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By: John M Jerva
If you’re a product of 80’s and 90’s action cinema and most preferably the glory days of Cannon Films, then the must have book you need to get for your collection has arrived!
From aurthor Marco Siedelmann, the book is a treasure trove of the great career of action maestro Sam Firstenberg, who is responsible for some of the greatest action flicks to come out of that era like Revenge of the Ninja and American Ninja which featured action legends Sho Kosugi and Michael Dudikoff respectively.
The book is locked and loaded with over a thousand of never before seen photos as well as interviews from the action masters who brought us countless hours of action drenched entertainment. Check out the official press release below!
Get ready for the one of the most action packed, most candid, and most explosive career-spanning interview books in cinematic history! Straight from the glory days of the the legendary Cannon Film Group comes STORIES FROM THE TRENCHES: Adventures in Making High Octane Hollywood Movies from Cannon Veteran Sam Firstenberg!
Sam Firstenberg is mostly recognized as one Cannon’s most important in-house directors during their outrageously successful heyday of the 1980’s. The journey of this interview collection starts even before he made his way to direct box office hits just like REVENGE OF THE NINJA, NINJA III: THE DOMINATION, BREAKIN’ II: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO, and AMERICAN NINJA, amongst others.
The conversations in the book shed light on his origins and influences, including childhood memories, private biographical chapters, his years as a film student in Los Angeles, and his early work as an assistant director and technician for people like Menahem Golan, Charles Band, Ephraim Kishon, Boaz Davidson, and many more. The interviews are not chronological, but focus on every career-step, just as well as on every single movie Firstenberg ever directed until his retirement in 2002.
His memories about all the projects he was involved in are packed with adventurous stories about ninjas and breakdancers, about directing action entertainment in exotic countries, and about working with numerous movie stars, among them Michael Dudikoff, Eric Roberts, John-Rhys Davies, Hulk Hogan, Grace Jones, Nick Cassavetes, Zachi Noy, Richard Roundtree, Steve James, Sho Kosugi, and many more.
STORIES FROM THE TRENCHES is also a book about the early film industry in Israel, the Hollywood star system and the no longer existing mid-budget movies. It’s about the home video boom, about the ascension and the decline of Cannon, but it also discusses the rules and traditions of the industry. Other topics are the practical way a film was put together in that era, the technical changes through the years, the different film market situation compared to nowadays – and last, but not least, it’s an inside story about the early years of Nu Image and how Avi Lerner’s companies Nu Image and Millennium continued the spirit of Cannon, but under different circumstances and times.
CONTENT:
755 Pages! More than 1400 pictures, most of them never published before! More than 50 interviews! More than 20 personal stories by Sam Firstenberg! Guest interviews with Michael Dudikoff, Tadashi Yamashita, Adolfo “Shabba-Doo” Quinones, Lucinda Dickey, Bryan Genesse, Steve Lambert, Keith Vitali, Jordan Bennett, BJ Davis, and many more! A mandatory read for all action fans, Cannon movie lovers, and simply everybody who’s interested in the history of the genre.
I was privileged to interview Mr. Firstenberg a few years back when the book was going through its successful crowd funding campaign and we talked extensively about the book and these great action classics. Check out my exclusive interview with the man himself in the link below!
The Action-Flix Exclusive Interview: Legendary Director Sam Firstenberg (Reprint)
You can order a copy of the book now at Amazon.com and like I said, this is a must own for any serious action fanatic.
Order: https://www.amazon.com/Stories-Trenches-Adventures-Hollywood-Firstenberg/dp/3960346697
Check out a special promo video featuring Sam in the player below and lock and load with this bestseller today!
[…] with action fans. You can check out the first interview in full right here! At the time, his book Stories From The Trenches which he collaborated with author and creator Marco Siedelmann, was in the prelimunary stages of […]