The Musical World of Menahem Golan

Okay, back to Cannon Films for a minute. One of the two founders, Menahem Golan, was a producer/director who got his start directing films in Isreal, as well as the 1969 British sexploitation film What's Good for the Goose during his directorial training in England. Upon returning to his homeland, he decided to mount a big-scale musical in the tradition of Fiddler on the Roof; the result was 1974's Kazablan, which was shot in both Hebrew and English versions and was picked up by MGM for international distribution. Future Cannon composer Dov Seltzer (The Ambassador) wrote the music, and while the vocal numbers are pretty standard musical fare (upbeat and moderately catchy), the real standout is three funktastic intstrumentals: "Chassidic Rock," "Getting Dressed Ballet," and especially "Construction Rock Ballet," which could have easily come from a top-rung black action or Bollywood film from the period.

After officially buying Cannon Films from its British founders in 1979, Golan stepped behind the camera again for another colorful, widescreen musical spectacular, this time shot in Germany with a bizarre international cast including newbie Catherine Mary Stewart (Night of the Comet), future BBC staple Grace Kennedy, Joss Ackland (Lethal Weapon 2), and the wonderfully hammy Vladek Sheybal (From Russia with Love) as Mr. Boogalow, a satanic record producer who controls the world of pop culture in the futuristic year of 1994. The end result, The Apple, appalled audiences worldwide with its glam-rock fusion of biblical symbolism, dirty disco, and dieties descending from the sky in pimpmobiles, though it has more recently become a perpetual revival house and midnight movie favorite. The, uh, unique songs are the brainchild of Israeli popster Coby Recht and American composer George S. Clinton (who also appears onscreen as a mind-controlled reporter), later known for much bigger titles like Austin Powers, Wild Things and Mortal Kombat. Xanadu ain't got nothin' on this one, baby.

Kazablan
1. Overture
2. Men Of Respect
3. We Are All Jews
4. Chassidic Rock
5. There's A Place
6. Democracy
7. Construction Rock Ballet
8. Jaffa
9. Hey, What's Up!
10. Rosa, Rosa
11. Kazablan (Get Off My Back)
12. Getting Dressed Ballet
13. Brith Milah Pageant



The Apple
1. BIM
2. Universal Melody
3. Made For Me
4. Showbizness
5. The Apple
6. How To Be A Master
7. Speed
8. Where Has Love Gone
9. Cry For Me
10. Coming
11. I Found Love
12. Child Of Love
13. Creation

Cannon's Warriors

After paying tribute to the much-missed Empire Pictures, it's now time to turn to the undisputed kings of '80s drive-in insanity, Cannon Films. Begun in the 1970s by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, Cannon really hit its stride with a string of action films featuring ninjas, vigilantes, and of course, Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson. One of their weirder outings was the 1983 revenge flick Young Warriors, starring James Van Patten, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Roundtree, Lynda Day George, and a young Linnea Quigley. Best of all, it was directed by the amazing Lawrence D. Foldes, who brought you the cannibal caveman classic Don't Go Near the Park and the Linda Blair actioner Nightforce. The score by Rob Walsh (Revenge of the Ninja) is pretty much perfect '80s action music, with a rousing A-Team-style main theme ("American Youth") guaranteed to make you grin like an idiot and even a sinister version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" thrown in for good measure.