Menahem Golan (1929–2014)

An absolutely stunning concoction of bad music, bad songs, bad plotting, bad acting, bad staging, bad costuming and bad make-up that somehow manages to transform itself into a sublime work of colourful genius and over-the-top campy lunacy. A futuristic plotline that combines showbiz pizzazz with religious allegory while delivering an overly earnest story about the power of love to conquer all, which culminates in God coming down from heaven in a pimped-out golden Cadillac to save a commune of hippies from fascist capitalists has just got to be seen to be believed. It is the gloriously bad songs and their demented lyrics, however, that put "The Apple" into a whole category of its own. Every song's an atrocious winner but my favourites had to be the the abandon-all-subtlety porno-disco groove of "Coming" (Make it harder and harder, faster and faster / And when you think you can't keep it up / I'll make it deeper and deeper, tighter and tighter / And drain every drop of your love) and "Speed", which appears be a dance rock number about living in America with added amphetamines (America the land of the free / Is shooting up with pure energy / And everyday she cries out for more Speed / America, the home of the brave / Is popping pills to keep up the pace / And everyday she has to take more Speed). A glorious slice of lunatic film-making.… (more)