The Phantom (1996)

Director:

Simon Wincer

Writers (WGA):

Lee Falk (characters)
Jeffrey Boam (written by)

Release Date:

7 June 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

The Ghost Who Walks. The Man Who Cannot Die.

Plot:

The Phantom, descendent of a line of African heroes, travels to New York to thwart a criminal genius.

Plot Keywords:

Skull | Phantom | Superhero | Unwanted Kiss | Jungle

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Billy Zane	...	The Phantom / Kit Walker
Kristy Swanson	...	Diana Palmer
Treat Williams	...	Xander Drax
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Sala (as Catherine Zeta Jones)
James Remar	...	Quill
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	The Great Kabai Sengh
Bill Smitrovich	...	Uncle Dave Palmer
Casey Siemaszko	...	Morgan
David Proval	...	Charlie Zephro
Joseph Ragno	...	Ray Zephro
Samantha Eggar	...	Lily Palmer
Jon Tenney	...	Jimmy Wells
Patrick McGoohan	...	Phantom's Dad
Robert Coleby	...	Capt. Philip Horton
Al Ruscio	...	Police Commissioner Farley

MPAA:

Rated PG for action/adventure violence and some mild language.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Australia | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:12 | Brazil:Livre | New Zealand:PG | South Korea:15 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12/9 | France:U | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Company:

Boam Productions

Trivia:

Billy Zane pumped iron for over a year to fill The Phantom's costume. A Batman-like costume with fake muscles was reportedly made, but by the time filming started, Zane was so beefed up that he did not need it.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the pan shot of the Pan American dockside terminal when Diane Palmer is boarding the Orient Clipper you can clearly see a modern window-style air conditioning unit sticking through the front wall of the terminal building. Such units did not exist in the time period in which this movie was set (late 1930s).

Quotes:

Drax: My name is Xander Drax.
Kabai Sengh: Who?
Drax: X-A-N-D-E-R D-R-A-X, Xander Drax, begins and ends with the letter X.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)

Really, it's good fun !

Reminiscent of "The Rocketeer." I wasn't going to see this at first, the comic strip did nothing for me. But the newspaper reviews were quite positive. Billy Zane is enjoyable in the role, and he worked his butt off to get those muscles. That's no fake padding in his suit!! This is a chance to see a pre-"Mask of Zorro" Catherine Zeta-Jones as the bad girl, altho her switch to the good side late in the film is unconvincing. Kristy Swanson is also good fun. I even liked James Remar as Quill - he mostly does TV series now. Beautiful filming locations and a snappy, crisp story line. It's a fun movie - try it & see!