pizza delivery guy. 500 00:20:21,717 --> 00:20:25,053 An abortion is being played with U2 music under it, 501 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:28,056 and you go from a doctor performing an abortion 502 00:20:28,123 --> 00:20:30,493 to some guy cutting a pizza. 503 00:20:30,559 --> 00:20:34,330 Guys, really? I mean, that's insane. That's just nuts. 504 00:20:34,397 --> 00:20:35,864 They had really high hopes 505 00:20:35,931 --> 00:20:38,434 that this movie would kind of cross over, 506 00:20:38,501 --> 00:20:40,068 teenage movie, this would be it. 507 00:20:40,135 --> 00:20:41,804 NARRATOR: The Last American Virgin. 508 00:20:41,870 --> 00:20:43,606 See it or be it. 509 00:20:43,672 --> 00:20:44,673 ALL: Yeah! 510 00:20:44,740 --> 00:20:48,344 I thought it was an odd script for America. 511 00:20:48,411 --> 00:20:49,745 Hi. How's it going? 512 00:20:49,812 --> 00:20:51,547 Are you here to interview me or to fuck me? 513 00:20:51,614 --> 00:20:54,883 I think a lot of the traditions or customs 514 00:20:54,950 --> 00:20:56,118 didn't translate so well. 515 00:20:56,185 --> 00:20:57,753 For instance, after the abortion 516 00:20:57,820 --> 00:21:00,756 Gary brings her a Christmas tree and a bag of oranges. 517 00:21:00,823 --> 00:21:03,326 It must have meant something in Israel. I have no idea. 518 00:21:03,392 --> 00:21:06,295 DAVIDSON: My goal was to do a real story, 519 00:21:06,362 --> 00:21:08,831 and I think it was very dangerous, 520 00:21:08,897 --> 00:21:11,734 especially for the American market, 521 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:16,004 because in America, everything has to end up 522 00:21:16,071 --> 00:21:17,240 really, really happy. 523 00:21:17,306 --> 00:21:19,174 American movies are so American 524 00:21:19,242 --> 00:21:21,910 that when they're not American, everybody picks that up. 525 00:21:21,977 --> 00:21:26,382 We will always do films that are a little different, I think, 526 00:21:26,449 --> 00:21:29,151 because of our background and mentality. 527 00:21:29,218 --> 00:21:30,919 They were foreigners, 528 00:21:30,986 --> 00:21:34,056 and I think we needed some American element. 529 00:21:34,122 --> 00:21:35,991 They did bring over a lot of Israelis, 530 00:21:36,058 --> 00:21:39,262 um, that were not gonna help them 531 00:21:39,328 --> 00:21:41,129 infiltrate the domestic market. 532 00:21:41,196 --> 00:21:42,665 They all spoke English, 533 00:21:42,731 --> 00:21:46,369 but they didn't really understand the American idiom. 534 00:21:46,435 --> 00:21:48,704 I think that was a problem, 535 00:21:48,771 --> 00:21:51,274 you know, judging the material. 536 00:21:51,340 --> 00:21:55,611 When they tapped into, or stumbled into, 537 00:21:55,678 --> 00:21:57,513 the right idea, it worked. 538 00:21:57,580 --> 00:21:59,582 (MIMICKING MENAHEM) "David, it's Menahem." 539 00:21:59,648 --> 00:22:02,818 And I said, "What?" And he said, "I want to offer you a great opportunity." 540 00:22:02,885 --> 00:22:06,422 He said, "We're going to make a sequel" 541 00:22:06,489 --> 00:22:08,824 "to one of the great movies of the 1970s." 542 00:22:08,891 --> 00:22:11,159 I said, "What, are you going to do Godfather III?" 543 00:22:11,226 --> 00:22:12,328 And he goes, "Close." 544 00:22:12,395 --> 00:22:13,762 NARRATOR: Death Wish II. 545 00:22:13,829 --> 00:22:15,864 He's doing it for you. Aarggh! 546 00:22:15,931 --> 00:22:18,501 Death Wish II, was the first legitimate, 547 00:22:18,567 --> 00:22:21,304 real Hollywood film they made. 548 00:22:21,370 --> 00:22:24,172 An anticipated sequel to a hit movie, 549 00:22:24,239 --> 00:22:25,941 with a movie star. 550 00:22:26,008 --> 00:22:28,110 MICHAEL WINNER: Death Wish, was on many of the 10-best-of-the-year 551 00:22:28,176 --> 00:22:29,312 film lists in America, 552 00:22:29,378 --> 00:22:30,779 was treated very seriously, 553 00:22:30,846 --> 00:22:32,748 and I think society has now changed enough, 554 00:22:32,815 --> 00:22:33,916 eight years later, 555 00:22:33,982 --> 00:22:35,451 which is a long time to wait for a sequel, 556 00:22:35,518 --> 00:22:37,185 to make a story of some relevance. 557 00:22:37,252 --> 00:22:38,821 I was trying to deal with a character 558 00:22:38,887 --> 00:22:41,957 who did not want to go back to where he had been. 559 00:22:42,024 --> 00:22:43,726 He had lost his wife, 560 00:22:43,792 --> 00:22:46,462 his daughter was in a mental institution, 561 00:22:46,529 --> 00:22:48,030 he has his outing with her, 562 00:22:48,096 --> 00:22:49,432 he's harassed by these punks, 563 00:22:49,498 --> 00:22:51,567 they pickpocket him, they come back, 564 00:22:51,634 --> 00:22:54,337 they ravage his maid, his daughter dies, 565 00:22:54,403 --> 00:22:56,439 and because of her mental illness, 566 00:22:56,505 --> 00:22:59,342 the police won't prosecute as a homicide. 567 00:22:59,408 --> 00:23:01,377 The violence in the second film was there 568 00:23:01,444 --> 00:23:02,911 so Bronson can get to work. 569 00:23:02,978 --> 00:23:05,648 NARRATOR: When murder and rape are the crimes, 570 00:23:05,714 --> 00:23:08,684 Bronson is the only punishment. 571 00:23:08,751 --> 00:23:10,686 Do you believe in Jesus? 572 00:23:10,753 --> 00:23:11,754 Yes, I do. 573 00:23:11,820 --> 00:23:13,756 Well, you're gonna meet him. 574 00:23:13,822 --> 00:23:15,591 DAVID: My script was original, it was clever. 575 00:23:15,658 --> 00:23:17,626 It was much better than the film itself, 576 00:23:17,693 --> 00:23:20,463 which I was somewhat appalled by when I first saw it. 577 00:23:20,529 --> 00:23:23,732 I was upset about the amount 578 00:23:23,799 --> 00:23:26,469 of violence mixed with sex. 579 00:23:26,535 --> 00:23:29,405 It moved it into a different type of film 580 00:23:29,472 --> 00:23:31,039 that I did not want to be in. 581 00:23:31,106 --> 00:23:34,610 Rape is a terrible thing, but it does happen. 582 00:23:34,677 --> 00:23:36,612 It is very much on the minds of the public, 583 00:23:36,679 --> 00:23:39,382 and I see no reason why any subject 584 00:23:39,448 --> 00:23:41,249 should be excluded from drama. 585 00:23:41,316 --> 00:23:42,785 This was just to get his rocks off. 586 00:23:42,851 --> 00:23:44,520 The script did not need it. 587 00:23:44,587 --> 00:23:46,355 The rape scenes of the British version 588 00:23:46,422 --> 00:23:47,690 have been cut by four minutes 589 00:23:47,756 --> 00:23:49,658 by the British film censor James Firman, 590 00:23:49,725 --> 00:23:52,260 who had this to say, "This is about as irresponsible 591 00:23:52,327 --> 00:23:53,896 "as a filmmaker could be" 592 00:23:53,962 --> 00:23:55,598 "in the treatment of rape for purely commercial ends." 593 00:23:55,664 --> 00:23:57,400 "This director is simply trying to stir up" 594 00:23:57,466 --> 00:23:58,801 "as much controversy as possible" 595 00:23:58,867 --> 00:24:00,469 "because he's in desperate need of a hit." 596 00:24:00,536 --> 00:24:04,507 The critics really were very, very outspoken 597 00:24:04,573 --> 00:24:08,343 about how they were really upset about the film. 598 00:24:08,411 --> 00:24:10,846 WOMAN: It is obviously very much on Mr. Winner's mind 599 00:24:10,913 --> 00:24:11,714 to be sodomized. 600 00:24:11,780 --> 00:24:13,248 I hope it happens to him soon. 601 00:24:13,315 --> 00:24:15,851 He loved that. He loved to get people talking. 602 00:24:15,918 --> 00:24:17,720 Michael thrived on controversy. 603 00:24:17,786 --> 00:24:19,422 HARTMAN: Menahem and Yoram, 604 00:24:19,488 --> 00:24:21,390 they gave him the carte blanche to do a lot of things. 605 00:24:21,457 --> 00:24:22,825 "You say you want to shoot this film like that? Fine." 606 00:24:22,891 --> 00:24:24,359 "You want to shoot another one? Fine." 607 00:24:24,427 --> 00:24:26,228 Winner's films make money. 608 00:24:26,294 --> 00:24:28,864 NARRATOR: This is the lusty, bawdy, epic story... (CROWD CHEERING) 609 00:24:28,931 --> 00:24:32,635 Of England's most legendary robber, the Wicked Lady. 610 00:24:32,701 --> 00:24:35,438 Wicked Lady was his opportunity 611 00:24:35,504 --> 00:24:37,105 to go up a rung 612 00:24:37,172 --> 00:24:39,942 on the director's ladder of respectability. 613 00:24:40,008 --> 00:24:42,411 They had Faye Dunaway, they had Sir John Gielgud, 614 00:24:42,478 --> 00:24:43,679 they had Alan Bates, 615 00:24:43,746 --> 00:24:45,247 they had A-list names in this movie. 616 00:24:45,313 --> 00:24:48,050 And yet he had to put naked girls in there. 617 00:24:48,116 --> 00:24:50,719 It was almost like he was sabotaging himself. 618 00:24:50,786 --> 00:24:53,321 Mike wanted to put a bit of spice into the film 619 00:24:53,388 --> 00:24:56,258 and there was a scene where they whipped one of the girls. 620 00:24:56,324 --> 00:24:58,694 MARINA SIRTIS: Michael came up with a pair of scissors 621 00:24:58,761 --> 00:25:00,796 and literally just cut my costume off, 622 00:25:00,863 --> 00:25:02,297 and said, "Get on with it." 623 00:25:02,364 --> 00:25:05,468 That was the scene that the movie was sold on. 624 00:25:05,534 --> 00:25:07,135 It didn't really fit in the film at all. 625 00:25:07,202 --> 00:25:10,405 ALEX WINTER: Michael was a pathologically brutal, 626 00:25:10,473 --> 00:25:13,241 strange, sadistic, insecure, 627 00:25:13,308 --> 00:25:16,011 egotistical character. 628 00:25:16,078 --> 00:25:18,747 OLIVER: He seems to have used his job as a director 629 00:25:18,814 --> 00:25:20,583 to, frankly, abuse people. 630 00:25:20,649 --> 00:25:23,151 They always seem to call for me if things have to be blown up, 631 00:25:23,218 --> 00:25:25,153 people have to be killed, raped or shot, you see? 632 00:25:25,220 --> 00:25:27,990 I don't know why they call for a nice, charming chap like me. 633 00:25:28,056 --> 00:25:30,425 (SCREAMS) 634 00:25:30,493 --> 00:25:32,461 MARINA SIRTIS: We're shooting in a leaky garage, 635 00:25:32,528 --> 00:25:33,629 the rain's coming in through the roof, 636 00:25:33,696 --> 00:25:34,830 and I'm lying naked. 637 00:25:34,897 --> 00:25:36,364 He wouldn't even let me get up. 638 00:25:36,431 --> 00:25:38,133 He wanted me to lie there to be lit, 639 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:40,636 and I was freezing, and the director of photography 640 00:25:40,703 --> 00:25:42,871 came and put his coat on me 641 00:25:42,938 --> 00:25:45,841 and Winner screamed at him to get the coat off, 642 00:25:45,908 --> 00:25:47,710 how was he supposed to light me? 643 00:25:47,776 --> 00:25:49,645 Completely illegal, by union standards, 644 00:25:49,712 --> 00:25:51,079 and total sadism. 645 00:25:51,146 --> 00:25:53,516 Mike would say to the special effects man, 646 00:25:53,582 --> 00:25:55,884 "Where's a good place for me to be, John?" 647 00:25:55,951 --> 00:25:59,822 And the crew used to say, "In the back of the car, Michael." 648 00:25:59,888 --> 00:26:02,591 I think that he was in a way the perfect Cannon director 649 00:26:02,658 --> 00:26:04,259 because Cannon was this weird bubble 650 00:26:04,326 --> 00:26:05,494 and everybody in it 651 00:26:05,561 --> 00:26:07,095 had this, sort of, wink and a nod, 652 00:26:07,162 --> 00:26:09,832 and we do love the movies, but we want to make money, 653 00:26:09,898 --> 00:26:11,500 and we don't care about your work conditions 654 00:26:11,567 --> 00:26:12,901 or the quality of the product, 655 00:26:12,968 --> 00:26:14,603 and it was kind of a weird carnival. 656 00:26:14,670 --> 00:26:17,105 It was, like, movies are an unreal environment 657 00:26:17,172 --> 00:26:18,373 at the best of times. 658 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,644 And the Cannon movies were like that times 100. 659 00:26:21,710 --> 00:26:23,011 NARRATOR: The Cannon Group 660 00:26:23,078 --> 00:26:24,680 is proud to introduce the practitioner 661 00:26:24,747 --> 00:26:26,882 of the oldest and ultimate martial arts, 662 00:26:26,949 --> 00:26:27,750 the ninja. 663 00:26:27,816 --> 00:26:29,852 Before Menahem, I didn't, 664 00:26:29,918 --> 00:26:32,487 and I bet you that millions of people 665 00:26:32,555 --> 00:26:34,623 never knew the word 'ninja'. 666 00:26:36,391 --> 00:26:37,560 Aarggh! 667 00:26:37,626 --> 00:26:41,429 He took a title from Bruce Lee 668 00:26:41,496 --> 00:26:43,966 and a director was sent to do it. 669 00:26:44,032 --> 00:26:48,336 They sent a batch of the first three days of dailies. 670 00:26:48,403 --> 00:26:50,038 I remember him saying, 671 00:26:50,105 --> 00:26:51,840 "It looks like a hundred-year-old television show." 672 00:26:51,907 --> 00:26:53,809 "This movie's a disaster." 673 00:26:53,876 --> 00:26:56,044 "Look how he's shooting this! This guy can't... He's a piece of wood." 674 00:26:56,111 --> 00:26:58,446 He decided to take the picture over and direct it himself. 675 00:26:58,513 --> 00:26:59,948 He fired the main ninja. 676 00:27:00,015 --> 00:27:05,287 Don't worry. The Manila Film Festival is on. 677 00:27:05,353 --> 00:27:08,757 There must be somebody here we can go to. 678 00:27:08,824 --> 00:27:11,493 He said, "Listen, Franco. We need you." 679 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:14,329 "You are to replace Mike Stone," 680 00:27:14,396 --> 00:27:17,700 "because he's a great athlete, but he cannot act." 681 00:27:17,766 --> 00:27:19,501 GOLDBLATT: Pretty good casting, 682 00:27:19,568 --> 00:27:21,503 considering he just happened to be at a restaurant in Manila. 683 00:27:21,570 --> 00:27:22,571 He is no ninja! 684 00:27:22,638 --> 00:27:23,639 He is a ninja! 685 00:27:23,706 --> 00:27:24,707 He is no ninja! 686 00:27:24,773 --> 00:27:27,209 He's so not ninja. 687 00:27:27,275 --> 00:27:29,177 I don't know. I've never seen a ninja. 688 00:27:32,114 --> 00:27:33,148 Aarggh! 689 00:27:35,684 --> 00:27:37,519 His character's name was Cole 690 00:27:37,586 --> 00:27:39,421 and he was from Texas, 691 00:27:39,487 --> 00:27:41,289 and, of course, Franco speaks... (ITALIAN ACCENT) like this. 692 00:27:41,356 --> 00:27:43,291 Menahem says, "Don't worry. He'll still be Cole." 693 00:27:43,358 --> 00:27:45,160 "I can't... I don't have time to change that now." 694 00:27:45,227 --> 00:27:47,429 He re-dubbed me with an American voice, 695 00:27:47,495 --> 00:27:50,132 but not my... a voice that was similar to mine. 696 00:27:50,198 --> 00:27:52,034 (AMERICAN VOICE) A true ninja doesn't kill. 697 00:27:52,100 --> 00:27:55,170 He eliminates, and only for defensive purposes. 698 00:27:55,237 --> 00:27:58,907 He loved American actors, he loves American accents. 699 00:27:58,974 --> 00:28:01,109 Maybe he wanted to be an American. 700 00:28:01,176 --> 00:28:03,712 MARK GOLDBLATT: Enter, the Ninja made money, it was a hit, 701 00:28:03,779 --> 00:28:05,180 a popular international success. 702 00:28:05,247 --> 00:28:07,282 Interesting outfit. Who's your tailor? 703 00:28:07,349 --> 00:28:10,352 I think that movie made, in a way, Cannon. 704 00:28:10,418 --> 00:28:11,720 Ninja is a big deal. 705 00:28:11,787 --> 00:28:14,456 And Menahem is the one who did it. 706 00:28:14,522 --> 00:28:17,525 They wanted immediately to cash in and to make a sequel. 707 00:28:17,592 --> 00:28:19,862 NARRATOR: Revenge of the Ninja. 708 00:28:19,928 --> 00:28:21,363 WOMARK: "Here's $700,000." 709 00:28:21,429 --> 00:28:23,666 "Come back in seven weeks with a ninja movie." 710 00:28:23,732 --> 00:28:25,067 "By the way, the script's not too good." 711 00:28:25,133 --> 00:28:28,203 This is no job for the police. 712 00:28:28,270 --> 00:28:30,405 It's something I'll have to do. 713 00:28:30,472 --> 00:28:32,574 Only a ninja can stop a ninja. 714 00:28:32,641 --> 00:28:34,509 The story's kind of a loose story. 715 00:28:34,576 --> 00:28:37,379 It's not a heavy drama... 716 00:28:37,445 --> 00:28:40,048 With philosophical ideas... 717 00:28:40,816 --> 00:28:42,584 And character depth. 718 00:28:42,651 --> 00:28:43,952 (GIRL SCREAMS) No! 719 00:28:44,019 --> 00:28:46,121 There was a script, but once they shot it 720 00:28:46,188 --> 00:28:47,990 and we edited it together, and we looked at it, 721 00:28:48,056 --> 00:28:49,825 it didn't make any sense. 722 00:28:49,892 --> 00:28:51,626 If you want to work out, you forgot your pants. 723 00:28:51,694 --> 00:28:54,830 We had a screening of it. It was a complete disaster. 724 00:28:54,897 --> 00:28:57,099 And we're all called into Menahem's office, 725 00:28:57,165 --> 00:29:00,102 and he starts making up a brand-new plot of the movie. 726 00:29:00,168 --> 00:29:02,204 "We have to shoot a beginning" 727 00:29:02,270 --> 00:29:05,240 "and, uh, the baby, uh, is being held," 728 00:29:05,307 --> 00:29:07,542 "and ninjas come, surround, 100 ninjas," 729 00:29:07,609 --> 00:29:11,113 "and they kill everybody except the kid and the father," 730 00:29:11,179 --> 00:29:12,948 and he's just making this up, 731 00:29:13,015 --> 00:29:16,785 and he had this uncanny ability to just make up shit 732 00:29:16,852 --> 00:29:18,053 and then we'd shoot it, 733 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:19,855 and it's the movie that you see. 734 00:29:22,124 --> 00:29:24,492 Menahem Golan is a very creative man. 735 00:29:24,559 --> 00:29:26,194 He said, "Let's make another", 736 00:29:26,261 --> 00:29:29,331 "but this time, I want the hero to be a female." 737 00:29:29,397 --> 00:29:30,866 Ninja III: The Domination, 738 00:29:30,933 --> 00:29:32,835 which starred Lucinda Dickey. 739 00:29:32,901 --> 00:29:34,369 She was hot for that year. 740 00:29:34,436 --> 00:29:36,705 She was the Cannon go-to girl. 741 00:29:36,772 --> 00:29:38,206 Ninja III: The Domination, 742 00:29:38,273 --> 00:29:41,877 managed to take, The Exorcist, a ninja movie, 743 00:29:41,944 --> 00:29:43,411 and combine it with Flashdance. 744 00:29:43,478 --> 00:29:45,113 SAM: We figured that the only way 745 00:29:45,180 --> 00:29:47,649 that a woman will have the ninja ability 746 00:29:47,716 --> 00:29:50,185 will be if she will be possessed 747 00:29:50,252 --> 00:29:53,121 by a spirit of a male dead ninja. 748 00:29:53,188 --> 00:29:54,322 (ROARS) 749 00:29:54,389 --> 00:29:56,624 DICKEY: I had to do a possessed ninja scene, 750 00:29:56,691 --> 00:30:00,028 and I was like, "I didn't learn how to do that in acting class." 751 00:30:00,095 --> 00:30:01,864 (DEMONIC VOICE) You fool! 752 00:30:01,930 --> 00:30:04,666 You cannot stop me! I am a ninja! 753 00:30:04,733 --> 00:30:07,903 Did my head spin around? I think my whole body spun. 754 00:30:07,970 --> 00:30:11,106 (NORMAL VOICE) Help me, I'm scared! 755 00:30:11,173 --> 00:30:12,775 (SHRIEKS) 756 00:30:12,841 --> 00:30:15,310 FIRSTENBERG: In everyday life, she is aerobics instructor. 757 00:30:15,377 --> 00:30:17,645 When the dead spirit takes over, 758 00:30:17,712 --> 00:30:19,748 she goes out and she kills 759 00:30:20,849 --> 00:30:23,085 until the master, Sho Kosugi, 760 00:30:23,151 --> 00:30:27,022 comes into the scene and he helps to free her. 761 00:30:27,089 --> 00:30:29,624 The result is a very strange movie. 762 00:30:29,691 --> 00:30:31,827 NARRATOR: Where Revenge of the Ninja left off, 763 00:30:31,894 --> 00:30:33,295 Ninja III begins. 764 00:30:33,361 --> 00:30:35,931 An epic struggle of superhuman strength 765 00:30:35,998 --> 00:30:38,100 and supernatural forces. 766 00:30:38,166 --> 00:30:40,535 Ninja III: The Domination, was quite a failure, 767 00:30:40,602 --> 00:30:45,607 because the audience did not buy the idea of a woman ninja. 768 00:30:45,673 --> 00:30:47,209 It's over now. 769 00:30:49,711 --> 00:30:51,079 When I took over MGM 770 00:30:51,146 --> 00:30:53,215 it had just come out of its roughest period. 771 00:30:53,281 --> 00:30:56,751 We had a cap on what we could spend on any motion picture 772 00:30:56,819 --> 00:30:58,520 and we needed product. 773 00:30:58,586 --> 00:31:00,022 The day I heard 774 00:31:00,088 --> 00:31:03,358 that MGM was going to be distributing Cannon films, 775 00:31:03,425 --> 00:31:06,829 I thought, "Okay, this is the end of civilization as we know it." 776 00:31:06,895 --> 00:31:08,496 "Did Nostradamus predict this?" 777 00:31:08,563 --> 00:31:11,099 This changed the playing field for Cannon. 778 00:31:11,166 --> 00:31:13,668 But pressure to deliver big movies... 779 00:31:13,735 --> 00:31:14,769 NARRATOR: Sahara. 780 00:31:14,837 --> 00:31:16,238 ALL: Whoo-oo. 781 00:31:16,304 --> 00:31:19,474 NARRATOR: Only one girl dares to drive it. 782 00:31:19,541 --> 00:31:21,043 The Sahara World Rally. 783 00:31:21,109 --> 00:31:23,812 I want to see the thing race straight through hell. 784 00:31:23,879 --> 00:31:25,380 When Sahara was being made, 785 00:31:25,447 --> 00:31:29,151 we all thought, "Hmm, this may be something." 786 00:31:29,217 --> 00:31:32,020 Brooke Shields was still close to her stardom. 787 00:31:32,087 --> 00:31:33,956 ALEX: Menahem started talking about 788 00:31:34,022 --> 00:31:35,223 how Brooke Shields was going to win 789 00:31:35,290 --> 00:31:37,025 the Academy Award for Sahara. 790 00:31:37,092 --> 00:31:40,128 I wish we could stay here forever, 791 00:31:40,195 --> 00:31:42,197 but we risked our lives taking this shortcut, 792 00:31:42,264 --> 00:31:44,232 and now we're losing all that we've gained. 793 00:31:44,299 --> 00:31:47,002 The idea that that was going to win an Oscar was so absurd, 794 00:31:47,069 --> 00:31:48,536 and I just was like, "Really?" 795 00:31:48,603 --> 00:31:51,273 "Where in your lexicon do you honestly believe that?" 796 00:31:51,339 --> 00:31:56,011 Sahara is Menahem's attempt to make Lawrence of Arabia 797 00:31:56,078 --> 00:31:59,147 and combine it with Blue Lagoon 798 00:31:59,214 --> 00:32:01,683 meets The Great Race. 799 00:32:01,749 --> 00:32:04,019 (CANON FIRES) 800 00:32:04,086 --> 00:32:05,888 Menahem loved the intersection 801 00:32:05,954 --> 00:32:08,256 of ideas that should never meet each other, 802 00:32:08,323 --> 00:32:10,558 so he assembles, like Frankenstein, 803 00:32:10,625 --> 00:32:14,529 parts from other movies, and creates a disaster. 804 00:32:14,596 --> 00:32:16,798 It was as dry as the Saharan Desert. 805 00:32:16,865 --> 00:32:18,200 It was awful. 806 00:32:18,266 --> 00:32:20,368 It started the wheels turning in my head 807 00:32:20,435 --> 00:32:22,504 that we just couldn't continue with these people. 808 00:32:22,570 --> 00:32:24,606 We released it, we did the best we could, 809 00:32:24,672 --> 00:32:26,942 we put on a campaign, we spent a little money, 810 00:32:27,009 --> 00:32:28,510 and the film, of course, died, 811 00:32:28,576 --> 00:32:29,777 because it was a bad film. 812 00:32:29,844 --> 00:32:31,279 It was a shame for the little girl 813 00:32:31,346 --> 00:32:33,415 because she deserved better. 814 00:32:33,481 --> 00:32:36,718 (MIMMICKING MENAHEM) "Brooke Shields, Academy Award. Sahara, Academy Award." 815 00:32:36,784 --> 00:32:38,186 Every picture that he does, 816 00:32:38,253 --> 00:32:40,222 he think that the picture's going to make $100 million. 817 00:32:40,288 --> 00:32:42,524 (MIMMICKING MENAHEM) "This will be an epic of cinema." 818 00:32:42,590 --> 00:32:46,794 Menahem told me once that they went to, on New Year's Eve, 819 00:32:46,861 --> 00:32:48,263 to Times Square, 820 00:32:48,330 --> 00:32:50,832 where the millions of people are standing there, 821 00:32:50,899 --> 00:32:52,968 and they had tears in their eyes 822 00:32:53,035 --> 00:32:55,203 and they hugged each other, and they said, 823 00:32:55,270 --> 00:32:58,473 "Next year, we're gonna get the Oscar." 824 00:32:58,540 --> 00:33:01,676 NARRATOR: The incredible Lou Ferrigno is 825 00:33:01,743 --> 00:33:03,045 Hercules. 826 00:33:03,111 --> 00:33:04,646 SYBIL: Lou spoke to Menahem 827 00:33:04,712 --> 00:33:07,349 and said he wanted to have it be more of a family movie. 828 00:33:07,415 --> 00:33:09,251 I disagreed. I could have seen 829 00:33:09,317 --> 00:33:11,886 a version that would have been more sexy. 830 00:33:11,954 --> 00:33:14,222 LUIGI COZZI: He had the script in his hand, and he said, 831 00:33:14,289 --> 00:33:16,624 "This piece of shit!" Boom! 832 00:33:16,691 --> 00:33:20,262 And threw the script in the basket and said, 833 00:33:20,328 --> 00:33:23,966 "I asked for a movie for kids with Hercules" 834 00:33:24,032 --> 00:33:26,634 "and here is Hercules getting blow jobs." 835 00:33:26,701 --> 00:33:29,204 You know, he was crazy about that. 836 00:33:29,271 --> 00:33:32,807 I told, "I wanna do fantasy Hercules, not realistic." 837 00:33:32,874 --> 00:33:35,477 It was kids' stuff. I wanted to do kids' stuff. 838 00:33:38,546 --> 00:33:40,348 (ROARS) 839 00:33:40,415 --> 00:33:44,652 But it did have the bombshell girl, like Sybil Danning. 840 00:33:44,719 --> 00:33:47,122 LUIGI COZZI: She was gorgeous. Beautiful costumes. 841 00:33:47,189 --> 00:33:50,358 I was told, "When you're in that costume, it becomes dangerous." 842 00:33:51,093 --> 00:33:52,627 (GROANS) 843 00:33:52,694 --> 00:33:56,931 Luigi convinced everyone to do a special effects Hercules 844 00:33:56,999 --> 00:33:59,467 with the most crude special effects in the world. 845 00:33:59,534 --> 00:34:02,037 Done very simple because they had to be done cheap. 846 00:34:04,139 --> 00:34:05,640 SYBIL: Hercules on a budget. 847 00:34:05,707 --> 00:34:09,077 Maybe there are some special effects which work better, 848 00:34:09,144 --> 00:34:11,546 and some special effects which are worse. 849 00:34:11,613 --> 00:34:13,281 I wanted them all to be perfect, 850 00:34:13,348 --> 00:34:15,350 but they could not be all perfect. 851 00:34:15,417 --> 00:34:18,153 But if you have the sense of wonder, who cares? 852 00:34:21,556 --> 00:34:25,827 MGM put a lot of marketing money into that. They believed in it. 853 00:34:25,893 --> 00:34:28,496 Hercules did very, very well at the box office 854 00:34:28,563 --> 00:34:29,864 all over the world. 855 00:34:29,931 --> 00:34:31,433 FRANK YABLANS: Maybe it was a hit in comparison 856 00:34:31,499 --> 00:34:33,801 to all the other garbage they gave us, 857 00:34:33,868 --> 00:34:36,171 but it was not a major hit, no. 858 00:34:36,238 --> 00:34:38,040 The good thing about Menahem 859 00:34:38,106 --> 00:34:40,842 is he could hear an idea from somebody, 860 00:34:40,908 --> 00:34:44,046 like his daughter seeing a break-dancer on Venice Beach, 861 00:34:44,112 --> 00:34:46,081 and in a relatively short amount of time, 862 00:34:46,148 --> 00:34:47,849 there is a movie being made about it. 863 00:34:47,915 --> 00:34:49,951 This, this is a new dance, this will grab the whole world. 864 00:34:50,018 --> 00:34:51,719 ALLEN DEBOISE: He just said, "Okay, we're making this movie", 865 00:34:51,786 --> 00:34:53,521 "we're going into production in three weeks." 866 00:34:53,588 --> 00:34:55,123 We didn't have a script, a cast, we didn't have anything. 867 00:34:55,190 --> 00:34:56,791 * Breakin' and you just don't stop 868 00:34:56,858 --> 00:34:59,061 * Here comes the movie that's fresh and hot 869 00:34:59,127 --> 00:35:00,962 * With high energy, dancin' to the beat 870 00:35:01,029 --> 00:35:03,065 * With a scratch-mix sound that comes from the street * 871 00:35:03,131 --> 00:35:06,468 Breakin' was like the Enter the Dragon of hip-hop, 872 00:35:06,534 --> 00:35:08,636 'cause he had the best of the best. 873 00:35:08,703 --> 00:35:11,539 There were no stuntmen, and we weren't actors, we were all green. 874 00:35:11,606 --> 00:35:14,209 They just said, "Put 'em on camera." 875 00:35:16,544 --> 00:35:18,580 PIETER JAN BRUGGE: Boogaloo Shrimp and Shabba-Doo. 876 00:35:18,646 --> 00:35:20,482 I don't even know what their real names are. 877 00:35:20,548 --> 00:35:22,384 I played the leader, the straight guy. 878 00:35:22,450 --> 00:35:23,751 I was the Dean Martin role 879 00:35:23,818 --> 00:35:26,754 and he was the funny little sidekick, Jerry Lewis. 880 00:35:26,821 --> 00:35:28,923 The way people perceived me in the neighborhood 881 00:35:28,990 --> 00:35:30,425 or just around the world, 882 00:35:30,492 --> 00:35:32,927 they perceived me as some sort of urban superhero. 883 00:35:32,994 --> 00:35:35,430 We look up to him because a lot 884 00:35:35,497 --> 00:35:37,699 of what has been invented 885 00:35:37,765 --> 00:35:39,000 has come from him. 886 00:35:39,067 --> 00:35:41,069 Boogaloo Shrimp was a sensation. 887 00:35:41,136 --> 00:35:43,605 (HEAVY BREATHING) 888 00:35:43,671 --> 00:35:46,308 The whole place would just stop and just watch him. 889 00:35:46,374 --> 00:35:49,311 He would just start going and going and going and it was like... 890 00:35:49,377 --> 00:35:51,413 I don't even know where he came up with that stuff. 891 00:35:51,479 --> 00:35:53,748 (HEAVY BREATHING) (MUSIC PLAYING) 892 00:35:53,815 --> 00:35:56,684 Lucinda Dickey was no more than a gymnast, 893 00:35:56,751 --> 00:35:58,153 but Menahem liked her. 894 00:35:58,220 --> 00:35:59,454 He called and he's like, 895 00:35:59,521 --> 00:36:01,856 "I'm gonna make you my next big star." 896 00:36:01,923 --> 00:36:06,628 Lucinda Dickey didn't really fit in the Breakin' film from our point of view. 897 00:36:06,694 --> 00:36:08,029 We resented her. 898 00:36:08,096 --> 00:36:10,098 LUCINDA: It was hell at times. I'm not gonna lie. 899 00:36:10,165 --> 00:36:11,699 He made it known from the very first day 900 00:36:11,766 --> 00:36:14,969 that I walked into rehearsals that he was superior. 901 00:36:15,036 --> 00:36:16,838 He couldn't do what I did, 902 00:36:16,904 --> 00:36:20,007 but it didn't matter because the movie wasn't about jazz dancing. 903 00:36:20,074 --> 00:36:21,409 It was about breakdancing. 904 00:36:21,476 --> 00:36:23,311 SAM: Obviously she was an outsider, 905 00:36:23,378 --> 00:36:26,281 but I believe, when you see the movie today, 906 00:36:26,348 --> 00:36:27,715 this element works 907 00:36:27,782 --> 00:36:29,484 because that's how the story goes, 908 00:36:29,551 --> 00:36:32,019 that she's an outsider that has to be accepted in. 909 00:36:32,086 --> 00:36:37,259 There are lines in the movie that were just so true and real. 910 00:36:37,325 --> 00:36:38,460 She ain't no street dancer. 911 00:36:38,526 --> 00:36:40,027 She knows nothing about what we do. 912 00:36:40,094 --> 00:36:41,296 There was a high drama 913 00:36:41,363 --> 00:36:43,131 because Orion Pictures 914 00:36:43,198 --> 00:36:46,268 was making a movie called Beat Street at the same time. 915 00:36:46,334 --> 00:36:47,769 Menahem at the time famously said... 916 00:36:47,835 --> 00:36:49,571 (MIMICKING MENAHEM) "We must beat Beat Street!" 917 00:36:49,637 --> 00:36:53,175 This was the race to be the first breakdance movie. 918 00:36:53,241 --> 00:36:55,210 Whatever could be assembled 919 00:36:55,277 --> 00:36:57,579 in enough time to make the release date 920 00:36:57,645 --> 00:36:59,947 was what the movie was going to end up being. 921 00:37:00,014 --> 00:37:04,186 That movie had to make it in that year, in 1984, it had to make it. 922 00:37:04,252 --> 00:37:07,189 If it didn't, we wouldn't know hip-hop as we know it today. 923 00:37:07,255 --> 00:37:09,191 The rest is history 924 00:37:09,257 --> 00:37:11,259 because it became one of their most popular and highest-grossing films. 925 00:37:11,326 --> 00:37:13,261 It showed leadership and it showed camaraderie 926 00:37:13,328 --> 00:37:15,096 between the different races, 927 00:37:15,163 --> 00:37:18,266 so it really did something the United Nations was unable to do so far, 928 00:37:18,333 --> 00:37:20,835 is bring nations together under one groove. 929 00:37:20,902 --> 00:37:23,438 Our movie did better numbers than Beat Street. 930 00:37:23,505 --> 00:37:27,475 NARRATOR: This year, the big hit for Golan and Globus is Breakin'. 931 00:37:27,542 --> 00:37:29,544 It cost just over $1 million to make 932 00:37:29,611 --> 00:37:32,747 and has so far taken in more than $56 million. 933 00:37:32,814 --> 00:37:36,418 Unfortunately, it led to Menahem thinking, 934 00:37:36,484 --> 00:37:37,985 "I've figured it out." 935 00:37:38,052 --> 00:37:39,621 * This story's through but wait till part two * 936 00:37:39,687 --> 00:37:41,423 Menahem comes in and he says, 937 00:37:41,489 --> 00:37:43,558 "We're going to do a sequel." 938 00:37:43,625 --> 00:37:46,561 "The name of the sequel is Electric Boogaloo." 939 00:37:47,295 --> 00:37:48,730 And so it was. 940 00:37:48,796 --> 00:37:50,432 (MIMICKING MENAHEM) "We will do what Fred Astaire did. 941 00:37:50,498 --> 00:37:52,234 "Shrimpy will dance on the ceiling." 942 00:37:52,300 --> 00:37:53,968 And he got it. 943 00:37:54,035 --> 00:37:56,170 * Take me high. 944 00:37:57,972 --> 00:38:00,408 Breakin' II was more of a cartoon. 945 00:38:00,475 --> 00:38:03,345 The whole hospital scene, it was silly. 946 00:38:09,617 --> 00:38:12,186 It missed the grittiness that the first one had. 947 00:38:12,254 --> 00:38:15,156 MICHAEL: Were over here at East LA with pastels. 948 00:38:15,223 --> 00:38:16,724 (CHUCKLING) That was Cannon. 949 00:38:16,791 --> 00:38:21,128 "Let's really make LA clean and beautiful like a rainbow." 950 00:38:21,195 --> 00:38:23,164 It really took away from the authenticity. 951 00:38:23,231 --> 00:38:24,799 (RECORD SCRATCHING) 952 00:38:24,866 --> 00:38:25,900 I cried about it. 953 00:38:25,967 --> 00:38:27,569 We had lost sight of the message. 954 00:38:27,635 --> 00:38:29,471 PIETER: I simply thought it was a fad, 955 00:38:29,537 --> 00:38:32,307 it was over, but the movies actually did make an impact 956 00:38:32,374 --> 00:38:34,208 upon the youthful audience of its day. 957 00:38:34,276 --> 00:38:38,880 So they had their finger on the pulse of something, once in a while. 958 00:38:38,946 --> 00:38:40,348 But most of the time, 959 00:38:40,415 --> 00:38:43,318 the pulse was on something that was so misguided. 960 00:38:43,385 --> 00:38:45,019 (MIMICKING MENAHEM) "We are going to New York," 961 00:38:45,086 --> 00:38:46,821 "we are making my movie," 962 00:38:46,888 --> 00:38:48,055 "great, great title." 963 00:38:48,122 --> 00:38:49,424 And were all sitting there, 964 00:38:49,491 --> 00:38:50,758 were all like, "What's the title, Menahem?" 965 00:38:50,825 --> 00:38:51,826 "My Darling Shiksa." 966 00:38:51,893 --> 00:38:53,761 You can take your darling shiksa 967 00:38:53,828 --> 00:38:56,163 and you can spend the rest of your fakakta life 968 00:38:56,230 --> 00:38:58,132 in Brooklyn in a candy store. 969 00:38:58,199 --> 00:38:59,767 You idiot! 970 00:38:59,834 --> 00:39:02,404 ELLIOTT: An audience would say, "What's a shiksa?" 971 00:39:02,470 --> 00:39:05,106 A shiksa is a woman that isn't Jewish, 972 00:39:05,172 --> 00:39:08,510 and the character is with a woman who isn't Jewish, 973 00:39:08,576 --> 00:39:12,113 which causes great chagrin to the family. 974 00:39:12,179 --> 00:39:13,448 The second day we were working, 975 00:39:13,515 --> 00:39:14,916 Golan came up to Elliot 976 00:39:14,982 --> 00:39:16,618 and it was somewhat of a critical scene. 977 00:39:16,684 --> 00:39:18,152 It was the point in the movie 978 00:39:18,219 --> 00:39:21,323 where Elliot is going to confess to Margaux Hemingway 979 00:39:21,389 --> 00:39:22,757 that he is in love with her. 980 00:39:22,824 --> 00:39:24,659 How'd you like to spend the rest of your life 981 00:39:24,726 --> 00:39:29,030 with a sloppy, diabetic Jew 982 00:39:29,096 --> 00:39:32,434 who some day is going to be a top restaurateur? 983 00:39:33,535 --> 00:39:34,636 I love you, sweetheart. 984 00:39:34,702 --> 00:39:36,237 After the first rehearsal, 985 00:39:36,304 --> 00:39:38,873 Golan goes, "Elliot, Elliot, Elliot, no, no, no, no, no." 986 00:39:38,940 --> 00:39:40,141 And the whole crew we're standing there, 987 00:39:40,207 --> 00:39:41,476 we're going, "Oh, boy." 988 00:39:41,543 --> 00:39:42,810 And he goes, "Watch, watch, watch, watch." 989 00:39:42,877 --> 00:39:44,346 "Margaux, you come here, come here." 990 00:39:44,412 --> 00:39:45,680 "Come. Come to Menahem." 991 00:39:45,747 --> 00:39:48,750 "Okay. I love you. I love you." 992 00:39:48,816 --> 00:39:50,251 You know, and you just sit there and you go, 993 00:39:50,318 --> 00:39:51,653 "Oh, my God. This is insane." 994 00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:55,623 We had an enormous fight, an enormous fight 995 00:39:55,690 --> 00:39:59,126 and he closed down the picture for a day or so. 996 00:39:59,193 --> 00:40:02,497 Menahem, you know, I told him he was a cocksucker 997 00:40:02,564 --> 00:40:03,898 and he took me literally 998 00:40:03,965 --> 00:40:06,100 and I had to, in order to get it going again, 999 00:40:06,167 --> 00:40:07,802 I said, "Oh, Menahem", 1000 00:40:07,869 --> 00:40:11,305 "I apologize for using that kind of language." 1001 00:40:11,373 --> 00:40:13,575 "You're not a cocksucker, okay?" 1002 00:40:13,641 --> 00:40:17,645 YABLANS: All you really want when you're running a studio is a hit movie, 1003 00:40:17,712 --> 00:40:20,648 but if you have films like Cannon was supplying 1004 00:40:20,715 --> 00:40:23,585 it's an embarrassment to the studio name. 1005 00:40:23,651 --> 00:40:25,387 Okay, we fucked up. What's next? 1006 00:40:25,453 --> 00:40:27,622 John Derek said one night, 1007 00:40:27,689 --> 00:40:29,657 "You know, what are we doing all this for?" 1008 00:40:29,724 --> 00:40:31,493 "Why are we trying to make good films?" 1009 00:40:31,559 --> 00:40:32,894 "You did 10." 1010 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:35,029 "All Hollywood ever approaches you with" 1011 00:40:35,096 --> 00:40:36,798 "is to screw to Bolero." 1012 00:40:36,864 --> 00:40:38,833 NARRATOR: Introducing Bo Derek. 1013 00:40:38,900 --> 00:40:40,835 Did you ever do it to Ravels Bolero? 1014 00:40:41,769 --> 00:40:43,204 (COUGHS) 1015 00:40:43,270 --> 00:40:46,574 MAN: Bo, in a lot of people's mind, equaled sex. 1016 00:40:46,641 --> 00:40:48,843 MAN: She was the 10 of that period. 1017 00:40:48,910 --> 00:40:51,245 Everywhere we went, she was recognized. 1018 00:40:51,312 --> 00:40:52,647 Our agent, Marty Baum, said, 1019 00:40:52,714 --> 00:40:55,216 "Look, if you guys wanna just go make a film" 1020 00:40:55,282 --> 00:40:57,251 "and be totally left alone," 1021 00:40:57,318 --> 00:40:58,986 "there are two new guys in town." 1022 00:40:59,053 --> 00:41:02,690 NARRATOR: Bo Derek, in a John Derek film. 1023 00:41:02,757 --> 00:41:05,226 Bolero was a take-off of Blood and Sand 1024 00:41:05,292 --> 00:41:08,229 and the old romantic 40s bullfight pictures. 1025 00:41:08,295 --> 00:41:10,197 (COUGHS) 1026 00:41:10,264 --> 00:41:14,802 WOMAN: Andrea Occhipinti has been gored by a bull in the balls. 1027 00:41:14,869 --> 00:41:17,038 And now he can't do it anymore, 1028 00:41:17,104 --> 00:41:19,741 and so then the next sort of half of the film 1029 00:41:19,807 --> 00:41:23,110 becomes about Bo taking on bullfighting herself 1030 00:41:23,177 --> 00:41:26,180 and taking care and nurturing her man. 1031 00:41:26,247 --> 00:41:27,482 Cut to, she says... 1032 00:41:27,549 --> 00:41:28,916 That thing is going to work. 1033 00:41:28,983 --> 00:41:30,852 One of my favorite lines, by the way. 1034 00:41:30,918 --> 00:41:32,520 I guarantee you this. 1035 00:41:32,587 --> 00:41:34,956 Then there's this neon sign of ecstasy 1036 00:41:35,022 --> 00:41:37,425 as they're going for a second round. 1037 00:41:38,826 --> 00:41:40,662 If you put Bo in anything at that time 1038 00:41:40,728 --> 00:41:41,829 that John was directing, 1039 00:41:41,896 --> 00:41:43,765 it was bound to be erotica. 1040 00:41:43,831 --> 00:41:45,567 Her clothes would always come off. 1041 00:41:45,633 --> 00:41:47,702 Riding a horse, terribly erect, 1042 00:41:47,769 --> 00:41:51,038 and I suppose others might be as well while watching her. 1043 00:41:51,105 --> 00:41:54,075 BO: All of sudden, we started getting letters from Menahem 1044 00:41:54,141 --> 00:41:56,143 that the film wasn't strong enough. 1045 00:41:56,210 --> 00:41:59,647 "Make this as explicit and strong as you possibly can." 1046 00:41:59,714 --> 00:42:01,549 It was controversial enough. 1047 00:42:01,616 --> 00:42:03,350 Look at you. 1048 00:42:03,417 --> 00:42:07,188 I am woman. Ready. Juicy too. 1049 00:42:07,254 --> 00:42:10,892 BO: It had enough love scenes, it had plenty of nudity. 1050 00:42:10,958 --> 00:42:12,894 I remember taking the work print down 1051 00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:14,729 and screening it for Frank Yablans 1052 00:42:14,796 --> 00:42:17,632 and saying, "Look, we've got all these fights going on." 1053 00:42:17,699 --> 00:42:18,966 "They want it stronger." 1054 00:42:19,033 --> 00:42:20,968 "I think you'll see it's strong enough." 1055 00:42:21,035 --> 00:42:22,904 YABLANS: I really don't remember. 1056 00:42:22,970 --> 00:42:25,473 All I know is that it was another failed movie. 1057 00:42:25,540 --> 00:42:30,678 Making motion picture is practically being in a war, 1058 00:42:30,745 --> 00:42:34,549 and there is, in a war, wounded. 1059 00:42:34,616 --> 00:42:37,652 Menahem would call a press conference and say, 1060 00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:39,353 "Bo and John, they live on a ranch," 1061 00:42:39,420 --> 00:42:40,755 "they don't even live in Hollywood." 1062 00:42:40,822 --> 00:42:42,223 "They love that ranch." 1063 00:42:42,289 --> 00:42:43,991 "Were going to take that ranch away from them," 1064 00:42:44,058 --> 00:42:46,093 and just crazy, outrageous stuff. 1065 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:49,230 And that the film was too sexy, what are we gonna do? 1066 00:42:49,296 --> 00:42:51,332 Poor Cannon Films, were a good company, 1067 00:42:51,398 --> 00:42:53,968 and the Dereks were trying to ruin our reputation. 1068 00:42:54,035 --> 00:42:56,938 And they were just manipulating the press at our expense. 1069 00:42:57,004 --> 00:42:58,940 MGM at that point, I do believe, 1070 00:42:59,006 --> 00:43:01,809 decided to discontinue the relationship with Cannon 1071 00:43:01,876 --> 00:43:03,410 as far as distributing all of their films. 1072 00:43:03,477 --> 00:43:06,447 I told em, "Were not going to go forward with this deal." 1073 00:43:06,514 --> 00:43:08,482 "You've reneged on your deal." 1074 00:43:08,550 --> 00:43:10,217 "You've given us nothing but junk." 1075 00:43:10,284 --> 00:43:12,820 Maybe we were a little bit of a pawn in this game, 1076 00:43:12,887 --> 00:43:15,156 and they were using us as a piece 1077 00:43:15,222 --> 00:43:18,025 because they no longer wanted to distribute Cannon films. 1078 00:43:18,092 --> 00:43:21,763 Cannon had sort of a terrible reputation in this town 1079 00:43:21,829 --> 00:43:26,400 as, you know, sort of down and dirty, which we were. 1080 00:43:26,467 --> 00:43:27,902 You would open up Variety, 1081 00:43:27,969 --> 00:43:30,104 and there, a big double-page spread for Bolero. 1082 00:43:30,171 --> 00:43:32,239 And these photos were in my suitcase. 1083 00:43:32,306 --> 00:43:33,908 While they were in Cannon's office 1084 00:43:33,975 --> 00:43:35,677 as we were waiting to get another plane, 1085 00:43:35,743 --> 00:43:38,813 they went through my bags, stole my photos, 1086 00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:42,850 and now they shamelessly, brazenly use them in ads. 1087 00:43:42,917 --> 00:43:46,621 They didn't work according to the Hollywood rules. 1088 00:43:46,688 --> 00:43:49,691 They were outlaws, reckless, had no scruples. 1089 00:43:49,757 --> 00:43:53,595 There were a lot of provocative things said about them. 1090 00:43:53,661 --> 00:43:55,429 Carpetbaggers. Rug salesmen. 1091 00:43:55,496 --> 00:43:57,331 Hustlers. Carnival salesmen. 1092 00:43:57,398 --> 00:43:58,700 Cheapskates. Junk peddlers. 1093 00:43:58,766 --> 00:44:00,201 Wheeler-dealers. 1094 00:44:00,267 --> 00:44:01,969 They were starting to get known as the Go-Go Boys. 1095 00:44:02,036 --> 00:44:04,672 The Bagel Brothers. I came up with Mayhem and Urine. 1096 00:44:04,739 --> 00:44:06,507 I called them the Bad News Jews. 1097 00:44:06,574 --> 00:44:10,244 There was certainly that kind of anti-immigrant sensibility 1098 00:44:10,311 --> 00:44:11,946 in these nicknames for them. 1099 00:44:12,013 --> 00:44:14,415 They were down-to-earth people 1100 00:44:14,481 --> 00:44:18,019 who just did the movies the same way that they did it back home. 1101 00:44:18,085 --> 00:44:20,154 They weren't part of the Hollywood bullshit. 1102 00:44:20,221 --> 00:44:24,525 Hollywood, 90% is talk and 10% is making motion pictures. 1103 00:44:24,592 --> 00:44:26,460 We are motion pictures makers 1104 00:44:26,527 --> 00:44:27,895 and the world know about it. 1105 00:44:27,962 --> 00:44:29,396 Sometimes we make better films, 1106 00:44:29,463 --> 00:44:31,799 sometimes we don't make such good films, 1107 00:44:31,866 --> 00:44:33,635 but we do make films. 1108 00:44:34,936 --> 00:44:37,504 NARRATOR: It is 900 years after the great nuke 1109 00:44:37,571 --> 00:44:40,742 and the roles of women have changed dramatically, 1110 00:44:40,808 --> 00:44:44,411 much to the displeasure of men and mutants. 1111 00:44:44,478 --> 00:44:46,413 America 3000. 1112 00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:48,182 DAVID: Tongue-in-cheek adventure comedy 1113 00:44:48,249 --> 00:44:50,785 in which women ruled and men were slaves, 1114 00:44:50,852 --> 00:44:52,720 which every time I would explain that to actresses 1115 00:44:52,787 --> 00:44:55,022 they always went, "Ooh, I like that." 1116 00:44:55,089 --> 00:44:59,060 My interaction with them was extremely brief. 1117 00:44:59,126 --> 00:45:01,528 It was the day that I quit the film. 1118 00:45:01,595 --> 00:45:02,997 A call sheet comes under the door 1119 00:45:03,064 --> 00:45:05,633 and I just threw it back and I screamed, 1120 00:45:05,700 --> 00:45:07,101 "Fuck you! Pay the crew!" 1121 00:45:08,035 --> 00:45:09,704 (GROANING) 1122 00:45:09,771 --> 00:45:12,874 "You people have a cash register where your heart should be." 1123 00:45:14,275 --> 00:45:15,810 This is the only copy that I have 1124 00:45:15,877 --> 00:45:17,912 and this is what I think of Cannon Films. 1125 00:45:17,979 --> 00:45:21,015 There were so many bad movies being made at Cannon 1126 00:45:21,082 --> 00:45:23,184 that if something of quality came out, 1127 00:45:23,250 --> 00:45:25,687 it was like a happy accident. 1128 00:45:25,753 --> 00:45:27,521 I got a phone call out of the blue 1129 00:45:27,588 --> 00:45:29,123 and it was from Chuck Norris. 1130 00:45:29,190 --> 00:45:30,825 MAN: Chuck Norris was already established 1131 00:45:30,892 --> 00:45:32,526 in the world of martial art movies, 1132 00:45:32,593 --> 00:45:34,128 what they used to call karate movies. 1133 00:45:34,195 --> 00:45:36,831 He wanted to branch out more into bigger action pictures. 1134 00:45:36,898 --> 00:45:38,232 MAN: And I talked Menahem into it, 1135 00:45:38,299 --> 00:45:40,034 I said, "I think this is the right guy." 1136 00:45:40,101 --> 00:45:42,436 "Ah, but he can't act." I said, "Well make him act." 1137 00:45:42,503 --> 00:45:44,772 NARRATOR: Vietnam, 1972. 1138 00:45:44,839 --> 00:45:47,108 Captured in a savage jungle war. 1139 00:45:47,174 --> 00:45:49,944 We wanted to bring in all of his abilities. 1140 00:45:51,879 --> 00:45:53,347 JAMES: The first time in a movie 1141 00:45:53,414 --> 00:45:56,483 that really is a war movie with explosions and shootings. 1142 00:45:56,550 --> 00:45:59,987 There is actually martial arts in an extensive way. 1143 00:46:00,054 --> 00:46:02,289 They thought before the film had even come out 1144 00:46:02,356 --> 00:46:03,791 that it was going to be successful. 1145 00:46:03,858 --> 00:46:05,392 They wanted to do a sequel right away, 1146 00:46:05,459 --> 00:46:07,528 so they decided to make that in the Philippines 1147 00:46:07,594 --> 00:46:08,930 with Joe Zito directing. 1148 00:46:08,996 --> 00:46:10,531 DANIEL: Joe had gone to the Philippines 1149 00:46:10,597 --> 00:46:11,733 and he said, "I've looked at." 1150 00:46:11,799 --> 00:46:13,701 "Lance Hool's Missing in Action." 1151 00:46:13,768 --> 00:46:15,970 "It's a disaster. Chuck is terrible." 1152 00:46:16,037 --> 00:46:17,304 "It's shot badly." 1153 00:46:17,371 --> 00:46:19,073 "What I'm telling Menahem and Yoram" 1154 00:46:19,140 --> 00:46:21,608 "is that if we release our Missing in Action first," 1155 00:46:21,675 --> 00:46:24,712 "we will create a marketplace for Lance's film." 1156 00:46:24,779 --> 00:46:26,213 "If Lance's film comes out," 1157 00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:28,182 "he's gonna kill the business for our film." 1158 00:46:28,249 --> 00:46:30,284 BRUGGE: The second one was the better movie of the two 1159 00:46:30,351 --> 00:46:32,820 and rather than kill the franchise right off the bat 1160 00:46:32,887 --> 00:46:34,255 by showing them in order, 1161 00:46:34,321 --> 00:46:37,158 they basically released number two first. 1162 00:46:37,224 --> 00:46:41,295 NARRATOR: James Braddock declares war. 1163 00:46:41,362 --> 00:46:43,030 I think it was a good vehicle for Chuck Norris. 1164 00:46:43,097 --> 00:46:44,766 It didn't ask him to do too much, 1165 00:46:44,832 --> 00:46:46,100 it played to his strength, 1166 00:46:46,167 --> 00:46:48,803 and it kind of evolved his on-screen persona. 1167 00:46:48,870 --> 00:46:51,773 Globus was screaming at Menahem in Hebrew 1168 00:46:51,839 --> 00:46:54,108 and I asked somebody, "What's he saying?" 1169 00:46:54,175 --> 00:46:55,442 And he's saying... He says... 1170 00:46:55,509 --> 00:46:58,145 "They're talking about some karate guy," 1171 00:46:58,212 --> 00:46:59,546 and Yoram is yelling at him 1172 00:46:59,613 --> 00:47:02,683 because he signed him to a five-picture deal 1173 00:47:02,750 --> 00:47:05,319 for $5 million, 1174 00:47:05,386 --> 00:47:09,056 and he wants to kill Menahem, and that was Chuck Norris. 1175 00:47:09,123 --> 00:47:10,892 In the golden era of Hollywood, 1176 00:47:10,958 --> 00:47:13,928 every studio had a stable of stars, 1177 00:47:13,995 --> 00:47:17,498 so Cannon started to adopt this thinking. 1178 00:47:17,564 --> 00:47:21,969 "We need stars that will work for us constantly." 1179 00:47:22,036 --> 00:47:23,370 NARRATOR: Chuck Norris. 1180 00:47:23,437 --> 00:47:24,505 Charles Bronson. 1181 00:47:24,571 --> 00:47:26,207 WINTER: For someone like Bronson, 1182 00:47:26,273 --> 00:47:28,175 who was phasing out of a Hollywood career 1183 00:47:28,242 --> 00:47:30,477 in a Hollywood that did not recognize him anymore, 1184 00:47:30,544 --> 00:47:32,579 that was one of the only places to go. 1185 00:47:32,646 --> 00:47:35,382 MAN: Bronson, I think, has more actual charisma, 1186 00:47:35,449 --> 00:47:37,284 but neither one of them were actors. 1187 00:47:37,351 --> 00:47:40,521 You're beginning to irritate me. 1188 00:47:40,587 --> 00:47:42,756 DAVID: When I was reading scripts for this company, 1189 00:47:42,824 --> 00:47:44,425 we were told very plainly 1190 00:47:44,491 --> 00:47:46,828 everything we got would go in two piles, 1191 00:47:46,894 --> 00:47:49,864 one for the two Chucks, Bronson and Norris. 1192 00:47:49,931 --> 00:47:51,465 It could have been Wuthering Heights, 1193 00:47:51,532 --> 00:47:52,699 which one is for Chuck 1194 00:47:52,766 --> 00:47:54,168 and which one is for the other Chuck? 1195 00:47:54,235 --> 00:47:57,304 It was offered to Chuck Norris to do this movie, 1196 00:47:57,371 --> 00:47:58,572 American Ninja. 1197 00:47:58,639 --> 00:48:00,274 NARRATOR: For 2,000 years, 1198 00:48:00,341 --> 00:48:03,177 the sacred art of the ninja has been guarded in the East. 1199 00:48:04,211 --> 00:48:06,147 Now it has come to the West. 1200 00:48:06,213 --> 00:48:10,017 When Chuck Norris learned that he has to be covered, he declined. 1201 00:48:10,084 --> 00:48:11,585 He said, "I am not covering myself." 1202 00:48:11,652 --> 00:48:13,821 "If I am on the screen, I am Chuck Norris." 1203 00:48:18,125 --> 00:48:20,127 Who will be the American ninja? 1204 00:48:20,194 --> 00:48:23,397 We saw, I believe, more than 400 candidates, 1205 00:48:23,464 --> 00:48:25,232 and when Michael Dudikoff walked in, 1206 00:48:25,299 --> 00:48:28,269 it was like, "Wow, I saw the American ninja." 1207 00:48:28,335 --> 00:48:30,704 Menahem said, "The Dudikoff kid." 1208 00:48:30,771 --> 00:48:32,206 "Get the Dudikoff kid." 1209 00:48:32,273 --> 00:48:33,374 Who is he? 1210 00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:34,708 I don't know. He's a new recruit. 1211 00:48:34,775 --> 00:48:36,277 I don't even know his name. 1212 00:48:36,343 --> 00:48:38,579 He possess great skills. 1213 00:48:39,613 --> 00:48:41,148 (SCREAMS) 1214 00:48:47,221 --> 00:48:50,257 When I got American Ninja, I stepped it up. 1215 00:48:50,324 --> 00:48:54,161 Anything that I had to do, being Joe, the American Ninja, 1216 00:48:54,228 --> 00:48:55,897 I really wanted to do well. 1217 00:48:56,497 --> 00:48:58,099 (TIRES SQUEAL) 1218 00:49:00,567 --> 00:49:02,769 Even before the movie was finished, 1219 00:49:02,836 --> 00:49:04,205 it was obvious 1220 00:49:04,271 --> 00:49:06,540 that Dudikoff has the charisma to be on the screen. 1221 00:49:06,607 --> 00:49:09,710 I remember Menahem saying that he is going to be the next James Dean. 1222 00:49:09,776 --> 00:49:12,079 MICHAEL: I was gonna be Superman. There are so many... 1223 00:49:12,146 --> 00:49:14,181 I was going to do so many different roles. 1224 00:49:14,248 --> 00:49:15,917 I was Spider-Man at one time. 1225 00:49:15,983 --> 00:49:18,152 SAM: Cannon did not pay attention 1226 00:49:18,219 --> 00:49:20,454 to brand the name Dudikoff 1227 00:49:20,521 --> 00:49:22,823 and to make sure that instead of making 1228 00:49:22,890 --> 00:49:24,225 smaller and smaller movies, 1229 00:49:24,291 --> 00:49:26,127 he should make bigger and bigger movies. 1230 00:49:26,193 --> 00:49:29,230 "We will. We will!" 1231 00:49:30,331 --> 00:49:35,302 "Don't worry, Michael. No, don't worry." 1232 00:49:40,274 --> 00:49:42,176 "It's only the beginning." 1233 00:49:42,243 --> 00:49:44,946 NARRATOR: This is Cannes, home of the prestigious film festival 1234 00:49:45,012 --> 00:49:46,547 which is held every year. 1235 00:49:46,613 --> 00:49:50,084 You know about the glamour, the Riviera, the stars, 1236 00:49:50,151 --> 00:49:53,620 but there's another side, a business side you don't see. 1237 00:49:53,687 --> 00:49:56,357 They were going there to sell and to make deals. 1238 00:49:56,423 --> 00:49:57,992 This was the jewel of the crown 1239 00:49:58,059 --> 00:50:01,428 and they decided to take it by storm. 1240 00:50:01,495 --> 00:50:04,765 The money that they spent in Cannes would have financed a film. 1241 00:50:04,831 --> 00:50:06,233 We'd take over the Carlton Hotel, 1242 00:50:06,300 --> 00:50:08,235 put up as much advertising as we could. 1243 00:50:08,302 --> 00:50:10,371 Posters everywhere, everywhere. 1244 00:50:10,437 --> 00:50:11,973 "Cannon Group presents..." 1245 00:50:12,039 --> 00:50:13,407 Full-page ads in Variety, 1246 00:50:13,474 --> 00:50:15,276 full-page ads in all the trades. 1247 00:50:15,342 --> 00:50:17,844 It almost became a joke, I think, in the business, 1248 00:50:17,911 --> 00:50:19,413 because nobody could just work out 1249 00:50:19,480 --> 00:50:20,681 how they were paying for all this, 1250 00:50:20,747 --> 00:50:21,748 how they were doing all this, 1251 00:50:21,815 --> 00:50:23,484 what was going on? 1252 00:50:23,550 --> 00:50:26,253 This limo comes up and out gets Menahem, like the Queen. 1253 00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:28,022 The Cannes Film Festival 1254 00:50:28,089 --> 00:50:29,991 became the Cannon Film Festival. 1255 00:50:30,057 --> 00:50:32,626 A line of distributors getting a number, 1256 00:50:32,693 --> 00:50:35,196 like in a barber shop, to meet Yoram and me. 1257 00:50:35,262 --> 00:50:37,664 People come with a check, people come with cash money. 1258 00:50:37,731 --> 00:50:39,500 "This film will be ready, don't worry. 1259 00:50:39,566 --> 00:50:41,635 "I'll get it to you on time." "Give me this picture too." 1260 00:50:41,702 --> 00:50:43,537 "This is the piece of crap you really want" 1261 00:50:43,604 --> 00:50:45,372 "because people are going to love this shit." 1262 00:50:45,439 --> 00:50:46,740 "Okay, you'll pay a million?" 1263 00:50:46,807 --> 00:50:48,142 "Okay, million and one. Million and two." 1264 00:50:48,209 --> 00:50:49,776 It was like being at the fish market. 1265 00:50:49,843 --> 00:50:51,245 MAN: They used to sell their film by the kilo. 1266 00:50:51,312 --> 00:50:52,913 Selling, buying, selling, buying. 1267 00:50:52,980 --> 00:50:56,017 You hear Golan constantly going, "Gunga Din, epic." 1268 00:50:56,083 --> 00:50:58,419 "Epic, I tell you. Epic of the cinema." 1269 00:50:58,485 --> 00:51:00,154 He loved it. He was on a high. 1270 00:51:00,221 --> 00:51:01,888 You'd meet some Greek distributor, 1271 00:51:01,955 --> 00:51:04,758 who didn't speak English, couldn't read English, 1272 00:51:04,825 --> 00:51:06,060 certainly couldn't read a script, 1273 00:51:06,127 --> 00:51:07,528 but you had to sell him a picture, 1274 00:51:07,594 --> 00:51:08,962 so you just showed him a poster. 1275 00:51:09,030 --> 00:51:11,298 Outlandish poster art for movies, 1276 00:51:11,365 --> 00:51:13,134 most of which they never made. 1277 00:51:13,200 --> 00:51:14,801 The film could have been about anything, 1278 00:51:14,868 --> 00:51:17,004 and they would have had a machine gun in the poster. 1279 00:51:17,071 --> 00:51:20,574 He would invent a story on the spot and sell it to them. 1280 00:51:20,641 --> 00:51:23,277 "Charles Bronson is The Golem." 1281 00:51:23,344 --> 00:51:25,779 I was in charge of writing press releases 1282 00:51:25,846 --> 00:51:27,914 for non-existent movies 1283 00:51:27,981 --> 00:51:30,051 with no cast and no stars 1284 00:51:30,117 --> 00:51:31,452 and frequently no scripts. 1285 00:51:31,518 --> 00:51:33,320 I don't know that there's anyone out there today 1286 00:51:33,387 --> 00:51:35,356 that has the reputation that Menahem and Yoram had 1287 00:51:35,422 --> 00:51:37,758 for being such effective salesmen. 1288 00:51:37,824 --> 00:51:40,094 They were the best wheelers and dealers of the 80s. 1289 00:51:40,161 --> 00:51:41,595 There was a great celebration 1290 00:51:41,662 --> 00:51:43,530 of throwing spaghetti against the wall, 1291 00:51:43,597 --> 00:51:48,302 and whichever crazy ideas he could get presales for, 1292 00:51:48,369 --> 00:51:49,770 those became the movies we made. 1293 00:51:49,836 --> 00:51:52,073 The result is those films were never very good. 1294 00:51:52,139 --> 00:51:54,375 If you had Chuck Norris on that poster, 1295 00:51:54,441 --> 00:51:57,078 you knew exactly the picture you were buying. 1296 00:51:57,144 --> 00:52:00,147 So all presale films were predictable. 1297 00:52:00,214 --> 00:52:03,350 MAN ON PHONE: I have for you Chuck Norris's picture for April. 1298 00:52:03,417 --> 00:52:05,886 Killing, shooting, maiming! Fabulous story. 1299 00:52:05,952 --> 00:52:08,155 You're going to love it. Absolutely love it. 1300 00:52:08,222 --> 00:52:09,823 Bring me the script. 1301 00:52:09,890 --> 00:52:11,892 NARRATOR: They are an army of international terrorists. 1302 00:52:11,958 --> 00:52:13,694 Their target, America. 1303 00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:17,464 DANIEL: In a way, Invasion USA was a very prescient film. 1304 00:52:17,531 --> 00:52:19,733 We didn't really think about terrorism, 1305 00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:21,868 and terrorism was more of an abstract idea. 1306 00:52:21,935 --> 00:52:25,172 NARRATOR: No one thought it could ever happen... 1307 00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:26,707 Here. (PEOPLE SCREAMING) 1308 00:52:28,809 --> 00:52:30,844 The idea of boatloads full of terrorists 1309 00:52:30,911 --> 00:52:33,247 landing on a beach somewhere in Florida, 1310 00:52:33,314 --> 00:52:34,715 being picked up by trucks 1311 00:52:34,781 --> 00:52:37,118 and being driven all over the United States 1312 00:52:37,184 --> 00:52:39,320 to create random acts of terror 1313 00:52:39,386 --> 00:52:41,122 was a bit of a stretch for me. 1314 00:52:41,188 --> 00:52:42,523 What we were trying to do 1315 00:52:42,589 --> 00:52:45,659 was come up with some big action picture 1316 00:52:45,726 --> 00:52:49,530 that would be a lot of fun and larger than life. 1317 00:52:49,596 --> 00:52:50,664 Didn't work, huh? 1318 00:52:51,865 --> 00:52:53,534 Now it will. 1319 00:52:53,600 --> 00:52:55,302 (EXPLODING) (SCREAMING) 1320 00:52:55,369 --> 00:52:56,770 They made Chuck a star. 1321 00:52:56,837 --> 00:52:58,239 (GUNS FIRING) 1322 00:52:58,305 --> 00:53:00,141 Now they were putting him in a big-budget movie. 1323 00:53:00,207 --> 00:53:02,476 (ENGINE REVVING) 1324 00:53:02,543 --> 00:53:04,778 CHUCK NORRIS: The shopping mall, of course, has been the hardest 1325 00:53:04,845 --> 00:53:06,813 and most hair-raising, most dangerous thing I've done. 1326 00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:09,916 Probably the most dangerous stunt I've ever done on film. 1327 00:53:09,983 --> 00:53:12,353 JAMES: They were going to completely rebuild it, gut it, 1328 00:53:12,419 --> 00:53:16,123 so we were allowed to destroy everything. 1329 00:53:19,426 --> 00:53:21,295 They were going to literally bulldoze 1330 00:53:21,362 --> 00:53:22,729 an entire suburban neighborhood 1331 00:53:22,796 --> 00:53:25,299 to extend the runway of Atlanta Airport. 1332 00:53:25,366 --> 00:53:26,933 And they were able to blow the houses up. 1333 00:53:27,000 --> 00:53:28,435 (ROCKET FIRING) (EXPLODING) 1334 00:53:36,643 --> 00:53:39,680 We had some really great stuntmen working on that picture. 1335 00:53:42,249 --> 00:53:44,084 The helicopter on top of helicopters, 1336 00:53:44,151 --> 00:53:46,153 the tanks, people firing. 1337 00:53:46,220 --> 00:53:47,754 No, there's some great stuff in that film. 1338 00:53:47,821 --> 00:53:49,956 When we had a screening of the rough cut, 1339 00:53:50,023 --> 00:53:51,458 it was heart-wrenching. 1340 00:53:51,525 --> 00:53:54,261 The story, basically, was edited out. 1341 00:53:54,328 --> 00:53:56,930 It's time. 1342 00:53:56,997 --> 00:53:58,332 (YELLING) 1343 00:53:58,399 --> 00:54:01,335 (ROCKET FIRING) (EXPLODING) 1344 00:54:01,402 --> 00:54:05,071 There's a lot of great scenes, but it's disjointed. 1345 00:54:05,138 --> 00:54:07,741 GOLDBLATT: Menahem and Yoram were not particularly precious 1346 00:54:07,808 --> 00:54:10,611 about the process of editing a picture 1347 00:54:10,677 --> 00:54:13,347 and the process of getting it into a final cut. 1348 00:54:13,414 --> 00:54:18,385 "Okay, rewind. Now, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut!" 1349 00:54:18,452 --> 00:54:20,921 He would start the morning in his office, 1350 00:54:20,987 --> 00:54:23,757 listen to a pitch meeting, go back, edit a trailer. 1351 00:54:23,824 --> 00:54:26,327 All the time, keep suspense and action. 1352 00:54:26,393 --> 00:54:28,229 (VOCALIZING) The scene is their voices. 1353 00:54:28,295 --> 00:54:30,063 "No! Help! Help! Help!" 1354 00:54:30,130 --> 00:54:33,967 Go back, meet an actor, director, give notes on a script, go back, 1355 00:54:34,034 --> 00:54:35,402 change three cuts. 1356 00:54:35,469 --> 00:54:36,970 "That's terrific. That's great, that's great." 1357 00:54:37,037 --> 00:54:39,406 "This is shit! This is shit!" "Trim that! Trim that! 1358 00:54:39,473 --> 00:54:41,542 "This is good! This is good!" "Cut negative!" 1359 00:54:41,608 --> 00:54:43,244 "It's the same shit you looked at yesterday." 1360 00:54:43,310 --> 00:54:44,745 "No, no, no, it's good shit today." 1361 00:54:44,811 --> 00:54:47,381 The problem is they loved cinema in the abstract. 1362 00:54:47,448 --> 00:54:49,750 I don't think, in my experience, 1363 00:54:49,816 --> 00:54:52,519 that they really knew what it was like to love something so much 1364 00:54:52,586 --> 00:54:56,557 that you were patient and took the time and went through the pain 1365 00:54:56,623 --> 00:54:59,560 of seeing it through draft after draft after draft, 1366 00:54:59,626 --> 00:55:01,995 admitting to yourself that it might not be right yet. 1367 00:55:02,062 --> 00:55:07,133 You could take 150, 500 scripts, put them in an office, 1368 00:55:07,200 --> 00:55:10,136 have a monkey go inside and pick 70 of them, 1369 00:55:10,203 --> 00:55:12,339 and he'd be on par with Golan and Globus. 1370 00:55:12,406 --> 00:55:14,308 NARRATOR: In the tail of Halley's Comet, 1371 00:55:14,375 --> 00:55:16,410 there's something wrong, 1372 00:55:16,477 --> 00:55:18,279 something evil, 1373 00:55:18,345 --> 00:55:20,881 something hungry. 1374 00:55:20,947 --> 00:55:21,948 (NARRATOR READING) 1375 00:55:23,183 --> 00:55:24,685 (SCREAMING) Whoa! 1376 00:55:24,751 --> 00:55:26,420 Did someone get the license number of that movie? 1377 00:55:26,487 --> 00:55:28,589 This is the wildest thing I've seen in ages. 1378 00:55:28,655 --> 00:55:30,357 It starts as an outer-space movie, 1379 00:55:30,424 --> 00:55:32,058 then becomes a vampire movie, 1380 00:55:32,125 --> 00:55:34,160 then turns into an end-of-the-world movie. 1381 00:55:34,227 --> 00:55:37,398 (SNARLING) I think I know the word to describe this film. 1382 00:55:37,464 --> 00:55:39,933 Berserk! (SCREAMING) 1383 00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:41,535 Tobe Hooper's Ben-Hur. 1384 00:55:41,602 --> 00:55:43,870 At the time, it was their biggest budget film. 1385 00:55:43,937 --> 00:55:48,875 It has something major happening in terms of grand spectacle 1386 00:55:48,942 --> 00:55:50,677 about every 60 seconds, 1387 00:55:50,744 --> 00:55:54,615 with incredible mechanical effects, physical and optical effects, 1388 00:55:54,681 --> 00:55:58,552 nudity, because the humanoid creatures are found nude 1389 00:55:58,619 --> 00:56:00,521 in these crystal sarcophagi. 1390 00:56:00,587 --> 00:56:03,690 Finding Mathilda May was an achievement, actually, 1391 00:56:03,757 --> 00:56:07,328 one of the most striking young women I've ever seen. 1392 00:56:07,394 --> 00:56:09,363 When I saw the rushes, I... I just died, 1393 00:56:09,430 --> 00:56:13,900 and knew that we would never, ever get away with the British censor. 1394 00:56:13,967 --> 00:56:17,270 Her private parts area was like a bikini! 1395 00:56:17,338 --> 00:56:19,139 You'll never believe what I'm looking at. 1396 00:56:19,205 --> 00:56:20,941 JOHN GROVER: And this was supposed to be a mystery about 1397 00:56:21,007 --> 00:56:23,744 this beautiful woman that was gonna destroy London. 1398 00:56:23,810 --> 00:56:25,779 MAN: That girl was no girl. 1399 00:56:25,846 --> 00:56:29,316 She's totally alien to this planet and our life form, 1400 00:56:29,383 --> 00:56:30,951 and totally dangerous. 1401 00:56:35,389 --> 00:56:37,391 Golan and Globus took a risk. 1402 00:56:37,458 --> 00:56:38,892 It was a big risk with this, 1403 00:56:38,959 --> 00:56:40,927 especially halfway through the picture, 1404 00:56:40,994 --> 00:56:43,096 when we were four months behind. 1405 00:56:43,163 --> 00:56:45,366 They weren't worried about the amount of time 1406 00:56:45,432 --> 00:56:46,767 it was taking to shoot the film. 1407 00:56:46,833 --> 00:56:49,169 It had to do with watching the dailies 1408 00:56:49,235 --> 00:56:52,639 and loving the scope of what they were producing. 1409 00:56:52,706 --> 00:56:55,476 They now were in another level of filmmaking. 1410 00:56:55,542 --> 00:56:58,779 GROVER: They wanted to make the biggest picture of the year. 1411 00:56:58,845 --> 00:57:02,416 They were small fry in a very big pond. 1412 00:57:02,483 --> 00:57:06,152 All these films that they made were bizarre, plot-wise. 1413 00:57:06,219 --> 00:57:08,689 I mean, they were made up on the spot half the time. 1414 00:57:08,755 --> 00:57:11,157 "Marriage Venetian Style." 1415 00:57:11,224 --> 00:57:12,659 "A Holiday in Rome." 1416 00:57:12,726 --> 00:57:15,328 "Holiday in Rome." "A Holiday in Venice." 1417 00:57:15,396 --> 00:57:16,730 (CHUCKLES) 1418 00:57:16,797 --> 00:57:18,331 "Marriage in Venice." "Marriage in Venice." 1419 00:57:18,399 --> 00:57:19,866 (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) 1420 00:57:19,933 --> 00:57:22,102 Yeah? Yeah. "Marriage in Venice." In Venice. 1421 00:57:22,168 --> 00:57:24,070 Or... "Stop That Marriage." 1422 00:57:24,137 --> 00:57:27,140 Menahem had lots of ideas. Too many ideas, some people say. 1423 00:57:27,207 --> 00:57:30,377 He would say, "I want music like Poltergeist." 1424 00:57:30,444 --> 00:57:33,547 And I was like, "Poltergeist is a 100-piece orchestra." 1425 00:57:33,614 --> 00:57:35,115 And he goes, "You idiot!" 1426 00:57:35,181 --> 00:57:38,552 "We get 50 musicians and we have them play the music twice!" 1427 00:57:38,619 --> 00:57:42,122 There was a series of books that go on about a monkey, 1428 00:57:42,188 --> 00:57:45,225 kind of like Curious George, but it was an Israeli series of books. 1429 00:57:45,291 --> 00:57:47,761 Clyde the orangutan from Every Which Way But Loose 1430 00:57:47,828 --> 00:57:50,697 came to the office with his agent. 1431 00:57:50,764 --> 00:57:52,198 Clyde was very hot at that point, 1432 00:57:52,265 --> 00:57:54,901 and he's here with some Beverly Hills lawyers in suits. 1433 00:57:54,968 --> 00:57:58,238 (LAUGHING) Menahem's sitting next to an orangutan 1434 00:57:58,304 --> 00:58:02,709 and deciding whether to sign the orangutan, to put him under contract, 1435 00:58:02,776 --> 00:58:06,447 and he turns to the woman who's head of publicity 1436 00:58:06,513 --> 00:58:09,315 and says, "Would you fuck this monkey?" 1437 00:58:09,382 --> 00:58:10,617 (WHINES) 1438 00:58:10,684 --> 00:58:12,786 They go, "So, go on. What's the story?" 1439 00:58:12,853 --> 00:58:15,656 And he said, "Look, it's about this kid who goes to Africa." 1440 00:58:15,722 --> 00:58:19,426 "He is without his parents, but he has this guy who takes care of him." 1441 00:58:19,493 --> 00:58:20,994 "And when they come off the boat," 1442 00:58:21,061 --> 00:58:24,330 "all of a sudden, they see you!" 1443 00:58:24,397 --> 00:58:26,900 And he looked at the monkey. 1444 00:58:26,967 --> 00:58:27,868 And from now on, 1445 00:58:27,934 --> 00:58:29,436 he kept talking to the monkey. 1446 00:58:29,503 --> 00:58:32,005 "Okay, we're in the jungle. There is a monkey." 1447 00:58:32,072 --> 00:58:33,674 "You, Clyde, you're the monkey." 1448 00:58:33,740 --> 00:58:35,576 "And, you know, there's a kid," 1449 00:58:35,642 --> 00:58:37,711 "and the kid is being attacked by the tribes," 1450 00:58:37,778 --> 00:58:41,181 "but the monkey saves him, but now he must go on his uncle's ship." 1451 00:58:41,247 --> 00:58:43,083 "The monkey cannot go with him," 1452 00:58:43,149 --> 00:58:46,119 "so now the ship is leaving and the kid, his heart is broken." 1453 00:58:46,186 --> 00:58:47,320 "It's broken!" 1454 00:58:47,387 --> 00:58:49,389 "And you love the boy." 1455 00:58:49,456 --> 00:58:51,525 "You love the boy." 1456 00:58:51,592 --> 00:58:53,660 "And you feel that the boy love you." 1457 00:58:53,727 --> 00:58:57,397 Golan gets on his desk, and he's literally standing on his desk at this point... 1458 00:58:57,464 --> 00:58:59,500 "And you cut back and you see the monkey," 1459 00:58:59,566 --> 00:59:02,368 "and he's going, 'Help me! Help me!'" 1460 00:59:02,435 --> 00:59:04,671 And... It was crazy. 1461 00:59:04,738 --> 00:59:06,039 Talking to a monkey. 1462 00:59:06,106 --> 00:59:07,908 I remember one of the agents going, like, 1463 00:59:07,974 --> 00:59:09,976 "Will the monkey be talking in the movie?" 1464 00:59:10,043 --> 00:59:12,613 "We don't know that yet, but it doesn't matter. It's the emotion." 1465 00:59:12,679 --> 00:59:14,180 We did some tests and, uh, 1466 00:59:14,247 --> 00:59:17,718 and the monkey either bit the boy or something. 1467 00:59:17,784 --> 00:59:19,653 Two days later, Menahem showed up 1468 00:59:19,720 --> 00:59:21,622 with a little guy, 1469 00:59:21,688 --> 00:59:24,625 who was a... Midget. 1470 00:59:24,691 --> 00:59:28,595 You know? And he said, 1471 00:59:28,662 --> 00:59:30,997 "This is your new monkey." 1472 00:59:31,064 --> 00:59:32,265 (CHATTERS) 1473 00:59:32,332 --> 00:59:34,200 And he said, "Does he look like a monkey or not?" 1474 00:59:34,267 --> 00:59:36,436 Everybody said, "Yeah, he looks like a monkey." 1475 00:59:36,503 --> 00:59:39,172 But the truth is he didn't. 1476 00:59:39,239 --> 00:59:40,473 Not at all. 1477 00:59:40,541 --> 00:59:42,509 And I went with them to Africa... 1478 00:59:42,576 --> 00:59:44,645 Oh! Ohh! 1479 00:59:44,711 --> 00:59:47,581 And I felt really, really embarrassed. 1480 00:59:47,648 --> 00:59:51,317 When we were in the jungle, on the tree, there were real monkeys 1481 00:59:51,384 --> 00:59:53,654 and I had the feeling that they are laughing at me. 1482 00:59:53,720 --> 00:59:55,689 KRAFT: Usually, a bad idea 1483 00:59:55,756 --> 00:59:57,958 only happens once or twice. 1484 00:59:58,024 --> 00:59:59,960 Oh! 1485 01:00:00,026 --> 01:00:03,296 Bonzo love Ben. 1486 01:00:03,363 --> 01:00:05,098 Oh! 1487 01:00:05,165 --> 01:00:07,500 These were bad ideas on a regular basis. 1488 01:00:07,568 --> 01:00:09,269 (MAN READING) 1489 01:00:09,335 --> 01:00:12,105 I don't care what anyone says. It's... It's a masterpiece. 1490 01:00:12,172 --> 01:00:14,374 NARRATOR: In a world gone mad, 1491 01:00:14,440 --> 01:00:17,377 there is only one law, his. 1492 01:00:17,443 --> 01:00:18,945 What's the problem? 1493 01:00:19,012 --> 01:00:21,181 We're stealin' a fucking car. What's it to you? 1494 01:00:21,247 --> 01:00:22,282 It's my car! 1495 01:00:23,617 --> 01:00:24,885 (GUN FIRING) 1496 01:00:24,951 --> 01:00:26,753 Total dog-pile piece of shit. 1497 01:00:26,820 --> 01:00:30,356 The first movie that Michael Winner did was somewhat compelling. 1498 01:00:30,423 --> 01:00:32,092 But this is a cartoon. 1499 01:00:32,158 --> 01:00:35,228 It's practically World War III in the streets of New York. 1500 01:00:36,529 --> 01:00:38,331 (ROCKET FIRING) (EXPLODING) 1501 01:00:38,398 --> 01:00:41,334 ALEX: Winner took pleasure out of presenting this world... 1502 01:00:41,401 --> 01:00:46,973 Where these grimy, mostly minority ghetto characters... 1503 01:00:47,040 --> 01:00:48,709 Come on, bitch! Come on! 1504 01:00:48,775 --> 01:00:50,877 Would be summarily executed 1505 01:00:50,944 --> 01:00:55,048 by more refined, more middle to upper-class characters. 1506 01:00:55,115 --> 01:00:58,785 And I think that he felt that that stage could only get bigger. 1507 01:01:00,186 --> 01:01:01,588 (GUN FIRING) 1508 01:01:06,727 --> 01:01:09,095 (GROANING) 1509 01:01:09,162 --> 01:01:10,496 (TIRES SCREECHING) 1510 01:01:10,563 --> 01:01:11,765 (EXPLODING) 1511 01:01:11,832 --> 01:01:13,634 Yeah! Power, man! 1512 01:01:13,700 --> 01:01:16,670 Each film, the police force gets smaller and smaller and smaller, 1513 01:01:16,737 --> 01:01:19,873 and Bronson's persona gets bigger, bigger and bigger. 1514 01:01:19,940 --> 01:01:23,710 NARRATOR: Now the trap is set. The fuse is lit. 1515 01:01:23,777 --> 01:01:25,511 Bronson is unleashed. 1516 01:01:25,578 --> 01:01:27,981 (NARRATOR READING) 1517 01:01:28,048 --> 01:01:30,183 Three, four and five are a different... 1518 01:01:30,250 --> 01:01:33,186 They're related by blood, but they're the family we don't talk to. 1519 01:01:33,253 --> 01:01:35,822 I know that Charlie wanted to make better movies. 1520 01:01:35,889 --> 01:01:37,624 We had that conversation many times. 1521 01:01:37,691 --> 01:01:40,927 He didn't want to make Death Wish 2, 3, 4 and 5. 1522 01:01:40,994 --> 01:01:42,663 I don't know how they talked him into it. 1523 01:01:42,729 --> 01:01:43,997 He didn't really have to do very much. 1524 01:01:44,064 --> 01:01:45,565 He had a Jaguar that would drive him 1525 01:01:45,632 --> 01:01:47,500 from his dressing room to the set, 1526 01:01:47,567 --> 01:01:49,870 which was usually about three feet from his dressing room. 1527 01:01:49,936 --> 01:01:52,773 It was more like watching a man golf than act. 1528 01:01:52,839 --> 01:01:55,141 MAN: Charles Bronson and Bronson's stunt double 1529 01:01:55,208 --> 01:01:56,910 discuss the seemingly simple task 1530 01:01:56,977 --> 01:01:58,945 of throwing groceries at a moving car. 1531 01:01:59,012 --> 01:02:00,881 This is turned over to a stunt double 1532 01:02:00,947 --> 01:02:03,884 in order to ensure the safety of the star. 1533 01:02:03,950 --> 01:02:06,352 Well, we became the garbage of the industry. 1534 01:02:06,419 --> 01:02:08,655 A place of last resort to get movies made. 1535 01:02:08,722 --> 01:02:10,623 They were considered schlockmeisters. 1536 01:02:10,691 --> 01:02:11,825 Schlock. Schlock. 1537 01:02:11,892 --> 01:02:13,093 Schlock. It's schlock. 1538 01:02:13,159 --> 01:02:14,728 But they sure do make a lot of it. 1539 01:02:14,795 --> 01:02:16,229 They knew what their reputation was. 1540 01:02:16,296 --> 01:02:18,431 They knew that everyone saw them as kind of, 1541 01:02:18,498 --> 01:02:20,466 "Yeah, you guys do a lot of stuff, but where's the, where's the quality?" 1542 01:02:20,533 --> 01:02:23,569 And I think that, uh, they wanted to do some projects 1543 01:02:23,636 --> 01:02:26,807 that not only would bankroll their company, 1544 01:02:26,873 --> 01:02:28,909 but would bring them a little more respect. 1545 01:02:28,975 --> 01:02:32,378 MENAHEM: I want to sign with Bogdanovich to a three-picture deal. 1546 01:02:32,445 --> 01:02:34,881 MAN: (ON PHONE) If you want to buy Peter Bogdanovich, 1547 01:02:34,948 --> 01:02:37,083 let's say that you had a project called XYZ... 1548 01:02:37,150 --> 01:02:39,853 Yeah, I'm not buying people. I'm giving them opportunities. 1549 01:02:39,920 --> 01:02:43,589 "He should work with me because I'm giving him this opportunity," 1550 01:02:43,656 --> 01:02:45,125 "and if he doesn't, he's an idiot." 1551 01:02:45,191 --> 01:02:48,394 He needs a family because he's now without a family. 1552 01:02:48,461 --> 01:02:51,331 And he's a loser and he needs to be with the winning, with the winners. 1553 01:02:51,397 --> 01:02:54,600 The artists that were attracted to Cannon 1554 01:02:54,667 --> 01:02:57,603 probably didn't want to be, in the beginning. 1555 01:02:57,670 --> 01:03:00,006 But once they got to know Golan, 1556 01:03:00,073 --> 01:03:01,808 they realized they found a patron. 1557 01:03:01,875 --> 01:03:04,644 Menahem Golan is a director. 1558 01:03:04,711 --> 01:03:08,882 You're dealing with someone who does the same thing you do, 1559 01:03:08,949 --> 01:03:10,917 who understands what your problems are. 1560 01:03:10,984 --> 01:03:14,821 You're dealing with guys who know every element of the film business. 1561 01:03:14,888 --> 01:03:16,757 That, to me, is terribly refreshing. 1562 01:03:16,823 --> 01:03:19,926 NARRATOR: Cannon Films proudly presents a motion picture event, 1563 01:03:19,993 --> 01:03:24,731 directed by internationally acclaimed master filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli. 1564 01:03:24,798 --> 01:03:26,566 Menahem loved Zeffirelli. 1565 01:03:26,632 --> 01:03:28,434 MICHAEL: You tell him, "Listen, you can get the lottery 1566 01:03:28,501 --> 01:03:30,303 "or sit with Zeffirelli and make a movie with him." 1567 01:03:30,370 --> 01:03:33,073 He will take Zeffirelli making a movie with him. 1568 01:03:33,139 --> 01:03:36,943 The film opera event of our century, Otello. 1569 01:03:37,010 --> 01:03:39,279 (SINGING IN OTHER LANGUAGE) 1570 01:03:39,345 --> 01:03:40,781 Zeffirelli, Cannon. 1571 01:03:40,847 --> 01:03:42,282 JOHN: Franco probably started out 1572 01:03:42,348 --> 01:03:44,350 by thinking how crude these guys were 1573 01:03:44,417 --> 01:03:46,853 and then ended up really appreciating them. 1574 01:04:07,640 --> 01:04:09,910 MAN: There was one telegram that said, 1575 01:04:09,976 --> 01:04:14,647 "We are looking at the daily and they looked like they were created by God." 1576 01:04:14,714 --> 01:04:16,282 (FRANCO ZEFFIRELLI SPEAKING) 1577 01:04:29,896 --> 01:04:31,364 Someone like John Cassavetes, 1578 01:04:31,431 --> 01:04:33,733 who could not get financing from anybody, 1579 01:04:33,800 --> 01:04:35,135 Menahem would give him funding. 1580 01:04:35,201 --> 01:04:37,437 I'm going to do a John Cassavetes film, 1581 01:04:37,503 --> 01:04:41,207 and once I accepted this fact... 1582 01:04:42,308 --> 01:04:44,277 I had to give John Cassavetes 1583 01:04:44,344 --> 01:04:46,980 the full freedom to create his film. 1584 01:04:47,047 --> 01:04:48,915 We were never committed to make a film 1585 01:04:48,982 --> 01:04:50,750 that would please the audience. 1586 01:04:50,817 --> 01:04:52,385 Now, if you came to see our films, 1587 01:04:52,452 --> 01:04:54,054 you had to suffer through them. 1588 01:04:54,120 --> 01:04:56,789 Do you believe that love is a continuous stream? 1589 01:04:56,857 --> 01:05:00,526 MENAHEM: John Cassavetes brought me a two hours and 15 minutes movie. 1590 01:05:00,593 --> 01:05:04,097 I told John, "Go and cut out 15 minutes in the middle" 1591 01:05:04,164 --> 01:05:06,399 "and you'll see we'll get a much better movie." 1592 01:05:06,466 --> 01:05:08,902 He said, "Menahem, it will be done in the next two days." 1593 01:05:08,969 --> 01:05:12,472 Two days later, he came and the movie was two and a half hours. 1594 01:05:12,538 --> 01:05:15,375 And I said, "John, you added 15 minutes." 1595 01:05:15,441 --> 01:05:18,044 He said, "But it's, but it's shorter, nevertheless." 1596 01:05:18,111 --> 01:05:20,413 AL: I think Menahem got the film that he wanted. 1597 01:05:20,480 --> 01:05:23,416 I think it served a purpose for Cannon Films. 1598 01:05:23,483 --> 01:05:26,052 He could then go to any other director 1599 01:05:26,119 --> 01:05:31,191 and say, "Hey, look, we just made a film with John Cassavetes." 1600 01:05:31,257 --> 01:05:33,960 You know? "And you know how difficult he can be." 1601 01:05:34,027 --> 01:05:37,463 "But that just goes to show you how, you know, how far we'll go" 1602 01:05:37,530 --> 01:05:39,332 "with a, with another director." 1603 01:05:39,399 --> 01:05:41,034 Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus are... 1604 01:05:41,101 --> 01:05:42,936 Are kind of wild characters. 1605 01:05:43,003 --> 01:05:45,838 They make impulsive decisions like signing up Godard on a napkin. 1606 01:05:45,906 --> 01:05:49,475 We didn't have paper and this was on the table of the bar. 1607 01:05:49,542 --> 01:05:52,312 And this is Mr. Jean-Luc Godard. 1608 01:05:52,378 --> 01:05:54,580 I love this project. I believe in it. 1609 01:05:54,647 --> 01:05:56,549 I think it'll be a great movie. 1610 01:05:56,616 --> 01:06:00,786 Godard said that he would do, uh, King Lear only with Norman Mailer. 1611 01:06:00,853 --> 01:06:03,389 Mailer. Oh, yes. 1612 01:06:04,690 --> 01:06:06,592 That is a good way to begin. 1613 01:06:06,659 --> 01:06:09,762 Godard wanted Norman to play a writer named Norman Mailer 1614 01:06:09,829 --> 01:06:14,167 and he wanted Kate to play a daughter of that writer, named Kate Mailer, 1615 01:06:14,234 --> 01:06:16,202 and there was a suggestion of incest. 1616 01:06:16,269 --> 01:06:18,238 Part of me thinks that Godard did that 1617 01:06:18,304 --> 01:06:20,240 in the hopes that Norman would quit, 1618 01:06:20,306 --> 01:06:22,375 and that led to the famous phone call 1619 01:06:22,442 --> 01:06:24,644 that Godard recorded without our permission. 1620 01:06:24,710 --> 01:06:26,779 JEAN-LUC GODARD: I must insist 1621 01:06:26,846 --> 01:06:31,451 that this movie, as promised, which was already put forward so many times, 1622 01:06:31,517 --> 01:06:34,087 will reach the Cannes Festival. 1623 01:06:34,154 --> 01:06:35,788 This is my main concern. 1624 01:06:35,855 --> 01:06:39,792 MAN: No script, no make-up, no hair, no costumes, nothing. 1625 01:06:39,859 --> 01:06:43,263 MOLLY RINGWALD: I was walking with a horse and I think I'm Joan of Arc, 1626 01:06:43,329 --> 01:06:46,032 and then I think I'm dead on the rocks or something. 1627 01:06:46,099 --> 01:06:49,970 And I think I asked him, "Am I supposed to be dead or alive?" 1628 01:06:50,036 --> 01:06:51,404 "Am I sleeping?" 1629 01:06:51,471 --> 01:06:52,738 You know, "What am I doing?" 1630 01:06:52,805 --> 01:06:54,307 And he was like... (EXHALES) 1631 01:06:54,374 --> 01:06:56,742 Like it was the stupidest question ever, you know? 1632 01:06:56,809 --> 01:07:00,146 Like, "Oh! Dead!" Like, you know, "Pff!" You know? 1633 01:07:00,213 --> 01:07:02,448 It was not even worthy of a response 1634 01:07:02,515 --> 01:07:05,818 and I thought, "All right, I'm gonna go with dead." (LAUGHING) 1635 01:07:05,885 --> 01:07:10,256 I'm sure it absolutely was not what Cannon Pictures was expecting. 1636 01:07:10,323 --> 01:07:11,958 TOM: When the first images come on, 1637 01:07:12,025 --> 01:07:13,726 Menahem started whispering to me, 1638 01:07:13,793 --> 01:07:16,963 "Tom Luddy, I will kill you! Tom Luddy, I will strangle you!" 1639 01:07:17,030 --> 01:07:18,364 "You don't fuck with Sabras." 1640 01:07:18,431 --> 01:07:20,133 I think he was a bit disappointed 1641 01:07:20,200 --> 01:07:23,803 because Godard didn't take Menahem seriously. 1642 01:07:23,869 --> 01:07:26,506 Golan always wanted to make interesting pictures. 1643 01:07:26,572 --> 01:07:29,275 I mean, we would make what we would call 1644 01:07:29,342 --> 01:07:31,011 "the engine that pulled the train". 1645 01:07:31,077 --> 01:07:34,214 We would make one picture that we'd know we could presell 1646 01:07:34,280 --> 01:07:36,249 and then sneak in a bunch of little ones with it. 1647 01:07:36,316 --> 01:07:37,883 We say to the local distributor, 1648 01:07:37,950 --> 01:07:41,654 "Sorry, man, you have to take John Cassavetes first" 1649 01:07:41,721 --> 01:07:43,723 "or you don't get Charles Bronson." 1650 01:07:43,789 --> 01:07:45,858 That's how films like Barfly get funded. 1651 01:07:45,925 --> 01:07:48,561 NARRATOR: Mickey Rourke. FAY DUNAWAY: Just one thing. 1652 01:07:48,628 --> 01:07:51,097 I don't ever want to fall in love. 1653 01:07:51,164 --> 01:07:52,298 NARRATOR: Faye Dunaway. 1654 01:07:52,365 --> 01:07:55,168 Don't worry. Nobody's ever loved me yet. 1655 01:07:55,235 --> 01:07:56,836 (NARRATOR READING) 1656 01:07:56,902 --> 01:08:00,773 Those were the Cannon days where you had a meeting with Menahem, 1657 01:08:00,840 --> 01:08:05,011 you had a 90% chances of walking away with a deal. 1658 01:08:05,078 --> 01:08:06,579 TOM: When we were in pre-production, 1659 01:08:06,646 --> 01:08:08,448 and we already had Mickey and we already had Faye, 1660 01:08:08,514 --> 01:08:10,050 when they said, "We're stopping the shooting" 1661 01:08:10,116 --> 01:08:12,585 "unless you cut the budget, cut your fees." 1662 01:08:12,652 --> 01:08:16,189 So I had to find something to replace the lawyer 1663 01:08:16,256 --> 01:08:19,859 and I found the firm Black & Decker. (LAUGHS) 1664 01:08:19,925 --> 01:08:23,263 Barbet went into Menahem's office with a chainsaw. 1665 01:08:23,329 --> 01:08:25,065 (IMITATES CHAINSAW REVVING) 1666 01:08:25,131 --> 01:08:28,334 "For every day I don't get my movie made," 1667 01:08:28,401 --> 01:08:30,970 "I'm gonna cut one finger and send it to you." 1668 01:08:31,037 --> 01:08:34,006 MENAHEM: As a matter of fact, I love it that he is ready to cut his finger, 1669 01:08:34,074 --> 01:08:38,010 because I am ready to cut anything, my balls, to make a film. 1670 01:08:38,078 --> 01:08:40,146 PIETER: He outsmarted Menahem 1671 01:08:40,213 --> 01:08:42,182 and that's how that movie got made. 1672 01:08:42,248 --> 01:08:45,485 The movie didn't explode the way I wanted 1673 01:08:45,551 --> 01:08:48,654 because it was perceived as a movie about alcoholics. 1674 01:08:48,721 --> 01:08:50,623 DUNAWAY: We're all in some kind of hell 1675 01:08:50,690 --> 01:08:52,492 and the madhouses are the only places 1676 01:08:52,558 --> 01:08:55,261 where people know they're in hell. 1677 01:08:55,328 --> 01:08:57,230 They had this terrible kind of dichotomy about 1678 01:08:57,297 --> 01:08:59,332 making what they thought were important films 1679 01:08:59,399 --> 01:09:00,833 and then being able to sell them. 1680 01:09:00,900 --> 01:09:03,436 ALAIN: Even if the movie was not a B movie, 1681 01:09:03,503 --> 01:09:07,073 the moment the Cannon logo was showing up on the screen, 1682 01:09:07,140 --> 01:09:08,808 "Oh! That's a Cannon movie." 1683 01:09:08,874 --> 01:09:12,345 What people expected from Cannon, the films that we made, 1684 01:09:12,412 --> 01:09:15,181 were low-budget, lowbrow, action pictures. 1685 01:09:15,248 --> 01:09:17,950 You'd come along with something that was more interesting, 1686 01:09:18,017 --> 01:09:19,519 no one could take it seriously. 1687 01:09:19,585 --> 01:09:21,387 NARRATOR: They escaped together. 1688 01:09:21,454 --> 01:09:23,589 They achieved the impossible. 1689 01:09:23,656 --> 01:09:27,627 But their train to freedom was out of control. 1690 01:09:27,693 --> 01:09:30,230 JOHN: You're not gonna hear anyone not say 1691 01:09:30,296 --> 01:09:34,066 that Runaway Train is one of the most incredible films they've ever seen. 1692 01:09:34,134 --> 01:09:35,601 Runaway Train is, quite simply, 1693 01:09:35,668 --> 01:09:37,770 one of the best adventure movies I've ever seen, 1694 01:09:37,837 --> 01:09:40,273 a combination of action and suspense and desperate characters 1695 01:09:40,340 --> 01:09:42,142 that never stopped surprising me. 1696 01:09:42,208 --> 01:09:44,910 I don't know how closely you can almost associate it with Cannon. 1697 01:09:44,977 --> 01:09:46,746 It was a film unto itself, 1698 01:09:46,812 --> 01:09:49,014 I think, with a very visionary director in his own right, 1699 01:09:49,081 --> 01:09:50,983 Andrei Konchalovsky. 1700 01:09:51,050 --> 01:09:53,353 The fact it got made, I suppose, is some sort of tribute to them, 1701 01:09:53,419 --> 01:09:55,155 that they actually did give it a green light. 1702 01:09:55,221 --> 01:09:56,822 JOHN: I believe firmly today 1703 01:09:56,889 --> 01:09:59,259 that if a studio had made Runaway Train, 1704 01:09:59,325 --> 01:10:01,761 it would be a classic forever. 1705 01:10:01,827 --> 01:10:05,064 PEARCE: Made by Orion, it would have got great respect, I think. 1706 01:10:05,131 --> 01:10:08,334 You're as afraid to die as anybody else! 1707 01:10:08,401 --> 01:10:10,170 And I never let you free. 1708 01:10:10,236 --> 01:10:12,438 I'm free, Rankin. 1709 01:10:13,773 --> 01:10:15,040 I am free. 1710 01:10:15,107 --> 01:10:16,409 Made by Cannon, no. 1711 01:10:20,146 --> 01:10:23,949 They came in so quick and they did so many films so fast, 1712 01:10:24,016 --> 01:10:26,085 and everyone was always looking around, like, 1713 01:10:26,152 --> 01:10:27,553 "How are they doing this?" 1714 01:10:27,620 --> 01:10:31,457 Michael Milken, he was called the Junk Bond King. 1715 01:10:31,524 --> 01:10:33,226 CHRISTOPHER: He created something called 1716 01:10:33,293 --> 01:10:34,627 the high yield or junk-bond business. 1717 01:10:34,694 --> 01:10:37,062 That went from financing bankrupt companies 1718 01:10:37,129 --> 01:10:39,532 to financing small, growing companies. 1719 01:10:39,599 --> 01:10:44,504 Michael Milken raised $300 million for Cannon Pictures. 1720 01:10:44,570 --> 01:10:46,872 It really took Hollywood by surprise 1721 01:10:46,939 --> 01:10:50,843 that Cannon now had the ability to make picture after picture after picture. 1722 01:10:50,910 --> 01:10:56,081 Major studios were making six, seven, maybe eight films a year. 1723 01:10:56,148 --> 01:10:58,584 Nobody was making 20 films a year. 1724 01:10:58,651 --> 01:11:01,354 Forty films a year. Forty two movies. 1725 01:11:01,421 --> 01:11:05,090 Forty seven films a year. Fifty two in-house films. 1726 01:11:05,157 --> 01:11:06,826 Almost average one a week. 1727 01:11:06,892 --> 01:11:08,093 Eighty four. 1728 01:11:08,160 --> 01:11:10,230 That's an entire career there. 1729 01:11:10,296 --> 01:11:12,064 It was almost like a bowel movement. 1730 01:11:12,131 --> 01:11:14,667 (LAUGHING) You make a movie, it comes out, 1731 01:11:14,734 --> 01:11:16,602 you flush it and you move on to another one. 1732 01:11:16,669 --> 01:11:19,772 This company grew up and mushroomed so fast 1733 01:11:19,839 --> 01:11:23,476 just because of the energy and the personality of Menahem Golan. 1734 01:11:23,543 --> 01:11:25,211 The name of the game is to do! 1735 01:11:25,278 --> 01:11:28,180 Not just to "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," talk about it. 1736 01:11:28,248 --> 01:11:29,915 I'd have meetings with Yoram one day 1737 01:11:29,982 --> 01:11:35,087 and Golan comes in and he starts talking about something in Budapest. 1738 01:11:35,154 --> 01:11:36,922 And we say, "What are you talking about?" 1739 01:11:36,989 --> 01:11:39,359 "Oh, I forgot to tell you, we're making this film in Budapest." 1740 01:11:39,425 --> 01:11:40,793 "We're in the second week of shooting." 1741 01:11:40,860 --> 01:11:42,362 We didn't even know it was being made. 1742 01:11:42,428 --> 01:11:47,099 If something excites you, be brave and go 1743 01:11:47,166 --> 01:11:49,969 and try to do it good, but do it. 1744 01:11:50,035 --> 01:11:53,873 In England, Cannon became a real threat to the British film industry. 1745 01:11:53,939 --> 01:11:56,208 NARRATOR: Cannon gained a place in Britain's film line-up 1746 01:11:56,276 --> 01:11:59,412 when it took over Thorn-EMI Screen Entertainment. 1747 01:11:59,479 --> 01:12:01,847 Suddenly they owned Elstree Studios, 1748 01:12:01,914 --> 01:12:03,349 the Pathe film library, 1749 01:12:03,416 --> 01:12:05,351 and the ABC Cinema circuit. 1750 01:12:05,418 --> 01:12:07,520 With their own Classic and Star chain, 1751 01:12:07,587 --> 01:12:11,924 this gave Golan and Globus command of almost 40% of the British cinema market. 1752 01:12:11,991 --> 01:12:14,360 We owned the big chain in London, in England. 1753 01:12:14,427 --> 01:12:16,896 We owned the big chain in Italy, 1754 01:12:16,962 --> 01:12:18,230 all the theaters in Holland. 1755 01:12:18,298 --> 01:12:20,533 They bought everything, short of Harrods. 1756 01:12:20,600 --> 01:12:23,436 Cannon had all this money and was anxious to spend it, 1757 01:12:23,503 --> 01:12:25,405 and they wanted to spend it on stars. 1758 01:12:25,471 --> 01:12:28,173 They were, and I hope you don't mind me using the word, star-fuckers. 1759 01:12:28,240 --> 01:12:30,976 How many films a star does a year? One? 1760 01:12:31,043 --> 01:12:33,279 What does he do the rest of the year? 1761 01:12:33,346 --> 01:12:35,415 Forty weeks, what does he do? 1762 01:12:35,481 --> 01:12:38,584 He goes to psychoanalysts, he get divorced. 1763 01:12:38,651 --> 01:12:40,953 What does he do? Okay? 1764 01:12:41,020 --> 01:12:42,922 So, he wants to work! 1765 01:12:42,988 --> 01:12:46,091 He said, "I want... for the leading lady", 1766 01:12:46,158 --> 01:12:48,394 "I want, uh, that, uh..." 1767 01:12:48,461 --> 01:12:50,963 "The movie, the Stone movie, you know the one." 1768 01:12:51,030 --> 01:12:52,832 "That's the one I want. Get her." 1769 01:12:52,898 --> 01:12:55,401 RICHARD: And they get back the first week of dailies 1770 01:12:55,468 --> 01:12:57,303 and he goes, "Who is this fucking bitch?" 1771 01:12:57,370 --> 01:12:59,238 "I said, I want that Stone woman." 1772 01:12:59,305 --> 01:13:02,074 Well, everybody thought he was talking about Sharon Stone. 1773 01:13:02,141 --> 01:13:05,611 He was talking about Romancing the Stone, which was Kathleen Turner. 1774 01:13:05,678 --> 01:13:07,680 That's who he thought he'd cast in the movie. 1775 01:13:07,747 --> 01:13:09,181 I've got it! 1776 01:13:09,248 --> 01:13:13,353 NARRATOR: Richard Chamberlain is Allan Quartermain in... 1777 01:13:13,419 --> 01:13:15,421 (NARRATOR READING) 1778 01:13:15,488 --> 01:13:18,924 CASSANDRA PETERSON: At the time, Richard was just an incredibly hot star, 1779 01:13:18,991 --> 01:13:20,726 so that impressed me. 1780 01:13:20,793 --> 01:13:23,529 "Well, they're not doing the same schlocky stuff they used to do before." 1781 01:13:23,596 --> 01:13:25,097 You know, little did I know. (LAUGHS) 1782 01:13:25,164 --> 01:13:27,767 It was a bit of a spoof of Raiders of the Lost Ark. 1783 01:13:29,802 --> 01:13:31,070 (SCREAMING) 1784 01:13:32,805 --> 01:13:34,306 (SCREAMING) 1785 01:13:34,907 --> 01:13:36,542 (EXPLODING) 1786 01:13:36,609 --> 01:13:38,878 You had the sense that if you could think of something funny to do 1787 01:13:38,944 --> 01:13:41,814 that wasn't out of character, do it. 1788 01:13:41,881 --> 01:13:43,115 Surprise! 1789 01:13:43,182 --> 01:13:45,451 Great reflexes, boys. 1790 01:13:45,518 --> 01:13:47,587 PETERSON: It slowly became apparent to me, 1791 01:13:47,653 --> 01:13:49,589 not that slowly, pretty quickly, 1792 01:13:49,655 --> 01:13:54,059 that this was definitely not going to be of the Indiana Jones caliber. 1793 01:13:56,962 --> 01:13:58,498 Quartermain! 1794 01:13:58,564 --> 01:14:00,800 DANIEL: Chamberlain was not Harrison Ford. (GUN FIRING) 1795 01:14:00,866 --> 01:14:02,535 And Sharon Stone, nobody knew who she was. 1796 01:14:02,602 --> 01:14:05,538 AVI: It was a tough time to work with Sharon, 1797 01:14:05,605 --> 01:14:07,973 to a level that none of the crew, 1798 01:14:08,040 --> 01:14:10,175 none of the assistants, none of the make-up, 1799 01:14:10,242 --> 01:14:14,279 none of the people that she worked day-by-day, wanted to work with her. 1800 01:14:14,346 --> 01:14:16,382 (GASPS) I wanna scream! 1801 01:14:16,449 --> 01:14:17,417 She was hated on the set. 1802 01:14:17,483 --> 01:14:19,552 (SCREAMING) 1803 01:14:20,520 --> 01:14:21,754 All the South Africans hated her. 1804 01:14:23,088 --> 01:14:25,057 She took a milk bath, they peed in the water. 1805 01:14:25,124 --> 01:14:28,060 And when she got in the water, she's like, "Ew! Ew!" 1806 01:14:28,127 --> 01:14:30,262 "This water smells so funny." 1807 01:14:30,329 --> 01:14:31,731 (SNICKERING) 1808 01:14:31,797 --> 01:14:35,000 Richard Chamberlain himself could not stand her. 1809 01:14:35,067 --> 01:14:36,301 What's wrong? 1810 01:14:36,368 --> 01:14:40,239 (SIGHS) Sharon's a difficult person to understand. 1811 01:14:40,305 --> 01:14:43,509 She was incredibly beautiful. She's very, very smart, 1812 01:14:43,576 --> 01:14:45,845 and talks about how smart she is a lot. 1813 01:14:45,911 --> 01:14:48,147 NELSON: She should have never done the second movie 1814 01:14:48,213 --> 01:14:50,583 if she had such a bad time on the first one. 1815 01:14:50,650 --> 01:14:52,652 NARRATOR: The odds are against them 1816 01:14:52,718 --> 01:14:55,421 and that's the way they like it! 1817 01:14:55,488 --> 01:14:58,758 (NARRATOR READING) 1818 01:14:58,824 --> 01:15:01,961 I don't know why they would want to do King Solomon's Mines twice, 1819 01:15:02,027 --> 01:15:04,096 'cause the first one wasn't very good to begin with. 1820 01:15:04,163 --> 01:15:05,498 Hold on! 1821 01:15:05,565 --> 01:15:07,399 RICHARD: Well, my first question was, 1822 01:15:07,467 --> 01:15:08,901 "How much money do you think you'll be spending on it?" 1823 01:15:08,968 --> 01:15:10,536 And they said, "Oh, probably $10 million." 1824 01:15:10,603 --> 01:15:13,806 I think they ended up spending about $3.75 on it. 1825 01:15:13,873 --> 01:15:15,875 (SNARLING) (GUN FIRING) 1826 01:15:15,941 --> 01:15:19,411 I signed on as the villainess, Sorais. 1827 01:15:19,479 --> 01:15:21,146 They actually had me in a harness 1828 01:15:21,213 --> 01:15:23,282 and were swinging me over this pit. 1829 01:15:23,348 --> 01:15:25,284 I remember being scared out of my freaking brain, 1830 01:15:25,350 --> 01:15:29,154 thinking, "Why am I doing this and not a stunt person?" 1831 01:15:29,221 --> 01:15:31,290 "Oh, wait a minute. There is no stunt person." 1832 01:15:31,356 --> 01:15:32,424 (BLOWS) 1833 01:15:32,492 --> 01:15:34,527 (SCREAMING) 1834 01:15:34,594 --> 01:15:40,500 Never had contact ever with either Menahem or Yoram until the end of the movie, 1835 01:15:40,566 --> 01:15:43,636 until, um, it was... Judgment day. 1836 01:15:43,703 --> 01:15:45,838 We'd screen a version of the film 1837 01:15:45,905 --> 01:15:48,808 and everybody would turn to the back of the room, where Menahem and Yoram were, 1838 01:15:48,874 --> 01:15:51,010 and they'd wait to see which way the wind was blowing. 1839 01:15:51,076 --> 01:15:53,513 Every once in a while, I heard, "Fakakta director", 1840 01:15:53,579 --> 01:15:56,281 you know, as I figured, you know, I'm the fucking director, you know? 1841 01:15:56,348 --> 01:15:59,519 So, I'm... "That's me. I'm sitting right behind you, you know". 1842 01:15:59,585 --> 01:16:01,453 Then the English would come out. 1843 01:16:01,521 --> 01:16:05,257 "Why are those people all blonde, walking with white pajamas?" 1844 01:16:05,324 --> 01:16:06,425 "What's going on?" 1845 01:16:06,492 --> 01:16:09,461 And, "Oh, my God! Yoram, look!" 1846 01:16:09,529 --> 01:16:12,397 "The queens! Look at those queens!" 1847 01:16:12,464 --> 01:16:14,199 "They're supposed to be ugly!" 1848 01:16:14,266 --> 01:16:18,303 I come to find out that they had gotten my movie confused 1849 01:16:18,370 --> 01:16:21,240 with one that Tobe Hooper was making at the same time. 1850 01:16:21,306 --> 01:16:24,710 He never would admit that he was confused. 1851 01:16:24,777 --> 01:16:27,046 He never said, "Oh, I'm wrong," you know. 1852 01:16:27,112 --> 01:16:29,849 "I'll look at your picture in a different light." No. 1853 01:16:31,150 --> 01:16:34,119 He said, "The picture is un-releasable!" 1854 01:16:34,186 --> 01:16:36,055 I said, "Menahem, please." 1855 01:16:36,121 --> 01:16:39,458 I said, "As I came down the halls to your office", 1856 01:16:39,525 --> 01:16:43,929 "on either side are posters of films that you have done" 1857 01:16:43,996 --> 01:16:47,700 "that are totally un-releasable that you have released!" 1858 01:16:47,767 --> 01:16:49,835 "So don't tell me it's un-releasable." 1859 01:16:49,902 --> 01:16:52,705 MAN: Golan's real dream always was to be a studio. 1860 01:16:52,772 --> 01:16:54,774 They moved out of low-class offices 1861 01:16:54,840 --> 01:16:56,776 and suddenly bought an entire building. 1862 01:16:56,842 --> 01:17:00,379 And had to have security guards with Uzis at the front desk. 1863 01:17:00,445 --> 01:17:01,814 I think there had been death threats. 1864 01:17:01,881 --> 01:17:03,282 "Menahem, there's a bomb threat!" 1865 01:17:03,348 --> 01:17:05,685 "Somebody's gonna blow up the building!" 1866 01:17:05,751 --> 01:17:07,452 (MIMICKING MENAHEM) "Tell them to go fuck themselves!" 1867 01:17:07,519 --> 01:17:10,222 The joke company wasn't such a joke anymore. 1868 01:17:10,289 --> 01:17:12,792 REPORTER: Menahem Golan took time off from his duties 1869 01:17:12,858 --> 01:17:15,294 as chairman of the board of Hollywood's Cannon Films 1870 01:17:15,360 --> 01:17:18,764 to personally produce and direct Delta Force. 1871 01:17:18,831 --> 01:17:20,866 This is a hijack! 1872 01:17:20,933 --> 01:17:25,905 NARRATOR: It's a new age of terror that requires a new breed of warrior. 1873 01:17:25,971 --> 01:17:31,276 MENAHEM: We worked on a screenplay to tell a story of new American heroes, 1874 01:17:31,343 --> 01:17:34,446 tell a story of the real modern American drama. 1875 01:17:34,513 --> 01:17:41,120 This was absolutely a fairytale reaction to a real-life TWA hijacking. 1876 01:17:41,186 --> 01:17:43,155 JAMES: The hostages hadn't been released, 1877 01:17:43,222 --> 01:17:46,692 so he got the idea of sending me to Beirut. 1878 01:17:46,759 --> 01:17:48,293 He was gonna sneak me across the border 1879 01:17:48,360 --> 01:17:50,262 and I was supposed to go to the Beirut airport 1880 01:17:50,329 --> 01:17:52,364 and find out what was going on and report back to him 1881 01:17:52,431 --> 01:17:54,466 so he could come up with an ending for the picture. 1882 01:17:54,533 --> 01:17:58,370 Everybody want to see the American president taking a firm state 1883 01:17:58,437 --> 01:18:03,976 and using whatever he has in America, like the Delta Force, for solutions. 1884 01:18:04,043 --> 01:18:05,778 It's a go. Take 'em down. 1885 01:18:05,845 --> 01:18:08,047 We don't move until the women and children are away and safe. 1886 01:18:08,113 --> 01:18:10,149 SHARON KAHN: This was the happy ending 1887 01:18:10,215 --> 01:18:12,417 that a lot of people felt should have happened. 1888 01:18:12,484 --> 01:18:14,854 (ROCKET FIRING) (EXPLODING) 1889 01:18:14,920 --> 01:18:17,857 It was September in Israel. 1890 01:18:17,923 --> 01:18:20,459 It was the hottest point of the year. 1891 01:18:20,525 --> 01:18:23,328 Way over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in that airplane. 1892 01:18:23,395 --> 01:18:26,866 But Menahem, sweating harder than anybody else in that movie, 1893 01:18:26,932 --> 01:18:30,369 pushing, shoving, making that movie happen and getting his shots, 1894 01:18:30,435 --> 01:18:33,405 and as a director, he was one of the best directors I ever worked for. 1895 01:18:33,472 --> 01:18:37,076 He wasn't afraid to grab the thing and say, "Do it like this!" 1896 01:18:37,142 --> 01:18:40,646 Shelley Winters and Menahem had some rip-roaring fights. 1897 01:18:40,713 --> 01:18:42,481 Sit down! 1898 01:18:42,547 --> 01:18:45,317 "Menahem, I cannot do it! I'm dying!" 1899 01:18:45,384 --> 01:18:48,420 He said, you know, "Do it and then die." 1900 01:18:48,487 --> 01:18:50,322 That's Menahem. 1901 01:18:50,389 --> 01:18:54,526 ALAIN: Every movie he directed always had a cartoonish side. 1902 01:18:54,593 --> 01:18:55,795 (ROCKET FIRING) (EXPLODING) 1903 01:18:55,861 --> 01:18:58,097 Every time I was trying to reduce it, 1904 01:18:58,163 --> 01:19:00,465 he was yelling that I was killing his movie. 1905 01:19:00,532 --> 01:19:01,767 It's an action movie. 1906 01:19:04,269 --> 01:19:06,839 With apologies to the guys who have to play the bad guys, 1907 01:19:06,906 --> 01:19:08,741 somebody's got to carry the flag. 1908 01:19:12,577 --> 01:19:14,847 (ROCKET FIRING) (EXPLODING) 1909 01:19:14,914 --> 01:19:16,682 You cannot hide your head in the sand 1910 01:19:16,749 --> 01:19:18,417 and say there is not violence out there. 1911 01:19:18,483 --> 01:19:20,652 The key point is, how do you deal with violence? 1912 01:19:20,720 --> 01:19:22,321 That's what's important, 1913 01:19:22,387 --> 01:19:23,923 and that's what we try to demonstrate on the screen. 1914 01:19:23,989 --> 01:19:26,525 This, I think, is an exploitation movie 1915 01:19:26,591 --> 01:19:28,627 in the very worst sense of the term, 1916 01:19:28,694 --> 01:19:30,529 blatantly and brainlessly concocted 1917 01:19:30,595 --> 01:19:34,233 to inspire vengeful hatred toward Arabs and Palestinians. 1918 01:19:34,299 --> 01:19:36,201 (ROCKET FIRING) (EXPLODING) 1919 01:19:36,268 --> 01:19:40,205 If you kill Arabs, uh... You have to be politically correct. 1920 01:19:40,272 --> 01:19:42,007 (GUNS FIRING) 1921 01:19:45,577 --> 01:19:48,447 Menahem didn't care about being politically correct. 1922 01:19:48,513 --> 01:19:50,249 (GUN FIRING) 1923 01:19:51,550 --> 01:19:53,719 Sleep tight, sucker. 1924 01:19:53,786 --> 01:19:56,355 REPORTER: To celebrate the move to their new headquarters 1925 01:19:56,421 --> 01:19:58,390 and the opening of Delta Force, 1926 01:19:58,457 --> 01:20:01,126 Golem and Globus invited Hollywood to a black-tie party. 1927 01:20:01,193 --> 01:20:03,763 A black-tie opening for a Chuck Norris film! 1928 01:20:03,829 --> 01:20:06,298 It's gonna be a blockbuster of the century! 1929 01:20:06,365 --> 01:20:09,001 Delighted to see you. Delighted to see you. Okay. 1930 01:20:09,068 --> 01:20:10,836 Dude, it's a Chuck Norris film! 1931 01:20:10,903 --> 01:20:14,039 RUSTY: I remember thinking there's something really wrong 1932 01:20:14,106 --> 01:20:16,141 about putting a party in a parking structure 1933 01:20:16,208 --> 01:20:17,743 where nobody can ever stand up. 1934 01:20:17,810 --> 01:20:20,312 Everybody was kind of, like, leaning. 1935 01:20:20,379 --> 01:20:23,548 And I thought, "This is a bad omen for this company." 1936 01:20:23,615 --> 01:20:28,220 It seemed from that point on that things started getting 1937 01:20:28,287 --> 01:20:29,989 a little, a little dicey at the company. 1938 01:20:30,055 --> 01:20:33,592 Cannon expanded too much too fast. 1939 01:20:33,658 --> 01:20:39,264 We had films going in Asia, Africa, Europe, the United States. 1940 01:20:39,331 --> 01:20:41,000 How can you control it? It's a mess. 1941 01:20:41,066 --> 01:20:42,667 They didn't have the money to make 50 films. 1942 01:20:42,734 --> 01:20:45,938 They're raising it on the next 50 and the next 50. 1943 01:20:46,005 --> 01:20:49,074 They were busy selling and making deals 1944 01:20:49,141 --> 01:20:51,743 in order to keep the company afloat. 1945 01:20:51,811 --> 01:20:56,481 Every Friday, Yoram needed $5 million just to continue. 1946 01:20:56,548 --> 01:21:00,019 MENAHEM: I can't be worried because I'm too busy making the movies 1947 01:21:00,085 --> 01:21:02,788 and I'm so excited and I'm so into it. 1948 01:21:02,855 --> 01:21:05,157 I believe that we know what we are doing 1949 01:21:05,224 --> 01:21:07,827 and I believe that our future is safe. 1950 01:21:07,893 --> 01:21:08,994 Roll camera. 1951 01:21:09,061 --> 01:21:10,562 MAN 1: Mark. MAN 2: Marker! 1952 01:21:10,629 --> 01:21:13,765 Set. And action! 1953 01:21:13,833 --> 01:21:19,839 NARRATOR: David Gardner just woke up to a nightmare in his own backyard. 1954 01:21:19,905 --> 01:21:21,373 But no one will listen. 1955 01:21:21,440 --> 01:21:24,743 And soon, no one will be left. 1956 01:21:24,810 --> 01:21:25,845 Tobe Hooper's... 1957 01:21:25,911 --> 01:21:27,646 (NARRATOR READING) 1958 01:21:27,712 --> 01:21:31,350 TOBE: I wanted to capture, or, I should say, recapture 1959 01:21:31,416 --> 01:21:35,520 those images that literally burned holes in my mind, 1960 01:21:35,587 --> 01:21:38,257 in my imagination and dreams when I was a child. 1961 01:21:38,323 --> 01:21:41,393 I liked the idea of being uptight and paranoid 1962 01:21:41,460 --> 01:21:44,529 to the point where finally you're afraid of your parents 1963 01:21:44,596 --> 01:21:47,399 and where there is really no safe place to go. 1964 01:21:47,466 --> 01:21:49,801 WILLIAM: The tone of the film was off. 1965 01:21:49,869 --> 01:21:53,839 It wasn't as serious as I think it should have been. 1966 01:21:53,906 --> 01:21:55,274 It seemed a little bit silly. 1967 01:21:55,340 --> 01:21:57,809 The film missed really connecting with 1968 01:21:57,877 --> 01:22:01,280 the deep fears people would have in identifying with a child 1969 01:22:01,346 --> 01:22:03,215 who can no longer trust his parents. 1970 01:22:03,282 --> 01:22:04,884 Menahem and Yoram hated the film. 1971 01:22:04,950 --> 01:22:08,253 They really felt personally wounded by what Tobe had done, 1972 01:22:08,320 --> 01:22:12,157 that he had basically sold them on his vision and he didn't deliver on it. 1973 01:22:12,224 --> 01:22:13,959 And I think that really hurt them. 1974 01:22:14,026 --> 01:22:17,429 What got everybody excited about Tobe with Texas Chainsaw, 1975 01:22:17,496 --> 01:22:20,032 which was really kind of a raw experience. 1976 01:22:20,099 --> 01:22:22,301 TOBE: Chainsaw wasn't just a horror film. 1977 01:22:22,367 --> 01:22:24,937 It had a lot of reflection of society. 1978 01:22:25,004 --> 01:22:28,473 It totally changed the genre of horror. 1979 01:22:28,540 --> 01:22:32,011 Cannon wanted Tobe to do a sequel to Chainsaw. 1980 01:22:32,077 --> 01:22:33,645 They wanted it desperately. 1981 01:22:33,712 --> 01:22:37,482 NARRATOR: Now, after more than a decade of silence, 1982 01:22:37,549 --> 01:22:39,184 the buzz is back. 1983 01:22:39,251 --> 01:22:41,186 (CHAINSAW WHIRRING) (SCREAMING) 1984 01:22:42,054 --> 01:22:44,689 I amplified the dark humor. 1985 01:22:44,756 --> 01:22:47,192 I'd felt that that was missed in the first film. 1986 01:22:47,259 --> 01:22:49,328 Bubba's got a girlfriend! 1987 01:22:49,394 --> 01:22:51,030 (SINGSONG) Bubba's got a girlfriend! 1988 01:22:51,096 --> 01:22:53,332 Bubba's got a girlfriend! Bubba's got a girlfriend! 1989 01:22:53,398 --> 01:22:54,833 Bubba's got a girlfriend! (GROWLING AND LAUGHING) 1990 01:22:54,900 --> 01:22:57,502 Some people had been calling it as "red humor". 1991 01:23:00,405 --> 01:23:06,345 Because it also made up for the lack of gore in Chainsaw 1. 1992 01:23:06,411 --> 01:23:08,013 (CHAINSAW WHIRRING) (SCREAMING) 1993 01:23:10,782 --> 01:23:14,053 So, they show it. First time Cannon's seen it. 1994 01:23:15,154 --> 01:23:18,190 Boys, boys, boys. 1995 01:23:18,257 --> 01:23:21,526 It was not what they expected. 1996 01:23:21,593 --> 01:23:24,529 For some reason, Cannon didn't realize it was a comedy. 1997 01:23:24,596 --> 01:23:27,332 The small business man that 1998 01:23:27,399 --> 01:23:30,302 always, always, always gets it in the ass! 1999 01:23:30,369 --> 01:23:32,904 ALAIN: Menahem and Yoram are not very flexible 2000 01:23:32,972 --> 01:23:37,342 and if you sell them a horror picture, they want horror. 2001 01:23:37,409 --> 01:23:41,046 It was a shocker for them to not know what the film was. 2002 01:23:41,113 --> 01:23:42,647 We took the Chainsaw family 2003 01:23:42,714 --> 01:23:46,986 and copied the same poster from The Breakfast Club, 2004 01:23:47,052 --> 01:23:49,654 and it went up on Sunset Boulevard. 2005 01:23:49,721 --> 01:23:52,191 And Cannon didn't know it was a comedy? 2006 01:23:52,257 --> 01:23:55,327 The audience wasn't prepared for the craziness 2007 01:23:55,394 --> 01:23:58,063 or the loony-ness of Chainsaw 2. 2008 01:23:58,830 --> 01:24:00,299 They just wanted a scream. 2009 01:24:00,365 --> 01:24:03,835 And Tobe didn't want to make another screaming movie. 2010 01:24:03,902 --> 01:24:05,204 (CHAINSAW WHIRRING) 2011 01:24:05,270 --> 01:24:08,173 The end of Chainsaw was almost really 2012 01:24:08,240 --> 01:24:10,809 the public beginning of the end for Cannon. 2013 01:24:10,875 --> 01:24:13,878 In October, their accounting practices came under the scrutiny 2014 01:24:13,945 --> 01:24:16,215 of the American Securities and Exchange Commission. 2015 01:24:16,281 --> 01:24:21,186 At this point, the company is not able to continue to operate profitably. 2016 01:24:21,253 --> 01:24:23,655 The movies are not doing well at the box office. 2017 01:24:23,722 --> 01:24:26,058 They have a large amount of what is called 2018 01:24:26,125 --> 01:24:28,060 a selling and administrative expense, 2019 01:24:28,127 --> 01:24:31,296 and now a very heavy interest payment annually 2020 01:24:31,363 --> 01:24:33,098 from all of the bonds and the debt 2021 01:24:33,165 --> 01:24:34,966 that they have taken on to fund themselves. 2022 01:24:35,034 --> 01:24:37,569 Menahem asked Yoram... 2023 01:24:37,636 --> 01:24:40,439 "Why are you so depressed? What's wrong?" 2024 01:24:40,505 --> 01:24:44,209 And Yoram said, "You know, we owe the bank $5 million." 2025 01:24:44,276 --> 01:24:47,046 And Menahem said, "You know why I'm depressed?" 2026 01:24:47,112 --> 01:24:49,181 "Why we owe them only $5 million?" 2027 01:24:49,248 --> 01:24:51,183 "I want to owe them $100 million." 2028 01:24:51,250 --> 01:24:54,986 NARRATOR: Now we're on the horizon of our second decade of success, 2029 01:24:55,054 --> 01:24:59,791 with promising new talent and established box office names. 2030 01:24:59,858 --> 01:25:01,793 We're charged for excitement 2031 01:25:01,860 --> 01:25:05,330 and looking forward to another decade of blockbusters. 2032 01:25:05,397 --> 01:25:07,766 So look to Cannon for the future. 2033 01:25:07,832 --> 01:25:11,270 Cannon Entertainment. We're moving forward. 2034 01:25:11,336 --> 01:25:13,372 When people think we're in financial trouble, 2035 01:25:13,438 --> 01:25:18,143 let's sign a huge actor and announce three big movies, 2036 01:25:18,210 --> 01:25:20,479 and what are they gonna say now? 2037 01:25:20,545 --> 01:25:23,515 Tell me, the Stallone deal, is it completely signed? 2038 01:25:23,582 --> 01:25:28,320 NELSON: He said, "I'm going to direct Sylvester Stallone in this next movie." 2039 01:25:28,387 --> 01:25:29,854 I said, "You're fucking nuts." 2040 01:25:29,921 --> 01:25:33,592 "My client would not work for you for $10 million." 2041 01:25:34,793 --> 01:25:36,728 Menahem said, "How about $12 million?" 2042 01:25:36,795 --> 01:25:41,100 Menahem paid him an unprecedented amount of money. 2043 01:25:41,166 --> 01:25:43,335 $13 million. $15 million. 2044 01:25:43,402 --> 01:25:46,037 $20 million. $25 million. 2045 01:25:46,105 --> 01:25:49,241 Before that, probably the max he'd ever been paid was $4 or $5 million. 2046 01:25:49,308 --> 01:25:52,544 Every other star said, "Yeah. I want that deal." 2047 01:25:52,611 --> 01:25:55,880 Changed the marketplace within the Hollywood community. 2048 01:25:55,947 --> 01:25:58,317 JOHN: Menahem believed that Over The Top 2049 01:25:58,383 --> 01:26:01,686 was gonna be as big as any Rocky or Rambo. 2050 01:26:02,987 --> 01:26:04,556 ENGELBACH: My original script was different 2051 01:26:04,623 --> 01:26:05,990 than the movie that they eventually made. 2052 01:26:06,057 --> 01:26:07,859 It wasn't nearly as dumb. 2053 01:26:07,926 --> 01:26:11,763 NARRATOR: The world has always bet against Lincoln Hawks, 2054 01:26:11,830 --> 01:26:14,766 but a winner never listens to the odds. 2055 01:26:14,833 --> 01:26:17,102 They made it more about truck-driving and arm-wrestling 2056 01:26:17,169 --> 01:26:18,503 than the film should have been. 2057 01:26:18,570 --> 01:26:20,872 Arm-wrestling was a very strange selection. 2058 01:26:20,939 --> 01:26:22,541 (GRUNTS) And it's over! 2059 01:26:22,607 --> 01:26:24,343 (GRUNTING) 2060 01:26:24,409 --> 01:26:25,977 How do you make something like that interesting? 2061 01:26:26,044 --> 01:26:28,313 ROSENTHAL: We're gonna have great action sequences 2062 01:26:28,380 --> 01:26:30,982 where there's gonna be two arms. 2063 01:26:31,049 --> 01:26:33,252 You might as well have somebody talking like this, 2064 01:26:33,318 --> 01:26:36,121 "Hi, Sylvester. How are you?" 2065 01:26:36,188 --> 01:26:38,223 It was definitely unique. And who knows? 2066 01:26:38,290 --> 01:26:42,194 You could have been plagued with 100 arm-wrestling movies after that. (LAUGHS) 2067 01:26:42,261 --> 01:26:44,763 (YELLING) 2068 01:26:44,829 --> 01:26:47,266 At the end of the movie, I had tears in my eyes. 2069 01:26:49,201 --> 01:26:51,069 Menahem patted me on this shoulder. 2070 01:26:51,136 --> 01:26:52,771 He says, "Aha! I got you!" 2071 01:26:52,837 --> 01:26:54,573 (CROWD CHEERING) 2072 01:26:54,639 --> 01:26:56,841 I was crying 'cause I saw my career going down the toilet 2073 01:26:56,908 --> 01:26:59,344 and I didn't know what I was gonna do next. 2074 01:26:59,411 --> 01:27:01,846 ROSENTHAL: Menahem was out of touch with the reality of what was going to be a hit 2075 01:27:01,913 --> 01:27:03,515 and what the audience was going to want. 2076 01:27:03,582 --> 01:27:06,117 Over The Top broadcast this idea of... 2077 01:27:06,185 --> 01:27:09,053 He thinks this is what American kids are gonna love, 2078 01:27:09,120 --> 01:27:10,455 and it was so... 2079 01:27:10,522 --> 01:27:12,324 It was a... You know, he had no ear for it. 2080 01:27:12,391 --> 01:27:16,261 Selling American films to Americans was not, uh... 2081 01:27:16,328 --> 01:27:17,829 Their sweet spot. 2082 01:27:17,896 --> 01:27:21,866 They had certain instincts of where they wanted to go, 2083 01:27:21,933 --> 01:27:24,102 but they didn't quite know how to get there. 2084 01:27:24,169 --> 01:27:28,440 They started diving in and renewing franchises such as Superman. 2085 01:27:28,507 --> 01:27:32,477 Cannon was being touted as, "Look what they did." 2086 01:27:32,544 --> 01:27:35,113 "These two guys have made it to big time." 2087 01:27:35,180 --> 01:27:38,583 JOHN: There's no reason why Superman IV wouldn't do well. 2088 01:27:38,650 --> 01:27:41,019 Probably could have saved Cannon. 2089 01:27:41,085 --> 01:27:42,887 Cured many of the financial woes 2090 01:27:42,954 --> 01:27:45,357 and created acceptance in Hollywood 2091 01:27:45,424 --> 01:27:47,559 that probably would have made them leaders. 2092 01:27:47,626 --> 01:27:49,494 You were rooting for them. 2093 01:27:49,561 --> 01:27:51,396 HARRISON ELLENSHAW: Christopher Reeve did not want to come back, 2094 01:27:51,463 --> 01:27:53,765 but he was seduced by the fact, 2095 01:27:53,832 --> 01:27:56,935 "Chris, what would you like the fourth one to be about?" 2096 01:27:57,001 --> 01:27:58,937 ROSENTHAL: He had this idea, which was essentially, 2097 01:27:59,003 --> 01:28:01,005 what would happen if Superman decided 2098 01:28:01,072 --> 01:28:04,142 he was actually gonna use his powers to stop war? 2099 01:28:04,209 --> 01:28:05,810 Effective immediately, 2100 01:28:05,877 --> 01:28:08,380 I'm going to rid our planet of all nuclear weapons. 2101 01:28:08,447 --> 01:28:10,915 How could it fail? It failed. 2102 01:28:10,982 --> 01:28:14,619 ROSENTHAL: Menahem promised us that we were gonna rise to the Warners' level, 2103 01:28:14,686 --> 01:28:16,688 not do it like a Cannon movie. 2104 01:28:16,755 --> 01:28:18,657 (LAUGHING) And, of course, in the end, we did it like a Cannon movie. 2105 01:28:18,723 --> 01:28:22,527 There was Nuclear Man, a He-Man equal to Superman. 2106 01:28:22,594 --> 01:28:24,463 Sidney Furie says to me, 2107 01:28:24,529 --> 01:28:27,932 "We've found him. We've found Nuclear Man." 2108 01:28:27,999 --> 01:28:31,035 "And he's an ex-Chippendale dancer." 2109 01:28:31,102 --> 01:28:33,071 (ROARING) 2110 01:28:33,137 --> 01:28:37,309 And I'm just trying to behave as the visual effects dweeb 2111 01:28:37,376 --> 01:28:41,012 and going, "Oh, God. We are in so much trouble." 2112 01:28:41,079 --> 01:28:44,283 I, Lex Luthor, the greatest criminal mind of the modern era, 2113 01:28:44,349 --> 01:28:46,351 have discovered a way to destroy Superman. 2114 01:28:46,418 --> 01:28:51,523 Last month, Cannon announced a loss of $90 million for the two years 1985-86. 2115 01:28:51,590 --> 01:28:56,728 REPORTER: By mid-December, Cannon must raise $80 million to pay off a debt in Britain. 2116 01:28:56,795 --> 01:28:59,764 By production of Superman, they were already in freefall. 2117 01:28:59,831 --> 01:29:01,933 All they could do was start to cut the budget. 2118 01:29:02,000 --> 01:29:04,536 DEL VALLE: This was a movie that was supposed to be $30 million, 2119 01:29:04,603 --> 01:29:07,672 and when they start shooting it, it's dropped to 17, 2120 01:29:07,739 --> 01:29:09,674 and it's a special effects movie. 2121 01:29:09,741 --> 01:29:12,176 ELLENSHAW: I said, "Hey, you want him to look like the first one? 2122 01:29:12,243 --> 01:29:13,412 "This is what it's gonna cost." 2123 01:29:13,478 --> 01:29:15,347 (SNORTS) Well, no way! 2124 01:29:15,414 --> 01:29:18,182 It was so cheap and so chintzy-looking and it just didn't look good. 2125 01:29:18,249 --> 01:29:21,219 All the ragged edges of the production were visible. 2126 01:29:21,286 --> 01:29:23,488 ROSENTHAL: They'd pad out the shots. They duplicated. 2127 01:29:23,555 --> 01:29:26,291 It's everything that happens when you don't have enough money for the effects. 2128 01:29:26,358 --> 01:29:28,960 ELLENSHAW: "You're dreadful at what you do, Harrison!" 2129 01:29:29,027 --> 01:29:32,297 "You are a big frickin' failure!" 2130 01:29:33,131 --> 01:29:34,232 Guilty. 2131 01:29:34,299 --> 01:29:35,767 Everybody sort of pointed the finger. 2132 01:29:35,834 --> 01:29:38,269 The finger was really the demise of Cannon. 2133 01:29:38,337 --> 01:29:41,340 MATTHAU: They started to do films with big budgets and take big risks 2134 01:29:41,406 --> 01:29:44,376 and try and compete with the Warner Brothers of the world, 2135 01:29:44,443 --> 01:29:45,944 and that didn't go so well. 2136 01:29:46,010 --> 01:29:47,679 (GROANING) 2137 01:29:47,746 --> 01:29:49,848 They couldn't take on the studio system and they knew it. 2138 01:29:49,914 --> 01:29:53,017 They were trying to get out from underneath, 2139 01:29:53,084 --> 01:29:55,687 and they thought if they got these big mega-pictures 2140 01:29:55,754 --> 01:29:58,857 that they could somehow parlay it into 2141 01:29:58,923 --> 01:30:01,493 not being discovered for the slobs they were. 2142 01:30:01,560 --> 01:30:03,662 If you kept moving fast enough, 2143 01:30:03,728 --> 01:30:05,497 there was always the next movie to be made, 2144 01:30:05,564 --> 01:30:08,266 and the next one was going to be great. 2145 01:30:08,333 --> 01:30:12,371 I have the power! 2146 01:30:12,437 --> 01:30:13,938 Masters was their big shot. 2147 01:30:14,005 --> 01:30:16,040 WILLIAM: They were so excited. 2148 01:30:16,107 --> 01:30:17,509 They could almost taste the money. 2149 01:30:17,576 --> 01:30:19,411 They could almost taste the success. 2150 01:30:19,478 --> 01:30:21,446 GARY: I was trying everything I could to try and make this 2151 01:30:21,513 --> 01:30:23,682 not look, feel, sound like a Cannon movie. 2152 01:30:23,748 --> 01:30:25,784 NARRATOR: At the far end of the universe, 2153 01:30:25,850 --> 01:30:29,388 there is a planet ruled by a being of utter evil... 2154 01:30:29,454 --> 01:30:30,955 (SCREAMING) 2155 01:30:31,022 --> 01:30:34,626 And there is only one man who dares challenge him. 2156 01:30:34,693 --> 01:30:36,528 DOLPH LUNDGREN: It was kind of slightly embarrassing 2157 01:30:36,595 --> 01:30:38,463 to sign on playing a toy, right? 2158 01:30:38,530 --> 01:30:40,899 For me, it was a bit weird, all this stuff. 2159 01:30:40,965 --> 01:30:43,802 The little dwarf with the little key and all of that. 2160 01:30:45,336 --> 01:30:46,705 I felt a little stupid doing it. 2161 01:30:49,474 --> 01:30:51,175 (WEAPON FIRING) 2162 01:30:51,242 --> 01:30:54,012 Sylvester Stallone showed up and he pointed up to Dolph. 2163 01:30:54,078 --> 01:30:56,280 He goes, "You gave that guy lines?" 2164 01:30:56,347 --> 01:30:57,982 This is our fight. 2165 01:30:58,049 --> 01:31:00,051 I don't want innocent people to die. 2166 01:31:00,118 --> 01:31:02,220 The special effect of Skeletor, 2167 01:31:02,286 --> 01:31:04,155 of creating a skeleton head, 2168 01:31:04,222 --> 01:31:06,958 was astronomical and would take an enormous amount of time, 2169 01:31:07,025 --> 01:31:07,959 and they knew that. 2170 01:31:08,026 --> 01:31:09,694 The solution that Cannon came up with 2171 01:31:09,761 --> 01:31:11,930 was to paint a skeleton on Frank Langella's face 2172 01:31:11,996 --> 01:31:13,732 that looked like a Halloween costume 2173 01:31:13,798 --> 01:31:15,434 that a mother made for her child. 2174 01:31:15,500 --> 01:31:17,001 I don't think so. 2175 01:31:17,068 --> 01:31:18,703 I remember just being really happy that we had 2176 01:31:18,770 --> 01:31:22,006 a beginning, a middle and end! (LAUGHS) 2177 01:31:22,073 --> 01:31:23,508 Kneel! 2178 01:31:23,575 --> 01:31:27,579 'Cause at one point, it looked like we weren't gonna have the end. 2179 01:31:27,646 --> 01:31:28,880 GARY: They literally shut me down. 2180 01:31:28,947 --> 01:31:30,882 And I said, "There's no ending to this movie." 2181 01:31:34,453 --> 01:31:36,455 (LAUGHING) I made Frank Langella, this great actor, 2182 01:31:36,521 --> 01:31:39,858 in this skeleton mask get in this bubbling vat of liquid 2183 01:31:39,924 --> 01:31:41,192 so he could pop up and say... 2184 01:31:41,259 --> 01:31:42,561 I'll be back! 2185 01:31:42,627 --> 01:31:44,062 They thought that that picture would play 2186 01:31:44,128 --> 01:31:47,265 to an adult audience, you know, to grown-ups. 2187 01:31:47,331 --> 01:31:49,200 But it didn't. 2188 01:31:49,267 --> 01:31:51,436 Masters Of The Universe was to blame for Masters Of The Universe. 2189 01:31:51,503 --> 01:31:54,539 If it was a great story, if it was funny and moving and exciting, 2190 01:31:54,606 --> 01:31:56,240 people would have flocked to it. 2191 01:31:56,307 --> 01:31:59,343 These pictures, Superman, Masters and Over The Top, 2192 01:31:59,410 --> 01:32:01,112 went off their business model. 2193 01:32:01,179 --> 01:32:04,015 ROSENTHAL: Make low-budget films, wait for one or two to hit big, 2194 01:32:04,082 --> 01:32:06,951 have a huge profit margin, sell them a lot, 2195 01:32:07,018 --> 01:32:09,287 build a library, sell them overseas. 2196 01:32:09,353 --> 01:32:13,892 And Superman is exactly the thing you don't want to do. 2197 01:32:13,958 --> 01:32:15,760 INTERVIEWER: Would you ever make a $30 million movie? 2198 01:32:15,827 --> 01:32:18,763 Never. I don't know what to do with 30 millions. 2199 01:32:18,830 --> 01:32:21,800 I can make 30 movies, maybe, you know? 2200 01:32:21,866 --> 01:32:24,035 But I don't know what to do with 30 millions. 2201 01:32:24,102 --> 01:32:27,205 I mean, I... I'll feel... I'll feel like I'm a criminal 2202 01:32:27,271 --> 01:32:31,242 spending this kind of money on doing one motion picture. 2203 01:32:31,309 --> 01:32:33,144 They were trying to get a little bit 2204 01:32:33,211 --> 01:32:36,915 out of the assembly-line factory process and make better pictures. 2205 01:32:36,981 --> 01:32:39,317 But I think timing and finances just caught up with them. 2206 01:32:39,383 --> 01:32:42,621 REPORTER: The more films Cannon produced, the more its debt grew. 2207 01:32:42,687 --> 01:32:45,056 Cannon have been dispossessing themselves of their assets. 2208 01:32:45,123 --> 01:32:47,225 The Thorn-EMI cinemas, Elstree Studios, 2209 01:32:47,291 --> 01:32:50,529 and a wonderful library of 2,000 films, and they sold those first. 2210 01:32:50,595 --> 01:32:51,796 And now they've sold the studios 2211 01:32:51,863 --> 01:32:54,065 for what they realized for property. 2212 01:32:54,132 --> 01:32:57,068 REPORTER: Plans to build up movie chains, distribution rights around the world 2213 01:32:57,135 --> 01:32:59,403 collapsed under mounting interest payments. 2214 01:32:59,470 --> 01:33:02,607 Cannon are not in the film production business as far as Britain is concerned. 2215 01:33:02,674 --> 01:33:04,175 They're in the property disposal business. 2216 01:33:04,242 --> 01:33:07,946 They didn't look upon it as a reason to stop and pause. 2217 01:33:08,012 --> 01:33:08,913 "Let's keep going." 2218 01:33:08,980 --> 01:33:11,449 They had problems releasing pictures. 2219 01:33:11,516 --> 01:33:13,151 They had problems finishing pictures. 2220 01:33:13,217 --> 01:33:15,954 I'd be on pictures that were relatively simple pictures 2221 01:33:16,020 --> 01:33:19,223 that would take six, eight months to not get finished. 2222 01:33:19,290 --> 01:33:22,393 NARRATOR: An incredible adventure awaits a young girl 2223 01:33:22,460 --> 01:33:25,229 and two brothers with a taste for excitement. 2224 01:33:25,296 --> 01:33:29,067 They will take a journey to a place they never dreamed existed. 2225 01:33:29,133 --> 01:33:32,771 Cannon shutting down almost overnight had a disastrous effect. 2226 01:33:32,837 --> 01:33:35,139 They just basically said, "You're finished." 2227 01:33:35,206 --> 01:33:36,474 Oh, my God. 2228 01:33:36,541 --> 01:33:37,976 RUSTY: The thing about a special effects film 2229 01:33:38,042 --> 01:33:40,144 is that it's like a jigsaw puzzle. 2230 01:33:40,211 --> 01:33:43,281 Imagine every third piece of the puzzle doesn't exist. 2231 01:33:43,347 --> 01:33:45,884 So you end up having a lot of blacks, 2232 01:33:45,950 --> 01:33:47,886 we call them "slugs". 2233 01:33:47,952 --> 01:33:50,989 So, there was all this footage that didn't have the special effects. 2234 01:33:51,055 --> 01:33:53,024 And it's just not releasable without it. 2235 01:33:53,091 --> 01:33:57,495 They just needed to have it finished and delivered for a price. 2236 01:33:57,562 --> 01:34:00,264 They had already spent the money on the advances, 2237 01:34:00,331 --> 01:34:02,400 so they had to deliver a finished film. 2238 01:34:02,466 --> 01:34:05,937 (LAUGHING) "Can you finish this film without special effects?" 2239 01:34:06,671 --> 01:34:08,506 What a question. 2240 01:34:08,573 --> 01:34:10,575 ALBERT: We went in and shot a pretty big chunk of storyline. 2241 01:34:10,642 --> 01:34:13,745 I can't give you words to tell you how heartbreaking it was. 2242 01:34:13,812 --> 01:34:16,114 It was an awkward situation 2243 01:34:16,180 --> 01:34:20,484 that I was very quickly the following year run into with Cyborg. 2244 01:34:20,551 --> 01:34:22,453 (NARRATOR READING) 2245 01:34:22,520 --> 01:34:26,725 NARRATOR: A brutal gang is reshaping the world into their own vision of hell, 2246 01:34:26,791 --> 01:34:28,793 and only one man can stop them. 2247 01:34:28,860 --> 01:34:34,232 I had this idea of a futuristic action movie that would feature Chuck. 2248 01:34:34,298 --> 01:34:36,200 Menahem and Yoram, they talked 2249 01:34:36,267 --> 01:34:37,836 and they said, "Well, you know, we have this other guy 2250 01:34:37,902 --> 01:34:39,537 "that we think is gonna be a big star." 2251 01:34:39,604 --> 01:34:41,105 "We'd like to see him in that part." 2252 01:34:41,172 --> 01:34:43,174 And I said, "Oh, yeah? Who's that?" 2253 01:34:43,241 --> 01:34:46,277 NARRATOR: Jean-Claude Van Damme has become the first hero 2254 01:34:46,344 --> 01:34:47,746 of the 21st century. 2255 01:34:47,812 --> 01:34:49,480 BOAZ: He used to come to our company 2256 01:34:49,547 --> 01:34:51,115 and he used to sit in the lobby. 2257 01:34:51,182 --> 01:34:53,918 He waited, and when Menahem came out of his office, 2258 01:34:53,985 --> 01:34:56,287 he ran up and did a sweeping kick. 2259 01:34:56,354 --> 01:35:00,458 Spinning split kick a quarter-inch from the end of Menahem's nose. 2260 01:35:00,524 --> 01:35:02,526 The very next day, he got a job. 2261 01:35:02,593 --> 01:35:06,397 ALBERT: I think Jean-Claude was more enamored with being a star on the ascent 2262 01:35:06,464 --> 01:35:08,499 than he was being an actor. 2263 01:35:08,566 --> 01:35:10,201 (GRUNTING) 2264 01:35:10,268 --> 01:35:12,103 I think he felt more confident in how he looked, 2265 01:35:12,170 --> 01:35:15,173 'cause as an actor, I don't think he felt secure yet. 2266 01:35:15,239 --> 01:35:17,008 (YELLING) 2267 01:35:17,075 --> 01:35:21,312 My vision was very dark, more of a war film than it was an action-adventure movie. 2268 01:35:21,379 --> 01:35:23,715 (BOTH YELLING) 2269 01:35:23,782 --> 01:35:25,784 LETTICH: It was very uncommercial. 2270 01:35:25,850 --> 01:35:29,688 They took a survey, and out of 100 people that were in the screening, 2271 01:35:29,754 --> 01:35:32,023 one person said that he liked the movie. 2272 01:35:32,090 --> 01:35:33,858 Which is no big surprise, 'cause I don't think 2273 01:35:33,925 --> 01:35:37,762 I ever had a test screening really go very well. 2274 01:35:37,829 --> 01:35:40,564 Yoram was saying, "Look, we've already got this booked in theaters." 2275 01:35:40,631 --> 01:35:41,900 "Just let us release the movie." 2276 01:35:41,966 --> 01:35:44,002 "It's not gonna kill your career." 2277 01:35:44,068 --> 01:35:46,404 And Jean-Claude was saying, "Look, give me two months. Let me recut the movie." 2278 01:35:47,105 --> 01:35:48,740 (GRUNTING) 2279 01:35:48,807 --> 01:35:52,410 We just turned it into more of a conventional action picture. 2280 01:35:52,476 --> 01:35:53,477 (GROANS) 2281 01:35:53,544 --> 01:35:55,213 And that movie worked. 2282 01:35:55,279 --> 01:35:57,716 So we had every right to believe, "I'll get through this. 2283 01:35:57,782 --> 01:35:59,784 "I'll sell this. I'll make some money." 2284 01:35:59,851 --> 01:36:02,821 "I'll sell some foreign rights, I'll get to the next one," 2285 01:36:02,887 --> 01:36:04,555 "and the next one, we're gonna do right." 2286 01:36:04,622 --> 01:36:09,861 That's probably the biggest reason for the Cannon demise. 2287 01:36:09,928 --> 01:36:15,233 Not stopping licking the wounds, getting healed, 2288 01:36:15,299 --> 01:36:17,501 and then starting out with a new slate. 2289 01:36:17,568 --> 01:36:19,603 It just was too much. 2290 01:36:19,670 --> 01:36:22,040 It wasn't, "Is Cannon gonna collapse?" 2291 01:36:22,106 --> 01:36:24,075 It was, "When is Cannon gonna collapse?" 2292 01:36:24,142 --> 01:36:29,413 Globus was more practical and said, you know, "It's one thing to want it, 2293 01:36:29,480 --> 01:36:33,351 "it's another thing to pay for it, even the way we pay," 2294 01:36:33,417 --> 01:36:36,620 uh, and I think it just became untenable. 2295 01:36:36,687 --> 01:36:38,823 Menahem was making too many movies. 2296 01:36:38,890 --> 01:36:41,559 Yoram was buying too many cinema chains. 2297 01:36:41,625 --> 01:36:45,596 And, uh... I don't know where the balance lied between them, 2298 01:36:45,663 --> 01:36:50,068 but I think each guy was very critical of the other. 2299 01:36:50,134 --> 01:36:51,836 The banks didn't want to give them any more money. 2300 01:36:51,903 --> 01:36:55,406 They couldn't repay the money they took because the movies all failed. 2301 01:36:55,473 --> 01:36:57,976 That's when Giancarlo Parretti came in. 2302 01:36:58,042 --> 01:37:00,244 Basically, overnight, Credit Lyonnais said, 2303 01:37:00,311 --> 01:37:02,113 "You've go t new partners." 2304 01:37:02,180 --> 01:37:03,681 CHARLES MATTHAU: You could feel Parretti come in. 2305 01:37:03,748 --> 01:37:05,016 You could feel the company change. 2306 01:37:05,083 --> 01:37:06,517 (WHISPERS) "That's Mr. Parretti." 2307 01:37:06,584 --> 01:37:08,119 "Be very careful around him." 2308 01:37:08,186 --> 01:37:10,288 Menahem and Yoram just wanted to believe 2309 01:37:10,354 --> 01:37:12,490 that this was their white knight savior, 2310 01:37:12,556 --> 01:37:16,027 and ignored all the signs that he was really a raider. 2311 01:37:16,094 --> 01:37:17,762 Parretti was an Italian con man. 2312 01:37:17,829 --> 01:37:20,331 They said that he was maybe associated with the Mafia or something. 2313 01:37:20,398 --> 01:37:22,200 AVI LERNER: Yoram stayed with Parretti 2314 01:37:22,266 --> 01:37:27,005 and Menahem said he is not happy to sell his... 2315 01:37:28,272 --> 01:37:30,341 His, as you say, soul to the devil. 2316 01:37:30,408 --> 01:37:35,346 These two cousins, who worked together for so many years, 2317 01:37:35,980 --> 01:37:38,950 Um... Splitted. 2318 01:37:39,017 --> 01:37:43,121 They had their success and... it ended. 2319 01:37:43,187 --> 01:37:44,755 It was a sad split for us, 2320 01:37:44,823 --> 01:37:47,325 because for us, there was Menahem and there was Yoram, 2321 01:37:47,391 --> 01:37:51,930 but what we all loved about the two of them was the two of them together. 2322 01:37:51,996 --> 01:37:53,131 I stayed with Yoram, 2323 01:37:53,197 --> 01:37:56,700 and I said to Menahem, you know, 2324 01:37:56,767 --> 01:37:58,202 "You're just unmanageable." 2325 01:37:58,269 --> 01:38:01,005 "You know, you shouldn't be running your company." 2326 01:38:01,072 --> 01:38:03,474 And he say, "Just give me the films that I did." 2327 01:38:03,541 --> 01:38:05,009 "I don't want the money." 2328 01:38:05,076 --> 01:38:08,012 I created a new company called the 21st Century. 2329 01:38:08,079 --> 01:38:11,049 I'm coming with new movies, modern movies, 2330 01:38:11,115 --> 01:38:15,586 picture that everybody in this coming decade will want to see. 2331 01:38:15,653 --> 01:38:18,356 He said to me he had just split with Yoram 2332 01:38:18,422 --> 01:38:20,058 and he went... (SPITS) 2333 01:38:20,124 --> 01:38:21,525 And he spit on the floor. 2334 01:38:21,592 --> 01:38:24,395 And they started making these competing movies, 2335 01:38:24,462 --> 01:38:26,230 like two competing lambada movies. 2336 01:38:26,297 --> 01:38:29,067 REPORTER: The lambada dance originated in the 1930s, 2337 01:38:29,133 --> 01:38:30,935 where it was soon banned by the government 2338 01:38:31,002 --> 01:38:32,703 for its sexual overtones. 2339 01:38:32,770 --> 01:38:34,939 What is that? The lambada! 2340 01:38:35,006 --> 01:38:37,775 That was their next great idea as a team, 2341 01:38:37,842 --> 01:38:39,110 and then when they split up, 2342 01:38:39,177 --> 01:38:40,811 it was, who could make that movie faster? 2343 01:38:40,879 --> 01:38:42,413 SHELDON RENAN: Yoram had a script 2344 01:38:42,480 --> 01:38:45,483 and was already into pre-production. 2345 01:38:45,549 --> 01:38:47,651 NARRATOR: A teacher, his student 2346 01:38:47,718 --> 01:38:50,288 and the dance that changed their lives. 2347 01:38:50,354 --> 01:38:52,356 So they were way ahead of Menahem, 2348 01:38:52,423 --> 01:38:54,092 who had to, like, cobble something together. 2349 01:38:54,158 --> 01:38:56,360 We were brought in to write Menahem's version 2350 01:38:56,427 --> 01:38:58,662 as fast as we could, 2351 01:38:58,729 --> 01:39:02,166 because the plan was to get it to theaters before Yoram's. 2352 01:39:02,233 --> 01:39:03,601 (SPITS) 2353 01:39:03,667 --> 01:39:07,471 NARRATOR: Only one dance can turn feeling into fury. 2354 01:39:07,538 --> 01:39:08,606 This crazy, crazy thing, 2355 01:39:08,672 --> 01:39:10,708 that an Indian princess from Brazil 2356 01:39:10,774 --> 01:39:13,544 was going to stop the destruction of the rainforest. 2357 01:39:14,378 --> 01:39:15,379 Stop! 2358 01:39:15,446 --> 01:39:17,315 Johns a particularly fast writer, so I said, 2359 01:39:17,381 --> 01:39:19,717 "We can write it in 10 days." 2360 01:39:19,783 --> 01:39:22,486 They shot in four weeks, we shot in three weeks. 2361 01:39:22,553 --> 01:39:23,988 We were working like crazy 2362 01:39:24,055 --> 01:39:25,990 and they were trying to shoot as much in order as possible 2363 01:39:26,057 --> 01:39:28,526 so they could finish the reels and get the sound effects cut in 2364 01:39:28,592 --> 01:39:30,061 and get them mixed at the same time. 2365 01:39:30,128 --> 01:39:31,429 If we shot on a Monday, 2366 01:39:31,495 --> 01:39:34,232 by Wednesday, we were locking the scenes. 2367 01:39:34,298 --> 01:39:36,300 There was no time to, like, redo anything 2368 01:39:36,367 --> 01:39:39,103 and there was no time to fine-tune anything. 2369 01:39:39,170 --> 01:39:43,207 Somehow, Yoram had managed to get the word lambada. 2370 01:39:43,274 --> 01:39:48,046 We ended up calling it The Forbidden Dance Is Lambada! 2371 01:39:48,112 --> 01:39:49,313 And put Lambada in huge letters 2372 01:39:49,380 --> 01:39:51,082 and put Lambada all over the poster, 2373 01:39:51,149 --> 01:39:54,818 but we had the Lambada song and they didn't. 2374 01:39:54,885 --> 01:39:57,088 * Not so far away. 2375 01:39:57,155 --> 01:39:59,057 We stopped shooting on a Thursday, 2376 01:39:59,123 --> 01:40:00,558 and Monday, we had the answer print. 2377 01:40:00,624 --> 01:40:03,494 We finished shooting Saturday morning at 2:45 a.m., 2378 01:40:03,561 --> 01:40:05,396 and if you ever look at the end of it, 2379 01:40:05,463 --> 01:40:07,365 nobody has any energy left, there's a rainstorm going on, 2380 01:40:07,431 --> 01:40:08,899 and all they're doing is just moving, 2381 01:40:08,967 --> 01:40:10,401 just trying to get the movie done. 2382 01:40:10,468 --> 01:40:12,770 We screened the picture for Columbia, 2383 01:40:12,836 --> 01:40:15,073 and I said, "So, were gonna pick a nice freeze-frame of the two young couple" 2384 01:40:15,139 --> 01:40:17,541 "and were gonna put on a title that says..." 2385 01:40:21,479 --> 01:40:23,247 If you've got something that isn't so good, 2386 01:40:23,314 --> 01:40:25,649 you tack on green ecology to it, 2387 01:40:25,716 --> 01:40:28,352 and that improves the brand. It's called greenwashing. 2388 01:40:28,419 --> 01:40:29,553 After all this, 2389 01:40:29,620 --> 01:40:32,523 the two pictures were released at the same time. 2390 01:40:32,590 --> 01:40:35,193 Limousines from the two groups came to the same theater. 2391 01:40:35,259 --> 01:40:36,794 I don't know that it could happen anywhere. 2392 01:40:36,860 --> 01:40:40,431 It has a surreal quality even for Los Angeles. 2393 01:40:40,498 --> 01:40:41,966 Because the two men had broken up 2394 01:40:42,033 --> 01:40:43,601 and because they made two movies 2395 01:40:43,667 --> 01:40:46,204 with the same title, basically, same theme, 2396 01:40:46,270 --> 01:40:47,871 released on the same day, 2397 01:40:47,938 --> 01:40:49,907 they split the box office in half. 2398 01:40:49,974 --> 01:40:52,543 They were really trying to make this lambada craze 2399 01:40:52,610 --> 01:40:54,545 rather than waiting for the craze 2400 01:40:54,612 --> 01:40:57,181 and then having a movie that was a response to it, 2401 01:40:57,248 --> 01:40:58,449 like the Breakin ' movies. 2402 01:40:58,516 --> 01:41:00,051 Together, they were very successful, 2403 01:41:00,118 --> 01:41:03,054 and alone, it didn't happen the same way. 2404 01:41:03,121 --> 01:41:04,722 It seemed like a lot of people were happy 2405 01:41:04,788 --> 01:41:06,557 to see them go down in flames. 2406 01:41:06,624 --> 01:41:08,926 I don't think there were many grievers, at the end of the day. 2407 01:41:08,993 --> 01:41:10,428 Next! 2408 01:41:10,494 --> 01:41:13,831 I see Miramax now and I think that that's probably 2409 01:41:13,897 --> 01:41:15,133 when they came to the US, 2410 01:41:15,199 --> 01:41:16,634 that's probably what they had in mind. 2411 01:41:16,700 --> 01:41:18,736 They were the forerunners of the Weinstein's. 2412 01:41:18,802 --> 01:41:21,305 The difference is the Weinstein's cared about quality. 2413 01:41:21,372 --> 01:41:23,441 I think that they were the victims of snobbery. 2414 01:41:24,942 --> 01:41:26,577 I think that they were ostracized 2415 01:41:26,644 --> 01:41:29,313 because they didn't have the proper manners. 2416 01:41:29,380 --> 01:41:33,317 There was always that wheeling and dealing, 2417 01:41:33,384 --> 01:41:35,919 and that wheeling and dealing was very much... 2418 01:41:35,986 --> 01:41:38,022 I mean, they were Israelis, 2419 01:41:38,089 --> 01:41:40,291 and they were defined by that culture. 2420 01:41:40,358 --> 01:41:43,327 Menahem, I don't think, was ever thought of 2421 01:41:43,394 --> 01:41:44,528 as a great filmmaker, 2422 01:41:44,595 --> 01:41:46,697 even though his ego was as a filmmaker. 2423 01:41:46,764 --> 01:41:50,434 His spontaneity and flying, you know, sort of blind... 2424 01:41:51,869 --> 01:41:54,038 It's what destroyed the company, 2425 01:41:54,105 --> 01:41:55,406 because he did not think ahead. 2426 01:41:55,473 --> 01:41:56,974 He really just thought with his heart. 2427 01:41:57,041 --> 01:41:59,410 And you can't hate someone who thinks with their heart. 2428 01:41:59,477 --> 01:42:05,249 YIFTACH KATZUR: When I look at Menahem these days, I feel sorry. 2429 01:42:05,316 --> 01:42:06,750 There's a certain sadness about it, 2430 01:42:06,817 --> 01:42:09,620 because it was a man who retreated in defeat. 2431 01:42:09,687 --> 01:42:12,656 I'm sure Menahem would like to still be making movies today, 2432 01:42:12,723 --> 01:42:13,957 because he's a filmmaker. 2433 01:42:14,024 --> 01:42:17,961 It's in his blood. I mean, you can't deny him that. 2434 01:42:18,028 --> 01:42:20,364 Menahem says, "This is top-secret." 2435 01:42:21,565 --> 01:42:22,733 "Two words." 2436 01:42:23,634 --> 01:42:25,303 "Naked Lambada." 2437 01:42:25,369 --> 01:42:26,804 Yoram is probably more comfortable 2438 01:42:26,870 --> 01:42:28,372 not being in that position, 2439 01:42:28,439 --> 01:42:31,041 but Menahem would still be on the set. 2440 01:42:31,109 --> 01:42:33,211 Somebody comes up to Menahem and says, 2441 01:42:33,277 --> 01:42:35,813 "Menahem, did you hear that Yoram has cancer?" 2442 01:42:37,315 --> 01:42:39,183 And he goes... 2443 01:42:39,250 --> 01:42:41,652 "He should never have left me!" 2444 01:42:41,719 --> 01:42:43,387 YIFTACH KATZUR: Look at these guys. 2445 01:42:43,454 --> 01:42:48,159 They touch the sky, the stars, and they are not anymore. 2446 01:42:49,293 --> 01:42:51,262 The legacy is there, but. 2447 01:42:51,329 --> 01:42:53,531 (MUSIC PLAYING) 2448 01:43:29,400 --> 01:43:32,970 And I don't think we can say they were failures. 2449 01:43:33,036 --> 01:43:37,575 Because for a decade plus, they lived an incredible life. 2450 01:43:37,641 --> 01:43:40,211 If you've got all the guts in the world 2451 01:43:40,278 --> 01:43:42,280 and you've got energy and work hard, 2452 01:43:42,346 --> 01:43:44,148 you can make it work, and that's what they did. 2453 01:43:44,215 --> 01:43:46,250 If you look at how many B-movie companies 2454 01:43:46,317 --> 01:43:49,287 have been around in the history of Hollywood, 2455 01:43:49,353 --> 01:43:51,789 almost none of them got to where Menahem got. 2456 01:43:51,855 --> 01:43:54,958 If they had any influence on the industry, it shook 'em up. 2457 01:43:55,025 --> 01:43:56,194 And that's not a bad thing. 2458 01:43:56,260 --> 01:43:57,795 We always said, 2459 01:43:57,861 --> 01:44:00,931 "The best school in the world what not to do is Cannon." 2460 01:44:00,998 --> 01:44:02,566 Avi started 2461 01:44:02,633 --> 01:44:05,703 turning out all these low-budget Cannon-like movies 2462 01:44:05,769 --> 01:44:07,438 with a company called Nu Image. 2463 01:44:07,505 --> 01:44:09,207 JOHN THOMPSON: Nu Image was founded 2464 01:44:09,273 --> 01:44:11,575 by Danny Dimbort and Avi Lerner, 2465 01:44:11,642 --> 01:44:15,413 both with great linkage to the Cannon Group. 2466 01:44:15,479 --> 01:44:18,216 In many ways, we use the Cannon model. 2467 01:44:18,282 --> 01:44:21,452 We learned not to overextend our budgets, 2468 01:44:21,519 --> 01:44:26,224 not to overextend with the acquisition of assets, 2469 01:44:26,290 --> 01:44:29,593 and how to make action pictures. 2470 01:44:29,660 --> 01:44:33,264 The Expendables series. Olympus Has Fallen. 2471 01:44:33,331 --> 01:44:34,898 We have ninja films 2472 01:44:34,965 --> 01:44:39,303 would fit perfectly into the Cannon brochure. 2473 01:44:39,370 --> 01:44:43,173 I think Menahem probably is very proud of this. 2474 01:44:43,241 --> 01:44:45,809 Hollywood today is making Cannon movies, 2475 01:44:45,876 --> 01:44:49,179 bigger Cannon movies with millions and millions, 2476 01:44:49,247 --> 01:44:51,349 but it's making action movies. 2477 01:44:51,415 --> 01:44:54,452 We owe it to those guys. They put a stamp on it. 2478 01:44:54,518 --> 01:44:57,521 The only way you can now pretty much make a movie 2479 01:44:57,588 --> 01:45:00,758 is by having some calculation of presales in them. 2480 01:45:00,824 --> 01:45:02,092 And Cannon did that. 2481 01:45:02,159 --> 01:45:05,062 Good, bad or indifferent, they pioneered that idea. 2482 01:45:05,128 --> 01:45:09,233 KRAFT: Cannons legacy will be the insane stories 2483 01:45:09,300 --> 01:45:11,402 of how that many movies got made 2484 01:45:11,469 --> 01:45:13,604 during a very specific period of time 2485 01:45:13,671 --> 01:45:17,140 by two guys who had no business doing any of it. 2486 01:45:17,207 --> 01:45:19,377 They were definitely leaders 2487 01:45:19,443 --> 01:45:22,380 in the foreign market, in foreign sales 2488 01:45:23,414 --> 01:45:25,516 and in dreams, for sure. 190139

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