Les 3 Fantastiques Supermen

I love 1960s-style martial arts action, and the only thing THE THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN lacks is the obligatory "hi-yah!" This amusing comedy combines elements of BATMAN, THE GREEN HORNET, Mexican wrestling movies and spy-capers. Much of the humor might have been funny back in Europe in the 1960s, but it came off as stupid or just plain odd when I watched the movie in America during the 1990s. Maybe they didn't have a budget to really develop the slapstick and satire into something honestly funny, or maybe the English dubbed version simply lost something in the translation.

Nick Jordan is particularly annoying as the mute superhero, a role given to Salvadore Borgese in follow-ups (ironically, Borgese only cameos at the beginning of THE THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN, as a bazooka-toting henchman). Jordan's superb acrobatic flips and mini-trampoline stunts really highlight the karate fights and help to elevate them above other martial arts of the period (i.e. THE AVENGERS & WILD WILD WEST). I dare say that as far as 1960s martial arts go, THE THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN's spats are second only to THE GREEN HORNET!

I won't go too much into the script; you'll just have to find this rare gem and see it yourself. For now, let's just say that FBI agents get their hands on these bullet-proof 'Superman' (why Marvel never sue'd them is beyond me!) outfits which turn common jewel thieves into acrobatic heroes! Some times our zany heroes are evading cops, some times they're thwarting a mad scientist and his 'human duplicating' machine, and sometimes they're just being silly. They're never boring though (that doesn't happen until the movie's many sequels came along)!

Tony, Brad, and Nick (Tony Kendall, Brad Harris, and Nick Jordan) are THE THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN!

Working for the FBI, the three red super-suited agents are out to stop an international counterfeiting scheme. A plot that could have catastrophic, global implications! With their remote-control car, non-lethal weapons, and endless acrobatic / karate abilities; they're sort of a trio of James Bond / Batman / Bruce Lee hybrids!

3FS goes out of its way to be ridiculous. Words like "silly" or "stupid" don't quite capture the imbecility on display here! Imagine if THE MONKEES had gotten together with THE BANANA SPLITS and decided to make a superhero movie, and you'll be close to grasping what's going on.

3FS also has the distinction of featuring one of the most annoying characters in movie history! Nick is a "mute", gibbering buffoon! He's a one-man torpedo barrage to the brainpan! Several, otherwise fun moments are annihilated by his inane chatter! Still, he fits right in, since this is mostly about half-witted humor, blaring music, explosions, machine guns, and pointless motion.

Anarchy as high art...

"I fantastici 3 $upermen" has the topic "The Universal reproduction". My guess is that Mr. Gianfranco Parolini (aka Frank Kramer), with the duo Tony Kendall and Brad Harris, after filming "Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill"(1966), in the absence of a serious scenario, just to have fun, they decided to reproduce "Batman: The Movie"(1966). The costumes and the car are "inspired" from there. They used even the tunnel from "Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill". Maybe back in the '60s they had some fun, but today this attempt is not fun not even to the preschool age children. All the actors are pathetic. The whole thing is just a waste of time. Embarrassing!

Bright red superhero fun with Brad Harris and Tony Kendall

Between two adventures of the KOMMISSAR X Franchise, successful producer Theo Maria Werner had his two stars Harris and Kendall travel to beautiful Yugoslavia to shoot a quick superhero fun. With Aldo Canti (1941-1990), the third member of the group, equipped with superpowers and in a bright red costume, he goes against a money counterfeiting ring that has a lot more in store. So the three Sonnyboys have to deal with a professor (Carlo Tamberlani) and his lovely daughter Zizi (Bettina Busch), who have made a great invention. The professor's device can duplicate people and objects. It's just a shame that the criminal gang around the crazy golem (Jochen Brockmann) also got wind of it. But luckily our three supermen aren't far away...

What fun! Action and funny sayings alternate every ten seconds. Everything is there, especially Aldo Canti's many trampoline jumps are really fun. Otherwise, the three smart buddies are well coordinated with each other. The busy Tony Kendall is once again able to bring all the ladies (Rossella Bergamonti, Gloria Paul, Sabine Sun) into the horizontal position. The giant Brad Harris flexes his muscles as usual and is the most sensible of the three as an FBI agent. And the good Aldo Canti comes across as a bit obtuse, but he fights and jumps so that it's a real joy. The brave three receive support in the action scenes from Jeff Cameron and Sal Borgese.

The film by genre veteran Gianfranco Parolini (THIS TIME I WILL MAKE YOU RICH), shot entirely in Yugoslavia, was successful enough that several sequels with the three supermen were to follow.

The 3 mains are rather fun and there is a lot of stuff turnabouting all around in this but it is done with farce-like tone, take that as you will.