Supersonic Man

It says Spain everywhere on the page. Film locations, where most of the cast and director are from. Takes 10 seconds to see it. Nothing surprises me anymore...Anyway this is a SPANISH made knockoff of Superman by one of the more ambitious B movie directors I can think of, Juan Piquer Simón. This director also did the ET knockoff better known to MST3K fans as Pod People. A little boy and his love for Trumpy. Yeah...

Aside from Pumaman, I dont remember Italian studio production companies by this time willing to try a movie with much special effects. They were mostly obsessed with trying to make Mad Max, Road Warrior, Escape From New York, Warriors knockoffs (i mean homages). They are less reliant on effects and expensive locations, same reason they were so good at making Westerns. I think Italian filmmakers learned not to try special effects on this scale after War of the Robots.

This movie is overly ambitious given its financial limitations. All the dialogue is dubbed in which was standard practice in European moviee back then. The star is Cameron Mitchell and the male lead actor's mustache. His character loses the mustache when he morphs into this large pasty skinned expressionless guy in tights.

There are moments of comic relief that mostly gave me a puzzled expression than a laugh. I am not entirely sure what Dr Gulik's world domination plan is but Cameron Mitchell does get to quote Shakespeare and have some overly dramatic scenes as the villain. Some long scenes like his dinner with the scientist he elaborately kidnaps in the first act then doesn't do much with him when he is around are just excuses for dramatic speeches. With so much technology at his disposal, you'd think he'd give the kidnapped scientist sodium pentothal or at least a mind altering brain ray to force his collaboration instead of endlessly trying to kidnap his daughter. I suspect Cameron Mitchell did this movie for an all expense paid vacation in Spain. It is better than other Cameron Mitchell movies he was doing by this time like Frankenstein Island but I did like Cataclysm which is about a demon returning to earth so he can act like a jerk.

Superhero Kronos , an alien, called "Supersonic Man," (a bodybuilder and former Tarzan , Richard Yesteran) is sent to Earth to decide the fate of mankind and thwart the schemes of evil men who would destroy the galaxy itself with their weapons from a distant galaxy . Supersonic is also given a human identity , Paul (Michael Coby or Antonio Cantafora) , a journalist who can change back to superhero by activating a watch device . But a nutty mad doctor named Gulik (Cameron Mitchell), supported by his hoodlums (Frank Braña, Luis Barboo), has evil plans , as he wants to rule the planet and abduct Patricia (Diana Polakov) , an eminent scientific (Jose Maria Caffarel)'s daughter and Supersonic's love interest . At the end our hero , Supersonic , enters the underground lair of the villain and has to pass through some corridors where he is shot, frozen, and burnt.

This is a humdrum adaptation based on Superman movies from a screenplay by the same filmmaker , Juan Piquer Simón ; as the plot lifts some scene from the script of Superman by Richard Donner . This is a pretty entertaining superhero movie though packs absurd situations and cheesy frames . Supersonic man and his human alter ego Paul were not played by the same actor , he was played by a Spanish and Italian actor respectively . As Supersonic was played by bodybuilder and former Tarzan José Luis Ayestarán , Paul, his human alter ego , was played by Antonio Cantafora . Atmospheric as well as ridiculous super hero movie contains bemusing scenes when appears the bouncing He man and takes place his confrontation to nasty hoodlums in some lousily made scenes , including primitive special effects . Part of the spaceship in the opening scenes is made from a Cylon Raider model and other parts have numerous "older technique" FX such as transparency , matte paintings, rubber-suited enemies , reverse-footage to create certain images ; all of them were made by Emilio Ruiz Del Rio , Francisco Prosper and the same director , Juan Piquer . As this superhero possesses mighty powers such as flying , sensational strength , throwing fire and transforming handguns into bananas , all of them being recreated by means of traditional effects . You will watch it and think it is either awful , hilarious, a masterpiece, or all three . It's a slight fun with embarrassing images , naive special effects , horrible musical score with awful songs by Gino Pecuri , campy set decoration and below average art direction . Although critics do not appreciate much this picture ; however has a kind of loopy, Ed Wood quality that must be endured to be totally considered . The fable is sometimes silly and laughable , though a few naif effects and action are professionally made . Some illogical parts in the argument are more than compensated for the excitement provided by Sonic man though some flying scenes are a little bit cheesy . While not a hit during its original run, the film became a limited success when reissued nearly 30 years later deemed to be one of the best worst films of cinema history .

The motion picture was lousily directed by Juan Piquer . Juan , who goes by "J.P. Simon" on foreign releases , began in films as a writer and assistant director and continued his career by making short films and documentaries . Juan has produced and directed "exploitation" pictures for two decades running . He was one of the main directors of the Spanish horror boom in the 70s and 80s specially for his quartet of horror films as ¨Escalofrio¨, ¨Slugs¨ , ¨Cthulhu Mansion¨ and his greatest success and immensely popular ¨Pieces¨ . Juan owns his own studio and created and/or designed many of the simple and primitive special effects sequences you see in any of his many imaginative undertakings . Piquer , who recently passed away, was a good craftsman who realized a lot of amusing as well as entertaining films . Juan Piquer who was director of the Mostra of Valencia (Spain) , displayed a professional career and specialized on all kind of genres as Terror , Sci-fi (The rift , The new Extraterrestres, Supersonic man) and made some adaptations about Jules Verne novels ("Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth" , "Mystery on Monster Island") . While his films have been universally panned by the prestigious reviewers, they have a kind of quality that must be endured to be utterly appreciated .

Dr. Gulik (Cameron Mitchell) is an evil mastermind bent on . . . well, I'm really not sure what he was bent on. I watched the entire movie and still have no idea what Dr. Gulick's plan was. In between all the gibberish Dr. Gulick spouts, I don't believe he ever laid out what his ultimate goal was (if he did, I missed it). I don't believe I've ever seen a movie with a more confusing plot. Or, maybe the plot wasn't confusing, but, instead, the movie didn't have a plot. That's my guess.

Beyond the plot, everything else is a disaster. The special effects are the worst, the music is beyond annoying, and the acting is atrocious. Usually I can watch a movie and enjoy it regardless of the dubbing. That's not the case here. The voice actors are terrible. And why was there a need to dub Cameron Mitchell with a ridiculous, over-the-top English accent? And then there's the robot. This movie was made in 1979, not 1939. Just plain stupid. The only reason I haven't given the movie a "1" is for all the lackeys in the matching, multi-color jumpsuits. Watching these guys run around as the island blows-up is worth a point.

A Spanish ripoff of the original Superman movie, the movie is cool for the first two minutes while the exposition for all of this is formed. Then, it happens: the music. The tinny, cheesy music. Then the obviously FAKE blue-screen work that shows our hero as flying through space. Then the movie falls apart as good FX work (laserblasts) and bad FX (the Puma Man flying sequences..no lie!) mishmash together with inadequate dubbing and Cameron 'Mitchel' (?) laughing like his helium was too concentrated. However, the stinger for this episode is when Supersonic Man decides to lift up a bulldozer and, thanks to the amazing art of editing, is shown to pick up this horribly fake particleboard recreation of a bulldozer. It's not even painted well to cover up this shoddy job. Then the regular viewer will lose all respect and this movie will go back to the comedy section of your local Hollywood Video and lay there until Hell freezes over. But if you are a lover of bad movies, this one is a must. If you loved 'Puma Man,' this is FAR more entertaining. Go knock yourself out. The costume of Supersonic Man is quite interesting, unlike the rest of this movie.

Me and my high school dog pack caught this movie by chance one late night on Channel 44 in the Bay Area. Perhaps by devine intervention, I hit the record button and got the whole film on tape. It provided us and our respective families with endless laughs. We even composed a song/chant out of some of our favorite lines that we would recite religiously in the park at night (This is true San Jose-style recreation!!) Highlights? The terrifying killer robot that displayed the speed and swiftness of a cheetah! That devastating glare of Supersonic's evil nemesis as he monitors his underlings' treacherous deeds. The timeless beauty and personal complexity of Supersonic's love interest, Patricia Morgan. And the special effects -- especially the balsa wood steamroller, realistic-looking toy helicopter and the seamless camera work the director achieved whenever Paul morphs into Supersonic. To the uninitiated: May the forces of the universe be with you in your quest to see this movie!!