Thousands of years ago, aliens visited Earth and fathered the Pumaman, a man-god with supernatural powers entrusted by a gold mask with the ability to control people's minds, which in presen... Read allThousands of years ago, aliens visited Earth and fathered the Pumaman, a man-god with supernatural powers entrusted by a gold mask with the ability to control people's minds, which in present-day London, falls upon the wrong hands.Thousands of years ago, aliens visited Earth and fathered the Pumaman, a man-god with supernatural powers entrusted by a gold mask with the ability to control people's minds, which in present-day London, falls upon the wrong hands.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
- Kobras
- (as Donald Pleasance)
- Vadinho
- (as Miguel Angel Fuentes)
- Sir George Bradley
- (as Jeffrey Coppleston)
- Kobras Thug
- (uncredited)
- Kobras Thug
- (uncredited)
- Kobras Thug
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
So is "Pumaman" worthy of being on this infamous list? Well, not...not at all. Sure, it's bad...but not THAT bad. While the story is silly and the special effects god-awful, there is a certain fun kitschy quality that made it much easier to watch than most bad films.
When the film begins, you hear about some weird Aztec-like cult that has great power--and some baddies want to destroy them and their emissary of goodness, Pumaman. But who is Pumaman? Well, no one really knows as he's soon to be revealed. Unfortunately, the dopey guy in England seems a very unlikely candidate to be a superhero...but he cannot help but believe something is up when he falls out a window yet lands safely on his feet! Soon, an American- Indian believer arrives and announces to the guy that he is Pumaman...and at around same time, so do the baddies who want to destroy him.
The plot is very much like the TV show "Americas Greatest Hero" (which it pre-dated)--with a naive new hero who has a hard time believing and then controlling his super powers...so the idea COULD have worked. Unfortunately, the film appeared to have a budget of about $64.38 when it came to special effects!! The scene where the guy falls out the window is just sad to see...as it is when he is supposedly flying. Heck, back in the 1950s "The Adventures of Superman" had MUCH better superhero effects...so why does it look so terrible in the 1980s?! And why does the musical budget appear to be even smaller--with really cheap and craptastic electronic keyboard effects that become VERY repetitious?! And, why does Donald Pleasance agree again and again to be in crappy films?! After all, he once was a respected actor!
The bottom line is that although this is a crappy and ugly looking film and the writing is occasionally very goofy, there is a grain of something NOT miserable or awful in it as well. No way would I put this in any Bottom 100 or possibly even Bottom 1000 list!
man, when he finally gets around to being Pumaman, looks like he got his outfit from Primark's 'Sensible Gentleman' section and attached a cape to it. He also displays the natural talents of a Puma. You know, like seeing in infra-red, passing through walls, and flying. If you start thinking about why aliens and pumas are linked and why Donald Pleasance can somehow take over people's minds using a gold mask from South America attached to what looks like a tricycle, you are going to end up having a stroke.
"It looks bad, and not good bad," my wife remarked while heading to our indoor pool manned by Joe Dallesandro look-a-likes. After watching it, I tend to agree to a certain extent. Pumaman has a reputation as a bad movie. Donald Pleasence said it was the worst film he starred in. Alberto De Martino says it was the worst film he ever made. Are there laughs to be had? Let's see.
After a demented introduction about how aliens contacted the Aztecs and made the first Pumaman, we switch to Donald Pleasence who has this gold mask that he's using to take over people's mind. He won't to control the world and only Pumaman can stop him, if only he knew who he was. This leads to various Americans in London being thrown out of windows before some mystic good guy tracks down the real Pumaman. I can't be bothered looking up what his character's name was.
New Pumaman has to learn to be Pumaman and is reluctant to fly about the place looking like a complete moron but eventually he does, and the effects really do look like someone hung Pumaman from a hook attached to his arse, then used the worst blue-screen effects in the world. And they use it in about 50% of the film. He can also go in and out of walls, something he seems to forget when chasing Donald Pleasence later in the film.
Donald's gold mask/mind control set up is pretty crap too. Once he grabs someone's mind, a rubber head of theirs appear on a shelf and then Donald commands it through the gold mask. This looks worse that it sounds, as the visual effect for communication seems to be wobbling a bit of sheet metal with the rubber head reflected on it. Truly dire. There are some laughs to be had by this, but apart from amatuer fist fights, Pumaman arguing with his mentor, really bad romantic scenes with Sydne Rome, and the constant nose-bleed inducing flying sequences, the best bit for me was when I realised that ten minutes of the film had begun to repeat itself, leading to a blissful moment where I fast forwarded the film, therefore reducing the running time.
Did you know
- TriviaStar Donald Pleasence once cited this as the worst film he'd ever been in.
- GoofsVadinho refers to himself and his people as Aztecs from the Andes plateau. The Aztecs lived in central and southern Mexico. The Incas were the primary Native American empire in the Andes, which are entirely located in South America. Even at their greatest extent the Aztec Empire had never come anywhere close to South America.
- Quotes
Jane Dobson: Have you ever made love in the air?
Prof. Tony Farms: How else would you make little puma men?
- Alternate versionsThe Greek video version has parts of the scenes at the start rearranged.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Pumaman (1998)
- SoundtracksL'Uomo Puma (Puma Man Theme)
Written and Performed by Renato Serio And His Orchestra
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 30m(90 min)
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1