Captain America

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.

For better or worse (depending on who you talk to)this was my generation's Captain American, just like Nicholas Hammond was Spiderman. It was a good popcorn TV show, action and adventure and a suped up motorcycle. Everything an 11 year old kid loves. I have since rewatched the series and it still has those elements of interest. No it will not compare to a feature film shot in 2007 but then special effects and the era itself was different. Yes Reb Brown is bland and not a very good actor but then Mark Hamill was rather unimpressive as Luke Skywalker but you still enjoyed it. I certainly hope these shows like Captain America and Spiderman make it to DVD. By the way, Sam Raimi would you please give a cameo to Nicholas Hammond in a future Spiderman movie, he was our generation's Spiderman as I hope Lynda Carter will be given a chance to appear in the upcoming Wonder Woman movie.

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!)

Stan Lee, shame on you! This is the true origin of the Cap!

Reb Brown..I've previously judged you solely by Space Mutiny, but I began to see the light of realization that he's done other movies providing amusement and entertainment. Unfortunately, Captain America comes up short in that department, but the whole 70s made for TV look gives it charm in a B grade good kind of way.

On the plus side, Reb plays Steve Rogers as a laid back, good hearted guy from Cali. Add hilarity points for the very haphazard process for how Steve becomes his alter ego. Sheesh, the guy is an artist who loves to drive up and down the coast. Look at the can of worms you've opened up you baddies! The first half involves Steve reasoning (a lot) with Simon and dealing with a bizarre twist of events. The second half includes semi-action scenes including the testing of Cap's new toys and finally taking a stand against these bullies who've been giving Steve trouble from the get go.

Ignoring the fact that this was a pilot for a canceled series, and if it's not taken too seriously, this is an enjoyable romp where sides of beef and oil slicks have never been deadlier. Come to think of it, if Reb wasn't in this one, then you really would have yourself a real stinker. Thankfully, there's a second helping of Captain America goodness in 'Death Too Soon'.

I saw this movie when i was about eight years old, and i still thought they could have followed the Captain America story line a little closer. All in all, it was O.K. to watch, Captain America fans( if you're like me at all) will enjoy watching this movie simply because it's a Captain America movie. In the movie, Steve Rodgers was an artist, and he drew his own costume( which was not the original costume, but still pretty cool)and rode a motorcycle that his transparent shield fixed to the front to form the motorcycle's wind shield, which was kind of a cool touch, but kind of corny at the same time.Captain America did not fight any major enemies in this movie, like for instance the Red Skull, he fought enemies like Moe the dumb ass thug, like the Spider Man movies of the same time. All in all, i would have to give this movie 4 out of 10 stars.