Captain America a.k.a Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty
Universal Television, USA, 1979.
Universal Television, USA, 1979.
Steve Rogers (Reb Brown) leaves the Marines with his intention to take it easy. Dr. Simon Mills (Len Birman) and Steve's late dad developed a super hormone FLAG that gives superhuman strength and perception skills. Steve's dad was also a crimefighter but Steve does not want to continue his career as he is a laid back dude. Someone murders Steve's fried Jeff (Dan Barton). Jeff was working on neutron bomb that the spies are after. Evil Lou Brackett (Steve Forrest) runs his crime syndicate behind the facade of an oil refinery.
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| Steve Rogers |
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| Dr. Simon Mills |
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| Lou Beckett |
When Steve is injured beyond repair Dr. Simon Mills tests the hormone on him. He gains superpowers and beats bad guys with cow carcasses. Steve's dad was nicknamed Captain America because he was patriotic and fought against those who spoiled the American ideal. Steve decides to become Captain America and he gets a cool motorcycle and his trademark shield. Steve has also time to romance with the hotter scientist of the project Dr. Wendy Day (Heather Menzies-Urich).
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| Dr. Wendy Day |
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| And for equality here's Steve showing his biceps |
Leisurely adventure is an alternative to modern turbo-paced superhero movies. Non-canon origin story spends most of the time for waiting for Steve to accept his duty as superhero. He puts on the costume only near the end. If you want, you can see an attempt to raise the morale of disillusioned post-Vietnam era U.S. of A. by making a slacker take responsibility by turning into a crimefighter. Low budget TV-production feels like it could have condensed the story to one hour episode, now there is a lot of slack but the action scenes and stunts are fun. Too bad there are so few of them.
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| Vroom! |
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| Getting information from bad guy |
This was the first of the two movies (the other was "Captain America II: Death Too Soon") that were supposed to pilot a TV-series that was never made. As opposed to "The Incredible Hulk" series idea of "Captain America" series never caught fire. Still it has interesting prototype ideas for "Knight Rider" and "Street Hawk." The hero has a futuristic motorcycle ("Street Hawk"), he is working for a secret government organization ("Street Hawk"/"Knight Rider") that has a female scientist (as Bonnie in "Knight Rider"), the hero has a mobile base for his vehicle (motorcycle in the back of a van vs "Knight Rider's" truck). Hmm, "Knight Rider's" Foundation of Law and Government = FLAG. Eureka! So although it fails as a comic superhero movie, it may have an important legacy.
Rating: 
Average
Average
Starring: Reb Brown, Len Birman, Heather Menzies-Urich, Robin Mattson, Joseph Ruskin, Lance LeGault, Frank Marth, Steve Forrest, Chip Johnson, James Ingersoll, Jim B. Smith, Jason Wingreen, June Dayton, Diana Webster, Dan Barton, Ken Chandler, Buster Jones, Nocana Aranda, Michael McManus, Lonnie Pense
Director: Rod Holcomb
Director: Rod Holcomb
Kakkosessa on Christopher Lee konnana, joten siinä on yksi (ja varmaan ainoa) syy katsoa se.
ReplyDeleteSen verran mitä olen ehtinyt sitä katsoa niin vaikuttaa ainakin hieman vauhdikkaammalta kuin ykkönen.
DeleteNiin hassulta kuin se nyt tuntuukin ja hassujahan nämä vanhat Kapteeni Amerikat (kuten myös Hämähäkkimies, Hulk ja ne vähäiset muut) olivat aikoinaan todella kova juttu kun niistä näki jossain Marvelin sarjakuvalehdessä, tms. mainoksen. Eikä silloin aikoinaan edes nähnyt ilmiselviä heikkouksia koska ensinnäkään ei ollut vertailukohtia ja toisekseen ne kuitenkin olivat supersankarileffoja ja se pelkästään oli aivan hiton makee juttu. Tuli sitten Burtonin Batman ja pilasi kaiken siltä osin, että odotukset nousivat koviksi. Joku Shadow tuntui todella heikolta leffalta vertailussa, mutta 10 vuotta aikaisemmin sekin olisi olisi ollut maailman kovin juttu. Onneksi Kapteeni Amerikka-leffojen kohdallak voi pistää nostalgialasit silmilleen ja jos ei, niin ainakin ne toimivat komediallisina teoksina.
ReplyDeleteBtw. minusta tuo läpinäkyvä kilpi on tosi siisti, vaikka houkuukin adamantiumin sijaan selvää heikkoa muovia joka ei pysäyttäisi edes pahoja sanoja.
Silleen jännä, että ennen 90-lukua noita supersankarileffoja ei tehty niin paljon kuin olisin muistanut, vaikka esim. Teräsmies oli jo lapsuudessa suosittu ja Hulkin tv-sarjan kuvia näkyi ainakin sarjakuvalehdissä. Näistä Kapteeni Amerikka-elokuvista kakkonen tuntuu jo paljon supersankarimaisemmalta kun hahmon voimat on saatu esiteltyä ykkösessä.
DeleteTuo kilpi on myös monikäyttöinen ja toimii kätevästi pyörän tuulilasina.