Captain America ’79

• Directed by Rod Holcomb
• January 19, 1979
• CBS
• Based on Captain America created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby

A recipient of an experimental enhancement chemical joins forces with a government agency to stop a sinister plot. A better you through chemicals!

Captain America ‘79 starts out like any of a dozen easy to digest 70s TV shows or TV films. Completely inoffensive and much like The Incredible Hulk devoid of in-your-face superpowers like we are accustomed to today. Steve Rogers (Reb Brown) when he gets his abilities is better than average but nothing obviously superhuman. Do not go into this expecting a grand superhero epic or something serious in comparison to today. I laughed when one character called the super soldier serum the ultimate steroid. Old films are often a window into the past and we got quite a look with those words.

When Steve uses his super strength they have a slight sound effect I found reminiscent of Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man. It’s not the same sound but it’s the same type of audio cue to let the audience know he’s using his abilities. Visually such an event should be obvious.

Reb Brown is perhaps best known (to me) for his part as Yor in Yor, the Hunter from the Future and stars as the eventual Captain America. His Steve is a former Marine surfer dude seeking to travel up and down the coast of sunny California where so much occurred in American television from the 70s to the 80s.

For cost reasons most likely they made changes to the character beyond the low power level. Steve Rogers here is not the original Captain America but rather the son of the man that developed the super soldier serum. Daddy Rogers used it on himself and earned the monicker of ‘Captain America’ from baddies as a form of mockery. The government has been testing it on rats for years but without the success of Daddy Rogers. It isn’t until Steve gets seriously hurt that they use it on him and it works. Here human experimentation is no biggie!

The plot involves some very Caucasian villains that are building a neutron bomb because they are evil. Steve Rogers becomes tied up in it because he’s a friend to the guy with the information to finish the bomb as well as the best person to take the Captain America serum. Why are they going to detonate a neutron bomb? To steal gold…I think. The neutron bomb will kill every living thing in the area but leave the gold in the building unharmed. I just have absolutely no idea how these people expect to survive the neutron bomb blast. It certainly sounds like they were going to wait around for the aftermath.

The iconic shield gets a TV movie alteration. It’s made of clear plastic and certainly not metal. I don’t believe they even mention vibranium. I guess the implication is it some high-grade plexiglass. The Captain America costume is more motorcycle stunt performer than it is comic accurate. Close but not quite there.

I have a soft spot for 70s and 80s adventure TV shows and TV films. There is a level of cheese that because of the era and execution does not feel like the cheese it is. There are things that most if not all productions of this type had. One thing I can’t help but notice is that a lot of these villains had access to helicopters with an accompanying well trained sharpshooter.

There’s a moment where Steve before he puts the costume must deal with a person in a helicopter that’s trying to kill him. He eventually forces it to land. Not a bad sequence but I’m pretty sure the helicopter pilot from that scene ends up as the truck driver in the climax and I have no idea how a guy that tried to kill somebody on federal land was allowed out of jail to work long haul.

One of my favorite character actors was Lance LeGault. His voice alone was amazing but more than that he popped in so many shows that I loved. He shows up in Captain America ‘79 as villainous thug Harley. I felt he would have much better as chief villain Lou Brackett in comparison to Steve Forrest that played the part.

As an actor I would categorize Reb Brown as an acquired taste. He’s been in his fair share of cheese with his acting often being questionable. What we get from him is uneven. There are moments when he’s good enough and others where he makes the background furniture look positively animated. The cast of supporting actors are slightly more two-dimensional than Brown is.

Despite changes to the mythology in the end Captain America ‘79 is not a bad example of the time. It’s exciting enough though the dead man switch bit struck me as a little silly. I would’ve preferred some type of tepid fight to cap it off. Then again Steve just kind of stumbles into the whole thing.

I enjoyed Captain America ‘79 for what it was-a 70s TV action/adventure film. It is entertaining yet disposable yet not so much you would never revisit if you enjoy the era. If your preference for Captain America is more along the lines of Chris Evans or even the one from the 90s then this might not be for you.