The Phantom (1996)

The Phantom, descendent of a line of African superheroes, travels to New York City to thwart a wealthy criminal genius from obtaining three magic skulls which would give him the secret to ultimate power.

Director:

Simon Wincer

Writers:

Lee Falk (characters), Jeffrey Boam

Stars:

Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson, Treat Williams

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Four hundred years ago, a young boy witnessed his father's death during an attack on their ship by the bloodthirsty Sengh Brotherhood. He was washed ashore on Bengalla Island where he swore to devote his life to bring down piracy, greed, cruelty and injustice. He became The Phantom, a masked avenger whose role was passed down for father to son, leading people to believe in an immortal figure called "The Ghost Who Walks". The 21st successor to the role of Bengalla's resident superhero must travel to New York City to prevent a power-hungry businessman from obtaining three magic skulls that would give him the secret to ultimate power.

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Plot Keywords:

cult film | interwar period | new york city | skull | ghost | 

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Taglines:

The ghost who walks. The man who cannot die.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for action/adventure violence and some mild language

Details

Country:

Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 June 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

El fantasma

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,072,346, 9 June 1996

Gross USA:

$17,300,889, 1 September 1996

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, The Ladd Company, Boam Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Palmer's butler is named Falkmoore. This name is derived from Lee Falk, the creator of The Phantom, and Ray Moore, The Phantom's first artist.

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Goofs

The float plane used to take Drax from New York City to the Devils Vortex (somewhere off the Malay Peninsula) is a Beechcraft Model 18. The range of this aircraft is 1200 miles. The plane could not fly the approximately 10,000 miles without stopping to refuel at which point the Phantom would most likely have been seen hanging onto the float by someone. Even if the plane could have made the full flight non-stop, with its top speed of 225 MPH, the Phantom would have had to hang on to the pontoon spar for nearly 2 days.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Title card: In case you forgot...
Phantom's Dad: It all began a very long time ago, when a merchant ship was set upon by pirates of the Sengh Brotherhood. A small boy watched helplessly as his father was killed by the pirate leader, the Evil Kabai Sengh. He jumped overboard, and was washed ashore on a mysterious jungle island called Bengalla. It seemed like a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire, but the Touganda tribesmen meant the boy no harm. They scooped him up and carried him to their village...

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Crazy Credits

The film title appears from the Phantom's skull ring.

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Connections

References You and Me (1938)

User Reviews

Someone did their homework

Not many people realize that the Phantom is THE FIRST comic book hero, pre-dating Superman and pre-dating Batman. I grew up on the classic Lee Falk comic strip hero in my local newspaper. The ads for this film made me suspect it would be faithful to the character and storyline. When the film opens with the comic strip's classic line "For those who came in late…" (always used between the end of one storyline and the beginning of the next with one-day strip with a brief synopsis/reminder of the origin of the Phantom), I got goose bumps and the film maintained its integrity, unlike people who have no clue as to who is "The Phantom." While some alternations were made for it to be a little more PC (the Phantom's local pygmy people are omitted, possibly "replaced" by the Rope People we see at one point), the film's flavour remained untarnished. I can see why Billy Zane fought so hard for the role. Treat Williams clearly had a blast chewing up the scenery as the villain. Then-newcomer Catherine Zeta-Jones certainly had we males dislocating our jaws with amazement (it always pained me later she'd be referred to mostly as "Catherine Zeta-Jones from Zorro" for a time, as though this tongue-in-cheek action adventure film was to be neglected). For the non-intellect, this film may fare better on tape or on cable. For those who know the character from his origins, see it either there or if it should ever hit theatrical re-release. The saddest thing about this film is it has not yet spanned a series of sequels.