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

TV Spirit Entertaining

The 1986 TV movie of The Spirit was a pilot for a possible series. However, Spirit creator Will Eisner did not like the film and thus no series was produced. I thought it was a very entertaining film and captured the spirit (sorry) of the comic with a modern twist. I'm sorry it didn't materialize into a series. Sam (Flash Gordon) Jones was a perfect Spirit. Nana Visitor was a nice Ellen Dolan and of course would later go on to Star Trek:Deep Space Nine years later. Maybe with the release of Frank Miller's big-screen version of The Spirit, more people will be able to see this rare gem of Spirit history. It seems that when Hollywood makes a film from an already established character or idea, someone will inevitably seek out previous versions of the property and release it to video in order to make a few dollars. When Antonio Banderas donned the mask of Zorro, we were able to get earlier versions of the masked hero on DVD, such as the great Alain Delon version of the 1970s (although all copies I ever saw were badly edited). Heres hoping someone will release the TV adventure of The Spirit to DVD soon.