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Supersonic Man
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| Year: |
1979
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Director: |
Juan Piquer Simón
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| Stars: |
Antonio Cantafora, Cameron Mitchell, José Luis Ayestarán, Diana Polakov, José María Caffarel, Frank Braña, Javier De Campos, Tito García, Quique Camoiras, Luis Barboo, Ángel Ter, Emilio Higuera, Luis Castilla, Frank A. Sánchez, Emilio Fornet
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| Genre: |
Comedy, Action, Trash, Science Fiction, Adventure |
| Rating: |
  4 (from 2 votes) |
| Review: |
He has been awoken from his intergalactic slumber deep in the heart of his spaceship by the guardians of the universe, for they have noticed one planet's technology is getting ahead of its morals: and that planet is Earth. They now have capabilities far beyond their ability to control them, and one man, Dr Gulik (Cameron Mitchell), is planning to use newly developed weaponry to take over there so must be stopped as soon as possible. Which is why Earth needs a new hero, one with incredible strength, the power to fly, and an invincibility to all assaults...
Come to me Superman, if you dare! Oh, wait, it's not Supes that concerns us here, it's his stand-in Supersonic Man - what do you mean you've never heard of him and would prefer a better known superhero? Well, he's all we have to combat Gulik, and to be fair they were a pretty good match for one another seeing as how this was made on the catering budget of the blockbuster of the year previous to this, and while they could afford Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman for their movie, here all we had was our old friend Cameron "No job too small" Mitchell, essaying a particularly loquacious baddie.
Seriously, every time we return to Cam he's yakking away to someone about his genius and how he's going to smash up society, philosophising all the day and not showing much evidence of actually getting down to doing very much about it. Our goodie, on the other hand, was actually two people acting in the same role, or rather Antonio Cantafora (aka Michael Coby, recognisable to viewers of late night TV showings of The Bitch) was Supersonic's Clark Kent alter ego Paul... er, just Paul, as meanwhile bodybuilder José Luis Ayestarán, one of the screen's most obscure Tarzans ever, took the role of the blue and red-costumed avenger. For some reason what we could see of his face was blue as well.
Yet where the DC character wore a blue suit with red cape and boots, Supersonic donned a red suit with blue cape and boots - you see? Completely different. He also sported a Batman-style cowl so we couldn't notice that there were two actors here, but we did anyway because Ayestarán was about a foot taller and a foot wider for that matter, yet nevertheless whenever Paul activated his special wristwatch and spoke the magic words (a bit like Superted, if you think about it) there would be a flash of light and a vision would appear before us to soar into the skies. Or rather, lie arms and legs straight out on a bench and have the background projected behind him: George Reeves would have been proud.
As to what it was Gulik actually wanted out of life, in amongst all that natter it was kind of difficult to make out, but you had to assume some type of world domination was on the cards. To achieve this, he had sent his small army of henchmen to steal a batch of iridium so he could, um, do something with it, but never mind that, check out the robot! This titan of metal, with built in flame thrower and what appears to be a fire extinguisher (handy), races through its scenes at the breakneck speed of one foot per hour and nothing can stop it - unless Supersonic has a go. Every Superman needs a Lois Lane, so Paul got Patricia Morgan (Diana Polakov), daughter of the kidnapped professor, who he has to save periodically, when he's not saving himself that was. Chuck in a comedy drunk to make you wonder if this was meant to be funny (he dubs the alien hero an "extra-testicle"), then decide the filmmakers were none too sure themselves, and you had a fine addition to director Juan Piquer Simón's cavalcade of cack.
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| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
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