“He may not be Superman, but he’ll be a living symbol of what this country stands for!”
One thing I found most inexplicable about Albert Pyun’s 1990 “Captain America” adaptation is the curious presence of the cast of “A Christmas Story.” Either, they were in town for a press junket, or Pyun just loves the movie, because they appear throughout the film. Melinda Dillon has a walk on role as Steve Rogers’ mom who gives him a memento to take to the war with him, while Darren McGavin has a supporting role as a corrupt politician working with the Red Skull. What, did Peter Billingsley opt out of playing Bucky? In either case, director Albert Pyun does the best he can with so little, and 1990’s “Captain America” is still a terrible comic book movie, in spite of the nostalgia value it holds. Only real collectors will want to pick up this latest Shout Factory release, as director Pyun really doesn’t know how to construct a great Captain America movie.
If you enjoy the Red Skull and Captain America in full regalia, you’ll want to re-play the fifteen minutes they show up to do battle, because about eighty percent of the movie features no costume and no Red Skull in true form. The Skull for the most part, is able to live through modern times and camouflages as a politician with a goofy face mask covering his red face. He’s mainly just the red skull because that’s what he calls himself. Captain America is also in a literal interpretation of his costume, that looks binding and uncomfortable, so Steve Rogers only really fights bad guys in plain clothing with the colors of his uniform.
Was director Pyun only allowed to rent these props for the film? Did he have a limited time to use them? Or did he just not find a proper way to implement them for the movie? “Captain America” is never truly able to depict the hero’s journey in a dramatic manner, so the film opts for camp instead. Captain America is strapped to a rocket that Red Skull plans to launch, blasting the two in to the North Pole, freezing them for decades. The Skull emerges first and establishes his regime, while Cap is thawed out and attempts to adjust to wacky modern times. With the help of Ned Beatty, Cap is able to uncover the plot being developed by the Red Skull, allowing him a chance to conquer his foes thanks to kindly Americans so gullible, Cap is able to steal their cars with a clear conscience. Some superhero he is.
And to add to the hilarity, he steals from his supporters like it’s a bodily function, and without explanation. You also have to love how the film ends with the iconic image of Captain America as the credits roll to soft rock music. Talk about missing the point. Kids today aren’t aware of how good they have it. These days they’re allowed to re-watch the Chris Evan’s “Captain America” which was a rather entertaining and great adaptation of the Marvel icon. Back in 1990, for kids like me, Albert Pyun’s superhero schlockfest was about as good as we got, and we had to settle for it. Albert Pyun’s 1990 version of the Star Spangled Superhero is nowhere near as awful as previous versions, but it still manages to be lousy. Only nostalgiaddicts need apply for this release.
The Blu-Ray release from Shout Factory features “A Look Back at Captain America,” a twenty minute look at the film with anecdotes from Albert Pyun and Matt Salinger. Both men insist that the film could have been so much better had they been allowed better resources to commit to a proper adaptation. It’s a shame they weren’t allowed a chance to offer us a great version of Captain America. Fans looking for more information, or folks looking for rationalization on why the film stinks will enjoy this featurette.
Frank,
Thanks for enduring the re-release of my film. You are the first to notice the “Christmas Story” tendril. I completed the cast when I worked with Peter Billingsley on Arcade a few years later. And yeah, I loved that film.
Albert Pyun
Thanks for the comment. And it’s Felix.
Sorry, Felix. Old age here. Hope you get to see my Director’s Cut someday. We’ve screened it in Las Vegas and Austin to fullhouses and I’m pretty sure the audiences enjoyed that version which is more clearly a character study of a young man trying to come to grips with being this symbol and his doubts that they picked the wrong guy. There’s 3 or 4 scenes in the middle of the film where he locates Michael Nouri’s character now in a VA hospital afflicated with dementia and its a painful moment where Steve Rogers says as he looks at war memorials for the korean war and Vietnam “Looks like I missed all the wars. Captain america was sent off on his first mission and he failed. I don’t know why they thought a little serum could make him a hero”. Its a bitter moment for Steve Rogers. The audiences seeing the director’s cut finally understand the movie we were making. It was about the very nature of how governments will use its citizens to its own political end and how Steve Rogers realizes by the end of the film that he was always a hero within. that the serum didn’t make him Captain America but the heart and soul he was born with was all it really took. Anyway, hopefully you’ll see it one day.
I honestly do think there was potential for a great movie here, since you are a fine director and a very experienced one, I just wish we had more time with Cap Am. And sorry if my correction sounded rude. I hope I can see the DC someday. I’d be glad to see it.
You were not rude but very fair. And accurate because the studio edit makes the film attempt to be a more action oriented film and they chopped out most of the deeper character scenes. They did not want Captain america to have doubts about his country, his purpose and his belief in himself. I always loved the CA comics growing up in the 60’s. It was much more character driven story lines and Stan Lee liked Steve Tolkin’s script for the same reason I did. it was about real heroism of the individual and not because he was some military weapon or costumed special ops soldier. In the 2012 Cap, I was shocked when I saw Cap firing a weapon. Shocked and a little horrified. It might represent present day America but not the Cap I remember from the 60’s. The reason Steve Rogers was Captain america wasn’t because of a super soldier serum but because of who he was before. That’s what the doctor in my Cap recognizes in Steve, his organic goodness and patriotism. It could be that i grew up during the Viet Nam War and my Dad was a Marine so we lived on bases. My Dad went to Viet Nam. So My take on Cap was skewed by seeing the Fathers of my Friends return home in coffins. hat the rah-rah military gung ho was a false beat, false patriotism. So I saw Captain America representing the more real world valor of stepping up not to be made powerful but to serve mankind.
Marvel did the same thing in a sense with the new Cap Am movie. We saw a patriotic Cap Am not a jaded one. It’s too bad. Your ideas sounds great. I’d love to see it someday and give it a fair review.
The oddest thing about the 2012 Captain America was how they did all the things they told me we couldn’t do in 1989. such as the costume approval. It had to be the costume design depicted in the comic with no alterations. That Steve Rogers had to be played by one actor and not two – originally I wanted Matt to play pre experiment Steve Rogers and then Howie Long for after. Marvel said no. Those and many other restrictions were put on us in 1989 by Marvel which they violated in their own version of Cap. Weird and unfair.
I’d like to see that. Thanks, Felix. You know its such a weird thing that people think film companies mishandled Marvel’s characters back in the 80’s because its simply not true. The Marvel regime made making the films a difficult challenge by being so reigid and looking for any minute breach in their rights agreement. Not Stan. Stan Lee was great to work with but even he felt restricted and had very little control of the process. i think we asked for maybe a dozen fundemental changes to the Cap character and the only ones we got approved were the smaller ones like having Steve Rogers from the west coast and having Steve’s father killed in action. But the larger ones like adjusting the costume or weaponry or using two actors to play the Steve Roger’s character – in this case – Matt to play Steve before the experiment and Howie Long to play Steve after. if it seems like a sore point with me…it is. And for our 4 million dollar film to be compared to a $150 million dollar film which had more creative leeway seems unfair. Not unjust but the critical pounding seems out of whack to me.
Red Skull isn’t frozen in ice and isn’t on the rocket when it takes off.
He steals Ned Beatty’s car because he doesn’t believe he isn’t a spy. He’s driving a German car and using a Japanese radio. He thinks he’s a bad guy.
Ahhhh, thanks for clarifying.