Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Have no fear! Doc Savage is here!


Yeah, right!

It's a quote taken from that horrifically bad 1975 camp action film starring Ron Ely as Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.

George Pal, who had produced such classic sci-fi/genre films as Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide, The War of the Worlds, Houdini, Conquest of Space, Tom Thumb, The Time Machine, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, sadly rounded out his movie resume with the absolute worst travesty of celluloid that ever befell an old pulp hero.

Saying the '75 Doc movie is campy is doing it a disservice, Pal was either a closet admirer of the old Batman TV show or he had a grudge against someone at the studio .... cause he really baked a turkey with this film.

As an avid teenage fan of the Man of Bronze, at the time of the films release, I was rabidly waiting in line to see all the glory that was Doc brought to magical, technicolor life on the big screen. Although once the lights dimmed and the action began, I simply couldn't believe it. It was the first time in my life that I actually wanted to ask for my money back from the box office.

If you've never seen the movie .... NEVER waste your valuable time wondering about it. That's all that I can say about it.
Tomorrow I'll conclude my 75th anniversary tribute to Doc Savage with a look at some of the many comic book versions of the venerable Man of Bronze.

2 comments:

Mr. Karswell said...

Awww, I didn't think it was that bad. I'll never forget that I saw it at the drive-in with Orca and Lifeguard (starring Sam Elliot) too!

Chuck Wells said...

I must admire your ability to watch three movies in succession at a drive-in (man, I really miss those).

I do recall being terribly envious of Sam Elliot's deflowering of Kathleen Quinlan, and Orca was the only time that I felt the least little bit of sympathy for Bo Derek onscreen.

Doc Savage the movie equals wretched in any universe. But I'm glad that you liked it, pal.