Captain America (1991 film)
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Captain America is the title of a low budget film based on the popular Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. While the film takes several liberties with the comics storyline, it features Steve Roger's becoming Captain America during World War II to battle the Red Skull, being frozen in ice, and subsequently being revived to save the President of the United States. The film received a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America.
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[edit] Plot
The film starts in 1936 fascist Italy, where the government kidnaps a talented boy from his family, almost straight away we are aware of how poor a Superhero captain "Binlid" is and we happily watch the execution of his family. The boy is needed for an experimental project to create a fascist super soldier. However, Dr. Vaselli (Carla Cassola) objects to using the boy, and under the cover of gunfire flees to the United States of America to help create an American super soldier.
A few years later, the American government finds a volunteer in Steve Rogers, a loyal all-American that is excluded from the draft because of his polio. The formula successfully transforms Rogers into a superhero, but before any more super soldiers can be created, Dr. Vaselli is murdered by a Nazi spy, and Rogers is hospitalized. Luckily, Rogers heals quickly as the Italian boy has become the Red Skull and is planning to launch a nuclear missile at the White House, unless Rogers, code named Captain America can successfully defeat the Skull and deactivate the missile.
However, after an initial battle, the Red Skull defeats Captain America and ties him to the missile as it is about to launch. Captain America is able to grab a hold of the Red Skull, forcing him to cut off his hand in order to avoid being launched into destruction with his "American brother." While the missile is over Washington D.C., a young boy named Thomas Kimball takes a photograph as Captain America forces the missile to change course and land in the North Pole, where he remains frozen until 1990.
Kimball goes onto to become a honest politician, and a Vietnam War hero, until becoming the President of the United States of America. In 1990, a few years into his term, he is pushing for pro-environmentalist legislation that is angering the military-industrial complex who hold a secret conference in Italy that is led by the Red Skull.
After the War, the Red Skull had extensive plastic surgery done, raised a daughter, and became the leader of a powerful crime family. In the 1960s, this American military-industrial complex hired the Red Skull and his thugs to murder various Americans such as Dr. Martin Luther King, President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and now President Kimball. All would seem to be lost, if not for Captain America.
Captain America's frozen body is found in the North Pole by explorers, and he awakens still thinking that it is the 1940s. He brushes off Sam Kolawetz (Ned Beatty), a reporter and childhood friend of President Kimbell, and after battling some of the Red Skull's thugs, he hitchhikes his way back to his wartime girlfriend, Bernice (Kim Gillingham), in California.
While Bernice still lives at her old residence, she has long since married and raised her own daughter; Sharon, who subsequently gives Rogers a series of VHS history tapes in order to catch up on what has happen while he was frozen in ice. Rogers and Sharon visit the secret underground base where Rogers gained his superpowers in the hopes that Dr. Vaselli's diary is still there and contains the original name of the Red Skull. While the duo are off looking for the diary, the Red Skull's thugs, lead by his daughter, break into Bernice's house, kill her, Sam and causes her husband to have a heart attack in an effort to find out where Captain America is hiding out.
Although Rogers and Sharon find the diary, the Red Skull thugs manage to grab it, and upon returning home they learn that what the Red Skull's thugs have done and vow revenge by take a trip to Italy, to track down the Red Skull, and save the President. While in Italy, Rogers and Sharon locate the Red Skull's home and an old recording of the murder of his parents. Sharon agrees to be kidnapped in order to allow Steve Rogers, who once again dons his costume, to enter the Red Skull's castle, save the President and try and persuade the Red Skull to stop his right-wing criminal empire by remembering what the Fascists did to him and his family.
As the fighting erupts, the Red Skull's daughter learns not only of her father's past, but listens to the recordings. However, the Red Skull has activated a small nuclear device forcing Captain America to fling the Red Skull off a cliff with his trademark shield and thus, somehow, deactivate the bomb.
The United States Marines show up to save the President, and arrest the Americans involved in the kidnapping. The credits roll with a comic book image of Captain America in the background and a plea to support the United States Environmental Protection Act of 1990.
Many viewers have noted that Captain America acts rather cowardly throughout much of the film.
[edit] Cast and Crew
- Albert Pyun - Director
- Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (Creators)
- Stephen Tolkin & Lawrence Block (Story/Screenplay)
[edit] Cast (in credits order)
- Matt Salinger .... Capt. America/Steve Rogers
- Ronny Cox .... President Tom Kimball
- Scott Paulin .... The Red Skull/Tadzio de Santis
- Ned Beatty .... Sam Kolawetz
- Darren McGavin .... Gen. Fleming
- Michael Nouri .... Lt. Col. Louis
- Kim Gillingham .... Bernice Stewart/Sharon
- Melinda Dillon .... Mrs. Rogers
- Bill Mumy .... Young Gen. Fleming
- Francesca Neri .... Valentina de Santis
- Carla Cassola .... Dr. Maria Vaselli
- Massimilio Massimi .... Tadzio de Santis
- Wayde Preston .... Jack
[edit] Trivia
- Filming was completed in 1990, but after a test marketing the film to a select audience, more stunts were added at the end.
- When the young Kimbell shows the photograph he took of Captain America to his friend, Sam, their dismiss the possibility that it was the Human Torch or the Submariner, other Marvel Comics WW2 superheroes.
- Among the actors that were up for the part of Steve Rogers included Dolph Lundgren and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Lundgren was filming the direct-to-video Punisher film and Schwarzenegger lost the part due to his accent.
- Ned Beatty is no stranger to American superheroes having starred as "Otis" in the film Superman: The Movie and having a cameo in its sequel Superman II.
- A big budget Captain America film is rumored to be in production for a release sometime in 2008 or 2009.
- Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox portray childhood friends in this film. Coincidentally, both men shared their first film as well. They portrayed two of the four Atlanta businessmen who go on the rafting vacation in the film Deliverance.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Review and online clips from the film at Antimatter Multiverse
- Captain America (1991 film) at the Internet Movie Database
- Marvel films on Marvel.com
| Marvel Comics films | |
|---|---|
| Single films | Captain America (1991) | Ghost Rider (2007) | Howard the Duck (1986) |
| Franchises |
Blade: Blade (1998) | Blade II (2002) | Blade: Trinity (2004) |
| In development | Iron Man (2008) | The Incredible Hulk (2008) | Ant-Man (2008) | Wolverine | Luke Cage | Deathlok | Gargoyle | Magneto | Namor | The Punisher 2 |
