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Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan
מנחם גולן
Born	Menachem Globus; May 31, 1929; Tiberias, British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel)
Died	August 8, 2014 (aged 85); Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
Nationality	Israeli
Other names	Joseph Goldman
Occupation(s)	Director, producer
Known for	Founder of Golan-Globus/The Cannon Group
Spouse	Rachel Golan
Children	3

Menahem Golan (Hebrew: מנחם גולן; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 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 their native Israel during the 1970s.^[2]

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.^[3] 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. He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign-Language Film for Franco Zeffirelli's Otello.

Early life

Born Menachem Globus^[1] in Tiberias in then British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel), his parents were Jewish emigrants from the Russian Empire. He spent his early years in Tiberias, then studied directing at the Old Vic School and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and filmmaking at New York University. During the Israeli War of Independence, Golan served as a pilot in the Israeli Air Force.

Film career

Golan started as an apprentice at Habima Theater in Tel Aviv. After completing his studies in theater direction, he staged plays in Israel. He gained experience as a filmmaker by working as an assistant to Roger Corman.^[4]

Golan is probably best known as a director for his film Operation Thunderbolt (Mivtsa Yonatan, 1977), about the Israeli raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda. He also produced Eskimo Limon (Lemon Popsicle, 1978), a film that spawned many sequels and an American remake, The Last American Virgin (1982).

An adaptation of the Isaac Bashevis Singer novel The Magician of Lublin (1979) was followed by the musical The Apple (1980). An unusual moral fable with a rock-disco soundtrack, The Apple routinely appears on lists of all-time-worst movies, earning it cult film status.^[5]

Golan's production company The Cannon Group produced a long line of films during the 1980s and early 1990s, including Delta Force, Runaway Train, and some of the Death Wish sequels. In 1986, Cannon was taken over by Pathe Communications. Golan produced several comic book-style movies in the last half of the 1980s, most notably Masters of the Universe, based on the toys of that name and inspired by the comics of Jack Kirby.^[6] In 1987, Cannon gained infamy after its UK-based production of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace failed in theaters and provoked a negative backlash from fans. Golan resigned from Cannon in 1989, and by 1993 the company had folded. After Cannon's collapse, Golan became head of 21st Century Film Corporation and produced several low to medium-budget films.

Golan hoped to film Spider-Man in 1986 at Cannon Studios in the United Kingdom, and to shoot the exteriors in Tel Aviv. Dolph Lundgren was envisioned as the Green Goblin, and Spider-Man creator Stan Lee was approached to make a cameo as J. Jonah Jameson.^[7] Golan struggled for years to produce the Marvel Comics character, but he finally failed when 21st Century Film Corporation went bankrupt and closed in 1996 (along with Carolco Pictures, another company that had agreed to help finance the film). Sony Pictures eventually purchased the Spider-Man rights and produced the first film in 2002. That year, Golan released his adaptation of Crime and Punishment.

Personal life

Golan was married to Rachel (1930-2015), makeup artist and had three daughters, clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst Ruth Golan (born 1953), Naomi (1958-2015) and Yael (born 1964).^[4] His cousin was Israeli-American producer Yoram Globus.^[8]

Death

Whilst visiting Jaffa, Tel Aviv, with family members on the morning of August 8, 2014, Golan collapsed.^[9] He lost consciousness, and attempts to resuscitate him failed.^[9] He was 85 years old.^[10]

Filmography

Year	Title	Functioned as			Director	Notes
Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Director	Notes
1963	El Dorado	Yes	Yes	No	Menahem Golan	directorial debut
1964	Sallah Shabati	No	Yes	Yes	Ephraim Kishon	Winner of Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, nominated Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
	Eight in the Footstep of One	Yes	No	Yes	Menahem Golan	(original title: Shemona B'Ekevot Ahat)
	Dalia and the Sailors	Yes	No	No	Menahem Golan	(original title: Dalia Vehamalahim)
1965	Trunk to Cairo	Yes	No	Yes	Menahem Golan	(original title: Einer spielt falsch
1966	Fortuna	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan	(English title: Seduced in Sodom)
1967	Aliza Mizrahi	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan	(English title: 999 Aliza: The Policeman)
1968	Tevye and His Seven Daughters	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	Topele	Yes	No	Yes	Menahem Golan	(original title: Nes B'Ayara)
	Commandos	No	Story	No	Menahem Golan	a.k.a. Sullivan's Marauders
1969	What's Good for the Goose	Yes	Yes	No	Menahem Golan
1969	My Margo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan	(original title: Margo Sheli)
1970	Lupo!	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
1970	Attack at Dawn	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan	(original title: Ha-Pritza Hagdola)
1971	The Highway Queen	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
1971	The Contract	Yes	Yes	No	Menahem Golan	(original title: Katz V'Carasso)
1972	I Love You Rosa	No	No	Yes	Moshé Mizrahi	Nominated Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
	Escape to the Sun	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	The Great Telephone Robbery	Yes	Yes	No	Menahem Golan	(original title: Shod Hatelephonim Hagadol)
1973	The House on Chelouche Street	No	No	Yes	Moshé Mizrahi	Nominated Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
	Kazablan	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	Daughters, Daughters	No	No	Yes	Moshé Mizrahi	(original title: Abu el Banat)
1975	The Four Deuces	No	No	Yes	William H. Bushnell
	Diamonds	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan	a.k.a. Diamond Shaft
	Lepke	Yes	No	Yes	Menahem Golan
1976	The Passover Plot	No	No	Executive	Michael Campus
	Tzanani Family	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson	(original title: Mishpahat Tzan'ani)
	Lupo Goes to New York	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson	A sequel to Lupo!
	God's Gun	No	No	Yes	Gianfranco Parolini	(original title: Diamante Lobo)
1977	Operation Thunderbolt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan	Nominated Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
1977	Kid Vengeance	No	No	Yes	Joseph Manduke
1978	Lemon Popsicle	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson
	The Uranium Conspiracy	Yes	No	Yes	Menahem Golan
	The Alaska Wilderness Adventure	No	No	Yes	Fred Meader
	It's a Funny, Funny World	No	No	Yes	Tzvi Shissel	(original title: Yisraelim Matzhikim)
1979	The Swap	No	No	Yes	Jordan Leondopoulos	Re-edited from Sam's Song
	Lemon Popsicle 2: Going Steady	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson	First sequel to Lemon Popsicle
	My Mother the General	No	No	Yes	Joel Silberg
	The Magician of Lublin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	Marriage Tel Aviv Style	No	No	Yes	Joel Silberg	(original title: Nisuin Nusah Tel Aviv)
1980	The Godsend	No	No	Executive	Gabrielle Beaumont
	The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood	No	No	Yes	Alan Roberts	Final sequel to The Happy Hooker
	Schizoid	No	No	Yes	David Paulsen
	Seed of Innocence	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson
	Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype	No	No	Yes	Charles B. Griffith
	The Apple	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	New Year's Evil	No	No	Yes	Emmett Alston
1981	Hot Bubblegum: Lemon Popsicle 3	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson	Second sequel to Lemon Popsicle
	Deathhouse	No	No	Yes	Theodore Gershuny
	Body and Soul	No	No	Yes	George Bowers
	Enter the Ninja	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	Hospital Massacre	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson	a.k.a. X-Ray
1982	Private Popsicle: Lemon Popsicle 4	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson	Third sequel to Lemon Popsicle
	Death Wish II	No	No	Yes	Michael Winner
	Lady Chatterley's Lover	No	No	Executive	Just Jaeckin
	The Last American Virgin	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson	Remake of Lemon Popsicle
	That Championship Season	No	No	Executive	Jason Miller
	Mute Love	No	No	Yes	Joel Silberg	a.k.a. The Secret of Yolanda
1983	Private Manoeuvres	No	No	Yes	Tzvi Shissel	Spin-off of Lemon Popsicle and Private Popsicle: Lemon Popsicle 4
	The Seven Magnificent Gladiators	No	No	Executive	Bruno Mattei
	Treasure of the Four Crowns	No	No	Executive	Ferdinando Baldi
	One More Chance	No	No	Executive	Sam Firstenberg
	10 to Midnight	No	No	Executive	J. Lee Thompson
	Nana, the True Key of Pleasure	No	No	Yes	Dan Wolman
	House of the Long Shadows	No	No	Yes	Pete Walker
	Hercules	No	No	Yes	Luigi Cozzi
	Young Warriors	No	No	Yes	Lawrence D. Foldes
	Revenge of the Ninja	No	Story	Yes	Sam Firstenberg	Sequel to Enter the Ninja
	The Wicked Lady	No	No	Yes	Michael Winner	Remake of The Wicked Lady
1984	Baby Love: Lemon Popsicle 5	No	No	Yes	Dan Wolman	Sequel Lemon Popsicle
	The Big Tease: Here Comes Another One	No	No	Yes	Yehuda Barkan and Yigal Shilon
	Over the Brooklyn Bridge	Yes	No	Yes	Menahem Golan
	Sahara	No	Story	Yes	Andrew V. McLaglen
	Breakin'	No	No	Yes	Joel Silberg
	Making the Grade	No	No	Executive	Dorian Walker
	Night Soldier	No	No	Yes	Dan Wolman
	The Naked Face	No	No	Yes	Bryan Forbes
	Ordeal by Innocence	No	No	Executive	Desmond Davis
	I'm Almost Not Crazy: John Cassavetes, the Man and His Work	No	No	Yes	Michael Ventura
	Sword of the Valiant	No	No	Yes	Stephen Weeks
	Love Streams	No	No	Yes	John Cassavetes
	Bolero	No	No	Executive	John Derek
	Exterminator 2	No	No	Executive	Mark Buntzman
	Ninja III: The Domination	No	No	Yes	Sam Firstenberg	Second sequel to Enter the Ninja
	Forced Testimony	No	No	Yes	Raphael Rebibo
	Missing in Action	No	No	Yes	Joseph Zito
	Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo	No	No	Yes	Sam Firstenberg	Sequel to Breakin'
1985	Up Your Anchor: Lemon Popsicle 6	No	No	Yes	Dan Wolman	Sequel Lemon Popsicle
	Maria's Lovers	No	No	Executive	Andrei Konchalovsky
	Hot Resort	No	No	Yes	John Robins
	The Ambassador	No	No	Yes	J. Lee Thompson
	Missing in Action 2: The Beginning	No	No	Yes	Lance Hool
	Déjà Vu	No	No	Yes	Anthony B. Richmond
	The Assisi Underground	No	No	Yes	Alexander Ramati
	Rappin'	No	No	Yes	Joel Silberg
	Grace Quigley	No	No	Yes	Anthony Harvey
	Hot Chili	No	Yes	Yes	William Sachs	screenplay credited as Joseph Goldman
	Lifeforce	No	No	Yes	Tobe Hooper
	Thunder Alley	No	No	Executive	J. S. Cardone
	Salomè	No	No	Yes	Claude d'Anna
	American Ninja	No	No	Yes	Sam Firstenberg
	Mata Hari	No	No	Executive	Curtis Harrington
	Hard Rock Zombies	No	No	Yes	Krishna Shah
	War and Love	No	No	Yes	Moshé Mizrahi
	Invasion U.S.A.	No	No	Yes	Joseph Zito
	The Adventures of Hercules	No	No	Yes	Luigi Cozzi	Sequel to Hercules
	The Berlin Affair	No	No	Yes	Liliana Cavani
	Death Wish 3	No	No	Yes	Michael Winner
	King Solomon's Mines	No	No	Yes	J. Lee Thompson
	Aladdin	No	No	Yes	Bruno Corbucci
	Fool for Love	No	No	Yes	Robert Altman
	Runaway Train	No	No	Yes	Andrei Konchalovsky
1986	The Lover	No	No	Yes	Michal Bat-Adam
	Camorra (A Story of Streets, Women and Crime)	No	No	Yes	Lina Wertmüller
	The Delta Force	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	The Naked Cage	No	No	Executive	Paul Nicholas
	Field of Honor	No	No	Yes	Kim Dae-hie and Hans Scheepmaker
	America 3000	No	No	Yes	David Engelbach
	P.O.W. the Escape	No	No	Yes	Gideon Amir
	Murphy's Law	No	No	Executive	J. Lee Thompson
	Pirates	No	No	Yes	Roman Polanski
	Dangerously Close	No	No	Executive	Albert Pyun
	Cobra	No	No	Yes	George P. Cosmatos
	Invaders from Mars	No	No	Yes	Tobe Hooper
	Lightning, the White Stallion	No	No	Yes	William A. Levey
	Detective School Dropouts	No	No	Yes	Filippo Ottoni	a.k.a. Dumb Dicks
	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2	No	No	Yes	Tobe Hooper
	Otello	No	No	Yes	Franco Zeffirelli
	Avenging Force	No	No	Yes	Sam Firstenberg
	52 Pick-Up	No	No	Yes	John Frankenheimer
	Castaway	No	No	Yes	Nicolas Roeg
	Firewalker	No	No	Yes	J. Lee Thimpson
	Duet for One	No	No	Yes	Andrei Konchalovsky
1987	Young Love: Lemon Popsicle 7	No	No	Yes	Walter Bannert	Sequel Lemon Popsicle
	Million Dollar Madness	No	Yes	Yes	Naftali Alter
	Dutch Treat	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson
	Assassination	No	No	Executive	Peter R. Hunt
	Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold	No	No	Yes	Gary Nelson	Sequel to King Solomon's Mines
	The Assault	No	No	Executive	Fons Rademakers	Won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
	Over the Top	Yes	No	Yes	Menahem Golan
	Number One with a Bullet	No	No	Yes	Jack Smight
	The Barbarians	No	No	Yes	Ruggero Deodato
	Down Twisted	No	No	Yes	Albert Pyun
	Street Smart	No	No	Yes	Jerry Schatzberg
	The Hanoi Hilton	No	No	Yes	Lionel Chetwynd
	Beauty and the Beast	No	No	Yes	Eugene Marner
	Rumpelstiltskin	No	No	Yes	David Irving
	American Ninja 2: The Confrontation	No	No	Yes	Sam Firstenberg	Sequel to American Ninja
	Diary of a Mad Old Man	No	No	Executive	Lili Rademakers
	The Emperor's New Clothes	No	No	Yes	David Irving
	Too Much	No	No	Yes	Éric Rochat
	Three Kinds of Heat	No	No	Yes	Leslie Stevens
	Sleeping Beauty	No	No	Yes	David Irving
	Superman IV: The Quest for Peace	No	No	Yes	Sidney J. Furie
	Masters of the Universe	No	No	Yes	Gary Goddard
	Penitentiary III	No	No	Yes	Jamaa Fanaka
	Mascara	No	No	Executive	Patrick Conrad
	King Lear	No	No	Yes	Jean-Luc Godard
	Tough Guys Don't Dance	No	No	Yes	Norman Mailer
	Dancers	No	No	Yes	Herbert Ross
	Surrender	No	No	Executive	Jerry Belson
	Barfly	No	No	Executive	Barbet Schroeder
	Business as Usual	No	No	Yes	Lezli-An Barrett
	Under Cover	No	No	Yes	John Stockwell
	Death Wish 4: The Crackdown	No	No	Executive	J. Lee Thompson
1988	Summertime Blues: Lemon Popsicle VIII	No	No	Yes	Reinhard Schwabenitzky
	Braddock: Missing in Action III	No	No	Yes	Aaron Norris
	Going Bananas	No	Yes	Yes	Boaz Davidson
	Alien from L.A.	No	No	Yes	Albert Pyun
	Bloodsport	No	No	Yes	Newt Arnold
	Appointment with Death	No	No	Executive	Michael Winner
	Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation	No	No	Executive	Godfrey Reggio
	Shy People	No	No	Yes	Andrei Konchalovsky
	Salsa	No	No	Yes	Boaz Davidson
	The Frog Prince	No	No	Yes	Jackson Hunsicker
	Puss in Boots	No	No	Yes	Eugene Marner
	Journey to the Center of the Earth	No	No	Yes	Rusty Lemorande and Albert Pyun
	Hero and the Terror	No	No	Executive	William Tannen
	Messenger of Death	No	No	Yes	J. Lee Thompson
	Doin' Time on Planet Earth	No	No	Yes	Charles Matthau
	Platoon Leader	No	No	Yes	Aaron Norris
	Evil Angels	No	No	Yes	Fred Schepisi
	Hanna's War	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	Hansel and Gretel	No	No	Yes	Len Talan
	Haunted Summer	No	No	Executive	Ivan Passer
1989	Snow White	No	No	Yes	Michael Berz
	Manifesto	No	No	Yes	Dušan Makavejev
	Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects	No	Yes	Executive	J. Lee Thompson
	Red Riding Hood	No	No	Yes	Adam Brooks
	Cyborg	No	No	Yes	Albert Pyun
	Caged Fury	No	No	Executive	Bill Milling
	Mack the Knife	Yes	Yes	Executive	Menahem Golan
	Masque of the Red Death	No	No	Executive	Alan Birkinshaw
	The Black Cat	No	No	Executive	Luigi Cozzi
1990	Night of the Living Dead	No	No	Executive	Tom Savini
	The Forbidden Dance	No	Story	Executive	Greydon Clark
	Bad Jim	No	No	Executive	Clyde Ware
	The Appointed	No	No	Executive	Daniel Wachsmann
	The 5th Monkey	No	No	Executive	Éric Rochat
	Captain America	No	No	Yes	Albert Pyun
	Bullseye!	No	No	Executive	Michael Winner
1991	Naked Robot 4 1/2	No	No	Executive	Philip J. Cook
	Virgin High	No	No	Executive	Richard Gabai
	Killing Streets	No	Story	Executive	Stephen Cornwell
1992	Hit the Dutchman	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	The Finest Hour	No	No	Yes	Shimon Dotan
	Mad Dog Coll	No	No	Yes	Greydon Clark
	Dance Macabre (film)	No	No	Yes	Greydon Clark
	Hot Under the Collar	No	No	Executive	Richard Gabai
	Desert Kickboxer	No	No	Executive	Isaac Florentine
	Three Days to a Kill	No	No	Executive	Fred Williamson
1993	Silent Victim	Yes	No	Yes	Menahem Golan
	Deadly Heroes	Yes	Yes	No	Menahem Golan
	Midnight Witness	No	No	Executive	Peter Foldy
	Rage	No	No	Executive	Anthony Maharaj
	Emmanuelle 7	No	No	Executive	Francis Leroi
	Teenage Bonnie and Klepto Clyde	No	No	Executive	John Shepphird
	Dead Center	No	Story	Executive	Steve Carver
1994	Death Wish V: The Face of Death	No	No	Executive	Allan A. Goldstein
1994	Stickfighter	No	No	Executive	BJ Davis
1995	Russian Roulette: Moscow 95	Yes	No	No	Menahem Golan
1995	Luise and the Jackpot	Yes	No	No	Menahem Golan
1996	Superbrain [de]	Yes	No	No	Menahem Golan
1998	Lima: Breaking the Silence	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	Armstrong	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
	The Versace Murder	Yes	Yes	No	Menahem Golan
1999	Speedway Junky	No	No	Executive	Nickolas Perry
2001	Death Game	Yes	No	Yes	Menahem Golan
2002	Crime and Punishment	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
2002	Return from India	Yes	No	Yes	Menahem Golan
2003	Final Combat	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
2005	Days of Love	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
2007	A Dangerous Dance	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
2007	Children of Wax	No	Yes	Yes	Ivan Nitchev
2008	Marriage Arrangement	Yes	Yes	Yes	Menahem Golan
2009	Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!!	No	Yes	No	Evgeny Afineevsky

Awards and recognition

1978: Nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Operation Thunderbolt^[11]
1984: Won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture Bolero
1986: Nomination for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture Cobra
1987: Nomination for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture Tough Guys don't dance
In 1999, Golan was awarded the Israel Prize for his contribution to cinema.^[12]
In 1994 Golan was awarded the Ophir Prize of the Israeli Film Academy for his Lifetime Achievement.
The movie theater in the Azrieli building in Tel Aviv bore the name of the Golan-Globus company. It was closed in 2008.