Captain America (TV 1979)

A recipient of an experimental body enhancement chemical retaliates against his would be killers as a star spangled superhero.

Director:

Rod Holcomb

Writers:

Don Ingalls (teleplay), Don Ingalls (story),

Stars:

Reb Brown, Len Birman, Heather Menzies-Urich

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Reb Brown	...	Captain America / Steve Rogers
Len Birman	...	Dr. Simon Mills
Heather Menzies-Urich	...	Dr. Wendy Day (as Heather Menzies)
Robin Mattson	...	Tina Hayden
Joseph Ruskin	...	Rudy Sandrini
Lance LeGault	...	Harley (as Lance Le Gault)
Frank Marth	...	Charles Barber
Steve Forrest	...	Lou Brackett
Chip Johnson	...	Jerry
James Ingersoll	...	Lester Wiant
Jim B. Smith	...	F.B.I. Assistant
Jason Wingreen	...	Surgeon
June Dayton	...	Secretary
Diana Webster	...	Nurse
Dan Barton	...	Jeff Haden

Storyline

When a commercial artist is almost murdered by spies looking for his late father's secrets, he is saved in surgery when the FLAG formula is injected into him. This serum not only healed him but also gave him tremendous strength and lightening reflexes. To help him retaliate for his attack, a government agency equipments him with a special motorcycle loaded with gadgets and a detachable shield is not only bulletproof, but can be thrown as a offensive returning weapon. Thus armed, he battles against the nation's enemies as the Sentinel of Liberty, Captain America.

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Plot Keywords:

motorcycle | shield | superhero | masked superhero | marvel comics | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 January 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Capitán América

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When he is on top of the truck, and the door gets unlocked and he swings it open knocking the two guys down the embankment, a few minutes later the chopper lands on flat ground and the pilot runs right up to the truck as it's parked beside a flat plain, with no embankment in sight.

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Quotes

Captain America: Simon, can you still jock a helicopter, a fast one?
Dr. Simon Mills: That's something you don't forget.
Captain America: I'll meet you at the pad.

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Connections

Version of Avengers (1999)

User Reviews

It was the 1970's...

The pacing, fight scenes, and vehicular chases of this Made-For-TV-Movie/Pilot Film are classic examples of the style, production values and technology used by commercial TV of the 1970's. One who is not familiar with CHIPs, Dukes of Hazard, or Starsky and Hutch and their ilk is not in a position to fairly evaluate the quality of this opus.

Having said that, however, I must admit this film makes the Bill Bixby 'Incredible Hulk' TV-movie look like Citizen Kane by comparison.

We might as well hit the flaws first:

Stolen elements from the 6 Million Dollar Man, especially usage of a goofy sound effect every time Our Hero uses his super strength.

Our Hero seems only able to change into his Capt. America suit by means of getting into his van, mounting his cycle, and shooting out the back doors in a burst of smoke. Potentially an enjoyable gimmick, this would soon prove awkward over time.

Our Hero's costume leaves a lot to be desired. The whole thin about wearing his motorcycle helmet when he is off the bike seems pretty awkward. And the suit he wears during the main action of the film is needlessly changed from the original, as though the Village People had redesigned Cap's suit.

Now the biggest problem. Reb Brown, although likable and certainly muscular, has to be among the worst actors to be ever seriously considered as the star of a weekly TV series. Inexperienced thespians with dreams of glory should view this film so as to see just how hard the untalented and untrained can struggle in order to deliver the simplest and most basic of lines. (Amazingly, a 2nd pilot film was made after this, and Reb Brown's performance improved to the point where it was almost possible to imagine him being at some future date somehow employed somewhere in the television industry.)

Now let us move onto the more favorable aspects. A lot of people have problems with the fact the producers created a new back story for Cap, but I could accept that as this back story was interesting and could, perhaps, have been mined later on for dramatic material.

The supporting cast is good here, and the idea of Cap working with some scientist/intelligence types had lots of story potential and is similar to the way Cap in the comics works for a super spy organization called SHIELD.

I especially enjoyed the smoking-hot Heather Menzies, who wears a nice bathing suit in one scene. She played one of the Von Trapp kids in 'Sound of Music'...in an interesting coincidence, Nicholas Hammond, who played Spider-Man on TV around this time, had also played a Von Trapp kid...funny, that.

Overall and despite its shortcomings, this film can be a pleasurable nostalgia trip for those of us who grew up in the 1970's and still love that kind of cheese, and I think kids will also enjoy this. There are vehicular chases and crashes, espionage, fights, a cool super motorcycle, and some superheroic type action...the kinds of things one might need to see on his TV on a certain kind of day, the kind of spiritual comfort food one sometimes needs in these days where everybody takes superheroes way, way too seriously.