Also known as Behind Enemy Lines and Attack Force ‘Nam, David Carradine stars as Colonel James Cooper, which is the Chuck Norris role in this movie, as Cannon had gone all in on military movies.

Directed by Gideon Amir, who produced Cannon’s Boy Meets Girl, Missing In Action and American Ninja, this movie had three — yes, three — screenwriters: Malcolm Barbour (who would go on to create Cops for Fox), James Bruner (who had already written Missing In Action) and Avi Kleinberger (who wrote American Ninja and three of its four sequels).

During a mission at the end of the war, Cooper gets caught trying to liberate his fellow soldiers and ends up in a North Vietnamese POW camp himself. He’s due for a trial bu the North Vietnamese, but Vinh (Mako), the camp commander, offers him a deal: if he can get Cooper and the troops there to safety, they will help him get to America.

With music from other Cannon movies (The Delta Force, Revenge of the Ninja), you may write this off as just another Vietnam movie, but it literally wraps Carradine in the flag and also has not just Steve James, but Steve James singing “Proud Mary,” and I think it’s worth watching just for that one scene. And because this was made in the Philippines, it legally has to have James Gaines in it.

Also, drink every time Carradine says, “Everybody goes home,” and you’ll die.

You can get this from Ronin Flix.

Richard Franklin had optioned a short outline of this film, which he said was “a sort of Jaws with chimps.,” but it sat until writer Everett de Roche showed him a National Geographic article in which Jane Goodall discussed violence among chimpanzees, including “the cannibalizing of young chimpanzees by one particular mad female chimp. She observed actual inter-tribal warfare, not unlike the opening of 2001, between two groups of chimps. The whole ’60s idea of man being the only animal to make war against its own kind was suddenly thrown out the window. Since then, they’ve discovered that lions and other animals do it as well, but that, to me, was a really interesting idea for a good thriller.”

As Franklin tried to get financing, he ended up making Psycho II and Cloak and Dagger, which gave him the ability to get this movie made. He compared it to The Birds, but then realize that people may think that he was basically making another Hitchcock sequel.

While the movie was originally going to be released by Universal, Frankin said that the studio’s “…instinct will probably be to release it this summer, which I really hope they don’t do. It’s not a Spielberg movie. It’s quite different and, in a way, I wish Psycho II had been given the chance to make more money by playing fewer theatres for a longer period of time. Link is a very special thriller and should be treated accordingly.”

Then Cannon released it, chopping out eight minutes in the U.S. and five more in England, a process that Franklin said was When the film was horrifying with “each new one chipping a little more away until my wife was moved to liken the plight of my monkey movie to that of the horse in Black Beauty.”

Dr. Steven Phillip (Terence Stamp) is an anthropologist trying to learn more about just how smart chimpanzees are and the link between man and ape by bringing three of them — Link, Imp and Voodoo — to his isolated estate in the English countryside. Jane Chase (Elisabeth Shue) is his assistant and she’s instantly shocked by Link, a former circus chimpanzee who now serves as Phillip’s butler, dressed in a perfect uniform.

After the doctor disappears, Jane remains alone with the test subjects, who become more violent, take over the mansion and begin fighting over territory and Jane.

The Jerry Goldsmith and some of the comedic antics may seem sort of wacky, but it all works, because when things start going wrong, the juxtaposition is startling. I’m all for movies where apes rise up and give humans what they deserve, so I loved Link, even if Franklin’s true vision was cut down.

Chuck Norris wasn’t just a movie star by 1986. He wanted to shape foreign policy.

In an interview with the Sun Sentinel, he said, “What we’re facing here is the fact that our passive approach to terrorism is going to instigate much more terrorism throughout the world. I would have sent the Delta Force immediately.” He was responding to the hijacking of TWA Flight 847, which is directly referenced in this movie.

He was even more outspoken in an interview in the Toronto Star, stating: “I’ve been all over the world, and seeing the devastation that terrorism has done in Europe and the Middle East, I know eventually it’s going to come here. It’s just a matter of time. They’re doing all this devastation in Europe now, and the next stepping stone is America and Canada. Being a free country, with the freedom of movement that we have, it’s an open door policy for terrorism. It’s like Khadafy said a few weeks ago. “If Reagan doesn’t back off, I’m going to release my killer squads in America.” And there’s no doubt in my mind that he has them.”

Woah, Chuck.

This was an attempt to make Norris the next Clint Eastwood — according to Cannon’s Menahem Golan — and he was to be teamed with Cannon’s other top star, Charles Bronson. The budget ended up being too high and we got Lee Marvin*, which isn’t the worst substitution. I love that Cannon’s pitch for this told theater owners to “START TO BUILD BIGGER THEATERS!!”

Operation Eagle Claw — a real life Delta Force mission, as well as the one that ruined Snake Eyes’ face — is canceled after a fatal helicopter crash. As the Delta Force evacuates to their C-130 planes, Captain Scott McCoy (Norris) defies orders to rescue Peterson (William Wallace) from the wreckage of a burning copter. Safely on the transport out of Iran, McCoy speaks up, blaming politicians and the military top brass for forcing a mission that could never succeed onto his team and quits.

Five years later, Lebanese terrorists hijack American Travelways Airlines Flight 282, a flight filled with character actors like Bo Svenson, Shelley Winters, Joey Bishop, Martin Balsam, Lainie Kazan, George Kennedy and Kim Delaney. The scenes within the plane are harrowing as the terrorists — led by an Italian American Robert Forester as Abdul Rafai — split up the men from the women and children, as well as the Jewish people from other creeds. I kind of love that when thinking of this situation**, Lee Marvin’s mind went scatological when he spoke to the Philadelphia Inquirer: “… imagine what the bathrooms are like after three or four days.”

Of course, this time we get to win, as the Delta Force is made up of commander Colonel Nick Alexander (Marvin), Bobby (Steve James, moving up to the Cannon A squad!) and some of the finest fighting men that the U.S. government can plausibly deny.

Chuck would tell Newsday, “”I felt better after that film was made. I did, I swear to God. I think it’s a way for other people to release their tensions. I think it’s good therapy.”

Directed by Golan from a script that he co-wrote with James Bruner (Invasion U.S.A., P.O.W. the Escape), this film balances the jingoistic close where the passengers sing “God Bless America” while the Delta Force operatives solemnly mark the passing of several of their own. It’s amazing that a movie in which Chuck Norris launches a missile off of his Suzuki SP600 can have such a moment of quiet reflection.

*Chuck would tell Black Belt, “It was a privilege to work with Lee Marvin. He was an incredible guy, a real macho guy. He was known for criticizing everybody—all his co-stars—and he never said nice things. Then they interviewed him right after we did Delta Force and asked him about me. He said: “I liked him. He was a cool guy.” So I thought, “Thank goodness.””

**It was not a fun movie to make for these character actors. Temperatures went over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit in the plane and Shelly Winters told Golan “I can’t do this, I’ll die.” He replied, “Do it and then die.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of the Cannon films that I can’t track down. If you have it, let me know! Otherwise, here are some facts on this movie so that Cannon Month can keep on moving.

Known in Italy as Un complicato intrigo di donne, vicoli e delitti (A Complicated Intrigue of Women, Alleys and Crimes), this was directed by Lina Wertmüller, who made the original Swept Away.

A hostel owner named Annunziata (Ángela Molina) is attacked, but before the man can assault her, he’s killed by someone in the shadows who injects him in the, well, balls with a hyperdermic needle. This becomes the signature move of a serial killer who is taking out drug dealers all over the city and only Annunziata may be able to identify who it is, but at the same time, her son is entering the drug trade, which makes him a target of the killer.

Harvey Keitel is the other actor in this film who may be most recognizable to American audiences. I’m excited to actually find this one, as seeing Wertmüller’s take on the Italian crime film intrigues me.

Sergio Corbucci may have made some of the most violent Westerns of all time, but his brother Bruno made comedies like the Nico Giraldi series with Tomas Milan — starting with The Cop in Blue Jeans — and Miami Supercops with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill.

This take on Aladdin stars Luca Venantini as Al Haddin and if that makes you laugh, well, this is for you. It kind of makes me wistful that Janet Ågren (Eaten Alive!, City of the Living Dead) plays his mother. That said, he lives in poverty with her and his grandfather before finding a lamp in the antique shop he works in. He rubs it, Bud Spencer appears as the genie and we have a movie.

The wishes that Al gets help him win over the love of his young life, Patricia O’Connor (Bud’s daughter Diamy) and help her cop father when the genie just busts into a building, shrugs off point blank bullets and brings in the mob guys that he’s been trying to arrest. Of course, Al’s mother works in a mob nightclub, so she gets kidnapped and her son has to save the day.

The end of this movie makes a sharp pivot, the kind that makes sense when you realize that it is both Italian and a Cannon movie. The genie is nearly dissected because people think he’s an alien and the police chief — of what I assume is Miami — demands that one of the wishes to be taking out all the military power of the world so his police force can rule the world. This sounds nightmarish and Al and the genie wisely jump on a magic carpet and go throw the lamp in the Bermuda Triangle. I have no idea where any of this came from.

Spencer did TV after this, not appearing in another movie until 1991’s Un piede in paradiso AKA Speak of the Devil. Directed by Enzo Barboni and written by Enzo and Bud’s sons Marco Barboni and Giuseppe Pedersoli, it was also shot in Miami and has Carol Alt in its cast.

Directed and written by Kaizô Hayashi — who in addition to films like Zipang, The Most Terrible Time In My Life and The Stairway to the Distant Past owns Bar Tantei, a detective themed bar in Kyoto, Japan — To Sleep as to Dream is the story of two private detectives searching for an actress who has been trapped within the reel of a silent ninja film.

Private eye Uotsuka (Shiro Sano, Shin Godzilla) and his sidekick Kobayashi (Koji Otake) have been hired by Madame Cherryblossom (Fujiko Fukamizu) to find her missing daughter Bellflower (Moe Kamura, who also composed music for this movie), which leads them to a film studio and a vision of a samurai movie with no ending, a series of actors from Japan’s movie past and sets by Takeo Kimura, the art designer of movies like Tokyo: The Last War, A Killer Without a Grave and many more, as well as being the oldest person to ever direct a movie, 2008’s Dreaming Awake at the age of 90.

A near-silent film with often only music and commentary by a benshi performer, someone who would narrate silent films for the audience, all to tell the story of a world where detectives and magicians attempt to rescue or restrain Bellflower. The M. Pathé and Company villains are obsessed with film — and aren’t we, too? — through a film that I was certain did come from Japan’s past long before 1986.

Madame Cherryblossom keeps watching a movie with no ending, either in her memory or reality and like much of Japan’s silent film past, it may have been lost to age or warfare. The film that emerges casts her missing daughter as the goal for our hero, but can real life be a love story?

I’d never heard of this film and it just hit me perfectly. Be sure to seek it out and do the same for yourself.

The Arrow Video blu ray is the first time this movie has ever been released in that format. It has a high definition 1080p presentation with the original uncompressed mono audio and optional English subtitles. There are two commentary tracks, one with Japanese film experts Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp as well as an archival commentary with director Kaizo Hayashi and lead actor Shiro Sano. There’s also a new interview with Shiro Sano; Talking Silents: Benshi Midori Sawato Talks, a brand new interview on early Japanese film culture and the art of the benshi silent film commentator; an exclusive benshi performance for the movie witin the movie, a feature on the film’s restoration, a selection of silent jidai-geki period drama films from the Kyoto Toy Museum, trailers for the original release and the English-language restored re-release, an image gallery, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by David Downton and a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Aaron Gerow.

You can order the blu ray of this movie from MVD.

You can also watch this on ARROW PLAYER. Head over to ARROW to start your 30-day free trial. Subscriptions are available for $4.99 monthly or $49.99 yearly. ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland on the following Apps/devices: Roku (all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, etc), Apple TV & iOS devices, Android TV and mobile devices, Fire TV (all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc), and on all web browsers at https://www.arrow-player.com.

Unfortunately, I can’t find this movie anywhere, but Cannon Month demands that every movie be covered in some way. So let’s take a look at the info I can find on this film until I can find a way to watch this French-Italian movie.

What if John the Baptist’s battles with Herod (Tomas Milian, Don’t Torture a Duckling, The Four of the Apocalypse, Nico Giraldi in Bruno Corbucci’s series of eleven crime comedies) and Salomé’s (Jo Champa) seductive gyrations for the head of the prophet all took place during World War II? That’s exactly what this movie is seeking the answers to. And oh yes, it’s also a musical.

Directed by Claude d’Anna, who would make an opera version of MacBeth the following year, this played the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, during which we can assume that Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus were trying to sell Over the Top, Elmore Leonard’s La Brava (never made and set to star Dustin Hoffman), Superman 4: The Quest for Peace, John Travolta in an unnamed project, Spider-Man directed by Joe Zito, Chuck Norris in a comedy called Kick and Kick Back, 52 Pick-Up, an untitled Roman Polanski project, Masters of the Universe, the unreleased Housekeeping, Street Smart, Duet for One, Rumpelstiltskin, Number One with a Bullet, a musical remake of Zorba the Greek with Anthony Quinn, the unmade The White Slave, the never made Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (the trailer simply has Leatherface oiling up his chainsaw with blood), American Ninja 2, a Michael Winner-directed Captain America that I wish had been filmed, Tough Guys Don’t Dance, the Godfrey Reggio and Phillip Glass created, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola produced Powaqqatsi wich was called North South, Norman Mailer’s King Lear directed by Jean-Luc Godard, a potential sequel to Joe titled Citizen Joe, a robot movie called Too Much, a Dolly Dots music movie called Give a Girl a Break that was renamed Dutch Treat and released by Cannon, Sinbad of the Seven Seas, a kaiju movie named It Ate Cleveland, River of Death and Ben, Bonzo and Big Bad Joe with Bud Spencer, which was made as Going Bananas with Dom DeLuise.

Seriously, check out this Cannon reel which takes clips from other movies, publicity photos and high energy voiceovers to sell you on movies that Cannon may or may not make.

F/X (1986)

The unsolicited screenplay was written by actor Gregory Fleeman and documentarian Robert T. Megginson and they’d never tried to sell a movie before. When producer Jack Wiener first read it, they told him they saw it as a made-for-TV movie, but he encouraged them to make it into an actual film, which he produced along with Dodi Fayed.

Yes, the same one who died alongside Princess Diana.

Director Robert Mandel (School Ties, The Substitute, the pilot of The X-Files) isn’t an action movie director yet he’s turned the script into a great action film with real heart.

F/X expert Roland “Rollie” Tyler (Bryan Brown) has been hired by the government to fake the murder of mob informant Nicholas DeFranco (Jerry Orbach) so that he isn’t murdered before he testifies against his former crime associates. Edward Mason (Mason Adams), the agent in charge, tasks Tyler with firing the shots at DeFranco, a job for which he’ll be paid $30,000. Yet when he’s picked up after the job, he’s told that they want no loose ends and the agents try to kill him.

He escapes, but everywhere he goes, people close to him die, including his girlfriend Ellen (Diane Venora). Her murder puts Detective Leo McCarthy (Bryan Dennehy) on the case. He’s been after DeFranco for years and wants to put him in jail instead of witness protection.

F/X has the twists and turns that I love in a mystery film. Plus, between Orbach, Dennehy, Brown and Tom Noonan, so many of my favorite actors show up in this movie. The special F/X idea is pretty great, too. You can see posters for Zombi and Fade to Black in Tyler’s studio, plus he mentions working on I Dismember Mama.

F/X 2 (1991)

Richard Franklin came to America to make movies after success in his native Australia with films like Fantasm, Patrick and Road Games. He made Psycho II, Cloak and Dagger, Link and this movie here before he went back home.

The script was written by Bill Condon, who also wrote Strange Behavior and Strange Invaders before moving on to direct movies like Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, Chicago, Dreamgirls and the final two Twilight films.

Rollie Tyler (Brown) has moved from simply practical effects to building a robot clown named Bluey which is controlled by a telemetry suit. This leads to an amazing fight where both Tyler and his robot are both battling a henchman. But before we get to that, we get to why Tyler is in another adventure.

This time, his girlfriend Kim (Rachel Ticotin, Con Air)’s policeman ex-husband has been assigned to stakeout a killer who has already murdered one model. He asks him to entrap the man so they can get him off the streets, but the cop gets killed and Tyler is the only one with the evidence showing that he was murdered. He calls his old friend Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy) for help.

The real story concerns stolen solid gold medallions that were cast by Michelangelo which show the figures in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Now, Tyler has to use his F/X abiities and Leo his detective skills to get those coins back to the Vatican while avoiding the killers on their trail.

While not as good as the first, the team of Brown and Dennehy is a winning one. Both F/X and F/X 2 aired often on cable when I was young, so they’re comfort food to enjoy whenever I need them thanks to their blu ray release.

The Kino Lorber blu ray release of F/X and F/X 2 has an on-camera interview with F/X director Robert Mandel and making of features and trailers for both movies. You can get it directly from Kino Lorber.

Directed, written and starring Michal Bat-Adam, this adaption of The Lover, a novel by A. B. Yehoshua, had been in development by Cannon for nearly a decade, with Boaz Davidson and Dan Wolman both attached to direct at one point or another.

The novel was a big deal because of the taboos it broke in Israel, telling the stories of a married woman and her lover, a married father and his daughter’s friend, and the forbidden love between a Jewish girl and her Arabic lover.

Adam (Yehoram Gaon) and Asia (Bat-Adam) are a sexless married couple. She quickly falls into the bed of a tutor named Gavriel (Roberto Pollack), who agrees to help her if Adam fixes his grandmother’s car. The young man disappears during the Yom Kippur War and Adam, his daughter Dafi and their co-worker Naim all try to find him, which ends up with Dafi and Naim falling in love and one of her schoolmates throwing herself at the older man.

The Lover was a media scandal in Israel, as all of the infidelity in the movie is presented as normal. Bat-Adam nearly gave up filmmaking, but the film was a success and today she is known as one of the queens of Israeli cinema.

Lina Romay is Lulu and the title refers to a part of her anatomy, so this translates as Lulu’s Talking Ass and if that makes you laugh, then you’re ready for what Jess Franco made. After all, her butt talks and explains how it’s upset that other parts of her body get more attention.

I mean, this movie has a smash cut to said talking ass smoking a cigarette and I just started laughing like a maniac. At this point, one assumes, Franco couldn’t even remember the censorship of General Francisco Franco’s Nationalist leadership.

In 2008, Franco was awarded an honorary Goya Award, which is the Spanish version of the Academy Awards. I tell you this to prepare you for the scene where Lina makes love to an Oscar.

So you know, when you’ve seen it all, you should probably see this.