The Pumaman (1980)

Thousands of years ago, aliens visited Earth and fathered the Pumaman, a man-god with supernatural powers entrusted by a gold mask with the ability to control people's minds, which in present-day London, falls upon the wrong hands.

Director:

Alberto De Martino

Writers:

Massimo De Rita (screenplay), Luigi Angelo (collaboration on screenplay)

Stars:

Walter George Alton, Donald Pleasence, Miguel Ángel Fuentes

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Walter George Alton	...	Prof. Tony Farms / Puma Man
Donald Pleasence	...	Kobras (as Donald Pleasance)
Miguel Ángel Fuentes	...	Vadinho (as Miguel Angel Fuentes)
Sydne Rome	...	Miss Jane Dobson
Silvano Tranquilli	...	Ambassador Dobson
Benito Stefanelli	...	Rankin, Kobras' Lieutenant
Guido Lollobrigida	...	Kobras Thug with Moustache
Peter Cellier	...	Museum Curator
Geoffrey Copleston	...	Sir George Bradley (as Jeffrey Coppleston)

Storyline

Professor Tony Farms discovers that he is really Puma Man, a superhero who is descended from the gods. Together with an Aztec priest, they try to thwart the plans of Kobras, who is in possession of the sacred puma mask, and plans to hypnotize government leaders with it and take over the world. Puma Man spends most of the movie flying awkwardly and jumping around, leaving the Aztec priest to perform all the physically demanding tasks.

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Plot Keywords:

superhero | superpowers | flying | character name in title | hero | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Star Donald Pleasence once cited this as the worst film he'd ever been in.

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Goofs

Vadinho refers to himself and his people as Aztecs from the Andes plateau. The Aztecs lived in central and southern Mexico. The Incas were the primary Native American empire in the Andes, which are entirely located in South America. Even at their greatest extent the Aztec Empire had never come anywhere close to South America.

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Quotes

Jane Dobson: Have you ever made love in the air?
Prof. Tony Farms: How else would you make little puma men?

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Alternate Versions

The Greek video version has parts of the scenes at the start rearranged.

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Connections

Referenced in Best of the Worst: Our DVD and Blu-ray Collection (2019)

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Soundtracks

Flying Like A Puma
(uncredited)
Written and Performed by Renato Serio And His Orchestra

User Reviews

"When you want the flavor of bacon in a dip"

Pumaman has got to be one of the worst superheroes of all time. His "costume" consists of a shirt with a Aztec happy face on it, a pair of Abercrombie and Finch cargo pants, cheap pleather cowboy boots, the WWF Hardcore Championship belt (the only thing that's "hardcore" about this loser), and a fey red cape. He flies at about the same speed as the Goodyear Blimp, he can rip the top of a Jaguar but has a hard time wrestling a sixtyish fat man to the ground, he can teleport, but only to places he has been before (such as his friend's firetruck(?)), and his theme song sounds like a commercial for a personal injury attourney. Worse, he has a hulking mongoloid with a Moe Howard haircut following him around doing all his dirty work, like getting beat up by bad guys or tying Pumaman up during one of his many suicide attempts. In the same vein, the "villian", Donald Pleasance, has one of the worst evil schemes of all time: taking over the world by staring at manniquen heads through a mask mounted on a pole. Other idioic characters include Pumaman's mouth-breathing girlfriend (why she wears a leather flying helmet is beyond me) and a whole army of thugs as cannon fodder for this wuss and his Aztec. ONLY watch this on MST3K!

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian English

Release Date:

14 February 1980 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Pumaman

Filming Locations:

Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

ADM Films Department, La Deantir

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1