Captain America

WOW!!! I have seen this movie and its sequel and I think both are some of the best superhero movies I've ever seen. I also like the later 1989 Captain America movie, which is pretty faithful to the comics movie, but I think I like the 1979 portrayal of Cap the best. Okay, actually the costume and shield are more like the comics in the 1989 movie and I do like that, but I also like the 1979 movies.

True, in this movie the origin is different, but at least it's close to the original. The costume is different but at the end of the movie, Steve Rogers offers his own design for the costume, and he wears it for the second movie, which looks a lot better.

Anyway, there's great superhero action and stunts in both movies. Very enjoyable. Check them out. Captain America rocks!

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.

Marvel films are some of the most popular films being released today. But interestingly enough, this was not the first time that Marvel films were being made and being put on to the big or small screen. The 70's saw the first rise of Marvel films being made for television. Throughout the decade we saw The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and even Captain America, subject of todays review. 1979 saw the release of not one, but TWO Captain America TV Movies. The TV Movies were no doubt meant to follow what The Incredible Hulk did earlier by releasing two TV Movie pilots, which in the Incredible Hulk's case spawned a television series. As we all know, this did not work out for Captain America. The first film was directed by Rod Holcomb (ER, Lost, and Numb3rs). The film stars football player Reb Brown (Yor: The Hunter From The Future, CHiPS, Space Mutiny) as the titular character and Len Birman (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Days of Our Lives).

Steve Rogers has just gotten out of the Marines and becomes all tangled in a conspiracy involving a neutron bomb. Learning that his father was a crime fighter, he also learns that his father has developed a super serum known as FLAG. Scientists believe that the serum would only work in Steve, but he declines. Steve gets into an accident and is saved by the serum and now he is Captain America and he must stop the conspiracy that he has been all tangled up in.

You know, I knew that this was not going to be great. But I figured, oh it will be cheesy and cheesy can be entertaining, right? Well, 1979's Captain America is not cheesy and it is not a whole lot of fun to watch. If you have seen any of my reviews for superhero related media, you may know that I am not an avid comic book reader. But I am smart enough to realize that this film takes way too many creative liberties. Captain America in the comics was a soldier who is given powers in WWII and fights Nazis and is then frozen in an iceberg and is reawakened in the present day. Well, in here, we some random dude who does not really appear to want to be a superhero, become a superhero and fight bad guys who work at an oil company. Lameeeeeeeee. Now granted, I can assume that the idea was to do something a little more ambitious (something close to the source material) but it was the 1970's and if you had a TV movie, you had next to nothing in terms of budget which in this film, is very evident. We have a big brute of a former football player in the role of Captain America and well, as you would possibly suspect, he is not very good in the role. Sure, he has the physicality of a crime fighter/superhero, but acting is most certainly not something Reb Brown is proficient in. Not only does the actor playing Captain America suck, but so does Captain America. Viewers will have to wait for over an hour or so to see Steve Rogers don the costume and even then there are two maybe three scenes total that he wears it. Plus, the costume is somewhat lame but that was the 70's for you. Either you hated it or loved it. The character of Steve Rogers is fairly whiny and lacks any likeability. He does not even want to be a superhero and muses about how is going to live the rest of his life like this. YOU ARE A SUPERHUMAN!!!! Another problem with this film is how boring it can truly get. I am convinced that this film was short of it's running time and so they threw in filler scenes. Scenes where it would be long drawn out bits of silence. Whether it be a helicopter flying or Steve Rogers driving around in his cool looking van. It is those scenes that just make this film drag onnnnnnn. And this is supposed to be a superhero film. A type of film that should be fast paced at least. The special effects are bad, but literally the least of anyone's problems here. What good that does come out of this film is the film's musical score which I actually liked. It is pure 70's funky type music and it adds a little bit of charm (which is pretty much all of it's charm).

Captain America is a poor TV film. I think I could look past the whole "not being faithful to the source material" bit but if you do that, you find this film to have more and more problems. And the sad thing is, is that there is a sequel. I wonder how that will work out for me.

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.

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.