Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze

Plot synopsis:
Doc Savage (Ron Ely) returns to New York City following a visit to his Arctic hideaway, the Fortess of Solitude. He learns that his father has died under mysterious circumstances while exploring the remote interior of the Central American Republic of Hidalgo. While examining his father's personal papers, Doc finds himself the target of an assassination attempt. Doc Savage chases and corners the sniper on the nearby Eastern Cranmoor Building, but the would-be assassin loses his footing and falls to his death. Examining the body, Doc discovers that his assailant is a Native American with peculiar markings; his fingertips are red, as if dipped in blood, while his chest bears an elaborate tattoo of the ancient Mayan god Kukulkan. Returning to his penthouse headquarters, Doc finds that intruders have destroyed his father's personal papers. Vowing to solve his father's murder, Doc Savage flies to Hidalgo with "The Fabulous Five", his brain trust, at his side.
Waiting for Doc Savage's arrival is the international criminal and smuggler Captain Seas (Paul Wexler) who repeatedly attempts to kill Doc and his friends, culminating in a wild melee onboard his yacht, the Seven Seas. Meanwhile, Doc's investigation uncovers that, years ago, Professor Savage received a vast land grant in the unexplored interior of Hidalgo from the Quetzamal, a Mayan tribe that disappeared 500 years ago. However, Don Rubio Gorro (Bob Corso) of the local government informs Doc that all records to the land transaction are missing. Doc receives unexpected help from Gorro's assistant, Mona Flores (Pamela Hensley), who saw the original papers and offers to lead Doc and his friends to the land claim.
Following clues left by his father, Doc and his friends locate the hidden entrance into a valley where the lost Quetzamal tribe lives. Doc separates from the group and finds a pool of molten gold. Doc also learns that Captain Seas is using the Quetzamal natives as slave labor to extract the gold for himself. Meanwhile, Seas' men capture Mona and The Fabulous Five, and Seas unleashes the Green Death, the same airborne plague that killed Doc's father and keeps the Quetzamal tribe under his control. Doc overpowers the Captain after a protracted clash of different fighting styles and forces Seas to release his friends, whom Doc then treats with a special antidote. Seeing their leader captured, the Captain's men try to escape with the gold, but exploding dynamite causes the pool of gold to erupt, covering the henchmen, including Don Rubio Gorro, in molten metal. Freed from Captain Seas, Chief Chaac (Victor Millan) offers the gold and land grant to Doc, who replies, "I promise to continue my father's work ... his ideals. With this limitless wealth at my disposal, I shall be able to devote my life to the cause of justice."
Doc Savage returns to the United States and performs acupuncture brain surgery on Captain Seas to cure him of his criminal behavior. Later, during Christmas season, Doc Savage encounters the former supervillain, who is now a bandleader for The Salvation Army, flanked by his former paramours Adriana and Karen. Arriving back at his penthouse headquarters from shopping, Doc hears an urgent message about a new threat that could cost millions of lives. Doc Savage leaps into action and speeds to his next adventure.

Tags: murder, violence, good versus evil, absurd, psychedelic, sci-fi

Review:
I was fourteen years old when Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze opened in the theaters back in 1975, and I couldn't have been more excited about it.
I had been reading the paperback reprints of Kenneth Robeson's 1930's pulp action stories for years by that point, and was anxious to see the fantastic visions they had produced in my young head splashed across the big screen.When my Dad took me to see the movie, I was practically frothing at the mouth like a mad dog.
Ron Ely, as the title character, appeared at the peak of a snow dune, riding a snowmobile bearing the "Doc Savage" logo from the books.
"This is ok so far," I told myself.Then a Gary Owens-ish voice-over boomed from the screen, announcing: "This is Doc Savage: the Man of Bronze." Ron Ely smiled, and his perfectly white, perfectly straight teeth glistened with a goofy, animated glint just like the effeminate pretty-boy Tony Curtis had played in The Great Race.
The apelike Monk, natty attorney Ham, and the rest of Doc Savage's adventurous crew had been perfectly brought to life by a superb cast of character actors.But after that first sequence, involving Doc and his crew chasing after a mysterious Indian assassin (taken almost verbatim from the original novel), the whole movie took a huge nosedive into painful TV-quality mediocrity.
At one point, one of Doc's foes, an evil assassin, is shown sleeping in a gigantic rocking baby's crib and sucking his thumb.Since the 1930s pulp adventure "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was such a huge hit only five years after "Savage" was released, it's popular to for film buffs to say that "The Man of Bronze" was simply ahead of its time.
As a result, Pal and Anderson cranked out a half-assed, mixed up piece of junk that couldn't decide whether it was trying to be a revival the adventure serials of the 30s, or of the "Batman" TV series of the 60s.Still, as bad as it is, the film does hold a bizarre kind of fascination for me now as an adult.
When people ask me why I love bad movies so much, I explain the phenomenon this way: you can only watch a train chug by without incident so many times before you get bored, no matter how powerful the locomotive pulling it is or how cool the cars look.
At the end of the little event, Pal came up to us and apologized, wishing he could have done more and better.STAR WARS put the lie to the flacks, and a year after Pal's death, Spielberg and Lucas proved that Doc Savage could have easily been the next major movie franchise...if it hadn't been for the flacks.Tear out the memory or history of Doc, and the film would have been worth a 6/10 rating as nothing more than a mindless popcorn seller.But destroying the legacy like that was no less an abomination than killing a baby in the crib.Doc Savage can still come to the screen, and survive the inevitable comparisons by the ill-informed to Indiana Jones, but it would have to be done in all seriousness and earnest to reclaim the glory that we should expect from the First American Superhero.SIDENOTES: Yes, there was a second script for ARCHENEMY OF EVIL, and it's a lot more serious.
Ely's wearing a duster over a button down white shirt with a bronze tie, and the words "DOC SAVAGE: ARCHENEMY OF EVIL...Coming Next Summer!" POSTSCRIPT: If anyone knows who the studio flacks were that accompanied George Pal in 1975 to San Diego for the convention, smack the idiots up the side of the head and call them the idiots that they are.
Thus you have combat sequences with subtitles (come on!), a cluelessly unromantic Doc Savage (he was uncomfortable around women in the pulps, not an idiot), Monk Mayfair in a nightsheet (a scene guaranteed to give you nightmares for several nights), and the totally hokey ending with the secondary bad guy encased in gold like a Herve Villechez posing for an Oscar statute.
One gets the impression there was a sober, pulp-style first draft and then someone came in and said, "Hey, let's make it funny - it worked with the Batman show 8 years ago!"But Doc lives on, thanks to Earl MacRauch and Buckaroo Banzai.
Amazingly, Ron Ely nearly makes the film work, despite the wrongheaded direction.It's similar to how filmmakers, trying to cash in on James Bond, didn't understand that the magic of Bond movies was, they took themselves seriously.
George Pal knew that to make an adventure of this sort with a hero like Doc Savage that you had to somehow acknowledge the absurdity of it all.
The single worst thing in this film is the soundtrack, a creative but ultimately dreadful batch of John Phillip Sousa marches, including a custom Doc Savage lyric, which is especially loathsome.
Negatives aside, this film will be mildly enjoyable to fans of pulp magazines, old comics, radio and serial heroes, etc.
Overall, the cast is pretty good, and Ron Ely looks exactly like the vision of Doc Savage on the covers of the original pulps.
In 1978 came 'Superman, the Movie.' Two years after that came the 1st Indiana Jones flick, set smack dab in the 1930's, just like Doc Savage.
But since 'Doc Savage,' more1930's throwback films have flopped than succeeded, at least commercially: 'The Legend of the Lone Ranger,' 'The Phantom,' 'The Rocketeer,' 'The Shadow,' and 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.' All of these were big budget affairs.
I am talking of course about the classic Doc Savage (M.o.B.)This film is not only exciting but also seriously explores the issue of exploitation of the developing nations by US imperialism.
It was done on the cheap, the script is bad, the dialogue is horrid, the action non-existant, the acting a travesty, and the music was completely out of place.The film is loosely based around the first Doc Savage adventure, but makes a mess out of every element.
A nice John Williams score, ala Indiana Jones would have been far better.Doc Savage was one of the best of the pulp adventure heroes.
I was brought up on Doc Savage,and was petrified by the green death as a child but even then as now, I found it thoroughly entertaining.I have made countless friends and colleagues watch this film and have been most amused by the diversity of reactions,granted they mostly think I'm odd but there you are.
This film is a classic spoof on all the super hero genre,and was way before it's time,it is not to be taken seriously, move over Austin Powers.
For those who have not read Doc Savage books, where this movie went wrong.
There is quite a bit in the movie that works, and it is fun at points, and I think Ely is well cast, but too often it violates the essential spirit of Dent's books by refusing to give the audience the option of taking the characters or the adventure seriously.
"Worked" at least well enough to let Doc Savage fans feel like they had seen the heroes they knew on the screen, and well enough to let the rest of the viewers feel they had seen an honest attempt at a retro-action serial.
As for casting, Ron Ely's okay but Clint Walker would have been my choice (certainly when I started reading the books anyway) as for the 'Monk' in this movie, casting is appalling, the fellow is fat, Monk was like ' a good looking gorilla' and therefore an Ernest Borgnine, Bob Hoskins look-a-like would have been more suitable.
I am also still upset that they never made a sequel.Now it's time for a new Doc Savage film!
MOST IMPORTANT: Do not -- I repeat, do NOT hire a muscle bound, pump freak like the Rock, as some people have suggested, to play Doc. A few years ago Arnold Schwarzenegger was up or the part of Doc Savage and thank God they dropped the project!
DOC SAVAGE: THE MAN OF BRONZE (1 outta 5 stars)Dreadful, dreadful movie...
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze is a horrible movie.
Ron Ely looks great in this film and is the perfect choice to play Doc. Another nice touch is the unique manner in which the ultimate fate of the "bad guy" (Seas) is dealt with.
(I LIKED the theme song-- but it should never have been used all the way throughout the entire film!) Don Black, who should be ASHAMED at some of the lyrics he wrote for that music?It figures that I should pull this out, less than a week after re-reading the comic-book adaptation.
Along with the Amazing Five, he sets out for the Caribbean where they must confront the evil plot of Captain Seas and the threat of the mysterious `Green Death'.I can vaguely remember seeing this film years ago and thought I'd better be fair to it and see it again before reviewing it.
The film immediately hits you with a style that I can only hope was tongue in cheek; the Amazing Five are not the usual geniuses you'd expect and Savage himself is so wooden and all-American that he can only be a send up of that type of comic book character.
Or perhaps is there STILL unrest in same persons that the 1980 film version of Flash Gordon was too much of a departure from the original series?The point is, yes this film is incredibly camp but that's precisely its charm!Former Tarzan, Ron Ely plays the eponymous hero in this (and bears more than a passing resemblance to Gary Busey to boot!) and is backed up by a great supporting cast who all look to be having a ball with their respective roles.
I then came to discover the WORLD of Doc Savage through the Bantam novels of the old pulp magazine stories.
I read (and still own) all of the Bantam books, I started going to comic book cons (along with Star Trek and Doctor Who and all manner of geeky fat kid events) and had a wonderful time with each adventure I took with Doc and the ORIGINAL Fab 5.
After reading a few comments about the character Doc Savage and the comic series, I knew this film was not meant to be ironic.
The movie is based on Doc's first adventure, The Man of Bronze, with elements from several other stories.
From Doc's Fabulous Five (Monk, Ham, Renny, Long Tom and Little Johnny), which would go on to inspire superhero teams and the Hong Kong Cavaliers, to his Fortress of Solitude (which inspired Superman's), Mink's pet pig, Doc's gadgets and more, there is so much taken from the original pulp stories.The hard part of the film comes from how campy it gets, from patriotic theme songs dedicated to Doc with lyrics telling us how great he is to him having an animated twinkle in his eye.
Witness 1979's Legends of the Superheroes TV movies.The movie opens at Doc Savage's (Ron Ely, Tarzan) Fortress of Solitude, where our hero learns his father died under a cloud of mystery.
He rushes out for his next adventure, which was to be titled Doc Savage: The Arch Enemy of Evil.Oh yeah — Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) shows up here as a coroner!As helmed by Michael Anderson (Logan's Run, Orca, Around the World in 80 Days), this is a big, bombastic film.
He loves the characters so much that he doesn't hesitate to poke fun at them occasionally, but at the same time he maintains the audience's interest in the goings on.The plot deals with Doc Savage (Ron Ely) and his Fabulous Five, comprised of Monk, a chemist, Ham, a lawyer, Rennie, an engineer, Johnny, an archelogist, and Long Tom, an electrican, journeying to South America to investigate the death of Doc's father, Professor Savage, who supposedly died of a rare tropical disease.
The script occasionally pokes fun at Doc's arsenal of gadgets and the greedy secondary villain (who sleeps in a giant cradle) but like the original Star Trek show, a little self-deprecating humor is needed to remind us that the fantastic goings-on are all in fun.In conclusion, this is a really nifty movie, and a fitting finale to George Pal's career (it was his last picture).
Great good fun in the reasonable adaptation of the first (of close to 200) Doc Savage stories.
Ron Ely makes a fine Doc Savage; only Monk Mayfair seems to belong in a comic book rather than a pulp adventure.
Another thing is Doc Savage (played by Ron Ely - Tarzan from the 60s) is supposed to be a big hero and he really isn't that impressive.
It's spirited, lively stuff, played to perfection by the talented actors and crew.Ron Ely, star of the 1966-68 'Tarzan' TV series, makes for an appealing hero as Doc Savage, a jack of all trades who goes on various globe trotting adventures with his team The Fabulous Five: Paul Gleason as Long Tom, William Lucking as Renny, Michael Miller as Monk, Eldon Quick as Johnny, and Darrell Zwerling as Ham. Each man has his own area of expertise, and they're always ready to help out their friend Doc. Doc receives word that his father has died and left a precious natural resource to him, but also comes to believe that the old man may have been murdered.
I liked it, but if you've never read any of the books you've probably got a fight worthy of Doc Savage on your hands in watching any of this with equanimity!Doc and his band of intrepid followers "the Fabulous Five" are up against the mad Captain Seas in investigating the mysterious death of Doc's father in Hidalgo in South America and uncovering a secret of incredible wealth.
Well if you were a 7 year old boy in 1982 this was just about the best thing ever we used to have doc savage parties every time it came on TV and prayed there would be a sequel .
It might not be your father's Doc Savage, but this oft-reviled film debut of pulp fiction's pre-eminent adventurer is not entirely without merit.
When l saw this movie l'was around twenty years or so, as Ron Ely made part of my childhood as Tarzan's series, l'd stay tuned on this camp picture, further one my favorite director George Pal who made "Time Machine" wrote a robust screenplay, and it increased my interest on it, an older Ron Ely always overact in their roles, here he plays some kind hero without powers, his mates called "fabulous five" a sort of weird crazy guys are really funny, this second class production was poor and predicable, the sets are crap, fake jungle, fake cave, everything is really bad, but somehow had a fine plot and there some many fine special effects, as a green death and the deeply valley on the edge of the world, some years ago l've wondering if someday this trash picture could come out on DVD, for my surprise it happens soon l can expected!!!Resume:First watch: 1987 How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 6.5.
The 1930's brought forth a bumper crop as feature characters like THE SHADOW, THE AVENGER, G8's BATTLE ACES and THE SPIDER,MASTER of MEN all found their way to the news stands, among many others.One other was DOC SAVAGE, a full-blooded super hero of the written story; the covers of the pulps had perhaps, the only "picture" of the hero.
It was veteran Stop-action Animator and Producer of top Special Effects films, Geoprge Pal, who did the film along with Warner Brothers.When DOC SAVAGE, MAN OF BRONZE arrived in the Movie Houses, it boasted of a well casted team of actors, albeit a largely "No Name" as far familiarity with the viewers.
The sets and locations were, as far as we can see, very much like those of a '30's serial or adventure flick which would be enjoyable to about anyone.And maybe that's just what they were trying for with this DOC SAVAGE, MAN of BRONZE..
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" mined similar source material, but abandoned the knowing light hearted camp and took the film to a new level of high adventure, but "Doc Savage" wanted to be that family friendly film that was knowingly comic book-like.
Still, I was really entertained by the movie and loved the vivid photography, the fun George Pal special effects, and was also tickled at seeing how similar Doc and his team were to Buckaroo Banzai and his team (which made me like "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" even more).
The quest leads to the criminal Captain Seas and a long lost Mayan tribe.Doc Savage is a pulp magazine adventurer starting from the 30s.
I have never read a Doc Savage book, so I don't know if it is faithful to the source but I enjoyed the light tone and derring-do.
Having read many Doc Savage adventures before first seeing the film, I found the film a disappointment.
The basic story is akin to the original adventure, but George Pal decided to camp up the film.
I read where he was disappointed by the reaction of Doc Savage fans, who indicated that they didn't like its treatment.That aside, Ron Ely was an excellent choice for Doc. He had a credible look for The Man of Bronze, and didn't overplay the role.IMHO, the choice of Sousa marches detracted from the film.
However, it is the only film ever done on Doc Savage.