Doc Savage Movie Review

Dr. Clark Savage, Jr., and “The Amazing Five” fight a murderous villain who plans to take over the world. Based on the long series of pulp novels by Kenneth Robeson, the plotline loosely follows the initial entry The Man of Bronze, while incorporating several ideas from other stories. This is almost sure to disappoint fans of the pulp series, as a camp approach is taken, but most of the comedy falls flat and some of the performances are poor. Also disappointing for fans of producer George Pal, who may expect something more spectacular from the man who gave us The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. Ron Ely, despite his years as Tarzan, serves as only a passable Doc. May prove to be a revelation for comic-book fans – Doc Savage, raised from infancy by a group of scientists to be a perfect mental and physical specimen, began his war on crime about the same time as The Shadow. Many aspects of the series were later appropriated by the creators of Superman, Batman, and even Buckaroo Banzai.

1975 (PG) 100m/C Ron Ely, Pamela Hensley, Paul Gleason, William Lucking, Paul Wexler; D: Michael Anderson Sr.; W: George Pal, Joe Morhaim; C: Fred W. Koenekamp. VHS, Beta WAR