Superargo, el gigante

SUPERARGO AND THE FACELESS GIANTS opens with a wrestling match, featuring a man with so much body hair, he could be used to scour the Statue of Liberty! When a wrestler is abducted, it's part of an organized athlete-seizing plot.

Enter wrestler / crimefighter, Superargo (Ken Wood) and his companion, Kamir (Aldo Sambrell), who are in the middle of "psychic training", when they're called upon to get to the bottom of this fiendish scheme. It appears that an army of robots are involved, and are robbing banks as well.

Filled to bursting with boffo fight scenes, groovy gadgets, and woo-woo sound effects, this is must-see viewing for lovers of the bizarre and endearingly antiquated. So, slip your brain into the nearest jar, and prepare to be utterly entertained!

EXTRA CREDIT FOR: #1- The splendiferous robots! They pre-date their Borg brethren by several decades! #2- Superargo himself, who is a cross between Batman, The Phantom, and Santo! #3- The fantabulous theme music! You'll be making up your own dance moves for days / weeks to come!...

Critics are being a bit hard on our boy Superargo. No, it isn't Christopher Reeve Superman but its special effects and fight scenes are perfectly acceptable for a late 1960s action movie -- as competent as TV heroes Batman (1966) or Wonder Woman (1977). The robot henchmen are better outfitted than Doctor Who Cybermen of the same era, and the actor portraying the titular hero fills out his costume convincingly. The plot isn't groundbreaking; mad scientists have been throwing robots at superheroes since the 1930s. But it is good, clean fun. A bit of James Bond, a bit of lucha libre, a bit of the eastern mysticism common to radio superheroes of the 1940s. It works.

This mix of Mexican wrestling, 60s superspy & campy TV "Batman" element was probably intended for kiddie matinees. It's fun, but the relatively low production values means the means there's energy but little style, so all the running around gets monotonous after a while. I wished the lead got to take off his costume once so we could see what he looked like--this was a rare lead for an actor who usually played bit parts or did stunt doubling.

Still, I enjoyed his and the other performances; the cast seems to have been enjoying this as a lark, with the possible exception of Guy Madison. (But then he's playing the main villain, so perhaps it's just as well that he's poker-faced.) It's a goofy, silly film, with some charm. But let's face it, this sort of Italian live-action-cartoon thing is better when it's got the $$ for some visual flourishes, whether in the garishly colored lighting and production design in Bava's "Hercules in the Haunted World" or the cheesy-FX-cluttered Lou Ferrigno "Hercules" movies later on, not to mention the better Bond knockoffs.

It's a shame when reviewers, like the other one reviewing this film here, can't provide you with anything but weak metaphors and banal banter.

Superargo is an ex-wrestler. He quit the sport in the first film, Superargo vs. Diabolicus, after accidentally killing an opponent. In this sequel, Superargo has altered his mask some but still keeps the bulletproof red tights.

He's also taken up studies in Eastern mysticism, with the aid of his new sidekick, Kamir (Aldo Sambrell who later went on to star in many Spaghetti Westerns and had the main role opposite Burt Reynolds in 'Navajo Joe' two years prior).

There had been a rash of crimes involving major athletes being accosted and kidnapped.Usually by a group of 'faceless giants.' The giants aren't faceless, just have stockings over their faces. And they aren't giants either. Actually most are shorter than Superargo.

The government calls Superargo in to find out who operates the robotic men and stop them. Things go awry and it plays out much like a spy film. In fact, the superhero genre in Italy in the late 60's was a direct descendant of the spy genre which petered out about '67 or '68 itself. See also The Fantastic Argoman and the previous Superargo film.

There are hokey bits of comic book indulgence, but as a film collector and fan, I enjoy Superargo and the Faceless Giants. I recommend seeing it, even if it's just once on late-night television.

Many find the movie boring, and while some parts do tend to drag on, such as the chase through the woods, it isn't nearly as bad as, say, everything Jerry Bruckheimer has made.

Superargo, retired pro wrestler, is a costumed super hero who has mastered the arts of ESP and levitation with the help of guru sidekick, Kamir. Here's he's called on to stop an evil mad scientist and his army of faceless giants from world domination. In actuality, the army is of cheezy looking robots who have faces and are reasonably sized, not giant, but either way, must be defeated.

So, this is a terrible movie, but it's soundly in the so bad, it's good category. It's preposterous, but kind of fun if you'll allow yourself. It's certainly not a hard watch and has a certain charm that comes with the right kind of dumb, bad movie.

Much like Prince of Space, The Pumaman, or Supersonic Man, the unintentional humor is worth the watch. I had a few laugh out loud moments watching this. The jokes write themselves.