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The Go Go Boys:
Menahem Golan and Yoran Globus
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A CANNON-BURY TALE
“Hollywood Thou art {Jenny} Craven”
Once upon a time in
a make-believe land that time forgot (try 1980’s Hollywood)
there existed a film company that brazenly dreamt without guilt or shame of
riches and fame as the seventh major studio in a self conscious tinsel town
that was only just aware of six. This ambitious company had already
reinvented itself once without the butterfly effect.
The company’s new
moguls now made it their top priority to make the pilgrimage every year
amidst much media fanfare to the French Rivera, lusting openly for the
highly sought after prize - The PALM d’OR - awarded at the legendary Cannes
film festival. (think of it as a modern equivalent of a literary pilgrimage
to Canterbury, in a far less lofty, yet seemingly enlightened ritual of
show business - the naming of the best in Cinema by your peers or the
media).
These men spared no
expense in throwing the company money around at the festival; they took out
lavish ads for films being made or about to be made. (Even films that they
were “thinking about” making in the near future were given ads and poster
art). The parties at the Carleton Hotel for Stallone, Faye Dunaway or
Sharon Stone were legendary, even by Cannes standards of dolce vita. At the
end of the day it is still the money that talks, and the boys seemed to
have plenty of that to go around, so for the moment the go go boys were the
golden boys, with the Mediterranean sun as their spotlight and a Hollywood
complex for a stage.
This force of
nature, known throughout the then-current entertainment industry as THE
CANNON FILM GROUP, was being obsessively ruled by a pair of cheerfully
schizoid moguls - Menahem Golan and Yorum Globus - nicknamed the “the Go Go
boys”. They were cousins who came into this wildly cinematic version
of Chaucer from Israel with both their curly heads high in the clouds
dreaming of those hundred-million-dollar three- picture deals and, of
course, THE MOVIES
These go go boys
lived and breathed movies in much the same obsessive manner that the
self-styled moguls of old Hollywood did, and that made them charming to the
locals and, more importantly, to the press. I had already become very aware
of THE CANNON FILM GROUP and their shenanigans, thanks to my friend Martine
Beswicke. Martine had been cast as the infamous “Happy Hooker” when
Cannon picked up the franchise with their latest installment, THE HAPPY
HOOKER GOES HOLLYWOOD. Martine signed on for an R rated film and
quickly found herself in what amounted to a soft-core sex film. As soon as
she would leave the set the producers would bring in girls from the porn
industry to do simulated sex scenes that would certainly give the film an X
certificate and compromise Martine’s reputation, which at the time was that
of one of the James Bond girls, as well as her fame as a Hammer Horror
Queen. She had to stand her ground with these sleaze merchants and
make them honor their original agreement.
The film did little
or nothing for Martine’s career or the reputation of the CANNON GROUP who
already had most of the Hollywood insiders’ tongues wagging about this
renegade film company that had just made 23 films in one year, some of them
not that bad considering the lack of taste or discrimination the company
was becoming known for.
They produced
critical favorites like RUNAWAY TRAIN and BARFLY, as well as the Cassevetes
“art” film LOVE STREAMS. This open-check-book approach also attracted
directors like Roman Polanski, John Huston, and even the iconic darling of
the French new wave, Godard, to their banner, allowing a truly eclectic
series of films to be made that would never have seen the light of day in
today’s film market.
Of course now, in
the light of the new century, when THE CANNON FILM GROUP legacy is avidly
discussed by film buffs that were not even born when the catalogue was new,
thanks in part to their films being available on home video and DVD, it is
usually the action flicks that are synonymous with the company’s reputation.
After all they brought Charles Bronson’s DEATH WISH franchise out of moth
balls, and gave Sly Stallone the world’s first arm wrestling father and son
bonding flick, OVER THE TOP, the title of which sums up Sly’s star
performance in the production as well. Stallone was at the time paid an
outrageous salary for this turkey, which also signaled to most Hollywood
insiders the starting point of the long downward slide of the CANNON GROUP
into bankruptcy by the end of the decade.
They created new
action stars like Michael Dudikoff, Chuck Norris and the “muscles from
Brussels” himself, the decidedly short but altogether hunky Jean Claude Van
Damme (who, as the legend goes, was discovered by Menahem Golan one
afternoon when the then out-of-work actor, who was moonlighting as a pizza
delivery boy, brought a pizza up to the executive office and then waited
for Golan to leave his office whereupon Jean Claude risked all to deliver
more than a pizza - he placed a karate kick right over the mogul’s
head without touching so much as a hair. This bit of showmanship so
impressed Golan that he placed Jean Claude under contract and the rest, as
they say, is history). The offices of THE CANNON FILM GROUP were
never boring; you could always count on at least one screaming match
between talent and their producers before lunch. All the staff
basically hated the people they had to work for, making for a colorful
environment to say the least. I will never forget walking off the
elevator on the floor where the executive offices were located, only to see
two Israeli guards, both armed with machine guns, standing on either side
of the door leading into their offices. This was one reason I was
glad not to have ever had to work within the building itself. The good
news being no incident was ever reported during the time the company was
there.
Now my working
connection to this infamous company arrived in the guise of the British
screenwriter Michael Armstrong, who lived with me during this timeline,
introducing me in turn to a producer he worked with at CANNON named Jenny
Craven. These two eccentric personalities both arrived in Hollywood
from the UK. My further recollections of Mike can be found in the
‘Marked by the Devil’ chapter in this collection. Every one of the
personalities I would meet during this period came to remind me of the
equally colorful characters one would encounter in the slightly more
classical world of Chaucer’s CANTERBURY TALES. Jenny would be the “Wife of
Bath” who, instead of being an authority on marriage, would concentrate on
her prowess of as a film producer instead.
Jenny Craven can
best be described as a comfortably neurotic woman with a terrific sense of
survival that was constantly being undermined by being let down by those
upon whom she had come to depend both personally and professionally.
I would fall into both these categories in about 12 month’s time, but I am
getting slightly ahead of myself
Both Jenny and
Michael had enjoyed a working relationship with CANNON FILMS in the UK,
Mike as a screenwriter on HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS [1981] and Jenny as one
of the producers of Mike’s film as well as the1985 Agatha Christie
adaptation ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE. It is a known fact that
once you begin to work in this industry behind the camera it is almost
impossible to give up the notion that this is where you belong, and your
mind cannot cope with anything less. Sadly, both Jenny and especially
Mike had to suffer their time in the thankless purgatory of development
Hell until friends and family of the suffering duo finally broke through
the “I am just one deal away from major mega success” -induced coma to the
reality of just getting on with your life and leaving Hollywood forever.
Jenny felt that by
being favored by Menahem (who seemed to listen to her judgments from time
to time with Fatherly remarks like “Now Jenny, do you really think so?”)
she was now officially anointed “Producer,” and anyone not recognizing this
fact would be sent packing from her circle. Mike brought her around to
my place for one of our many parties during his time with me. Jenny
and Mike had their differences and fought most of the time over her
involvement in HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS, which she apparently ruined by
allowing director Pete Walker to remove footage that destroyed the pace of
the film, yet she and I connected that year and became a team both out of
respect as well as from a mutual need to be part of the industry.
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April Ashley
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Jenny had been
staying off and on with a couple of English friends when she first arrived
in LA. One of the most memorable as well as outrageous of her friends
proved to be to be the incomparable April Ashley who was living down the
lane from Jenny, off Havenhurst Dr. in the West Hollywood area. We first
met over cocktails at my friend Isobel Gray’s cottage, which was down the
lane from the one shared by April. I was captivated from day one although
both warned me that “April was in crisis mode so be prepared for
anything”. Regardless, April Ashley is an original and well worth the
effort, whatever that might be, and as I came to know her there was no one
more loyal and steadfast a friend.
April had been the
toast of London café society, even becoming engaged to a peer of the realm,
Lord Rowallan, when it was discovered that April was born a MAN.
Since transsexuals were not that much in the news in 1961, April became the
most notorious Englishman since Oscar Wilde. April lived life to the
fullest and, when sober, looked and acted just like Vivian Leigh, with a
voice to match. And, to her credit, she remained a lady of regal
bearing regardless of circumstance. April had been one of London’s top
models when the scandal broke regarding her sexuality, the affects of which
even removed her screen credit from THE ROAD TO HONG KONG with Crosby and
Hope. April remained a pop culture personality to be reckoned with
throughout the next three decades, having opened the infamous supper club
AD8 in London, which had a spectacular opening with pop stars and royalty,
to her exile from society and her return to Hollywood. April was
instantly welcomed into my life and we have remained friends to this day,
although I have not seen her in at least five years. She now resides
in San Diego, having just celebrated her 70th birthday. Jenny had wanted to
make a film of her life. I wish now she had pursued that with Menahem
instead of going down that rabbit hole with her rock-and-roll Alice.
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Jenny Craven, Cannon Producer, with David del Valle at a Party
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And now that Jenny
Craven decided to give Hollywood a proper bash she would require a place of
her own. The ideal flat would be quiet enough for writing and yet
close enough to town to entertain without driving one’s brains out.
One of the most difficult as well as unpleasant tasks in Los Angeles has to
be looking for a place to live. In Jenny’s case double that…we began a two
week search that was turning up zero until one afternoon we happened to be
near Venice and felt the need of a cocktail followed by some lunch. Our
regular place was the ever-popular ROSE CAFÉ, a landmark in Venice and a
great place to hang out anytime. On this particular occasion I
happened to be reading the local paper, a little two-page handout for the
Venice beach area. There on the two-column rental section was an ad
that read “world’s smallest house for rent> only the special need
apply.” I immediately knew this was Jenny’s new abode, so this
optimism lead us straight over to what can only be described as “the
smallest house at least in Venice, if not the state of California.”
The tiny cottage was sitting behind a large house on a quiet street. The
cottage was charming and yes... very small. The bathroom had an
antique tub with lion’s head legs, and the kitchen had a built-in breakfast
nook... Jenny loved the place on sight, and within minutes we were in the
lavish living room of the owners of the smallest house in the world, who
also happened to live three houses down from the cottage. The owners
were two very nice twenty-something gay guys who both had worked in films,
so the vibes were on target for all concerned. Jenny had great
rapport with most gay men, unless she felt they were not “getting” her;
then it could be dicey. If this whole episode of house hunting did
nothing else, it helped bond the two of us into very close friends, and I
am pleased to say we both needed this to happen at that point in
time. Jenny Craven was now a part of the passing parade, as Hollywood
was about to find out for better or worse...
Jenny was hard at
work in those days on a screenplay (who isn’t in Hollywood?), which turned
out to be a hard rock version of Alice in Wonderland. She decided early on
that the best way to finance the film would be to secure the rights to
several tunes that would constitute the soundtrack. Jenny was a
marvel to behold when it came to tracking her prey for this project.
She secured for a time the services or at least the council of the great
Andy Summers, the English guitarist and composer formally of the mega band
THE POLICE. Andy had just remarried his wife Kate that year and was
currently scoring films like DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS and the less
than stellar 2010.
Jenny felt a certain expertise with the music scene, primarily from her
last experience as a film producer on ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE. On that
production she managed to secure the services singled-handedly (her
opinion) of the highly respected jazz musicians THE DAVE BRUBECK
QUARTET. The first choice for scoring this quaint English village
mystery was the equally noted composer Pino Donaggio. Jenny as producer
rejected Pino in favor of a rather, to say the least, unorthodox jazz
score. The film was not a major success upon release and many felt
the score, however fine, was just not the right one for an Agatha Christie
whodunit.
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Billy Idol
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My time with Jenny
would now consist of trekking down to the seedy clubs on the sunset strip
(especially the toilet that later became THE VIPER ROOM a decade later) to
hear groups with names like “Chuck E. Weiss and the Godamn liars,”
that she was considering for the film’s soundtrack. Sometimes with
Andy in tow, and most of the time without, this is where I would come into
play as a supportive element to this project. The most memorable
encounter we would have with a rock star had to be Billy Idol. Jenny had
tracked the hard-rocking as well as hard-living musician until he agreed to
read her screenplay. Jenny kept calling Billy after about a week,
wanting some kind of commitment as his name would certainly help in
securing even higher end talent, or so she hoped. After a few more
calls we were told Billy Idol was coming to her tiny place in Venice to
drop off the script and give her some kind of answer. We were sitting
by the front room window watching for his entourage to arrive when all at once
the unmistakable sound of motorcycles filled the air as a trio of bikers
descended on her street... Billy Idol in full leather gear was the first to
park his bike. As he was walking up stone steps to the front door, he
suddenly turned away to walk over to where the clothes lines were still
hanging, somewhat full of wet clothes, Billy then made his way over by the
back fence where he unzipped his fly, taking a beer-sized piss, all the
while talking to himself with lines like “Oh, yeah man, that’s it now,
baby…etc.”
Unfortunately it
was just not the right day for a “white wedding” since Billy, as it turned
out, did not feel the project right for him. He was looking to star
in a film rather than do a tune for one. So without too much fanfare Billy
Idol departed the smallest house in the world quicker than it took him to
take a leak. Jenny and I sat there afterwards and pondered an image
from his last album, “too much flesh and not enough fantasy,” for our
albino rocker Billy as Jenny dubbed him thereafter.
After this Jenny
would become artistically involved with actor Paul Sand who was fascinated
by her, having overheard one of Jenny’s conversations while having lunch at
the Rose Café one morning. Soon Paul was part of our group. Paul is a
very talented actor and writer who also happens to be crazy. One of
our favorite pastimes when discussing him was trying to figure out if he
really knew he was gay or was just simply too eccentric to figure that out
for himself. I found out months later that my friend Barbara Steele had
almost the very same encounter with Paul. They also met in a coffee house
in Venice, a couple of years before Jenny and I met him, and once again
Paul was fascinated with Barbara and they went thought the motions of going
out together but her ‘gaydar’ remains flawless and she soon tired of the
charade, which is a loss for them both as Paul Sand is a hoot and deserves
a place at anyone’s table, even as a cardboard faux Casanova.
While Jenny focused
more and more on getting her script made, my situation at home was getting
rather desperate. Michael and I were both low on funds and he was in
no position to help with the monthly bills, even through he was well into
his fifth month as my most unlikely roommate. This is where Jenny proved to
be aces once again. She advised us to get over to CANNON ASAP while she put
in a call to Chris Pierce, who was then in charge of developing project for
the company, to give Mike and I scripts to read on a weekly basis at $35 a
go. This proved to be a life-saver, so Michael Armstrong and I
officially became script readers for THE CANNON GROUP. Every week we
would receive at least 12 scripts to read, which worked out to six apiece.
We were advised to make two sections - one for projects suitable for
Charles Bronson, and the other for Chuck Norris (Chris once repeated the
slogan for a Norris picture at Cannon “It has to be 100% GRADE A
CHUCK”). While a lot of what we would get very easily could be done
by either one of them, occasionally something really good would come
through (I remember one in particular by Rospo Pallenberg), but of course
these films would never get made. I remember how much Mike and I
laughed over seeing what Cannon was up to. One day we drove over to drop
off our 12 scripts for the week, only to see a giant billboard on top of
the roof at the CANNON offices below La Cineiga which declared: CHARLES
BRONSON - soon to be seen as THE GOLEM.
 This film of course never
happened, but you know what, if they had put old Charlie in monster
make-up, it could not have been any worse than, say, THE APPLE or MASTERS
OF THE UNIVERSE. My favorite recollection of this film has to be
running into that (“Actors actor” of the little people’), the ubiquitous
Billy Barty, in the front lobby at Cannon. Barty had a substantial
role in MASTERS. Billy, whose career went all the back to THE WIZARD OF OZ,
said to me “Yeah this is a blockbuster all right, we spent four hours
yesterday waiting for HE-MAN to get out of make-up. He had this giant
boil on his ass and the make-up guys had a time covering it up. You
know his costume is such that his ass is hanging out of it 24/7, but the
guy is built, no doubt about that. Did you see that broad he’s livin’
with…what’s her name? Oh yeah, Grace Jones. Man, they ought to take
the camera’s over to their place and make a real movie.” Billy was, if
nothing else, candid in his observations.
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Billy Barty from Masters of the Universe
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Michael Armstrong
had worked for a few weeks on the $30 million dollar LIFEFORCE for Cannon
just before coming to the States, and told countless stories of just how
out of control director Tobe Hooper was at that time. Tobe had made three
pictures for Cannon, all of them bombs, and was still reeling somewhat from
all the rumors of just WHO directed POLTERGEST, which remains Tobe Hooper’s
only post-TEXAS CHAINSAW hit to this day. Mike described miles of film
being shot every day, so that no editor could make any sense out of what
was being shot on any given day. By the time Mike left, the film was
hopelessly over budget. Upon release, LIFEFORCE barely made back 10 million
worldwide. That and his other films for Cannon like the tired remake of
INVADERS FROM MARS and the very unintentional funny CHAINSAW sequel with
Dennis Hopper certainly helped bring the company to its knees by the time
the dust settled on both Hooper’s career and Cannon’s ability to survive.
The go go boys both
openly admired Roger Corman, and yet learned nothing from him about
following and marketing trends, or about survival in the film business,
even though one of them actually worked for Roger when he first arrived
from Israel. Why they embarked on genre projects like PIRATES that
were out of favor with the public, or fads like the Lambada craze months
after it was over and done with in America, remains a mystery. They
made MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE two whole years after the popularity of the
comic was stone cold dead, yet they sunk millions into what Yoram was
calling “The new STAR WARS.” This kind of thing did not endear them
to the shareholders or the banks that lent them money.
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Billy Barty
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There are literally
hundreds of similar stories regarding CANNON GROUP, yet looking back now
with the vision and clarity of time, there is still much to recommend the
efforts they made in allowing all types of films to come into being, some
perhaps not so worthy, but in this brave new world of bad being
so-bad-it-is-good, then CANNON FILMS is right up there with such
now-revered companies as AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES, REPUBLIC
PICTURES, as well as their British counterparts like TIGON PICTURES and THE
AMICUS COMPANY. The CANNON legacy is a rich one and it can be said
with some authority that we will not see their like again in this century.
Now if you are
wondering what ever happened to Jenny Craven and Michael Armstrong after
success eluded their efforts to remain players in the Hollywood of the
1980’s, well Jenny finally returned to England, whereupon her mother, Lady
Craven, in time passed away leaving her secure and well provided for, so
perhaps one day Jenny will finally write her own memoir of those “Alice in
Wonderland” experiences in show business. Michael Armstrong teaches theater
and screen acting in London where he still has a bit of a reputation
nowadays as a survivor of “swinging London,” and does the odd lecture for
film students on his three genre films when asked.
And what of the go
go boys? Yoram and Menahem have reunited at least three times since
my experience with the company. Menahem Golan wrote and directed a
film that almost no one has seen called THE VERSACE MURDERS starring Franco
Nero as the murdered fashion icon and, from all accounts, this one is a
classic bad movie I for one have added to my must-see list of grade Z
blockbusters… After 300 films and countless attempts to reorganize
themselves as moguls they are both, as of 2008, somewhat immortal and as
such should be worshipped by film geeks of future generations for simply
shepherding so many bad movies into existence. We just cannot begin
to thank them enough for their vision and especially their tenacity.
-David del Valle, January 2008.
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