Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Allen Garfield | ... |
Ben Sydney
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Zack Norman | ... |
Sammy Brooks
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Allan Arbus | ... |
George Dankworth
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Ed Lauter | ... |
Skip Keisel
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Lucianne Buchanan | ... |
Monica Keisel
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Marianna Hill | ... |
Jennifer Holding
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Manu Tupou | ... |
Chief Henri Zabu
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Joseph Warren | ... |
Arthur Keisel
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Betty Karlen | ... |
Linda Gato
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Shirley Stoler | ... |
Joan Ironwood
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Ferdinand Mayne | ... |
Seth the Butler
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Charles Siegal | ... |
Seth's Assistant
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Tom Nardini | ... |
Gatekeeper
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Steve Mittleman |
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Harsh Nayyar | ... |
Prime Minister
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In 1986 Howard Zuker and Neil Cohen directed their first and only film, CHIEF ZABU, a low budget, audacious socio-political comedy about New York real estate operators who scheme to take over a Polynesian country while its leader is in New York seeking admission to the UN. Featuring a cast of legendary character actors - Allen Garfield (The Conversation), Zack Norman (Romancing the Stone), Allan Arbus (Putney Swope), Marianna Hill (The Godfather: Part 2), Manu Tupuo (Hawaii), Ed Lauter (The Longest Yard), Shirley Stoler (Seven Beauties), plus the harp-playing "Miss California," Lucianne Buchanan - and set in Manhattan, The Hudson Valley, Beverly Hills, Las Vegas and the fictional island nation of Tiburaku, CHIEF ZABU was shot almost entirely on a college campus, in 15 days, for under $200,000 (with the cast, crew, and student interns all living together in the dorms). After a series of snafus that paralleled the film's madcap plot, and despite featured coverage of its production in ... Written by Neil Cohen, co-director, co-writer