Captain America II: Death Too Soon

Cap's back! And this time his helmet has wings!

This 1979 TV movie sequel reteams Reb Brown's Cap with Len Birman's Dr Mills, as they fight muggers and international terrorists.


After some foreshadowing shots of lots of people throwing frisbees at the beach, we see artist Steve Rogers painting portraits for the elderly. It turns out that these codgers (it should be pointed out here that if the writers had kept the orginal Cap origin there would be some poiniancy to this scene, as the old dear in question would have been a contemporary of Frozen!Cap, and most likely a veteran of the WWII years - if not a veteran herself) are being robbed of their benefits (or whatever the Yanks have) by some fiendish, dune-buggy riding hoodlums.

Cap swiftly, and rather pathetically dispatches of them with is frisbee shield, and a hilariously sped up beach chase, and makes sure that these crooks won't mess with the incontinent any more.

Matters then turn more serious, as Cap must stop the infamous international terrorist, Miguel (a seriously slumming Christopher Lee, who give his usual gravitas to the proceedings), from his fiendish plot to make people age quickly, while sending some rednecks to beat up any questions in the hick town he's based himself in.

Can Cap stop the evizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Wha...? Man that shit was boring, I must have fallen asleep!

Ok, so was it good? No.
Was it entertainingly bad? No.
Was it good Cap? No.

On the plus side, the cracking score is unchanged, and Cap get's to ride his jumping bike some more.



He even gets to break into prison!



So, in movie terms, Cap took a hiatus until 1990, and that's where I'll be heading next. In the meantime, here's Reb himself reminiscing on his Marvel days.



#Comic #SuperHero

Captain America


Our hero...

Pop quiz no 1 — What do you know about Captain America?

Well, of course you know the basics.

In 1941, as US involvement in WWII seems inevitable, weakling Steve Rogers wants to enlist in the US Army to help fight the Nazis. His is quickly rejected, but his bravery and determination will not be undone, so he volunteers to take an experimental super soldier serum, which gives him increased strength, stamina, and resilience.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The blonde of hair, blue of eye (the very Jewish Kirby and Simon's obvious take that to the Aryan ideal), winged of helm, and square of jaw, America's bravest son kicked Adolf's ass, with his shining shield and fierce right hook.

Take that, Kraut!

Frozen in the Arctic wastes after a plane crash during the war, he was awoken in the swinging sixties, into a new era. An era of Gods, mutants, monsters, and hippies. He's Avenged, Defended, rebelled, re-joined, died and resurrected, and always stood up for the ideal of the American way...

Pop quiz no 2 — How much of this iconic origin is contained in Rod Holcomb's 1979 made for TV Captain America?

To be perfectly honest, sweet fuck all.

Oh, he is called Steve Rogers, and he does become Captain America, and he does have a shield, but apart from that...

Captain America Take 2:

Yay!

Ex-marine, Steve Rogers, is making the most of his peace time, by cruising down the West Coast in his blue dodge van, crashing with old buddies, and making what living he can as a piss-poor artist. Unbeknownst to this gentle giant, he is being watched by nefarious agents, and government scientist Simon Mills is desperate to contact him.

When an old friend of his late father's is murdered, Steve is reluctantly drawn into a web of conspiracy, involving his father's work — the ultimate steroid compound known as FLAG, and somehow a neutron bomb (I have to confess, I'm not completely sure how the bomb got in there, but it appeared to be important at the end...). A murder attempt and emergency surgery later (shades of the Six Million Dollar Man, here) see Steve pumped full of FLAG to save his life, and eventually with his taking up the mantle of Captain America and beating the bad guys.

Now for the important stuff. Is it a good movie?

No, not really. I mean, I loved it, but then, I'm strange that way.

The plot is thin, and glacial in pace (in fairness, this was an intended series pilot, riding the tails of The Incredible Hulk, rather than a stand-alone movie), there isn't an awful lot of Cap action, and he doesn't even get his proper costume until the very end.

But, on the plus side it has Reb Brown as the main man, and a wonderfully serious Len Birman as Rogers' mentor Simon Mills. It has an uplifting, funky '˜70s score,

More yay!

dumb mooks, a cheap plastic shield, and a motorbike that jumps. What more could you ask for?

Well, I could ask for Captain America, I suppose. So, how does this fare as a Captain America movie?

Sadly, not so well. For a start he only appears in costume for the last 20 minutes of a 97 minute runtime.

And, though Reb Brown certainly looks the part of a post-super-soldier-serum Cap, this Steve Rogers is a whiny bitch, who wants nothing more to bum around the Coast, not caring what day of the week it is, and painting his dismal paintings. He refuses to help until backed into a corner from which he cannot say '˜No.' He doesn't want to be involved, no matter what the stakes, and only the constant pushing from Mills to make him take a stand.

He moans about Mills saving his life, moans about doing any more service for his country, moans about his friend's murder (which is fair enough, I suppose...), and nearly murders a human bomb with carbon monoxide poisoning. Not very Cap-like behaviour at all, if you ask me.

As well as the character flaws, the iconic Captain America origin is gone, replaced by this tosh. All in all, a pretty pitiful attempt.

Let's see if they can do any better in Captain America II: Death Too Soon, starring Reb and Len, and a very surprising guest star...

#Comic #SuperHero