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

This is one that I had been meaning to do on here for a while, and when I mentioned on the podcast that it was available, Sean Malloy from I Must Break This Podcast asked if he could guest on the pod to discuss it, which I thought was a great idea. It was a great conversation, and you can catch that in our archives, episode 166. In addition to us, our friend Mitch at the Video Vacuum has covered this as well.

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films is a documentary by Mark Hartley, he of the great Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! and Machete Maidens Unleashed! He attacks this topic with the same love and attention, giving us the origins of Cannon through their famed production duo Golan and Globus, their rise in the market with actioners led by Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris, and then their downfall. We also get great interviews from names involved, like Albert Pyun, Dolph, Dudikoff, and Sam Firstenberg, who give us interesting insight into how these rebel producers flew too close to the sun, and ultimately fell into the sea.

This is fantastic, Sean and I were in agreement on that. The only complaint we had was we could've used more--like maybe three parts that are each the length this one was. It's one of those rare films where I don't check the slider bar to see how much is left, and when we get to the end, I'm disappointed and want more. It's great seeing and hearing from the big names, like the ones I mentioned above, but then you have people who worked for Cannon at the time, like David Del Valle--who has a great Instagram account, delvallearchives, with a lot of old Hollywood genre content and things from his collection--who gives us insight into things like how Cannon chose films when he was a script reader for them--"I had one pile for Bronson films, and one Norris films." We also get these great stories, like when Golan and Globus worked with Jean-Luc Godard for his King Lear, which is a movie I enjoyed, but hearing the issues behind it made it even better. If you love the movies we love here on the site, this documentary is for you.

This is now the 73rd tag for Dolph, his 72nd film, and his second appearance in a documentary, the other being Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which we reviewed a few years back. It would've been nice to have more of him here, but it kind of makes sense that we don't, because he only did one film for Cannon--which was a big one for sure, but still only one. There was a sense in hearing him discuss it, that he was disappointed with how it turned out, and wasn't comfortable with the production as it was happening. He was riding high from Rocky IV, this was as big as he was going to get, and this felt like the next role to take; but it came out after the toys had fallen out of favor, and while it looked nice for a Cannon film, it was still a Cannon film made on the cheap, and ultimately it was a bust that didn't make its budget back. It starts Dolph down a path that leads to DTV-dom, which was our gain, but unfortunate for him--though he's bounced back somewhat now, getting his redemption while riding a seahorse in Aquaman.

We last saw Michael Dudikoff in 2022 with Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece, so it's been a bit, and probably will be a bit before we see him again. At one time he actually had more tags than Dolph, and he was one of the first that we had the complete DTV filmography of on the site, but he hasn't done much since 2002 so we don't see him as often anymore. Unlike Dolph, who only did the one Cannon film, Dudikoff has a bunch, including the American Ninja series, one of the greatest DTV action franchises ever, and that means he's in this much more. Also unlike Dolph, whose career started downward after his stint with Cannon, for Dudikoff it opened up the world of DTV action that we know him from now. And what a career it was, especially between the first American Ninja and 2002's Stranded, for me it's a top ten DTV action career, and I don't know with the state of DTV action today if anyone will bump him out of the top ten, even if he doesn't do more films. What we get here is the down-to-earth guy we thought he was, which was fun to see, and fun to hear him give us his experience. Truly one of the greats to ever do it.

Albert Pyun was great as well, talking about Cannon and Golan-Globus in general, but also some specific films he worked on with them like Cyborg and Journey to the Center of the Earth--neither great experiences for him. It was a bit melancholy knowing he's no longer with us, but also a reminder that his insights on film were fantastic and always worth hearing--and he was so generous with them in giving us backstory on some of the films we reviewed. This brings us back to the possibility of getting him into the 50 Club, as this is one more in that direction so he's now at 46 films--47 tags because he asked us to review Mean Guns a second time. There are two more films available that he's directed, Cool Air, which I can rent, and The Interrogation of Cheryl Cooper, which I've had trouble finding. Those two would get us to 48, and then he was credited as a producer on Final Examination, making 49. So close. There's also Interstellar Civil War: Shadows of the Empire, which doesn't seem to be available. If it ever were, that would do it.

Finally, with a film like this, there's a question of who to tag and who not to tag. After reviewing Randall Scandal, I made the decision that file footage of an actor in a documentary isn't enough, but if they give an interview filmed specially for the documentary, that counts. The other thing is, are they the subject of the documentary? That's why Golan-Globus are tagged, despite not being interviewed. But that's also why Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson aren't tagged. Had one of the clips of the films had a McDonald's in it, would I have tagged "McDonald's?" I don't know, but I doubt it. For genres like "Ninjas," even though this had clips from ninja films, it wasn't a ninja film per se, so it didn't get that tag. Had someone done an interview in full ninja gear, would I have tagged this "ninjas," or had someone interviewed a shark would I have tagged this "sharks?" Maybe, but I'd have to see it happen first before I could say either way.

And with that, let's wrap this up. Currently you can get this on Tubi here in the States. YouTube also has a great version if you don't get Tubi in your area. This does a great job handling a subject that's near and dear to our hearts, and worth checking out. Also worth checking out is the podcast episode we did with Sean from I Must Break This Podcast, number 166 in the archives.

For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125501

Looking for more action? Check out my short action novel, Bainbridge, and all my other novels, over at my author's page! Click on the image below, go to https://www.matthewpoirierauthor.com/

Vamos a matar, companeros aka Companeros (1970)

The DTVC's first experience with Franco Nero came in Enter the Ninja, when he was known only as The 'Stash. We felt like we needed to redeem him, so we reviewed the Spaghetti Western classic Django, which was so great, we knew we had to revisit him, and we're doing that now with Companeros.

Companeros takes place in a Mexican border town, where Nero plays a Swede visiting so he can sell guns to the local general in power. He runs into some students trying to form a movement against the general in favor of their professor, who is hiding out in Yuma. Turns out the general needs that same professor to give him the code to a safe in town that supposedly has a lot of dough in it. Nero offers to go after him, so the general sends his lieutenant, Tomas Milian, to accompany him. Neither trust each other, but they have to join forces, especially when Jack Palance, a man with an ax to grind against Nero, is hired to bring in the professor too. Everyone's on a collision course to wackiness.



Another great one. Not as good as Django, but up there. It has that The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly feel too it, with a lot of moving parts coming together in a lot of scenarios. Though it's violent, it's also much more off-beat than Django was. Overall, it still had that ultimate element that separates Spaghetti Westerns from American ones-- that feeling of untamed wildness and a world where the one who's best able to take what he or she can from everyone else will prevail; as opposed to lawlessness and chaos being controlled by the hero. The world of Companeros starts feral, and ends feral, and in between the characters through their wits, their might, and their wills, try to stake their claims to their piece, however small or large.

Growing up, the Western was one of the first genres I was introduced to, with my dad watching them frequently. Back then, there was no digital cable, and the cable we had was maybe 30 channels. That meant on weekends, especially Sundays, a lot of the local channels would feature movies all day, usually Westerns. I think, growing up in that environment, I actually turned away from the Western, because I was so used to it, I wanted something new. In my mind it was a claustrophobic genre, with very little possibility for creativity because one was confined in the box of the Old West. Now that I'm older, I see how wrong I was. Take this film for instance. The setting enhances the story, makes it broader in scope, not the other way around. As I said above, Companeros features many moving parts, and one of those is the Old West, adding stress to our heroes' plight, making their jobs even more difficult. But it also allows them a greater freedom of avenues to solve their problems-- the only limit is their creativity and force of will. The Western, when done well, can show the best and worst traits of the human condition, and it was a mistake on my part to not see that sooner.



The 'Stash brings it again, though this time Nero is sporting a massive pair of mutton chops. I'm not sure where I read it, but apparently Nero wasn't happy with his treatment in this movie, saying the director, Sergio Corbucci, focused too much of the film on his co-star, Tomas Milian. Other than the fact Milian gets the girl, I'm not sure I see that, but the important thing was Nero did, and he didn't work with Corbucci again. What was great here was he showed us his comedic side, which was a change of pace from his stoic side, which he displayed in Django. Gotta love Nero... and those mutton chops.

This is the second film we've featured here with Oscar winner Jack Palance, the first being Cyborg 2. In the 60s and 70s he did a lot of foreign films, my personal favorite being his role as the American producer in Contempt. He was also in Corbucci's The Mercenary, which was very similar in plot t0 Companeros. You'd think with the career he had, he'd pop up more often on the DTVC, but if you look at his bio, it's right around the 80s that he gets more theatrical roles, leading up to City Slickers and his Oscar, meaning he spent his time during the age of video in the theater.



I know at the DTVC I'm supposed to focus more on explosions and chase scenes, and less on Corbucci's use of Italian Neo-Realist elements, so I apologize for this digression here. It is interesting that I write a blog on the kinds of movies that I do, when I also enjoy so many on the other end of the spectrum. Here I was last Sunday watching Epicenter and Jean-Luc Goddard's Vivre Sa Vie, which the Criterion Collection just released on DVD. I think what it shows is that for me, people who only watch the former or the latter, are missing out on the full picture. I like that I can watch Companeros and see Corbucci calling on Rosellini's Flowers of St. Francis, but at the same time, I like that I can watch Companeros and see where some of the action and plot elements are the same ones I find in a Peckinpah film like The Wild Bunch, which in turn I find in the great DTV action films of the 80s and 90s. Many of these DTV directors are still artists, and they had people in their craft they looked up to just like the greats like Scorsese, and oddly enough, they often looked up to the same people. See George Lucas and Albert Pyun both looking up to Kurosawa, for instance.

Though I liked Django more, Companeros is still a great time. You can get it on DVD through Netflix, though Anchor Bay Entertainment is the company that released it, and they're renown for letting their properties go out of print, so you may want to get your hands on it sooner rather than later. One thing I can't say is whether or not the film is meant to be seen in Italian with English subtitles, or in English, but I went with the English because Nero spoke in English.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066612/

Django (1966)

For this week's wild card post, I decided to make up for the treatment Franco Nero got in my review of Enter the Ninja. The truth is, he was The Stash for that film, but in Django, he was something else-- a forerunner to the modern action hero, the lone gunman who can tackle seemingly insurmountable odds. So as much as this is an apology review for Franco Nero, it's also a look at one of the greatest influences on the kinds of films we love here at the DTVC.

Django has Nero as the eponymous gunslinger who enters a border town caught in the middle of a struggle between the KKK on one side, and Mexican bandits on the other. He's got a score to settle with the KKK leader, Maj. Jackson, so he starts by killing most of his men. Then he teams with the bandits, raids a Mexican fort for its gold before Maj. Jackson can get it, only to have the bandits try to keep him from his half of the gold. They catch him, crush his hands, and now he's forced to confront the Jackson in that state. Will Django do it?



Obviously this is amazing. There was a 13-minute featurette on the DVD, and it said the movie was banned in various countries for being so gruesome. A guy gets his ear cut off in a manner that is so fake you can see the ear on his head while the bandits shoot him. That's it. Compare that with The Dark Knight, which was rated PG-13 and made hundreds of millions worldwide, and features plenty of carving of bloody smiles, explosions, a gross burnt face. Not only that, but The Dark Knight was an hour longer than Django and actually covered less ground. What's most amazing, is comparing the heroes Batman and Django, because Batman is really cut from that Django mold, but you can see where the new Batman really misses the mark. Nero is smooth, yet vicious and cold-hearted when he needs to be. This new Batman couldn't sit in a bar and in one motion take out five guys without making it look silly-- and that hilarious voice. I still don't get what that was about. They just don't make 'em like Django anymore.

Imdb lists this as a Yojimbo remake, which I think is only partially true. I'm not talking about the film's Italian Neo-Realist influence either, I mean just in overall story. While Sanjuro comes into town with the purpose of playing both sides against each other, Django has a grudge against the Major, and his ultimate goal is to take him out. When he teams up with the bandits, his plans aren't to leave on bad terms, but when they won't let him have his gold, he has to improvise. Yes, it had Yojimbo elements, but to call it a straight up remake leaves something to be desired. Also, in the making of featurette, there's no mention of this being a Yojimbo remake.



Now to Mr. Nero, aka The Stash. I admit I was wrong in not calling more attention to his great work in Django when I poked fun at him for Enter The Ninja. The truth is, a lot of these Westerns, including this one, I saw a long time ago. Growing up, my dad used to watch Westerns all the time, and that was where the bulk of my exposure came from, including Django. What I realize now is at 10 I didn't have the capacity to get these films like I do at 30, plus, advances in technology, especially with unrated DVDs, make the versions of these films better now than the cut, pan-and-scan, (in some cases) dubbed versions I watched on TV.

Of all the myriad sub-genres in cinema, I think none are as fascinating to me as the Spaghetti Western. It not only gives us an idea of how another culture sees us, but it tells us what that culture values over what we value. While our Westerns depict heroes etching out order in an atmosphere of lawlessness, the Italian ones are all about the untamed and uncivilized. I think for them, their world has been a pillar of civilization for centuries before they were born, and to have this other world that's open, perilous, adventurous, with Natives and bandits everywhere, and the man who wins is the man who wants it the most, is probably romantic. We, on the other hand, look at that same world and think "let's get it on the grid, let's throw down a JC Penny, and let's make it safe for families." Our goal is for the Ghost Town to prosper, for the bad elements to be vanquished, and for the Italians, they want the Ghost Town to exist in perpetuity so they can visit and escape the civilization they've always known.



I was not expecting that last paragraph to be as long-winded, so I'll make this one on Italian Neo Realism short. The last scene (which I put the image of above) hit me as something very familiar, and I couldn't figure out what it was. Then, in the featurette, the set designer mentioned being a fan of Roberto Rosellini, and I was like "That's it, Flowers of St. Francis!" There was more than just that scene, it was throughout the film: the mud, the crosses, the buildings. In terms of subject matter, no, this wasn't Italian Neo Realist at all, but in terms of aesthetic, Django had it in spades.

If you haven't seen this, or haven't seen it in a while, throw it on your Netflix queue. The Blue Underground version, which is what I got from Netflix, is great, and you'll love the featurette too. One of my favorite parts of that was finding out the bad guys had hoods because the only extras they could get were ugly people, because another film in the area beat them to all the good looking ones.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060315/

Enter the Ninja (1981)

If you want to look for the genesis of the ninja in American pop culture in the 80s, this is a great place to start, even though this film itself is a little light on the Japanese assassin. It really was the American Ninjas and the ninja films later in this series that started the boom, but that doesn't mean this is any less worthy of a review.

Enter the Ninja is a Golan-Globus film with Franco Nero (from this point on, The Stash) as a Westerner who becomes a ninja, and visits his friend in the Philippines. Beyond the fact the friend looks like a smaller James Caan in The Godfather, he's also having trouble with a local strongman that wants him to sell his huge ranch. His wife loves the ranch, and doesn't want to sell, and The Stash thinks if his friend wants his ranch, that no strongman will take it from him, so he takes out wave upon wave of local toughs. Finally, the corporate dude funding the strongman decides he needs to hire his own ninja, so he employs Shô Kosugi, The Stash's rival from ninja school, to take him down. Do we really see that happening?



This is pretty ridiculous. First off, Kosugi would've made a better lead, and this problem was corrected in Revenge of the Ninja. I agree that it was plenty believable that The Stash could take Kosugi, because everyone fears The Stash, I just would've preferred Kosugi as the hero. Second was the lack of actual ninjas. If you compare this to the American Ninja films, which were chock full of ninjas, it's a disappointment. Finally there's The Stash. How can you not love The Stash? I'd love him more if he was dressed as a ninja more often, or if he was fighting more ninjas, but I'm not sure how much you can blame Enter the Ninja for that, because they were just starting the ninja film paradigm, and they (Golan-Globus) certainly corrected those mistakes in subsequent films.

The Stash has done some other pictures since this one, most notably Die Hard 2. Actually, he's a pretty accomplished Italian actor, more than simply The Stash. Alas, no more ninja films though. As a Westerner donning the ninja gear, he would've totally sucked it it wasn't for that amazing patch of hair on his upper lip. He had nothing going for him compared to a Michael Dudikoff, who was an amazing Caucasian ninja. I would say, though, that he was much better than David Bradley, so he has that in his favor. Here's to you, The Stash.



This has barely any Shô Kosugi, and we know from the beginning that it's only a matter of time before The Stash bests him. If you're someone, like myself, looking to get into more Kosugi, this is not a great place to start. Revenge of the Ninja is more like it. That doesn't mean Kosugi isn't great, just that he doesn't have a great role, which was a bad decision, in my mind, The Stash or no The Stash.

My friend at Movies in the Attic thought the female star, Susan George, was out of her element here, because she's more of a theatrical actress, but I'm not so sure. I thought she was hot, and somehow she eked out a fully rounded, complete character out of the scant material she had. She was at times a spitfire, feisty, hard nosed, and at others scared, emotional, and frustrated. Of course, in an action film, we often don't look for nuance, we want black and white-- if a woman starts out as feisty and tough, when she's kidnapped, bound and gagged, and held at gunpoint, we expect her to be just as defiant, as opposed to being scared, hoping The Stash would save her, which is probably more realistic, even if that realism was coming in that most realistic of mediums, the ninja film. Perhaps my colleague was more right than I originally thought.



I don't really have much for a seventh paragraph, so I thought I'd discuss my favorite ninjas in pop culture, the Mortal Kombat ones. They were really only one ninja and ten color swaps, but they were still cool. They started with two, Scorpion and Sub-Zero, but if you knew what you were doing, you could fight Reptile, a green mix of the two, at the bottom of The Pit. In part two, they added Smoke and Noob Saibot (the last names of the creators spelled backwards). Again, it was all color swaps, and all Smoke and Noob Saibot were were versions of Scorpion. They also had female ninjas, Kitana, Mileena, and Jade. You gotta love female ninjas-- very hot. In the third one all bets were off, as they added robo-ninjas, classic and old versions of Sub-Zero, and more color swaps. I haven't really played anything after part III, though I tried my brother's DC vs. Mortal Kombat game, and the one thing that sucked was the lack of unlockable ninjas, which was for me what made the earlier games great. I think it had Scorpion and Sub-Zero, but that was it. If anyone can kick Superman's ass without Kryptonite, it's a ninja, and they dropped the ball by not including more.

Okay, that was a longer rant than I wanted, but I just got all nostalgic. This might be worth giving a looksee, but don't expect the ninja fest some of the later films were. Also, it's available on Hulu, which was annoying with the random ad insertions (on TV the ads come in natural spots, on Hulu you'd get one in the middle of a sentence), but for a movie like this, it wasn't so bad. Maybe catching this for free is the best option. Also, it's not out on DVD yet. Almost forgot to mention that, so it's either Hulu or VHS.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082332/