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| Movie Name: | Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze | | Producer: | George Pal | | Release Date (USA): | Jun 7, 1975 |
| Stars: | ¶¶ (out of 5) | | Synopsis: | Slight action feature produced by the legendary George Pal and directed by Michael Anderson, is loosely based on the first Doc Savage novel The Man of Bronze, with additions from other novels, most notably the ghostly serpents from The Mystic Mullah, plus a newly created villain, Captain Seas. When his father is murdered and an attempt is made on his own life by a Mayan warrior, Doc and his men journey to a lost valley in Central America to solve the mystery and claim his inheritance, an unlimited supply of gold. A greedy adventurer, Captain Seas, and a cabal of native conspirators also covet the gold and unleash the Green Death on all who get in their way, but Doc wins out in the end.
Review: As this is the only film version of Doc Savage, I wanted very much to like it but I couldn't because of two major flaws. One, the very low budget makes this look like a cheap TV movie from the 1970s, as everything is smaller and plainer than a Doc reader would imagine. Thus, Doc's Fortress of Solitude is a large igloo, the lost valley looks like a clearing in the Northern California forest, etc. The biggest name in the cast of unknowns is Ron Ely, and that's because he was the star of TV's Tarzan series. He's good in the role, with the perfect athletic credentials, though a bit too sweet-tempered. The more glaring flaw is the film's light campy tone: from the pompous John Philip Sousa score and the animated twinkle in Doc's eye to the climactic battle between Doc and the villain being played strictly for comedy, the entire film looks like a children's picture. A halfway decent script goes for naught because everything is played too lightly.
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| Cast & Crew: | Ron Ely (Doc Savage), Paul Gleason (Long Tom), William Lucking (Renny), Michael Miller III (Monk), Eldon Quick (Johnny), Darrell Zwerling (Ham), Paul Wexler (Captain Seas). Directed by Michael Anderson. | | Comments: | Plans for a sequel, Doc Savage, Archenemy of Evil, were scrapped after the poor box-office showing of this film. |
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