Captain America (1979 TV Movie) User Reviews

Reb Rogers Rules

[InzyWimzy · 5/10 · 20 March 2011]

Stan Lee, shame on you! This is the true origin of the Cap!

Reb Brown..I've previously judged you solely by Space Mutiny, but I began to see the light of realization that he's done other movies providing amusement and entertainment. Unfortunately, Captain America comes up short in that department, but the whole 70s made for TV look gives it charm in a B grade good kind of way.

On the plus side, Reb plays Steve Rogers as a laid back, good hearted guy from Cali. Add hilarity points for the very haphazard process for how Steve becomes his alter ego. Sheesh, the guy is an artist who loves to drive up and down the coast. Look at the can of worms you've opened up you baddies! The first half involves Steve reasoning (a lot) with Simon and dealing with a bizarre twist of events. The second half includes semi-action scenes including the testing of Cap's new toys and finally taking a stand against these bullies who've been giving Steve trouble from the get go.

Ignoring the fact that this was a pilot for a canceled series, and if it's not taken too seriously, this is an enjoyable romp where sides of beef and oil slicks have never been deadlier. Come to think of it, if Reb wasn't in this one, then you really would have yourself a real stinker. Thankfully, there's a second helping of Captain America goodness in 'Death Too Soon'.

Interesting attempt at remaking The Six Million Dollar Man

[atrac · 5/10 · 9 February 2005]

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.

Typical of any Universal adaptation of Marvel Heroes

[RealLiveClaude · 5/10 · 7 August 2011]

At the time, Universal had success with the "Incredible Hulk" starring the late Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno as "The Hulk" (the latter had both cameos on the 21st century versions by Ang Lee and Louis Leterrier...), and seeing that another studio produced "Spiderman" on TV, they wanted to try a modern version of Captain America.

As I remember, while the version presented showed Cap riding his bike, wearing an helmet instead of the cowl mask and a transparent shield, I was rather deceived as I thought that they would revived a "Six Million Dollar Man" clone instead of a superhero series.

The story had only limited action, but only at the middle and the end of the TV movie. The rest was overly long, focusing on why Steve Rogers had to follow up this strange agent all along the story.

I don't blame Reb Brown here, he did what he could. For just 2 TV movies.

At least this version was OK over the 1991 version, but not compared to 2011 version which caught the essence of Cap.

Nay! 'Tis pure cheesy goodness!

[k5318008 · 5 August 2004]

I will not hear a word spoken against this fine movie. It's great for watching when getting together with your sarcastic friends. You know the ones I mean. The kind that rent a schlock horror movie simply so they can make fun of it.

The production values may lag, the acting may make you wince, and the origin of Captain America is shattered into a million zillion pieces.There is, however,one thing that makes it the greatest Captain America movie of all time: The Captain America movie from 1991! That one makes this one look like Citizen Kane. Plus, this one has a motorcycle!

Yes folks, if terrorists ever force you to choose one Captain America to watch at gunpoint, make it this one.

Most likely the most boring Superhero movie I've seen (Minor spoilers)

[sverdrupjahn75 · 2/10 · 29 February 2012]

I watched this out of pure curiosity, after seeing Spoony's rant about it.

Now, I'm not going to hold the age, the bad acting, the low budget or the ridiculous costume against the movie. Those are the least of the problems. What I do have a problem with, is that it's way too slow. Don't get me wrong, normally I don't mind slow paced movies, it all depends on the genre, really, but when it's supposed to be a superhero movie, that won't work. Too much talk, scenes about nothing, and very, VERY little action. Not to mention that it takes way over an hour before we finally see Captain America in full costume. Today it wouldn't be a problem, since superhero movies of today are about 2,5 hours long, but when it's only roughly 15 minutes left, you feel ripped off.

It's not the worst movie I've seen in general, and as a crime/drama movie it's slightly entertaining, but as a superhero movie, it fails miserably.

Poor TV Film Version.

[AaronCapenBanner · 2/10 · 23 August 2013]

Before Chris Evans brought the role to the big screen, Reb Brown debuted as Captain America/Steve Rogers, in this limp, mechanical adaptation of the comic book. Plot lurches along without any style or substance, just a stale series of uninteresting character development, before the uninspired action scenes. Oh yes, there was a sequel.

You might think that the creators would have learned something from the marvelous "The Incredible Hulk" TV series with Bill Bixby, but this has none of that show's heart or intelligence.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh, since it is innocuous enough, but still...

Released on DVD as a double feature with Part II, from Shout Factory, on loan from Universal(which also produced "The Incredible Hulk")

almost as bad as Hudson Hawk

[changingshades · 1/10 · 11 April 2001]

Incredibly bad. horribly bad. gee gosh durn awful. Comic book movies, by and large suck. Suck big time. Suck a lot. But this movie, this movie makes them look like art house flicks. Yes it was originally made for TV, but so was the Hulk movies and those weren't anywhere near as wretched. The acting was stiffer than EEGAH!, but that wasn't the worst part. The action sequences would look bad even in the 20's, I mean Like 20-30 thugs were knocked out without being touched, but that wasn't the worst part. The Worst Part was the costumes. Nowadays, comic book movies are at least trying to look realistic when set against everyday clothes, this movie tried to have a "spandexed" super hero costume in keeping with the comic book. Looking at this costume, I would have preferred him naked. the costume did in fact have red white and blue on it, but It looked closer to a leotard for a modern dancer than a super hero costume. then there was the unsightly bulge, ugh.

* out of 10

Disclaimer: still not as bad as Hudson Hawk, but close, and if you read my reviews often, then that will give you a pretty good handle of what I think of this.

*facepalm*

[kingofdanerds · 3/10 · 8 June 2021]

Marvel films are some of the most popular films being released today. But interestingly enough, this was not the first time that Marvel films were being made and being put on to the big or small screen. The 70's saw the first rise of Marvel films being made for television. Throughout the decade we saw The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and even Captain America, subject of todays review. 1979 saw the release of not one, but TWO Captain America TV Movies. The TV Movies were no doubt meant to follow what The Incredible Hulk did earlier by releasing two TV Movie pilots, which in the Incredible Hulk's case spawned a television series. As we all know, this did not work out for Captain America. The first film was directed by Rod Holcomb (ER, Lost, and Numb3rs). The film stars football player Reb Brown (Yor: The Hunter From The Future, CHiPS, Space Mutiny) as the titular character and Len Birman (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Days of Our Lives).

Steve Rogers has just gotten out of the Marines and becomes all tangled in a conspiracy involving a neutron bomb. Learning that his father was a crime fighter, he also learns that his father has developed a super serum known as FLAG. Scientists believe that the serum would only work in Steve, but he declines. Steve gets into an accident and is saved by the serum and now he is Captain America and he must stop the conspiracy that he has been all tangled up in.

You know, I knew that this was not going to be great. But I figured, oh it will be cheesy and cheesy can be entertaining, right? Well, 1979's Captain America is not cheesy and it is not a whole lot of fun to watch. If you have seen any of my reviews for superhero related media, you may know that I am not an avid comic book reader. But I am smart enough to realize that this film takes way too many creative liberties. Captain America in the comics was a soldier who is given powers in WWII and fights Nazis and is then frozen in an iceberg and is reawakened in the present day. Well, in here, we some random dude who does not really appear to want to be a superhero, become a superhero and fight bad guys who work at an oil company. Lameeeeeeeee. Now granted, I can assume that the idea was to do something a little more ambitious (something close to the source material) but it was the 1970's and if you had a TV movie, you had next to nothing in terms of budget which in this film, is very evident. We have a big brute of a former football player in the role of Captain America and well, as you would possibly suspect, he is not very good in the role. Sure, he has the physicality of a crime fighter/superhero, but acting is most certainly not something Reb Brown is proficient in. Not only does the actor playing Captain America suck, but so does Captain America. Viewers will have to wait for over an hour or so to see Steve Rogers don the costume and even then there are two maybe three scenes total that he wears it. Plus, the costume is somewhat lame but that was the 70's for you. Either you hated it or loved it. The character of Steve Rogers is fairly whiny and lacks any likeability. He does not even want to be a superhero and muses about how is going to live the rest of his life like this. YOU ARE A SUPERHUMAN!!!! Another problem with this film is how boring it can truly get. I am convinced that this film was short of it's running time and so they threw in filler scenes. Scenes where it would be long drawn out bits of silence. Whether it be a helicopter flying or Steve Rogers driving around in his cool looking van. It is those scenes that just make this film drag onnnnnnn. And this is supposed to be a superhero film. A type of film that should be fast paced at least. The special effects are bad, but literally the least of anyone's problems here. What good that does come out of this film is the film's musical score which I actually liked. It is pure 70's funky type music and it adds a little bit of charm (which is pretty much all of it's charm).

Captain America is a poor TV film. I think I could look past the whole "not being faithful to the source material" bit but if you do that, you find this film to have more and more problems. And the sad thing is, is that there is a sequel. I wonder how that will work out for me.

Bad, bad, bad adaptation of the Marvel Comics icon.

[Captain_Couth · 1/10 · 12 November 2003]

I saw Captain America (1979) a few years ago on cable T.V. and I was very unimpressed. I hated what they did to the story, his costume was ugly and his bike had plastic shells glued all over it (I hoped that they would fall off). The writers didn't even read the comic book (from the looks of it) and Reb Brown was pretty bland as Steve Rogers. I disliked this movie very much. D.C. superheroes were portrayed a lot better in the movies and on television compared to their Marvel counterparts. Blah, Blah, Blah.

Not recommended.

F

Why?!!!

[Mara-Jade-Skywalker-23 · 1/10 · 4 August 2019]

When watching this, I expected to laugh myself to death. But I was instead bored and terribly disappointed. The 1990 movie was bad, but it was so bad I could chuckle at it's stupidity. This movie doesn't have that.

It's not the worse Marvel movie ("Howard the Duck" takes the cake) it's still not even remotely good. First off, the movie is so boring. Nothing of substance happens, it has more driving scenes than "Manos: The Hands of Fate". And there are no action scenes in this action movie until the one-hour mark. And the character of Captain America is so dull. There's nothing of interest that you can take out of this film.

Also, why is Cap's shield red, blue and...clear? Yeah, those are the colors of the U.S flag. Right?

The movie also has cheap production design, and horrible acting, with noting of substance to back it up. It's so annoying, and dull...and it makes me want to do anything else.

What else can I say? This movie is just dull. I can't really say that much, because I don't have anything else to say. It's boring, and it sucks. Is it that surprising? I mean, the main is from "Space Mutiny" an MST3K classic. And while it's not as bad as that, it's still worse than the 1990 movie.

Captain America: Marvel flavoured cheese

[Platypuschow · 3/10 · 20 December 2017]

Long before Chris Evans took up the shield we had this 1970's "delight", the one often used as a comparison to how far ol' cap has come.

Little known fact even this wasn't Captain America's first outing, he goes all the way back to 1944 in a competently made black and white feature.

Here we see Steve Rogers origin story and how he becomes Americas most well known super solider. It looks and plays out like an episode of the A-Team and Captain America himself looks seven shades of ridiculous.

With a story ripped straight from the pages of a Bond novel, over the top action sequences and a standard 1970's score this is pretty bad stuff.

The Good:

Has that 70's charm

The Bad:

Incredibly cheesy

Plenty of plot holes

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Captain America has come a long way from a crash helmet and transparent riot shield

I want to see this guy vs Thanos. Why? Because my sadistic side thinks it'd be hilarious

For a 70s TV movie...

[konover · 10/10 · 8 April 2007]

I basically went into this movie thinking, "Ooof. This is going to be really bad." I felt that way mainly because of the motorcycle helmet Captain America wears, although the rest of the suit seems pretty faithful.

It looks like this movie did what the Hulk series did: Change the story of the comic to fit the parameters of a television budget. And for the most part, it did this very well.

It's hinted that the Captain America from the comics is basically the father of the star of this film. Although this sounds like a very cheesy and very bad idea, the actors and the dialogue convey this point in a believable and credible fashion. So this is definitely one of the film's strong points.

The story involves the death of a friend and the detonation of an atomic bomb, but those are more like entertaining plot devices since I found the story to be mostly an origin story, showing how Steve Rogers is slowly led to his destiny to become Captain America. The film wisely focuses on this and the interaction of the actors, and this is where the film's strength lies.

Reb Brown is a good Captain America, but for me, I found it a pleasure to watch Len Birman as Simon Mills, the government official who assists Captain America. To my knowledge, this Simon Mills character does not exist in the comics, (though I can't be sure since I never really read the Capt. America comics), but I really enjoyed watching Len Birman's sincere performance. He was the most interesting character in the movie, and he could be the reason I enjoyed the film so much.

The first 15 minutes of the movie are kinda laughable. You might find yourself wondering why you're watching this, but I think it will reward the patient (and forgiving) viewer. You'll have to wait for a few minutes before the movie settles into its own.

It's not as good as the Hulk pilot, but it's in the same mold. Or if you've seen the live-action Spiderman TV series, you get more of an idea of what to expect.

Worth a look for comic fans.

Captain America Lives On

[betorlando35 · 6/10 · 13 January 2007]

For better or worse (depending on who you talk to)this was my generation's Captain American, just like Nicholas Hammond was Spiderman. It was a good popcorn TV show, action and adventure and a suped up motorcycle. Everything an 11 year old kid loves. I have since rewatched the series and it still has those elements of interest. No it will not compare to a feature film shot in 2007 but then special effects and the era itself was different. Yes Reb Brown is bland and not a very good actor but then Mark Hamill was rather unimpressive as Luke Skywalker but you still enjoyed it. I certainly hope these shows like Captain America and Spiderman make it to DVD. By the way, Sam Raimi would you please give a cameo to Nicholas Hammond in a future Spiderman movie, he was our generation's Spiderman as I hope Lynda Carter will be given a chance to appear in the upcoming Wonder Woman movie.

Long,boring and stupid.

[13Funbags · 1/10 · 26 April 2017]

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.

Fairly Decent Portrayal Of Captain America

[Big Movie Fan · 8 January 2003]

Firstly, let me say that if you've ever read the Captain America comics, then be warned-the Captain America in this movie bears no resemblance to the one in the comic. Everything has changed.

I first saw this movie in the early 1980's on video. I was a little bit disappointed at not seeing the Captain America I was used to reading from the 60's/70's comic books; however, if you can get past that minor triviality, then you have a film that pretty much stands out on it's own.

Everything has changed-there is no supervillain like The Red Skull. Captain America rides a motorcycle and his costume is different. His origin is different and he is dealing with small-time crooks (well, small time compared to supervillains like Dr Doom and The Red Skull). If you can just sit back and forget that the producers changed everything then you have an enjoyable film with a fairly memorable musical score.

As I mentioned earlier, there were no supervillains in the movie but neither did you find supervillains in the Spider-Man or Incredible Hulk TV shows and they were entertaining.

Captain America was a decent film and I believe it may have inspired certain TV shows (such as Street Hawk starring Rex Smith). Whatever your thoughts on this movie, it was a hell of a lot better than the painfully average Captain America movie from the 90's which did remain faithful to the original comic book character. Take your pick.

Wow, do I hate this movie

[ericstevenson · 2/10 · 4 April 2017]

The first "Captain America" movie wasn't the bad movie made in 1991. It was actually an even worse (at least for me) TV movie made in 1979. This is easily the worst thing I have yet to sit through for Superhero Month. The worst thing about this movie is that Captain America in uniform doesn't even appear until three fourths into the actual movie. Okay, they did the same thing with "Power Rangers" but the difference was that that movie was much better acted and at least got the mythology right. This film is more or less Captain American in name only. Most of us know Captain America as a World War II soldier.

This movie does not feature World War II or have anything to do with fighting Nazis or anything like that. It's a very basic concept of a popular character and people should know how to get it right. The Red Skull is arguably the most evil villain in the history of fiction, but we don't even get to see him in this. At least the 1991 movie got the mythology right. It still looked like it was made in the 1970's and this, well was made in the 1970's so it has that excuse. This movie features Steve Rogers as someone who gets the super soldier serum after being in an accident.

Is there any explanation as to why this wasn't mass produced? In the original story, the creator died so only Steve was able to get the serum. There are numerous times where he's referred to as "Mr. Rogers". The fact that you would even use a term as wonderful as Mr. Rogers in a film this horrible is an insult to Fred Rogers. This is the most boring superhero film ever made, with repeated shots of him riding his motorcycle and a helicopter just flying around. The talking goes on forever and I don't even care if any of these guys were characters from the comics. There's a reason this movie is relatively obscure. *

A rather cheap version of the story

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 6 January 2018]

CAPTAIN AMERICA isn't the recent mega-budget Hollywood blockbuster but instead a TV movie that dates from 1979 and dates is the right word; rarely you'll find a film which has dated as much as this one. The square-jawed but wooden Reb Brown plays Steve Rogers, the subject of a government experiment to turn him into a super-soldier who then has to take down a murderous conspiracy. The whole thing plays out in a low budget way, set in the then-present day, with lots of padding of Brown riding around on his scooter and at the beach while suits chat and plots are made. Captain America's famous shield is made out of perspex which gives you some idea of just how cheap this one is. It's lively enough in a low budget way, but hardly definitive.

Low-budget, Laid-back, Lame-brained Fun

[JBrannon · 5/10 · 6 October 2015]

As a long-time comics fan I recall this little, inoffensive, unchallenging Reb Brown late-70s pilot-shot of the star-spangled superhero.

Any TV-flick where the hero is menaced by a thug bearing a silenced **revolver** can't be taken seriously, especially in a Rocky-inspired knock-off meat-locker scene where the side of beef strikes back. (And I don't mean, the actor Brown.) Come to think of it, the sides of beef almost out-act Brown, who otherwise comes across as a likable-enough person.

When I was a teen, before my own military career, I missed such absurdities as a Marine quoting from a statue's inscription at West Point, instead of Annapolis, although the idea of a civilian helicopter cavalierly invading the air-space over a military classified-weapons testing installation had me guffawing 37 years ago as did the idea that a two-week separated Marine could grow that full a head of hair that Steve Rogers sported at the beginning of the film.

For continuity sake, in the Marvel comics at the time, Steve Rogers was traveling around the country as an artist.

For fans of banality, this is one of the 70s best examples: a nearly actionless action feature in a time of America's cultural nadir when the likes of "BJ and the Bear" with its upshifting rigs reflected the sort of faux excitement trickled out to mind-numbed viewers.

A C- for California Comics Casual, with an A for aesthetics for both Heather Menzies for the guys and, I suppose, Reb Brown for the ladies.

An embarrassment to both his country and his fanbase.

[leoxatzian · 2/10 · 22 January 2019]

One of the first attempt Marvel made at a live action adaptation of one of their most popular comic book characters proved to be one of the most boring and uninteresting comic book movies ever made. The movie clearly shows how little of an idea Marvel had at making adaptations of their own source material, resulting in a painfully dull and action free superhero movie.

Truly the pits!

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 1/10 · 1 July 2017]

I wasn't expecting much from this attempt by "Universal" in making a feature length pilot of the superhero "Captain America." My initial doubts have been more than justified! Where do I begin? Who ever thought that the leading man could actually act must have been on another planet. Reb Brown is the worst or one of the worst so- called performers in the entertainment industry. All he is, is just some dumb beefcake who couldn't project any depth or emotion to save his life. Alarmingly poor. The rest of the cast I won't mention. The plot really drags along and it made little sense. It shouldn't have taken so long for Steve Rogers to don the familiar "Captain America" costume but this doesn't occur until about 65 minutes into the television film for goodness sake! Even then, the costume looks completely wrong and bears little resemblance to the one designed for the comic book. There is no reference to the Second World War because that was when Captain America's origin story began. Why wasn't the villain the Red Skull not included in this television film? He is synonymous with Captain America, just like Batman and the Joker, Spiderman and the Green Goblin etc. The action scenes are very lame and instantly forgettable.

This would've been fun if it was John Walker, not Steve Rogers

[kbobsmith · 4/10 · 29 August 2023]

Like the caption said, the felt more like a John Walker Captain America story than a Steve Rogers one.

First of all, in this incarceration, Steve is not the first Captain America, but his father is. This could have easily been the story of John Walker taking up the Captain America mantle from an aging Steve Rogers and they could've made some half-hearted excuse like "John and Steve are cousins and, therefore, have similar enough DNA that it will work!"

Secondly, Reb Brown's portrayal of Captain America feels very mean-spirited in his actions and not in the Johnny-do-right way Steve Rogers goes about doing the job. Again, this feels like John Walker. In an action scene, he smiles as goons fall into oil that he spilled and it looked like he enjoyed their pain. He also didn't want to serve his country, but instead he wanted to just be a painter in the countryside. Which, is great thing for someone to want, but a core tenant of Steve's character is his want to help people and serve the ideals he believes in. This "Steve" seems to not really care and just be about doing it cause it's thrust upon him.

Now, John Walker (as Super-Patriot) wouldn't be introduced for almost seven years and I understand that it couldn't have been John Walker Captain America in this film, but it just speaks to the disservice that this film did to the character of Steve Rogers that the character that is played in the film is more like his opposite that Steve (John Walker was originally written to be the anti-Steve in a way).

The car/helicopter scenes went on for WAY to long, Reb Brown was cardboard in this role, and the villains were as two-dimensional as they come. The bright parts of the movie, to me, is the man that payed Louis was pretty good (unless he just seemed that way because of how poor Brown faired) and it made me think of The Incredible Hulk (which my wife and I are currently watching through).

Bad movie. Bad portrayal of Steve Rogers. Pretty good portrayal of John Walker. Campy and 70s charm very prevalent, especially for those who enjoyed The Incredible Hulk and the Spider-Man show for this time period.

Thick layers of campy cheese, and a moped helmet...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 28 March 2024]

Now, I did know that this 1979 movie "Captain America" from director Rod Holcomb existed, but I have never actually had the chance to sit down and watch it before now in 2024. And when the opportunity presented itself for me to watch it, of course I jumped at the chance to do so.

Of course I was expecting to be in for a super campy and cheese movie here. I mean, just look at the movie's cover, Captain America is wearing a moped helmet for the love of Stan Lee.

The storyline in "Captain America" was not a particularly exciting one. Sure, it was a watchable enough movie, though it was campy and cheesy to be sure. Watchable for what it was, writers Don Ingalls and Chester Krumholz didn't exactly put together anything memorable or outstanding here.

I think of the entire cast ensemble then I was only familiar with actor Steve Forrest (playing Lou Brackett). The acting performances in the movie were actually fair.

The costume design in this 1979 movie is just hilarious. Captain America looks like someone would be warming up the audience before Evel Knievel would come out and perform his bike stunt. I especially love that moped helmet he is wearing. Well, at least they tried. As Dr. Simon Mills (played by Len Birman) said, "Be Captain America, Steve..."

The 1979 movie "Captain America" is a movie that will never find its way back to my screen a second time. Now that I've seen it, I can check it off of my watched-movies-list and let it fade into sweet oblivion.

My rating of "Captain America", from director Rod Holcomb, lands on a three out of ten stars.

Reb Brown, the true Captain America

[REB_BR0WN_CAP-FAN · 10/10 · 20 April 2019]

People that hate this movie:shame on you and go #$%& yourself! This is all the proof thatvReb was the best. No one else played Cap like Reb did. Matt Salinger had a blank stare, Dick Purcell, why in god's name, and Chris Evans, everybody's favorite, was just too perfect.MIT was the 70s, so who cared? Reb Brown is the only Captain America I would like to see over and over again. And I just love that suit.

This version of Captain America was pretty entertaining for the year it was made

[tavm · 6/10 · 4 June 2011]

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.

TV Captain America

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 3 May 2022]

On Friday night, January 19, 1979, a seven-year-old me sat down to watch this and promptly lost his mind.

There was supposedly a directive from CBS to not follow the comics exactly, which makes no sense, because the comics sell the show which sell the comics, but for some reason, no one figured that out yet.

So that's how this version of Captain America is a legacy hero, even if they get the part about Steve Rogers being a commercial artist right. He's almost killed by some spies who are trying to get the F. L. A. G. syrum that his father invented and gave to himself to become the first Captain America. But all Steve wants to do is roam in his cool van because it's 1979 and this Earth-CBS version of Cap is Nomad before he's Cap.

He ends up being saved by the aforementioned F. L. A. G. formula, gets super-strength, a special motorcycle, a clear shield, a motocross-centric costume and the actual job of being the Sentinel of Liberty.

According to star Reb Brown at Comic-Con, CBS planned crossing over his character with Spider-Man (Nicholas Hammond) and the Hulk (Lou Ferrigno/Bill Bixby). Seven-year-old me loves that.

Writer Don Ingalls once worked on the LAPD magazine The Beat, as well as scripting The Initiation of Sarah. Director Rod Holcomb has worked on all sorts of episodic TV, including The Six Million Dollar Man and The Greatest American Hero.

The reviews I've seen for this online are a mix of "look how far we've come" and "the idea of Captain America is capitalist nonsense." First, this show is just fine. It's strange to compare low budget TV movies made forty years ago to glossy multimillion films on so many levels. And Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Captain America to represent the best of this country and what it could be, a character that two Jewish men created to make a stand for America entering World War II, that protest groups came to their offices to try and find them, that became a character of a man lost out of time and with no country, even fighting the Secret Empire the whole way to the White House, exposing Nixon as a supervillain - who killed himself off-panel! - and then traveled the nation as the aforementioned man with no country called Nomad. And this was no millenial story for social media clout. This was in 1974.