Gone With or Without fanfare

[Lzcutter]

Along with his cousin, Menahem Golan produced some of the more memorable and some of the schlockiest films of the 1970s and 1980s. He died yesterday while walking with his family.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Legendary filmmaker Menahem Golan, co-founder of The Cannon Group production company and Israeli cinema pioneer, has died. He was 85.

According to multiple Israeli news outlets, Golan lost consciousness while strolling outside his house in the city of Jaffa with family members in the early hours of Friday evening. Ambulances rushed to the scene, and following attempts of more than an hour to resuscitate him, paramedics pronounced him dead.

With cousin and partner Yoram Globus, Golan ran Cannon Films for a decade, releasing more than a dozen films a year in its prime. They bought the ailing company, which was launched in 1967, for $500,000 in 1979 and fueled an appetite for B-films that was created by the invention of the VCR. For a time, Cannon was on the brink of becoming the seventh Hollywood “major” studio.

"I'm in complete and utter shock; I cannot come to grips with the news", Globus told THR from his home in Tel Aviv.

“Menahem lived, breathed and ate cinema, and he is undoubtedly a founding member of the Israeli cinematic landscape, locally and all of its appeal internationally,” he added. “We both managed to make our mark in Hollywood in our years working there and had the great fortune in life to make a living from our one and only hobby — not something that a lot of people get to do.”
Golan produced more than 200 films including the action hits The Delta Force (1986) starring Chuck Norris and the Death Wish sequels toplined by Charles Bronson.

He also produced such high-octane fare as Missing in Action (1984), also starring Norris, and its sequels; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986); the lightly regarded Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), which effectively disabled the franchise for years; Masters of The Universe (1987), starring Dolph Lundgren; and Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Bloodsport (1988).

In the documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, which played this month at the Melbourne International Film Festival, THR critic David Rooney noted that music supervisor Richard Kraft likened the Cannon product pipeline to bowel movements dumped onto the international market with scant concern for quality or plot coherence: “You flush it. You make another one.”

Cannon, though, also was behind much loftier fare, like John Cassavetes’ Love Streams (1984), which won Berlin’s Golden Bear, Robert Altman’s Fool for Love (1985), Franco Zefferelli's Otello (1986), Jean-Luc Godard's King Lear (1987) and Barbet Schroeder’s Barfly (1987).

For more:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/m ... ion-724260

[moira finnie]

Gee, Lynn, I can't remember seeing an obit with so much disdain for the subject before. Given Mr. Golan's track record for producing profitable action stuff with an international appeal to illiterates everywhere, I sort of suspect that he would have enjoyed this, in a strange way.

He and his cousin helped a lot of actors to pay their mortgages, which should also be noted in the man's passing, (though I remember reading once that Yul Brynner insisted on cash payment every day he worked for them...he was no fool, and the story may have been apocryphal, but it's still a good story).

[RedRiver]

I'm surprised there's no mention of RUNAWAY TRAIN. That movie is not a classic, but it's a solid, exciting thriller, and doesn't insult the intelligence. It was nominated for Best Picture. That fact was ridiculed by some, but that attitude reeked of snobbery. One of the cousins, I don't remember which one, laughed that off on an interview program, claiming their entertaining work had as much right to such recognition as anything else. In fact, he suggested it should win!

[moira finnie]

I'm surprised there's no mention of RUNAWAY TRAIN. That movie is not a classic, but it's a solid, exciting thriller, and doesn't insult the intelligence. It was nominated for Best Picture. That fact was ridiculed by some, but that attitude reeked of snobbery. One of the cousins, I don't remember which one, laughed that off on an interview program, claiming their entertaining work had as much right to such recognition as anything else. In fact, he suggested it should win!

You're right, Konchalovskiy's Runaway Train (1985) was very engaging and should have been mentioned.

[movieman1957]

Robin Williams has died. According to a medical examiner he committed suicide. He had been battling depression and had been in a rehab center to help maintain his sobriety.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/r ... ide-724724

[Professional Tourist]

Here is Mr. Williams' obituary at the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/12/movie ... at-63.html

[sandykaypax]

I am so saddened by the death of Robin Williams. What an incredibly talented actor. My favorite performances of his are in Dead Poets' Society, Good Morning Vietnam, The Birdcage, Mrs. Doubtfire, and One Hour Photo. But, really, I can't think of any performance of his that isn't stellar, even in less than stellar films. I loved his stand-up back in the day, as well. Probably the most gifted improviser that ever was.

Rest in peace, Robin Williams

Sandy K

[moira finnie]

Even when Robin Williams talked about some of the pain in his life, he could make me laugh and feel for him simultaneously. I think he tried so hard to make the world better. May he rest in peace...and perhaps visit again with his friend Christopher Reeve in some place where both can be whole and happy and free. I am so sad for his family and friends. And the rest of us.

[Lzcutter]

I am terribly saddened by this news. While I have enjoyed Williams' comedies and comedy specials, I especially loved him in The Fisher King, Good Will Hunting and Dead Poet's Society.

He managed to overcome so many demons, I thought he would enjoy a long life.

I am so sad to have been wrong.

PS: Found this and it brought a smile to my face:

[youtube][/youtube]

[Lomm]

Crushing news about Robin Williams death. Very sad.

[Western Guy]

Robin filmed scenes for his movie THE BIG WHITE in a small shopping mall not far from where I live in Winnipeg. While I never met or saw him, I'd heard from people involved in the production that Robin was kind and considerate to everyone, obliging with autographs and posing for photos. Just a genuinely nice guy.

God grant him peace.

[RedRiver]

This is sad beyond words. When the cause of death is a heart attack or a car accident, I don't get all that upset. But for someone that funny to be so unhappy. Heartbreaking. The news brought me to tears. That almost never happens.

[pvitari]

I was in Vancouver around 1994 and a guy I knew who did improv and sketch comedy and TV told me to stop by the club where he was at one night. So a pal and I went and sat close to the stage. The guy I knew was the emcee for the evening, and he was thrilled to announce that Robin Williams, who was in Vancouver filming Jumanji, had shown up that night and he would participate in the improv skits. Well, I never laughed so hard that night except maybe watching a Robin Williams movie. He gave us two hours of sheer sustained comic brilliance and it was AMAZING. He especially had fun with the group of Mounties, who really all looked like the cliched Royal Canadian Mountie should look -- young, handsome and extraordinarily clean-cut. However, Williams' comedy that night often veered into the X-rated -- hilariously x-rated, that is. There was a skit about ice fishing, the fishing line and one's private parts that had us rolling on the floor. It was an incredibly fortuitous stroke -- the comedy guy I knew told me that Robin would drive around looking at the comedy clubs and if he saw a big line in front, he'd drive on, because he didn't want to appear at any club where it was rumored he was appearing and people were coming just for him.

What a performer, what a human being... he gave so much of himself to keep us happy. His latest (already cancelled) sitcom, The Crazy Ones, was a hoot too -- it deserved more than one season, though I don't know if it could have gone on without him.

He was a great dramatic actor too and some of my favorite Robin Williams performances are the ones where he was most subdued and buttoned-down.

[sandykaypax]

Paula, what a wonderful story. Robin Williams was here in Cleveland in 2009 for heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Everyone here who met him has nothing but good things to say about him. The words that keep coming up are "kind" and "generous". What a loss.

Sandy K

[ChiO]

If I were the emcee on Improv Night in the Great Beyond, I have no idea who I have have opening among Lenny Bruce, Andy Kaufman, Jonathan Winters and Richard Pryor.

But I do know that, for their benefit, I'd have Robin Williams closing because otherwise the audience would have no energy left for them.