Done with the same cheeky'n'breezy tone and nonstop hurtling pace as the blithely trashy exploitation fare its about, director Mark Hartley's hugely enjoyable documentary presents the incredible world wind story of Menaham Golan and Yorum Globus, who were a couple of impudent swindlers from Israel who ruled the roost throughout the gloriously excessive 1980's by specializing in cheerfully crass low-grade schlock made by their company Cannon Films that often clumsily attempted to capitalize on whatever trend was popular at the moment. These guys hit pay dirt with their action films starring either Chuck Norris or Charles Bronson, but ultimately got too big for their britches and sank their own studio thanks to shady financing schemes and blowing massive amounts of cash on such costly flops as Lifeforce, Over the Top (in which star Sylvester Stallone was paid over ten million to play the lead), and Superman IV: Quest for Peace (the effects budget was cut substantially halfway through production and a beefy former Chippendales dancer was cast to portray Superman's nemesis Nuclear Man!).
Not surprisingly, this doc comes loaded not only with lots of nudity and over-the-top violence, but also a wealth of hysterical tales about the wild antics of Golan and Globus: Among the most choice anecdotes are Golan discussing a movie deal with Clyde the orangutan (!), how everyone hated working with Sharon Stone (who was accidentally cast in King Solomon's Mines because Golan said he wanted that Stone woman and the guy who cast her didn't know he was talking about Kathleen Turner of Romancing the Stone fame), Barbet Schroeder threatening to cut off his fingers with a chainsaw if he can't make Barfly the way he wants to, Molly Ringwald not knowing if the character she was playing in King Lear was either alive or dead, Franco Nero having his voice dubbed by another actor for Enter the Ninja, Golan and Globus making two competing lambada pictures in the wake of their acrimonious breakup, Laurene Landon setting fire to her VHS copy of America 3000 to express her disgust over her unhappy experience acting in that flick, director Michael Winner being a total sadist who was a perfect fit for Cannon, Golan and Globus failing to realize that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was intended as a comedy, Bo Derek getting told to make Bolero as explicit as possible, and Just Jaecklin remarking that the infamous Go-Bo boys had probably never read the book Lady Chatterley's Lover. While not everyone interviewed has the nicest things to say about Golan and Globus, almost everybody nonetheless generally admits that their hearts were certainly in the right place even if they possessed more chutzpah and enthusiasm than taste and decorum. It's this latter element of genuine affinity for these two kooky mavericks which in turn makes this documentary a surefire winner.
Not surprisingly, this doc comes loaded not only with lots of nudity and over-the-top violence, but also a wealth of hysterical tales about the wild antics of Golan and Globus: Among the most choice anecdotes are Golan discussing a movie deal with Clyde the orangutan (!), how everyone hated working with Sharon Stone (who was accidentally cast in King Solomon's Mines because Golan said he wanted that Stone woman and the guy who cast her didn't know he was talking about Kathleen Turner of Romancing the Stone fame), Barbet Schroeder threatening to cut off his fingers with a chainsaw if he can't make Barfly the way he wants to, Molly Ringwald not knowing if the character she was playing in King Lear was either alive or dead, Franco Nero having his voice dubbed by another actor for Enter the Ninja, Golan and Globus making two competing lambada pictures in the wake of their acrimonious breakup, Laurene Landon setting fire to her VHS copy of America 3000 to express her disgust over her unhappy experience acting in that flick, director Michael Winner being a total sadist who was a perfect fit for Cannon, Golan and Globus failing to realize that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was intended as a comedy, Bo Derek getting told to make Bolero as explicit as possible, and Just Jaecklin remarking that the infamous Go-Bo boys had probably never read the book Lady Chatterley's Lover. While not everyone interviewed has the nicest things to say about Golan and Globus, almost everybody nonetheless generally admits that their hearts were certainly in the right place even if they possessed more chutzpah and enthusiasm than taste and decorum. It's this latter element of genuine affinity for these two kooky mavericks which in turn makes this documentary a surefire winner.