10 Things You Didn’t Know About Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment
If you were like me growing up, you could not wait for your next trip to the video store. The video store was a magical place… a place filled with action, sci-fi and horror movies you had never heard of before just waiting to be discovered. The video store was a place where a cool cover could decide whether or not a movie was coming home with you that night or not.
The home video boom was a godsend to independent film companies like Cannon Films, Empire Pictures and Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment.
Many could argue that Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment was one of the unsung heroes of the home video boom, not getting the attention that the more bombastic Cannon Group received. But thanks to author Marco Sidelmann, SGE is getting their day in the sun with Marco’s book “The Untold In-Depth Outrageously True Story of Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment”.
The book is a collection of two dozen interviews with some of the power players of SGE including the founders Leonard Shapiro and James Glickenhaus, stars of SGE films like Cynthia Rothrock, Robert Chapin and Jalal Mehri, plus directors Joseph Zito and William Lustig. This mix of behind the scenes and on screen personalities offers a really well rounded view of not only Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment but the movie industry in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
The interviews are chock full of stories and interesting movie tidbits you can only get from the people who lived through this unique era in Hollywood history. In this very special edition of 10 Things You Didn’t Know, I’ve selected 10 out of the hundreds of factoids presented in Marco’s fantastic book to compile…
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment
1. Leonard Shapiro and James Glickenhaus first met back when Glickenhaus was working on his film The Exterminator. The Exterminator would go on to become a true cult classic and the movie Glickenhaus is most known for.
2. The movie that was credited for putting SGE on the map was 1988’s Shakedown starring Peter Weller and Sam Elliott. Shakedown, directed by James Glickenhaus himself, was shot entirely in New York and the production actually shut down 42nd Street on two consecutive nights from midnight to 5am.
3. According to his co-star Cynthia Rothrock, when a car needed to be blown up in 1991’s Tiger Claws but one was not made available, Jalal Mehri sacrificed his own Porsche for the scene.
4. Jalal Mehri and James Glickenhaus had differing visions for 1993’s TC 2000. Mehri described the process of making the film difficult. Coincidentally, TC 2000 was the final movie Jalal Mehri made with SGE.
5. SGE had a reputation for throwing some legendary parties. One night they had a party to commemorate the opening of Red Scorpion. The venue the party was being held at overlooked the world famous Chinese Theater. When the party goers looked outside at the theater they were hoping to see huge lines to see Dolph Lundgren in Red Scorpion, instead there was a line around the block for Pet Semetary.
6. While not a huge theatrical success, Red Scorpion was the first title released by SEG’s home video division and was a huge success in the home video market.
7. Another of SGE’s more successful titles was 1988’s Maniac Cop. Maniac Cop starred Robert Z’Dar, William Smith, Tom Atkins, Richard Roundtree and Bruce Campbell. The film was directed by William Lustig who described Maniac Cop as The French Connection meets Frankenstein.
8. The reason SGE opted to not produce the sequels to Maniac Cop, despite the original being a success, was because James Glickenhaus did not like director William Lustig and didn’t want to work with him again.
9. The powers that be at SGE were blown away by the live sword fight that Robert Chapin put on in order to sell his idea for the movie Ring of Steel. However, SGE was not convinced that the inexperienced Chapin was right for the lead role and made him audition.
10. A Las Vegas stripper was the one to convince Joe Don Baker to take the role of the Man in Black in Ring of Steel.
These 10 things barely scratch the surface of what “The Untold In-Depth Outrageously True Story of Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment” has to offer. There are stories about other SGE movies like One Man Force starring the late John Matuszak, Basket Case, Talons of the Eagle, Frankenhooker, Moontrap and the final film of SGE and James Glickenhaus, 1995’s Timemaster. You can find out what big action star of the 90’s wanted Glickenhaus to direct his next film and what movie inspired (or is to blame for) Frank Zagarino’s Airboss series.
In addition to the interviews, the book is bursting at the seams with behind the scenes photographs, movie stills, press releases, pages from the scripts and my favorite… VHS cover art and movie posters! If you are a movie buff looking for a nostalgia filled read, I highly recommend picking up a copy of “The Untold In-Depth Outrageously True Story of Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment”.
