Die drei Supermänner räumen auf

Bright red superhero fun with Brad Harris and Tony Kendall

Between two adventures of the KOMMISSAR X Franchise, successful producer Theo Maria Werner had his two stars Harris and Kendall travel to beautiful Yugoslavia to shoot a quick superhero fun. With Aldo Canti (1941-1990), the third member of the group, equipped with superpowers and in a bright red costume, he goes against a money counterfeiting ring that has a lot more in store. So the three Sonnyboys have to deal with a professor (Carlo Tamberlani) and his lovely daughter Zizi (Bettina Busch), who have made a great invention. The professor's device can duplicate people and objects. It's just a shame that the criminal gang around the crazy golem (Jochen Brockmann) also got wind of it. But luckily our three supermen aren't far away...

What fun! Action and funny sayings alternate every ten seconds. Everything is there, especially Aldo Canti's many trampoline jumps are really fun. Otherwise, the three smart buddies are well coordinated with each other. The busy Tony Kendall is once again able to bring all the ladies (Rossella Bergamonti, Gloria Paul, Sabine Sun) into the horizontal position. The giant Brad Harris flexes his muscles as usual and is the most sensible of the three as an FBI agent. And the good Aldo Canti comes across as a bit obtuse, but he fights and jumps so that it's a real joy. The brave three receive support in the action scenes from Jeff Cameron and Sal Borgese.

The film by genre veteran Gianfranco Parolini (THIS TIME I WILL MAKE YOU RICH), shot entirely in Yugoslavia, was successful enough that several sequels with the three supermen were to follow.

THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN is the first in a long-running series of cheesy Italian superhero adventure films which borrow bits from BATMAN, the Bond series, and plenty more besides. They were part of a mini wave of films starring masked superheroes that came out around this time; other movies include THE FANTASTIC ARGOMAN and DANGER: DIABOLIK. I'd previously watched some of the sequels, but only now have got around to watching the first in the series.

And it's a lot of fun; one of those films that's difficult not to enjoy. THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN is a bright and breezy affair in which the hulking Brad Harris plays an FBI agent who meets two wacky caped crime fighters and decides to join up with them. Before long the trio are going after a mad scientist who is using his cloning machine to flood the market with fake currency. Harris is a hoot here, while Kendall is suave and frequently acrobatic; the mute Nick Jordan was a real-life gangster who was supposedly released from prison just to appear in this!

The film has an action packed narrative that never lets up. There are car chases, shoot outs, and lots of goofy fist fights clearly modelled on TV's BATMAN. The special effects are primitive but fun regardless, and I'll never get tired of that 'walking on the ceiling' gag. The bad guys are over the top and suitably imposing. The dubbing is poor and the lowbrow jokes frequently aimed at kids, but nonetheless THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN is a hoot.

"I fantastici 3 $upermen" has the topic "The Universal reproduction". My guess is that Mr. Gianfranco Parolini (aka Frank Kramer), with the duo Tony Kendall and Brad Harris, after filming "Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill"(1966), in the absence of a serious scenario, just to have fun, they decided to reproduce "Batman: The Movie"(1966). The costumes and the car are "inspired" from there. They used even the tunnel from "Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill". Maybe back in the '60s they had some fun, but today this attempt is not fun not even to the preschool age children. All the actors are pathetic. The whole thing is just a waste of time. Embarrassing!

Tony, Brad, and Nick (Tony Kendall, Brad Harris, and Nick Jordan) are THE THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN!

Working for the FBI, the three red super-suited agents are out to stop an international counterfeiting scheme. A plot that could have catastrophic, global implications! With their remote-control car, non-lethal weapons, and endless acrobatic / karate abilities; they're sort of a trio of James Bond / Batman / Bruce Lee hybrids!

3FS goes out of its way to be ridiculous. Words like "silly" or "stupid" don't quite capture the imbecility on display here! Imagine if THE MONKEES had gotten together with THE BANANA SPLITS and decided to make a superhero movie, and you'll be close to grasping what's going on.

3FS also has the distinction of featuring one of the most annoying characters in movie history! Nick is a "mute", gibbering buffoon! He's a one-man torpedo barrage to the brainpan! Several, otherwise fun moments are annihilated by his inane chatter! Still, he fits right in, since this is mostly about half-witted humor, blaring music, explosions, machine guns, and pointless motion.

Anarchy as high art...

The 3 mains are rather fun and there is a lot of stuff turnabouting all around in this but it is done with farce-like tone, take that as you will.