The Spirit (1987)

A legally dead police detective decides to battle crime as a masked superhero.

Director:

Michael Schultz

Writers:

Will Eisner (characters), Steven E. de Souza

Stars:

Sam J. Jones, Nana Visitor, Bumper Robinson

Cast

Cast overview:
Sam J. Jones	...	Spirit / Denny Colt (as Sam Jones)
Nana Visitor	...	Ellen Dolan
Bumper Robinson	...	Eubie
Garry Walberg	...	Commissioner Dolan
Les Lannom	...	Officer King
Laura Robinson	...	P'Gell Roxton (as McKinlay Robinson)
Daniel Davis	...	Simon Teasdale
Philip Baker Hall	...	Sevrin
John Allen	...	Bruno
Sarah Dammann Thomas	...	Hilde (as Sarah Dammann)
Janet Rotblatt	...	Victim
Ernestine Mercer	...	Martha
Annibal Llende	...	Ricardo

Storyline

When Denny Colt, detective for the Central City Police Department, survives an assassination attempt by criminals, he is still believed by the public to be dead. He decides to use to his advantage, since being "dead", he isn't subject to the rules that bind regular cops. To this end, he equips an abandoned tomb in a graveyard into a residence and headquarters and prepares for a new career. With that, he becomes the Spirit, a mysterious crime fighter whose only costume is a blue business suit, fedora hat and a little eye mask. His first major case pits him against P'Gell, a femme fatal who has criminal designs on the city.

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Plot Keywords:

mask | superhero | sword fight | taxi | telephone booth | 

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Genres:

Action

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 July 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Duh

Company Credits

Production Co:

De Souza Productions, Von Zerneck-Samuels Productions, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the comic book on which the film is based, Eubie is called Ebony White and he is usually depicted as a racial stereotype. The movie changed his name and characterization in an effort to make him more acceptable to audiences of the time.

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Quotes

Ellen Dolan: Do I look like the kind of girl who goes around undressing men?

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Connections

References First Blood (1982)

User Reviews

Feels like an 80s music video

This is an origin story, but does not dwell much on the character's origins. You get to see the moment he decides to become The Spirit, but not much of his story before that. The case he's trying to solve involves the curator of a museum being involved in criminal activity. The character himself is dumb, clumsy, and at times quite rude. It's hard to see why one should sympathize much with him.

The best thing with this movie (TV pilot) is also one of the things that makes it hard to take it seriously: it looks more like a music video then an action story. A bit similar to the Schumacher Batman-movies at times, while at other times it looks like any 80s TV-series. Especially the graveyard set reminds me of something like Michael Jackson's Thriller.

So is it worth a watch? Maybe if you have some sort of relationship with The Spirit, or if you like movies based on comic books. It's typical for its era, but that's about the only interesting thing about it.