MENAHEM GOLAN
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
USA/Poland/Russia; 2002; digital; 126 min
THE DELTA FORCE
USA; 1986; digital; 125 min
OVER THE TOP
USA; 1987; digital; 93 min
AMERICAN NINJA
USA; 1985; digital; 95 min; Sam Firstenberg
Menahem Golan is one of the most important independent film producers of all times. At the helm of independent studio Cannon Group, he and his cousin Yoram Globus have defined 80’s action with such unforgettable films as Missing in Action, The Delta Force, Invasion USA, Enter the Ninja, American Ninja, Bloodsport and Cobra. He has produced over 200 and directed over 40 films. He has discovered and popularized new trends, collaborated with biggest star actors such as Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Tony Curtis, Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, established Chuck Norris as an ultimate action hero and launched careers of Jean-Claude Van Damme and Michael Dudikoff, while enabling authors such as John Cassavetes, Andrei Konchalovsky, Robert Altman, Franco Zefirelli, Jean Luc Godard, Nicholas Roeg and Lina Wertmüller to make movies that no major Hollywood studio would dare to touch.
Last year in August, Menahem Golan received the Best Independent Producer Award at the Locarno Festival. The award is given to highlight a key figure in film and to salute their courage and their ability to take a risk and support auteur cinema. Three months later, The Film Society of Lincoln Center honoured Golan and Globus with a thirteen-film salute over the course of six days, featuring some of the most prominent Cannon titles. At this year’s Grossmann, we too will respectfully and joyfully pay tribute to this versatile filmmaker with our Lifetime Achievement Award, while anxiously awaiting his future projects.
Menahem Golan started his film career in 1963 working side by side with Francis Ford Coppola as an assistant to Roger Corman. After returning to Israel, he produced over 40 films together with Yoram Globus, among them international hit comedy series Lemon Popsicle. Many of these films were also directed by him, most notably action thriller Operation Thunderbolt which was nominated for the Foreign Language Oscar.
In 1979 Golan and Globus bought Cannon studio and entered the US market. With fast-paced production of action, adventure and sci-fi films, as well as musicals and comedies, Cannon became the most important independent studio in Hollywood by the mid-eighties. They owned numerous theatre chains across Europe and a large portion of the video market.
After the demise of Cannon in the late 80’s, Golan continued to produce and direct movies in Israel and Europe. He has directed his latest film The Marriage License, based on Ephraim Kishon's hit comedy, for his own company Jaffa Productions. Currently he is working on a film that he considers the most important project of his career, namely Badenheim 39, based on the prize winning book by Aaron Applefeld.
