Captain America (1990). Bust a Cap.

[@davel231]

Fun fact: Matt Salinger, the actor who played Captain America is the son of J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye.

[@heli88]

I remember watching this as a teenager and thinking it was pretty lame. But it was honestly right on par with the vast majority of superhero movies that had been made at that point. I love that Cap pulls the "I'm going to be carsick" thing TWICE in this movie. You can see why he's the master strategist of the Avengers.

[@crush41gb]

The Sam Malone never returned to Cheers/Quantum Leap jazz was my favorite part. ;)

[@brotherkellymatthewbarnes8882]

Carl Kolchak.

[@iLikeTheUDK]

I like it when you review those really maligned movies. I hate what the Nostalgia Critics, CinemaSinses and Honest Trailerses ot the internet have done to popular film criticism and I really think what you do is potentially working to change that

[@SSJPENGUIN]

Cinema Sins irks me the most because the format relies on them padding out the runtime with tripe

[@kali3665]

@@SSJPENGUIN And he pretends to be stupider than he is to play off the joke. Which often wasn't much of a joke....

[@SeanORaigh]

​@@kali3665don't give him too much credit, he really is stupid.

[@TheBeird]

Good old Albert Pyun. Dude had heart.

[@THEOUTCASTSCREATIVE]

Albert Pyun would often have his budget cut by two thirds by the producers before day 1 of filming, but he still managed to complete them.

[@thechrisandmikeshow]

It's still reasonably comics accurate, despite the low budget...not a great superhero flick, but not entirely awful either. - Chris

[@johnpope515]

The costume is more faithful to the comic than the later movies

[@corvus1970]

Faithful to his basic, long running comics costume? Sure. But that's damning it with faint praise, because it looks absolutely horrid.

[@amemon43]

A film with a Porsche car chase through Yugoslavia? Sounds like Condorman😊

[@jamesabernethy7896]

Condorman was so much fun.

[@aaronleverton4221]

@@jamesabernethy7896 Yes. Yes, it was.

[@herbcraven7146]

There's a Christmas Easter Egg hiding in here: Darrin McGavin and Melinda Dillon from A Christmas Story once again working on the same movie. Great work as always, Stam!

[@Stephen-to7jx]

And Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox were in Deliverance

[@raybearoz]

Okay, you totally HAVE to do a review of the 90's Fantastic Four

[@TheNightBadger]

This was s standing joke in Marvel comics back in the day, but I always thought - considering budgetary constraints - it was an ok superhero movie. Considering all we'd had of Cap up until that point was the 60's cartoon and the 70's movies, this seemed like a big leap forward. However, if you want to do a really deep dive into the forgotten superhero movie genre, then as an Aussie (Aus is where it's partly set), you should check out... 'The Return of Captain Invincible'... there would be _lots_ to talk about...

[@rubberneckinc.8937]

I always get stuck on Beatty & Cox being together in this & well Deliverence.

[@Gappasaurus]

Love your coverage of all of these “failed for obvious reasons” superhero TV movies 😁 Any plans to cover 1977’s “Exo Man”? It supposedly started out as an Iron Man story but ended up a “we have Iron Man at home” movie instead 😅

[@MattMcIrvin]

I remember noting that the President had more and better action scenes than Captain America, whose signature move was to feign vomiting.

[@LegionIscariot]

What i love about this movie is that shield is made out of plastic 😂

[@shaz2761]

Can't believe this came after Batman. Looks like a 1970s TV movie

[@docsavage-8616]

At least his Costume was Comicbook Accurate.

[@ElleRoni]

changing the Red Skull into an italian Bela Lugosi is an inspired choice

[@Halbared]

They stole the Prez idea from Captain Invincible.

[@xiaoka]

I eat up all these failed marvel attempts back in the day. Do the punisher ones next!

[@asciimation]

Never saw this one that I remember. But have fond memories of being a teen late 80s/early90s going to the video shop with friends trying to find interesting movies to watch. We must have passed over this one.

[@inkermoy]

Yeah, this one's pretty bad. Ned Beatty coming out of nowhere to give CA a lift. The movie goes from CA vs Red Skull to CA vs Eurotrash. The female leads were cute and sexy though.

[@rickytoddbotelho9555]

❤ this movie for what it is.

[@SeanORaigh]

"would you pull the car over please? I think I'm going to be sick." Has got to be one of the all time best lines from a superhero movie.

[@mrhaag]

Captain America worked for Dick Jones! Dick Jones!

[@thethinkingcatakaneonormie3527]

What is surprising is this was Directed by the guy who Made Cyborg but lacks all the martial arts action

[@alanlawrence6584]

I loved this movie when I was a kid. Not because it was good--though I definitely thought as a kid that the first few scenes had a bit of dynamism to them--pretty much until the little kid steps out of the shadows to photograph the white house and then grows up to be the president. The perennial humor in watching this was the way in which once Cap rescues the president, it's the president who leads the way in busting out of the Red Skull's lair. It's Ronny Cox running ahead while Cap cowers behind his shield to avoid gunfire--the president even gets shot in the arm, and cold-cocks the guy that shot him--with the same arm he just got shot in! That's real grit. Those scenes are amazing, and so tonally off-model that it makes the movie good fun.

[@MattMcIrvin]

Yes! President Ronny Cox is the real action hero of this movie.

[@SJKPJR007]

Nice one Stam Fine. Yet again, you manage to take a film that by many standards is pretty poor and contextualise it against budgetary, creative and technical constraints. You acknowledge that these still don't fully exonerate it from it's shortcomings whilst acknowledging it's achievements along with the 'guilty pleasure' quality this and similar ventures can possess. Ever since reading my very first Marvel comic I absolutely loved the 'Captain America' costume. So just seeing such a close representation on the screen forgave a lot of sins, for me personally.

[@wonderboy76]

I never understood why Red Skull didn't chop off Steve's hand instead of his own?

[@ProBreakers]

Man, Cap was a punk in this. Got his ass handed to him at the start.

[@TheyCallMeNewb]

Was that a humorous reference, within a reference? "Sam Malone never returned to Cheers" = "Sam Beckett never returned home"?

[@FunnyHaHa420]

The Captain America gimp suit. And Hasslehoff Nick Fury.

[@bensneb360]

I will say one positive thing about the costume… I didn’t realize the ears were made of rubber for many many years, their pretty convincing

[@gorillacookies3171]

*they’re

[@white-dragon4424]

@@gorillacookies3171 Yes, it might seem petty, but getting this and similar spellings wrong certainly makes reading these comments very hard.

[@gorillacookies3171]

@@white-dragon4424 I couldn’t help it lol

[@divergentthinkingproductions]

VHS hides a multitude of sins, eyetellyoowhut.

[@permiek]

Early xmas gift, Bill Mumy in a Marvel film. Thanks Stam.

[@paulschaefer5485]

I owned this on vhs as a kid. At least the costume looked good except for the rubber ears

[@marshallhuffer4713]

"Captain America! Bravely abandoning the people who help him in his time of need!"

[@markeastwood74]

I used to think Albert Pyun was a terrible director, because his films were usually pretty bad. And yet, he made Nemesis & Dollman, two of my favourite films! When you realise what he had to work with, the guy turns into an absolute legend. Side-note, I was impressed with all the 3-5 star ratings on IMDB until I remembered they were out of 10. 😂

[@robalt1983]

We have now been made aware of Pyun cut of the film which is supposed to be much much better. I hope the people in charge can clean it up and get it out soon.

[@raymathews1474]

For many years this was the latest Cap movie. it was Reb Brown's before that. This was ok.

[@MadDragon-lb7qg]

This movie did get a limited theatrical release here in the UK, because I saw it in my local one. I didn't think it was awful by any means, but I was glad when the MCU version was released.

[@MacStyran]

Damn, do Chris Sarandon and Michael Nouri look like twins, don't they?

[@bladedreviews]

I love the rubber ears on Cap!

[@revengenerd1]

I actually liked this as a teen, so much so the one time I saw it for sale I wanted it but didn't want to pay the price it was asking, it reminded me of a weaker version of Universal Soldier and when I first saw the MCU version I thought it was too serious with too much cgi.

[@idahomike4254]

Well done, Mr Fine. Well done!

[@tonythornhill9156]

Ronnie Cox did this movie and was back home in time for Corn Flakes.

[@ProBreakers]

I liked the Punisher movie with Dulph in it.

[@Epoxinator]

The mask looks like it was made for an actor whose eyes were farther apart than this guy's.

[@Halbared]

Carjacker America.

[@tskmaster3837]

"Shouldn't the Red Skull be German?"" "Nah, he's going to be played by an Italian so let's make him a failed Italian Fascist experiment." "But we have all these Nazi flags." "Use them, no one will care." If you can't WWII right, you probably shouldn't WWII at all.

[@stephenpalmer9375]

I remember in the Marvel comics of the day, the company were doing a half-arsed attempt of hyping this up.. but all they ever mentioned was that Matt Salinger was the son of author JD.... which seemed to have no relevance to anything. But then again, 1990s Marvel was in a right pickle

[@homeaccount5943]

"Beefsteak Tomato." Laughed my ass off.

[@lorensims4846]

This almost looks like fun.

[@AnthonyP73]

Back when Captain America getting motion sick was considered a valid character trait.

[@ricardocantoral7672]

Thank god we never got a Cannon Marvel Universe. 😂

[@docsavage-8616]

They actually owned the Rights to Spiderman at one time.

[@robvegas9354]

i remember this being decent enough watching it as part of 5 vhs for 5 dollars rental movie marathon back in the 90's

[@brendannahor1460]

That's all we had kids! And I was 20! 🤔

[@ivane5110]

As bad as this one was, and it was, I can't help but feel like its making it to actual movie status (even if then redirected to video) somehow makes it "real" enough to be canonical somewhere in the multiverse. Which places it square in the Tobyverse along with the 2nd Punisher, Affleck's Daredevil, Jennifer Garner's Electra, and the reanimator actor's (Jeffry Combs?) almost-Doctor Strange. So, I wouldn't mind a small cameo (even if just referenced) if the Tobyverse is ever shown again.

[@tracybuck4829]

Saw this on the big screen back in the way ago times.

[@jamesabernethy7896]

Great review. I have such vague memories of this movie but I probably liked it. This immediately reminds me of the Rocketeer, would you consider that 'Pre-Iron Man on a budget? Also, every time I see a young Bill Mumy I can't help but think Seth Green.

[@aaronleverton4221]

Made a year later and for more than ten times the budget of Captain America (and equal to villain Dalton's immediately preceding and final 007 outing), you can hardly say The (Adventures of the) Rocketeer was "on a budget". Also, it's the movie that got the director of Captain America: The First Avenger the job directing Captain America: The First Avenger.

[@robertkenny1201]

This movie makes Spider-Man 3 look like a masterpeace.

[@Mattfromthepast]

I will give the movie this, it does a very good job of making Captain America and Red Skull look like themselves for the budget. Heck, I think Red Skull looks better in this than he did in the MCU, so hats off to the make up and costume people.

[@KristovMars]

If nothing else", I came away from this review having seen a VW Golf ute - a genuinely pleasant surprise! Digging around the 'tubes for info about that should keep me entertained for the rest of the night. Thank you Mr. Stam. * the nothing else is something else though - it's stunning the difference between this and other fillums made at the same time.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Heh, well now you have to cover the Corman Fantastic 4 someday. Which, like this, isn't exactly good but it's not AS bad as you might expect.

[@RichardEKranz]

Excellent.

[@l.a.gothro3999]

Have you already reviewed any of the Fantastic Four movies? I've never seen the one directed by Roger Corman, but I've seen the other two. See, I learned to read from Silver Age comic books, mostly Marvel, because I had an older brother born in 1957 and I was born in 1964.

[@StamFine]

no F4. the corman one was never released so that one's a bit hard to do.

[@powerbomb4833]

As bas as this movie is, there's a charm to It I can't explain. I kina love it 😅

[@andrewblanchard2398]

I like this movie

[@Tolstoy111]

Matt Salinger is the son of J.D. Salinger.

[@sebastiansochanski]

👌

[@jeffnettleton3858]

You are way more forgiving of this than I am. Matt Salinger made Reb Brown look like Burt Lancaster and Dick Purcell look like Laurence Olivier. That Punisher movie you barely mention was light years better, except it just demonstrated that there was nothing unique about the Punisher, especially if you took away the skull on the shirt. This was just cheap everything, ham acting and some good actors paying for a new car (probably weren't paid enough for a house). Pyun was a hack, pure and simple and this was hack work.

[@andrewblanchard2398]

06:53 you forgot about HOWARD the DUCK the first MARVEL MOVIE

[@torchwood00]

Sliders America

[@amemon43]

Hooray the first comment. Gday btw

[@fredlandry6170]

I remember this tv movie.

[@brianpratt3224]

This captain America is such a phony

[@andrewblanchard2398]

SPIDERMAN the 1990's cartoon series did the CAPTAIN AMERICA & RED SKULL storyline

[@kali3665]

It always amazes me how poorly they've treated Cap on television and film. Every attempt to adapt Captain America has failed for different reasons. The 1944 movie serial was the best IMO, but only in the sense that it was a very good serial. It was NOT a Captain America adaptation because the character in the serial was nothing like him. There was no wings on the cowl, no shield, no Bucky Barnes, and not even a single Nazi. The costume was close but it was brown and gray not red white and blue bcecause it showed up better in black and white. But it did have the great Lionel Atwill playing the villain - and outacting pretty much everybody in the cast. Then, there were the two 1979 TV movies starring Slab Bulkhead / Bridge LargeMeat / Gristle McThornbody / Big McLargeHuge himself Reb Brown ... who performed as well as Reb Brown performs anything (that is, he sucked donkey balls). And this 1990 movie was really badly filmed, badly written, and Matt Salinger looked terrible as both Rogers AND as Cap. I thought it was worse than the two 1979 movies, and the only reason for THAT criteria is the first 1979 TV movie had the late Heather Menzies as Cap's not-really-a-love interest, and I always had a soft spot for her since Logan's Run. And the second TV movie had Christopher Freaking Lee as the villain. He was as badly written as every other aspect of the two films, but it was still Christopher Freaking Lee. And then the MCU Cap. I'm going to antagonize people here, but I hate Cap in the MCU movies. I don't think he looks right, Chris Evans is miscast (there IS a reason why Cap was blonde and blue-eyed, people!), and he just doesn't come off very well. Every time Cap has the spotlight, RDJ steals it from him with his quips. Actually, I have never really been a fan of the MCU - or the DCEU for that matter. The last superhero film I saw in a theater (and enjoyed) was Shazam! I haven't even seen the sequel film. The movies are just not very entertaining for me because they take so many liberties, they just get annoying after a while. Before Shazam!, the last superhero movies I really admired were the two Donner films with Christopher Reeve. That's actually a bad sign, you know.

[@aaronleverton4221]

I believe the final option is the definitive. Oh, wait, hang on, I was referring to the naming, but the final sentence of your penultimate paragraph is also definitive. (But, I have enjoyed the heck out of a load of subsequent superhero movies and absolutely derided others)

[@ricardocantoral7672]

I like that first Captain America movie from 2011 but it's not as good as Iron Man. Honestly, I only like that first Iron Man movie when it comes to Marvel.

[@michaelcarbone6101]

Are there spheres with more point than this film? Name two

[@andrewblanchard2398]

his ears had to be fake the head piece cut behind his ears

[@TheDukeofMadness]

Not as bad as Endgame, so it has that going for it.

[@andrewblanchard2398]

I don't like the modern MCU movies way too much GGI & BLUE SCREEN USAGE