Captain America

Captain America (1979)

** (out of 4)

Made-for-TV film has Reb Brown playing ex-Marine Steven Rogers who gets out of the service and plans on taking it easy but instead he learns of an experiment his father was working on. After an attempt on his life, Steve is given this secret serum and soon finds himself becoming Captain America and fighting crime. The Marvel character was previously brought to the big screen in a Republic serial and while I'm not overly familiar with the comic I had heard plenty of negative things about this film. I had heard some call it the worst comic-book adaptation in history while others simply called it one of the worst films of the decade. I don't agree with either of those opinions but I'll admit that this is a pretty silly little movie that has very few "good" things going for it but what makes the film work is the camp level, which is pretty high. There are all sorts of problems with this film and a lot of them can be placed at the feet of the director. For the life of me I couldn't understand why no one could tell how silly this thing was and I really question how several of the scenes are edited together. There are moments where it seems one thing is going on and then out of no where something else will start up without anything in the middle to connect them. It seems like much of the story is happening so fast that little bits and pieces are just missing without any reason. Another problem is that the screenplay contains some of the dumbest dialogue ever. The highlight of the film for me is when Brown is upset that he's been given this serum and he complains to the doctor that he'll have to go through the rest of his life never knowing when it's going to be his turn to die. Umm, everyone goes through life not knowing when it's going to be their turn. Did this guy think he had control of it before taking the serum? A lot of fans hate Brown in the lead but I thought he had the right look for the part but the acting leaves quite a bit to be desired. I thought some of the line delivering was really bad and there were a few moments where it appears like he forgot his line for a split second as there are some strange gaps in between words. The supporting cast really isn't all that memorable but some of the performances add a touch of camp. CAPTAIN America is far from a good movie but at the same time it's not nearly as bad as its reputation would have you believe. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone except those who like a little silly camp.

I will not hear a word spoken against this fine movie. It's great for watching when getting together with your sarcastic friends. You know the ones I mean. The kind that rent a schlock horror movie simply so they can make fun of it.

The production values may lag, the acting may make you wince, and the origin of Captain America is shattered into a million zillion pieces.There is, however,one thing that makes it the greatest Captain America movie of all time: The Captain America movie from 1991! That one makes this one look like Citizen Kane. Plus, this one has a motorcycle!

Yes folks, if terrorists ever force you to choose one Captain America to watch at gunpoint, make it this one.

Firstly, let me say that if you've ever read the Captain America comics, then be warned-the Captain America in this movie bears no resemblance to the one in the comic. Everything has changed.

I first saw this movie in the early 1980's on video. I was a little bit disappointed at not seeing the Captain America I was used to reading from the 60's/70's comic books; however, if you can get past that minor triviality, then you have a film that pretty much stands out on it's own.

Everything has changed-there is no supervillain like The Red Skull. Captain America rides a motorcycle and his costume is different. His origin is different and he is dealing with small-time crooks (well, small time compared to supervillains like Dr Doom and The Red Skull). If you can just sit back and forget that the producers changed everything then you have an enjoyable film with a fairly memorable musical score.

As I mentioned earlier, there were no supervillains in the movie but neither did you find supervillains in the Spider-Man or Incredible Hulk TV shows and they were entertaining.

Captain America was a decent film and I believe it may have inspired certain TV shows (such as Street Hawk starring Rex Smith). Whatever your thoughts on this movie, it was a hell of a lot better than the painfully average Captain America movie from the 90's which did remain faithful to the original comic book character. Take your pick.

Oh, boy where to begin? Ok, Marvel Comics, until recently, seemed to be cursed with horrible adaptations of their characters. The lone stand-out was the Hulk, but it was more Fugitive than "Hulk Smash!". Following its success, though, we got this movie. Poor Cap, he should have stayed frozen!

The movie suffers badly from budget, with effects that were bargain basement even then; and a script that sounded like Snoopy wrote it on top of the dog house. Reb Brown looked good physically, but he was about as wooden as an oak. Still, he was better than Matt Salinger. Steve Forrest had starred in SWAT, not long before this; but watching him here, you wish he had taken a bullet in that series.

The motorcycle was cool (at least when I was 13, in 1979) and the shield/windshield was at least creative. The costume, oh man, the costume! According to Mark Gruenwald, the late editor of Cap and other Marvel Comics, the production changed the costume and Marvel had to beg them to change it back. The final scenes in the film show Cap in a close approximation of the original costume. The funny part was, the commercial breaks would display line art of Cap in his traditional costume.

Cap was given abilities closer to Steve Austin (the Bionic Man, not Stone Cold) than Steve Rogers, but it worked OK; there just weren't any spectacular stunts to make it interesting.

Ultimately, the film proved successful enough for a sequel, but not well enough for a series. Still, I'll take it over the Matt Salinger film any day! (An Italian Red Skull? Uggh!)

You have to wonder why the producers of this T movie bothered to make it at all, since it has almost nothing to do with the Captain America of the comics. This Captain America is apparently the son of the original Cap, and is given the super-solider treatment after being seriously injured by bad guys looking for secret documents involving his old man. As if this plot isn't bad enough, the new Cap wears a loose variation on the real Cap's uniform, including a motorcycle helmet in place of the winged hood. He also carries a tiny, see-though plastic shield that looks like it wouldn't hold up in a storm, never mind stop bullets. Cap ride around on a motorcycle, righting wrongs and catching up with a bunch of bad guys. Hunky Reb Brown is an OK Cap, but the movie is a dog. A followup effort from 1990 with Matt Sallinger is only slightly better, but that Cap spends most of the flick in street clothes, and comes across as a poor man's James Bond as he pursues the Red Skull. Except this Red Skull is not the Red Skull of the comics. Yeesh.