Menahem Golan

From Grokipedia

Menahem Golan (born Menahem Globus; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014) was an Israeli film producer, director, and screenwriter renowned for co-founding The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus and producing over 200 films that shaped the low-budget action and exploitation cinema of the 1980s.

Born in Tiberias, British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel), to Polish Jewish immigrants Noah Globus and Deborah (née Godman), Golan changed his surname at age 19 to honor the Golan Heights. He served as a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force during the 1948 War of Independence, later studying acting at the Old Vic Theatre School in London and apprenticing at the Habima Theatre in Tel Aviv. In the early 1960s, after studying film in New York and assisting director Roger Corman on The Young Racers (1963), Golan co-founded Noah Films with Globus and directed his debut feature, El Dorado (1963).

Golan's early Israeli career focused on "Bourekas films," lighthearted comedies addressing ethnic tensions, with his production of Sallah Shabati (1964) earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1979, he and Globus acquired the struggling Cannon Group, Inc., transforming it into a prolific studio that released dozens of films annually, including action hits like Missing in Action (1984) starring Chuck Norris, The Delta Force (1986) with the same actor, and Death Wish II (1982) featuring Charles Bronson. Cannon also ventured into more ambitious projects, such as Runaway Train (1985), Barfly (1987), and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), while introducing stars like Jean-Claude Van Damme through films like Bloodsport (1988). At its peak in 1987, the company produced 35 films, leveraging aggressive marketing at the Cannes Film Festival to build an international empire.

Financial overreach, including costly flops like Over the Top (1987), led to Cannon's bankruptcy in 1989, after which Golan sold it to Pathé Communications. He then founded 21st Century Film Corporation, producing Captain America (1991), and later New Cannon, Inc., in 1999, which released Crime and Punishment (2002). Throughout his career, Golan directed 44 films and earned eight Kinor David Awards, culminating in Israel's prestigious Israel Prize for Cinema. He died in Jaffa, Israel, at the age of 85, survived by his wife Rachel and three daughters, leaving a legacy as a pioneer of Israeli cinema and a bold innovator in global B-movie production.

In brief

Menahem Golan (Hebrew: מנחם גולן‎; 31 May 1929 – 8 August 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He co-owned The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon specialized in producing low-to-mid-budget American films, primarily genre films, during the 1980s after Golan and Globus had achieved significant filmmaking success in Israel during the 1970s.

Golan produced films featuring actors such as Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson, and for a period, was known as a producer of comic book-style films like Masters of the Universe, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Captain America, and his aborted attempt to bring Spider-Man to the silver screen. Golan also wrote and polished numerous film scripts under the pen name Joseph Goldman. At the time of his death, Golan had produced over 200 films, directed 44, and won 8 "Kinor David" awards as well as "Israel Prize" in Cinema.