O2D I don't even know where to start with this movie.The entire movie takes place on beaches,in the desert and in mansions and very little of it makes any sense.Steve Rogers is a homeless guy with no family and lots of super rich friends.It turns out that his father invented the "FLAG serum" and the government wants Steve to take it.Did I mention that shady characters are trying to kill Rogers even though he is basically a nobody?While his dad's friend is telling him that people used to call his dad Captain America, Steves doodles a perfect picture of Cap.That's because this Steve Rogers is an artist,ugh. The worst thing about the movie is all the long,drawn out driving scenes.There's at least 20 minutes of calm highway driving/helicopter flying with constant tight shots on the driver.There's an extra long scene when Steve is trying out his "new" motorcycle and it's truly pathetic.It's just him riding a motorcycle in the desert for far too long.Eventually a helicopter tries to attack him and the camera switches angles.With this new angle,we can clearly see that he is on a major highway.LAME.Then his dad's friend says "MPs!" and a jeep with 2 military policemen immediately shows up to get him.WHAT???There had been nothing about the military in the entire movie but now this guy can magically conjure them? There's so many horrible things about this movie that it would be impossible to point them all out.It deserves a minus rating but that's not possible.

Michael_Elliott Captain America (1979) ** (out of 4) Made-for-TV film has Reb Brown playing ex-Marine Steven Rogers who gets out of the service and plans on taking it easy but instead he learns of an experiment his father was working on. After an attempt on his life, Steve is given this secret serum and soon finds himself becoming Captain America and fighting crime. The Marvel character was previously brought to the big screen in a Republic serial and while I'm not overly familiar with the comic I had heard plenty of negative things about this film. I had heard some call it the worst comic-book adaptation in history while others simply called it one of the worst films of the decade. I don't agree with either of those opinions but I'll admit that this is a pretty silly little movie that has very few "good" things going for it but what makes the film work is the camp level, which is pretty high. There are all sorts of problems with this film and a lot of them can be placed at the feet of the director. For the life of me I couldn't understand why no one could tell how silly this thing was and I really question how several of the scenes are edited together. There are moments where it seems one thing is going on and then out of no where something else will start up without anything in the middle to connect them. It seems like much of the story is happening so fast that little bits and pieces are just missing without any reason. Another problem is that the screenplay contains some of the dumbest dialogue ever. The highlight of the film for me is when Brown is upset that he's been given this serum and he complains to the doctor that he'll have to go through the rest of his life never knowing when it's going to be his turn to die. Umm, everyone goes through life not knowing when it's going to be their turn. Did this guy think he had control of it before taking the serum? A lot of fans hate Brown in the lead but I thought he had the right look for the part but the acting leaves quite a bit to be desired. I thought some of the line delivering was really bad and there were a few moments where it appears like he forgot his line for a split second as there are some strange gaps in between words. The supporting cast really isn't all that memorable but some of the performances add a touch of camp. CAPTAIN America is far from a good movie but at the same time it's not nearly as bad as its reputation would have you believe. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone except those who like a little silly camp.

tavm Having just seen the 1944 Republic Captain America serial, I decided to now watch the later 1979 TV movie adaptation meant to be a pilot to a new series that didn't materialize. In this one, Steve Rogers (Reb Brown) seems to be a beach bum artist who previously was in the military. Yep, now Universal got the alter ego name right this time but this still isn't Joe Simon & Jack Kirby's creation (just as well their names are nowhere in the credits just like the Republic serial). The steroid F.L.A.G that his late father developed and used on himself would eventually be injected in this Rogers after he almost got killed by some villains who know about his background. The person doing the injection is one Dr. Simon Mills (Len Birman) who becomes Steve's mentor as we learn about Mills' association with the late dad. Assisting him is one Dr. Wendy Day (Heather Menzies who is notable as both Louisa in The Sound of Music and the wife of the late Robert Urich). A romance develops between them. The plot of this one concerns a man who calls his late wife's name before dying in front of Steve and who has some connection with the villain Lou Brackett (Steve Forrest). I'll just stop there and just say that the whole thing has the TV movie feel of the late '70s with the action not very compellingly exciting compared to the Republic version I just saw though there's still some nice chases that is complimented by the Mike Post-Pete Carpenter score. The dialogue borders on cheesy especially when the daughter of the dead man (Robin Mattson) cries over his passing and such lines like "shoving Captain America down their throats" and the constant saying of trucks "pulling out" abound! And the fight scenes are almost sleep inducing. Still, it wasn't too bad what with Ms. Menzies so easy on the eyes (no wonder she posed for Playboy) in that one-piece swimsuit and Birman able to sell those exposition lines like he means it. And while Brown wasn't a great actor, he certain had the handsome presence that the part needed. So on that note, this version of Captain America seemed a nice relic of its sunny California '70s time.

atrac 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.