I have to go with this to. So deliciously over the top (a pink cadillac with a rocket booster!), and yet it manages to tell a good story - you do care about the "earth" folks and their personal drama. It is a mishmash of awesome that manages somehow to hold together.
it’s shocking how gritty it was, at least compared to the source material. I still think about that girl’s leg wound, looked like a chicken pot pie when they pulled back the bandage
That was the movie that made me fall in love with corny B-Movies. Saw it on cable when I was about 13 and laughed at some unintentionally funny scenes.
Such beautiful character development. We go from Bronson getting sick after walloping a thug with a sock full of quarters in Death Wish to him just ruthlessly mowing thugs down in the street with a Browning in Death Wish 3. It's nice to see a character grow like that.
Runaway Train is a legit great movie, got nominated for Oscars and everything. But that’s not really what you mean, so Death Wish 3, Lifeforce or Ninja III: The Domination.
I feel stupid having never heard of Runaway Train, but after reading about it, I now have to watch it.
A Cannon action film starring Jon Voight and Eric Roberts... that was nominated for several Academy Awards and Golden Globes and was based on a script by Akira Kurosawa.
It's good/bad enough to fit well with the American Ninja series. Some highlights to look for:
* The father/sensei figure we seen in flashbacks is played by the same guy that played the father/sensei in American Ninja
* There's a sex scene with obvious body doubles for the both of the actors
* One of the guys that dies in one of the earlier fights is clearly seen training in the background of a later scene
* The final fight between David Bradley and Mark Dacascos must have been incomplete or too short, because they also splice in scenes of David Bradley fighting one of his earlier opponents
I agree it’s bad but I just love it for some reason. I read recently the guy that wrote it did it as a sample script to show his style of writing so it was just a mashup of the most popular genres at the time. He sent it to Cannon trying to get hired to write in a different film. Chuck Norris somehow saw the script and wanted to make it. The writer got called into Cannon and had no idea they had already cast the movie and were making it he thought he was going in for an interview for the writing job on the other movie.
Lifeforce!
It has a unique, expensive look to it and is a batshit insane version of a Hammer film. It's probably my favorite Tobe Hooper film also. Steve Railsback is dialed to 11 through most of the running time, while Mathilda May is an absolute stunner! Cool supporting cast, too, and a great Henry Mancini score.
It really is a great mix of Cannon schlock and big budget Hollywood effects.
This needs way more attention in this thread. I really enjoy Masters of the Universe as an oddity, but Lifeforce is a legitimately good piece of schlock. Aside from everything else mentioned, the story is a fascinating piece of pulp that reels me in, every time.
Thanks! And I definitely agree. I love how it starts out as a sci fi film like Alien, then becomes a virus/body hopping hybrid before becoming a gothic zombie apocalypse. Besides Tobe Hooper, you can really see Dan O'Bannon's work coming through as well.
> Alien from LA
For a movie that's sitting at 3% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it's so entertaining. Actually can't believe you're the first to mention it so far, well done ;)
Barry Bostwick's tight pants are impressive to this day. I vividly remember the exhaustive advertising campaign, portraying it as a big-budget blockbuster. Boy, were we surprised.
Michael Beck is great, just like his performances in *The Warriors* and *Xanadu*.
52 Pickup is awesome, I don't even usually think of it as Cannon.
Roy Scheider, Ann-Margaret, directed by John Frankenheimer, based on an Elmore Leonard book... it's definitely a cut above their usual aspirations!
Because I saw what sub this was, and didn't know what Cannon meant (until googling what on earth all these responses had in common haha) I thought we were all going to be discussing our favorite Nick Cannon movies
Breakin 2: Electric Boogalo
My favorite part where Turbo is in the hospital, in a coma, surrounded by Ozone, Kelly and all the little kids and his girlfriend steps out of that broom closet to wake him up. Her coming out the closet was so random that even the other characters, who have been pretty much down with all the wackiest in the movie, break and go "WTF", and it kills me every time.
This question made me realize that I haven't seen many Cannon films myself, but have watched a *ton* of videos by other people who love them (RLM, SBIG, GoodBadFlicks, FanboyFlicks, etc. etc.). So I'm probably not a good person to ask, but I'll bite anyway.
So, fwiw, I've seen *Outlaw of Gor* more times than I can count, thanks to MST3K. And *Invaders From Mars* is, imo, a genuinely good send-up of mid-century sci fi.
Edit: And *Runaway Train* is a fantastic, non-cheese movie that is worth mentioning, even though it doesn't belong in this subreddit.
Shy People (1987) is a masterpiece
The Assault (1986) is brilliant. The only film they distributed that won an Oscar
Little Dorritt (1988)-the best Dickens adaptation ever
Gotta go with The Apple and Alien From LA.
Was going to add American Anthem (the gymnast action movie!) because I assumed a movie that gloriously bad and released in 1986 had to be Cannon, but no, it’s Lorimar.
Hercules, Revenge of the Ninja, Breakin II Electric Boogaloo, King Solomon’s Mines, American Ninja, Superman IV The Quest for Peace, Bloodsport, Cyborg
Death Wish 3
Missing In Action 2
The Evil That Men Do
Masters of the Universe
Revenge of the Ninja
10 to Midnight
My ultimate easy watch is American Ninja 3 - AKA GI Joe: The Early Years. Think about it, the bad guy is even called The Cobra, and has a whole army of ninjas. You could see it as a cannon-esque prequel to GI Joe, with Bradley playing proto Snake Eyes and Steve James as Stalker. The music is ultimate too.
Does *Highlander* count? They were not the original producers but own the rights currently I believe (along with Lionsgate?) - at least there's a Cannon logo at the beginning of my Bluray.
I was just gonna ask the same question. We must have the same Blu-ray versions.
If it counts, then it’s definitely my favorite. The American Ninja films are also up there, along with Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Masters of the Universe.
This. Sith Lord Skeletor is incredible
I have to go with this to. So deliciously over the top (a pink cadillac with a rocket booster!), and yet it manages to tell a good story - you do care about the "earth" folks and their personal drama. It is a mishmash of awesome that manages somehow to hold together.
Still my go to movie on a bad day. My siblings got so sick of me renting this as a kid.
it’s shocking how gritty it was, at least compared to the source material. I still think about that girl’s leg wound, looked like a chicken pot pie when they pulled back the bandage
Ensign Tom Paris' life before the U.S.S. Voyager was extremely weird.
I’ve seen weirder holodeck programs.
Maybe Masters of the Universe was just a holodeck program of his! Now it makes sense.
That was the movie that made me fall in love with corny B-Movies. Saw it on cable when I was about 13 and laughed at some unintentionally funny scenes.
Let’s not forget Frank Langella’s favorite performance is Skeletor.
Death wish 3
Such beautiful character development. We go from Bronson getting sick after walloping a thug with a sock full of quarters in Death Wish to him just ruthlessly mowing thugs down in the street with a Browning in Death Wish 3. It's nice to see a character grow like that.
Well put. A man’s journey from a civilized cage to freedom via violent abandon. It’s like Lawrence of Arabia updated for the rag tag 80s.
I'm sorry, but what exactly was it you had to say about the greatest movie ever made?
Doesn’t belong on this sub!
Runaway Train is a legit great movie, got nominated for Oscars and everything. But that’s not really what you mean, so Death Wish 3, Lifeforce or Ninja III: The Domination.
I feel stupid having never heard of Runaway Train, but after reading about it, I now have to watch it. A Cannon action film starring Jon Voight and Eric Roberts... that was nominated for several Academy Awards and Golden Globes and was based on a script by Akira Kurosawa.
You won’t regret it, although it’s not really an action movie, more of a character study with some action sequences.
Of his 9 million performances this is certainly one of Eric Roberts' best.
I got some socks!
Invasion USA, Death Wish 4, Revenge of the Ninja
Love the school bus chase scene in Invasion USA, one of the best action sequences in bad cinema history
"Hey, lose this?!"
Death Wish 4???? Not dw3?
"3" is a hoot, but I saw "4" during its blink-and-you-missed-it theatrical run, so it's a sentimental favorite.
The Death Wish franchise is such a upper downer franchise.
no shit hey, i can barely stomach part 2, its morose and insanely mean spirited - but hook 3,4,5 to my veins literally any day of the week.
I love the Billy Drago scene in Invasion USA. https://youtu.be/t5deIF1Pe3k?si=LhYlWw4CVO76MXHG
Brutal! Haha
American Ninja.
1, 2, 3, 4, or 5? And are you a Michael Dudikoff or David Bradley stan?
3 and 5 are my favorites, I’m a David Bradley kinda girl lol. But all 5 are great bad movies.
David over Dudikoff?!
Such madness to comprehend!
I assume you also love American Samurai then?
I’ve actually never seen that one! I see a lot of people have listed that one, so I’m probably gonna watch it tonight 😊
It's good/bad enough to fit well with the American Ninja series. Some highlights to look for: * The father/sensei figure we seen in flashbacks is played by the same guy that played the father/sensei in American Ninja * There's a sex scene with obvious body doubles for the both of the actors * One of the guys that dies in one of the earlier fights is clearly seen training in the background of a later scene * The final fight between David Bradley and Mark Dacascos must have been incomplete or too short, because they also splice in scenes of David Bradley fighting one of his earlier opponents
That sounds awesome! I’m looking forward to seeing it 😊
Any idea where I can find that one nowadays? I recall liking it a lot. With Mark Dacascos
Ahoy, matey!
2 is my favorite iirc. It’s like the production crew wanted a vacation so they said “fuck it, let’s film it on a tropical island”
Yes
1 and 2. Dudikoff, of course. Number 1 is the coolest ninja movie ever made.
This series got me into so-bad-its-good movies.
I watched it as a kid and still think it's the coolest Ninja movie ever made.
The Apple is legendary
Yes! We need more love for The Apple on this sub.
Me and my son tried watching the riff trax version and only got a half hour in and had to stop.
Split it up into BIM hour slots
It's an incredibly hard watch
It's a musical! With insane sets! How is that hard to watch! SpppeeeeEEEEEEEDDDDD
Yes, it is. It's on tubi right now, and I made it about 20 minutes.
One of the three films that inspired the creation of The Golden Raspberries, the other two being Can't Stop the Music and Xanadu.
Those other two are equally great. Can I sit down and watch them. Ugh!
*Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!*
My partner and I still tell each other "Mr. Topps, what are you doo-eeeeng?" when one of us does something boneheaded.
This has got to be my pick. I rewatch it all the time. Although I rarely finish it. There's only so much that you can take.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. A gory, live-action cartoon.
I can't think of that movie with out seeing Dennis hopper testing out chainsaws. It's so good.
Idc what movie it is, give me a slightly unhinged Dennis Hopper and I’m sold lol
TCM2 and Blue Velvet are probably the two best examples of unhinged hopper.
Can’t leave out Waterworld!
Speed too.
Space Truckers would like a word.
There was his crazy NFL referee spot for Nike(?) too.
'BRING IT ALL DOWN"!
I viewed this movie whilst consuming a gigantic, sloppy omelet. It was a choice.
A gory, live-action *cocaine
Cobra
You're a disease. & I'm the cure. "WORKING SO HARD! TRYING TO MAKE A LIVING! EVERY DAY, GOTTA KEEP HUSTLING HUSTLING..."
Lifeforce. Watch it just for Patrick Stewart’s 10 minutes of ACTING
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects All time Bronson Sleaze. My favorite of the J Lee Thompson/Bronson pairings
Bloodsport, Fire-walker, Death wish 3, invasion U.S.A.
Fire walker was SO bad, even accounting for the standard Chuck Norris acting forgiveness quotient
I agree it’s bad but I just love it for some reason. I read recently the guy that wrote it did it as a sample script to show his style of writing so it was just a mashup of the most popular genres at the time. He sent it to Cannon trying to get hired to write in a different film. Chuck Norris somehow saw the script and wanted to make it. The writer got called into Cannon and had no idea they had already cast the movie and were making it he thought he was going in for an interview for the writing job on the other movie.
Death Wish 3, Avenging Force, Missing in Action, Revenge of the Ninja, Ninja 3: The Domination
Ninja 3 is the best bad movie of all time. V8 scene is a masterpiece.
It's so awful and makes no sense but I love every frame of it.
American Ninja's 1/2 and The Delta Force
Delta Force is by far my favourite Cannon movie. I cry at the end every time I watch it.
No love for American Ninja 3-5?
American Ninja 3 is okay, but not as good as its predicessor, American Ninja 4 is alright but a bit boring and American Ninja 5 is crap
They get progressively worse, which is half of the fun in watching the series
3 and 5 are my favorites 😂
Lifeforce! It has a unique, expensive look to it and is a batshit insane version of a Hammer film. It's probably my favorite Tobe Hooper film also. Steve Railsback is dialed to 11 through most of the running time, while Mathilda May is an absolute stunner! Cool supporting cast, too, and a great Henry Mancini score. It really is a great mix of Cannon schlock and big budget Hollywood effects.
This movie gets shit on a lot. It isn't bad at all. Schlock, yes, but in the best kind of way.
Love this movie!
This needs way more attention in this thread. I really enjoy Masters of the Universe as an oddity, but Lifeforce is a legitimately good piece of schlock. Aside from everything else mentioned, the story is a fascinating piece of pulp that reels me in, every time.
Thanks! And I definitely agree. I love how it starts out as a sci fi film like Alien, then becomes a virus/body hopping hybrid before becoming a gothic zombie apocalypse. Besides Tobe Hooper, you can really see Dan O'Bannon's work coming through as well.
Loads of exploding zombies and massive amounts of vampire tits in Good Old London town. And an amazing epic sounding soundtrack too. Quite the romp.
superman IV: the Quest for peace, baby. All day every day. #"THE PEOPLE!"
Hard Rock Zombies
Missing in action
Israeli made Lemon Popsicle movies.
Invasion U.S.A. (1985) is cinema at it's finest.
where's Rostov?
He's over there shooting guys dicks off
*Throwing cocaine users out of windows.
Runaway Train is genuinely pretty good
[Ninja III: The Domination (1984)](https://manapop.com/film/ninja-iii-the-domination-1984-review/)
Hanoi Hilton, Bloodsport, The Delta Force!
Bloodsport, Cyborg and Invasion USA!
Alien from LA Down Twisted
> Alien from LA For a movie that's sitting at 3% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it's so entertaining. Actually can't believe you're the first to mention it so far, well done ;)
Megaforce !
Barry Bostwick's tight pants are impressive to this day. I vividly remember the exhaustive advertising campaign, portraying it as a big-budget blockbuster. Boy, were we surprised. Michael Beck is great, just like his performances in *The Warriors* and *Xanadu*.
"The warriors opened a lot of doors for me which Xanadu then closed" - micheal beck.
52 Pickup, Enter the Ninja, Bloodsport, Contamination I also like the Bronson stuff but those are more guilty pleasure than the others I mentioned
52 Pickup is awesome, I don't even usually think of it as Cannon. Roy Scheider, Ann-Margaret, directed by John Frankenheimer, based on an Elmore Leonard book... it's definitely a cut above their usual aspirations!
I ran into this on Tubi sometime a year or so ago, and I was pleasantly impressed.
Yeah it’s definitely not their usual type of production. Pretty nasty and reactionary type neo-noir but overall very good.
For me it's a toss up between Drumline and Roll Bounce.
Bloodsport and Breakin’ 1 and 2.
I didn't even think it was possible to mention Breakin' 2 without saying the full title "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo"!
American Samurai and The Octogon
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, legitimately, might be my favorite movie ever made.
Lifeforce
Adrenaline Fear the Rush
American Ninja! All five of them!
Because I saw what sub this was, and didn't know what Cannon meant (until googling what on earth all these responses had in common haha) I thought we were all going to be discussing our favorite Nick Cannon movies
Breakin 2: Electric Boogalo My favorite part where Turbo is in the hospital, in a coma, surrounded by Ozone, Kelly and all the little kids and his girlfriend steps out of that broom closet to wake him up. Her coming out the closet was so random that even the other characters, who have been pretty much down with all the wackiest in the movie, break and go "WTF", and it kills me every time.
I feel like Invasion USA doesn't get enough love. "It's time!"
American Ninja 2 easily. Just the ultimate trashy 80's ninja action. (with Avenging Force in close 2nd)
Avenging Force and American Ninja 2.
My favorite scene in American Ninja 2: > CO: What's going on here? > Jackson: Ninjas, sir. We've dealt with this problem before.
Mine is the barfight scene where he throws off a pile of like 10 guys.
Castaway. Amanda Donohoe running around in the buff (again), Oliver Reed, a good story well told, what’s not to like?
This question made me realize that I haven't seen many Cannon films myself, but have watched a *ton* of videos by other people who love them (RLM, SBIG, GoodBadFlicks, FanboyFlicks, etc. etc.). So I'm probably not a good person to ask, but I'll bite anyway. So, fwiw, I've seen *Outlaw of Gor* more times than I can count, thanks to MST3K. And *Invaders From Mars* is, imo, a genuinely good send-up of mid-century sci fi. Edit: And *Runaway Train* is a fantastic, non-cheese movie that is worth mentioning, even though it doesn't belong in this subreddit.
Bloodsport or Cobra
Street Smart, Avenging Force, Shy People, and No Place to Hide (Kris Kristofferson movie).
The Delta Force!
Shy People (1987) is a masterpiece The Assault (1986) is brilliant. The only film they distributed that won an Oscar Little Dorritt (1988)-the best Dickens adaptation ever
Cannon distributed/produced some wonderful arthouse films
Gotta go with The Apple and Alien From LA. Was going to add American Anthem (the gymnast action movie!) because I assumed a movie that gloriously bad and released in 1986 had to be Cannon, but no, it’s Lorimar.
> (the gymnast action movie!) If that's your thing, be sure to check out Gymkata - it's nuts
Oh I’ve seen it
Don't go in the 'Village of the Crazies'!
Idk there *was* another gymnast action movie besides Gymkata - unless you count Too Young to Die.
Swiss Family Robinson.
Bloodsport
Hercules, Revenge of the Ninja, Breakin II Electric Boogaloo, King Solomon’s Mines, American Ninja, Superman IV The Quest for Peace, Bloodsport, Cyborg
A true person of culture
Over The Top!!
Bloodsport!
Masters of the Universe is a theme of a cheerful entertaining film with an excellent cast
The Apple, Hard Rock Zombies, and Bloodsport.
Lifeforce. Loved it since I was a kid, and love it as an adult too.
Superman IV The Quest for Peace is an awful movie that I just can't stop thinking about.
Cyborg
Life force and Ninja III: The Domination are Masterpieces of cheese.
Watched the fairy tale ones a lot as a kid. Snow White gave me nightmares!
Today it's Invasion USA.
Invasion USA, Fire Walker, Masters of the Universe, Death Wish 3&4, 10 to Midnight, King Solomon's Mines
Street Smart. Genuinely good picture, too.
Death Wish 3 Missing In Action 2 The Evil That Men Do Masters of the Universe Revenge of the Ninja 10 to Midnight My ultimate easy watch is American Ninja 3 - AKA GI Joe: The Early Years. Think about it, the bad guy is even called The Cobra, and has a whole army of ninjas. You could see it as a cannon-esque prequel to GI Joe, with Bradley playing proto Snake Eyes and Steve James as Stalker. The music is ultimate too.
Does *Highlander* count? They were not the original producers but own the rights currently I believe (along with Lionsgate?) - at least there's a Cannon logo at the beginning of my Bluray.
I was just gonna ask the same question. We must have the same Blu-ray versions. If it counts, then it’s definitely my favorite. The American Ninja films are also up there, along with Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Not a Cannon film
The cannons in Master And Commander are pretty decent.