Superargo contre les robots

SUPERARGO AND THE FACELESS GIANTS opens with a wrestling match, featuring a man with so much body hair, he could be used to scour the Statue of Liberty! When a wrestler is abducted, it's part of an organized athlete-seizing plot.

Enter wrestler / crimefighter, Superargo (Ken Wood) and his companion, Kamir (Aldo Sambrell), who are in the middle of "psychic training", when they're called upon to get to the bottom of this fiendish scheme. It appears that an army of robots are involved, and are robbing banks as well.

Filled to bursting with boffo fight scenes, groovy gadgets, and woo-woo sound effects, this is must-see viewing for lovers of the bizarre and endearingly antiquated. So, slip your brain into the nearest jar, and prepare to be utterly entertained!

EXTRA CREDIT FOR: #1- The splendiferous robots! They pre-date their Borg brethren by several decades! #2- Superargo himself, who is a cross between Batman, The Phantom, and Santo! #3- The fantabulous theme music! You'll be making up your own dance moves for days / weeks to come!...

Critics are being a bit hard on our boy Superargo. No, it isn't Christopher Reeve Superman but its special effects and fight scenes are perfectly acceptable for a late 1960s action movie -- as competent as TV heroes Batman (1966) or Wonder Woman (1977). The robot henchmen are better outfitted than Doctor Who Cybermen of the same era, and the actor portraying the titular hero fills out his costume convincingly. The plot isn't groundbreaking; mad scientists have been throwing robots at superheroes since the 1930s. But it is good, clean fun. A bit of James Bond, a bit of lucha libre, a bit of the eastern mysticism common to radio superheroes of the 1940s. It works.

A hero IS nothing but a sandwich! Especially when a guy in black tights can't show off his boldness and super strength like every other comic book marvel! I'm glad I caught this obscure superhero film on late-night TV, though. In fact, SUPERARGO would have been, at the very least, a camp classic had it been aired on MST3K. It's quite a shock that movies were actually getting better by 1967, but still, this atrocious experience in crimefighting offers the "BIFF!"s, "WHAM!"s, "SOCK!"s, and "POW!"s in a distorted array of action-packed excitement. A horde of "faceless giants" goes after our demented hero, and nails them down with fists, only to make the movie look terrible. And where did the story go? If this is the kind of originality you'd expect for a movie like SUPERARGO, you'd probably think the actor wearing a red suit would've done the same like Popeye The Sailor. But this is a superhero-style movie, and it has a small hint of visual effects. It's a pity that it's no better than the famous legends of Batman & Company. Until the final round comes, this flick's gonna be knocked out cold in a matter of a first few minutes! Give it a shot if you desperately love movies without good taste.

This mix of Mexican wrestling, 60s superspy & campy TV "Batman" element was probably intended for kiddie matinees. It's fun, but the relatively low production values means the means there's energy but little style, so all the running around gets monotonous after a while. I wished the lead got to take off his costume once so we could see what he looked like--this was a rare lead for an actor who usually played bit parts or did stunt doubling.

Still, I enjoyed his and the other performances; the cast seems to have been enjoying this as a lark, with the possible exception of Guy Madison. (But then he's playing the main villain, so perhaps it's just as well that he's poker-faced.) It's a goofy, silly film, with some charm. But let's face it, this sort of Italian live-action-cartoon thing is better when it's got the $$ for some visual flourishes, whether in the garishly colored lighting and production design in Bava's "Hercules in the Haunted World" or the cheesy-FX-cluttered Lou Ferrigno "Hercules" movies later on, not to mention the better Bond knockoffs.

Maybe if you are a teenager who likes superhero movies, you will also like this production. It's an Italian film with actors whose names have changed from Italian names to American-looking names, stupid fashion in the '60s. The only one who didn't have to change his name is Guy Madison, who is really American. The film "is related" to "Argoman the Fantastic Superman Original title: Come rubare la corona d'Inghilterra" (1967), but it's a little bit better. Not as good as "Danger: Diabolik Original title: Diabolik" (1968), with which it also has points in common. The action is super predictable and childish, as in many other genre films. The main hero, with a black mask on his eyes and dressed in a red suit molded on his body, looks embarrassing. Watch it only if you have nothing better to do!