Captain America (1979/I) (TV)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Rod Holcomb

Writers:

Don Ingalls (writer)
Jack Kirby (characters)

Release Date:

19 January 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot:

A recipient of an experimental body enhancement chemical retaliates against his would be killers as a star spangled superhero.

Plot Keywords:

Superhero | Motorcycle | Dead Man Switch | Neutron Bomb | Nuclear Bomb

Cast

Reb Brown	...	Captain America (Steve Rogers)
Len Birman	...	Dr. Simon Mills
Heather Menzies	...	Dr. Wendy Day
Steve Forrest	...	Lou Brackett
Robin Mattson	...	Tina Hayden
Joseph Ruskin	...	Rudy Sandrini
Lance LeGault	...	Harley
Frank Marth	...	Charles Barber
Chip Johnson	...	Jerry
Dan Barton	...	Jeff Hayden
Nocana Aranda	...	Throckmorton
Michael McManus	...	Ortho
James Ingersoll	...	Lester Wiant
Jim B. Smith	...	FBI Assistant
Ken Chandler	...	Doctor #1

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Sweden:7

Company:

Universal TV

Movie Connections:

Version of Captain America (1944)

Interesting attempt at remaking The Six Million Dollar Man

To start off with, there's no question that this TV Movie "Pilot" was a failed attempt at Captain America. I give the writers credit for "trying" to make an updated version of the Comic Book Superhero, but frankly, the origin story of this hero doesn't work as an update.

If Captain America never existed and this was the first we'd heard of him, it would be a lot more tolerable. But you can't take a legend and then tarnish his history by almost completely rewriting the original origin.

That being said, this show owes more to "The Six Million Dollar Man" than it does to Captain America. There are a lot of similarities to that story (as previously mentioned by another reviewer here). Reb Brown, while looking good as the hero, certainly was just too "nice" of a guy to play the part. The hero had no "edge." Squeaky clean doesn't necessarily work for Captain America.

Len Birman's Dr. Simon Mills seems to be a combination of both Oscar Goldman and Rudy Wells (both from "The Six Million Dollar Man"). At any rate, I will say that Birman did an excellent job in his part and is the best performance of everyone involved by leaps and bounds. He plays it totally serious and with a conviction that actually made me believe in some of this stuff. He really is a gem in this.

My favorite part of both "Captain America" TV movies though has to be the music by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. They composed a terrific theme that is extremely catchy. It almost seems to foreshadow Post's theme for "L.A. Law," composed almost seven years later.