Supersonic Man

This is two movies in one. The first is a 1-star bad movie and a 10-star RiffTrax movie with the voice-overs. How do you rate a movie like this?

The actors involved try hard, but in the end the plot and script drag it down. Cameron Mitchell as always delivers a fine performance in low-budget movies given what he has to work with.

Is it worth watching? To me on it's own, no. But with the RiffTrax crew working their magic was well worth my time and quite entertaining.

Dr. Gulik (Cameron Mitchell) is an evil mastermind bent on . . . well, I'm really not sure what he was bent on. I watched the entire movie and still have no idea what Dr. Gulick's plan was. In between all the gibberish Dr. Gulick spouts, I don't believe he ever laid out what his ultimate goal was (if he did, I missed it). I don't believe I've ever seen a movie with a more confusing plot. Or, maybe the plot wasn't confusing, but, instead, the movie didn't have a plot. That's my guess.

Beyond the plot, everything else is a disaster. The special effects are the worst, the music is beyond annoying, and the acting is atrocious. Usually I can watch a movie and enjoy it regardless of the dubbing. That's not the case here. The voice actors are terrible. And why was there a need to dub Cameron Mitchell with a ridiculous, over-the-top English accent? And then there's the robot. This movie was made in 1979, not 1939. Just plain stupid. The only reason I haven't given the movie a "1" is for all the lackeys in the matching, multi-color jumpsuits. Watching these guys run around as the island blows-up is worth a point.

Me and my high school dog pack caught this movie by chance one late night on Channel 44 in the Bay Area. Perhaps by devine intervention, I hit the record button and got the whole film on tape. It provided us and our respective families with endless laughs. We even composed a song/chant out of some of our favorite lines that we would recite religiously in the park at night (This is true San Jose-style recreation!!) Highlights? The terrifying killer robot that displayed the speed and swiftness of a cheetah! That devastating glare of Supersonic's evil nemesis as he monitors his underlings' treacherous deeds. The timeless beauty and personal complexity of Supersonic's love interest, Patricia Morgan. And the special effects -- especially the balsa wood steamroller, realistic-looking toy helicopter and the seamless camera work the director achieved whenever Paul morphs into Supersonic. To the uninitiated: May the forces of the universe be with you in your quest to see this movie!!

Superhero Kronos , an alien, called "Supersonic Man," (a bodybuilder and former Tarzan , Richard Yesteran) is sent to Earth to decide the fate of mankind and thwart the schemes of evil men who would destroy the galaxy itself with their weapons from a distant galaxy . Supersonic is also given a human identity , Paul (Michael Coby or Antonio Cantafora) , a journalist who can change back to superhero by activating a watch device . But a nutty mad doctor named Gulik (Cameron Mitchell), supported by his hoodlums (Frank Braña, Luis Barboo), has evil plans , as he wants to rule the planet and abduct Patricia (Diana Polakov) , an eminent scientific (Jose Maria Caffarel)'s daughter and Supersonic's love interest . At the end our hero , Supersonic , enters the underground lair of the villain and has to pass through some corridors where he is shot, frozen, and burnt.

This is a humdrum adaptation based on Superman movies from a screenplay by the same filmmaker , Juan Piquer Simón ; as the plot lifts some scene from the script of Superman by Richard Donner . This is a pretty entertaining superhero movie though packs absurd situations and cheesy frames . Supersonic man and his human alter ego Paul were not played by the same actor , he was played by a Spanish and Italian actor respectively . As Supersonic was played by bodybuilder and former Tarzan José Luis Ayestarán , Paul, his human alter ego , was played by Antonio Cantafora . Atmospheric as well as ridiculous super hero movie contains bemusing scenes when appears the bouncing He man and takes place his confrontation to nasty hoodlums in some lousily made scenes , including primitive special effects . Part of the spaceship in the opening scenes is made from a Cylon Raider model and other parts have numerous "older technique" FX such as transparency , matte paintings, rubber-suited enemies , reverse-footage to create certain images ; all of them were made by Emilio Ruiz Del Rio , Francisco Prosper and the same director , Juan Piquer . As this superhero possesses mighty powers such as flying , sensational strength , throwing fire and transforming handguns into bananas , all of them being recreated by means of traditional effects . You will watch it and think it is either awful , hilarious, a masterpiece, or all three . It's a slight fun with embarrassing images , naive special effects , horrible musical score with awful songs by Gino Pecuri , campy set decoration and below average art direction . Although critics do not appreciate much this picture ; however has a kind of loopy, Ed Wood quality that must be endured to be totally considered . The fable is sometimes silly and laughable , though a few naif effects and action are professionally made . Some illogical parts in the argument are more than compensated for the excitement provided by Sonic man though some flying scenes are a little bit cheesy . While not a hit during its original run, the film became a limited success when reissued nearly 30 years later deemed to be one of the best worst films of cinema history .

The motion picture was lousily directed by Juan Piquer . Juan , who goes by "J.P. Simon" on foreign releases , began in films as a writer and assistant director and continued his career by making short films and documentaries . Juan has produced and directed "exploitation" pictures for two decades running . He was one of the main directors of the Spanish horror boom in the 70s and 80s specially for his quartet of horror films as ¨Escalofrio¨, ¨Slugs¨ , ¨Cthulhu Mansion¨ and his greatest success and immensely popular ¨Pieces¨ . Juan owns his own studio and created and/or designed many of the simple and primitive special effects sequences you see in any of his many imaginative undertakings . Piquer , who recently passed away, was a good craftsman who realized a lot of amusing as well as entertaining films . Juan Piquer who was director of the Mostra of Valencia (Spain) , displayed a professional career and specialized on all kind of genres as Terror , Sci-fi (The rift , The new Extraterrestres, Supersonic man) and made some adaptations about Jules Verne novels ("Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth" , "Mystery on Monster Island") . While his films have been universally panned by the prestigious reviewers, they have a kind of quality that must be endured to be utterly appreciated .

Juan Piquer Simon used to be a postman (thus linking him to Fabrizio de Angelis, ex-postman and director of "Killer Crocodile"), but quit his job to step into the movie business. If his mail delivery was as excellent as his knowledge of movie making, I wouldn't send a letter to Spain.

Supersonic Man is so obviously a Superman rip-off that I'm almost ashamed to mention it. Still, shame is something Piquer Simon didn't seem to have. Granted, the man has lots of imagination, but so has a toddler who draws three lines on a piece of paper and says it's a car. Supersonic (for that is his name) is sleeping in a spaceship when an intergalactic voice tells him an evil mastermind wants to kidnap a professor so he, the evil mastermind, can rule over the world. The evil mastermind is none other than Cameron Mitchell, actor in a handful of classics and the lead in over 150 B- to D-movies. In this production he's the biggest (read: only) star.

Supersonic doesn't take the train, like any superhero he can fly. Well, flying... it does look like the actor is busy pretending to swim in the air. Go lie on a bench and move your body first 10° to the left and then 20° to the right. Keep doing that, add a blue screen and you too can fly. To make us believe the movie was shot in the US, Supersonic often flies in the air with parts of New York in the background. Unfortunately, that's the only use of these scenes, so basically you're just watching a man in a silly suit pretending he can fly.

Supersonic's suit may give you a few chuckles, but what really got me rolling on the floor is the scene where the professor's daughter (Patricia) is chased by gangsters. Just when it looks like her car is going to hit a bulldozer, Supersonic lifts it up with one hand. Though, why a bulldozer is standing in the middle of a forest road beats me, just as it's quite fascinating to see the bulldozer is actually made of wood. The crooks try to avoid hitting the bulldozer, drive down a hill and for some reason that should explain why their car explodes.

The bulldozer scene is featured quite early in the movie, so it's best to stay on the floor. Don't crawl back into your couch as an avalanche of bad scenes is still coming your way: bad special effects (toy helicopters anyone?), cheesy humour and even more bad special effects (toy houses?). Oh, did I mention already the plot is hard to follow and some plot lines commence but never go anywhere? Frankly, "Mulholland Drive" is easier to follow.

To make things even worse, this Spanish action movie (let's use that phrase lightly) is dubbed in university English. When the giant robot bursts into the professor's lab to kidnap him, the professor states: "What kind of tomfoolery is this?" One has to admire those academics, if not for their vocabulary, then for the fact that he doesn't start laughing when the giant and fierce (and frankly slow) robot appears.

Juan Piquer Simon is sometimes compared to Ed Wood, but at least Wood had a vision (a vision hindered by a budget, but still a vision). "Supersonic Man" however is a work that makes "Killer Crocodile" look like a masterpiece. Which in its own right is quite special.