Supersonic Man (1979)

I think that I first became aware of this film many, many years ago when I read its entry in The Science Fiction Movie Handbook by Alan Frank.  While I recall that his synopsis was fairly neutral, as was customary, Frank included a selection of brief quotes from other reviewers.  The typically sour and perfunctory one from Cinefantastique has always stuck in my memory: 'Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  No, it's just another worthless dud from Spain.'  (In case you didn't know, Cinefantastique was a glorified fanzine that reviewed science fiction and fantasy films - I don't recall them ever giving anything other than the sort of pithy, mean-spirited assessment quoted to any contemporary film.  They also included in every issue a patronising guide for all us ignorant and unwashed plebs as to how their title should be pronounced.  Pretentious bastards).  This critique is actually leaves one wondering what the unnamed reviewer was expecting from a cheap European rip-off of Superman?  The fact is that Supersonic Man, for all of its inadequacies (and it has many), has some interesting points.  Most notably, it addresses the problem fundamental to the whole Superman mythos - why does nobody recognise Superman as being Clarke Kent without his glasses?  Most superheroes at least wear a mask when in their heroic mode, but not the son of Krypton, he relies on the flimsiest of disguises.  Supersonic Man, by contrast, takes the Captain Marvel approach, (the original Fawcett Comics version, not the Marvel imposter who hijacked the name), by having the super-powered protagonist and his everyday alter-ego be completely different characters, played by two different actors, (as in both the 1941 Republic movie serial adaptation and the more recent DC Shazam! film).

Moreover, the human alter-ego, for once, isn't some meek and mild-mannered reporter or a twelve year old boy.  Instead he is a two-fisted private eye, played by Italian actor Antonio Cantafora, (under his frequent English language alias of 'Micheal Colby'), sporting a moustache, presumably to emphasise that he isn't impersonating Terrence Hill, (which he did in several films, to Paul Smith's erstatz Bud Spencer).  His superhero persona is a blue skinned, masked and muscle-bound alien called Kronos (aka 'Supersonic Man', although the opening titles call him simply 'Sonic Man'), played by Jose Luis Ayestaran, (billed as 'Richard Yesteran'), who had previously portrayed Tarzan in a couple of Spanish films.  The private eye transitions into the superhero by incanting something along the lines of 'May the Great Force of the galaxy be with me' (shades of Star Wars) into a wrist-watch like device.  Which simply underlines the fact that while the movie itself might have been made to cash in on the release of the 1978 Superman movie, its scenario owes more to Captain Marvel than the Man of Steel.  Which is somewhat ironic, considering that DC comics took Fawcett to court in the fifties in order to suppress the rival character, (before, even more ironically, licensing him from Fawcett in the seventies).  Indeed, Captain Marvel seems to have had a lasting influence upon foreign filmmakers when it comes to superhero films - in Turkish cinema, both Killink's nemesis 'The Flying Man' (a thinly disguised Superman) and the titular hero of the eighties Turkish Superman film, have to say 'Shazam!' to turn into their superhero personas.  Also, both are given their powers and magic word by a mystical elder - a wizard in the case of 'The Flying Man' and Jor-El(!) in the case of Turkish Superman.

Supersonic Man, though, seems to take its inspiration less, perhaps, from the comic book Captain Marvel, than it does from the aforementioned cinema serial adaptation.  It plays out very much like a serial, with hero (in private eye form) being frequently captured by the bad guys, but always managing to somehow find a way to transform into Kronos just before he drowns or is shot.  When he isn't being captured and imperiled, it is the female lead being kidnapped or menaced by killer robots.  The robot which features prominently in the film, variously firing missiles from its head or shooting flames from its body, is a magnificent creation, looking exactly like the sort of mechanical contraption that used to clank through the chapters of many cinema serials.  The plot, also, feels like it was lifted from a classic serial, revolving, as it does, around a scientist being kidnapped by a supervillain who wants to use his research to increase the power of his laser weapon, with which he intends to hold the world to ransom.  In order to coerce the scientist's co-operation, the villain sends his minions out to kidnap the scientist's daughter, who ends up engaging the services of the private eye, not realising that he is also Supersonic Man.  The film's makers seemed determined to rip off as many then popular film hits as possible: as well as trying to cash in on Superman and invoking both Star Wars and Close Encounters, (as well as 'The Force' reference, Kronos is seen at the start flying down to earth from a UFO), its villain has his headquarters inside a volcano, just like Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967) and blasts off into space for a final confrontation with Kronos, like Drax in Moonraker (1979).

Director Juan Piquer Simon was something of a specialist in this sort of fantasy film and handles the various elements reasonably well, moving the action along relatively smoothly and quickly, without the chases, captures, escapes and recaptures becoming too repetitive.  But, as with his other fantasy films, one can't help but wonder exactly what audience the film was aimed at - while the tough guy, barroom brawling private eye alter ego might suggest a more adult audience, the amount of comic relief, be it the drunkard who keeps turning up, or the various incompetent henchmen, would seem to suggest a more juvenile target audience.  While Simon does his best with the material, he is constantly hampered by hugely variable production values.  A lot of the film just looks cheap, with its cardboard (albeit very entertaining) robot and the obviously plywood road roller that Kronos picks up effortlessly at one point, (the filming angle also betrays that it is basically a 'flat', with no depth).  By contrast, the villain's high tech lair is pretty well realised. The special effects are also hugely variable, with things like laser blasts and the space sequences quite well done, considering the low budget.  The title character's flying sequences are also variable, with reasonably effective back projection, (using actual New York cityscapes), combined with some all too obvious miniatures work.

The cast are, in the main, adequate for this sort of film.  Yesteran is suitably imposing as Supersonic Man, but Cantafora isn't really convincing as a tough guy - even with that moustache.  He is simply too slight physically to pull off that sort of role - it isn't that he was incapable of the sort of athleticism required for action roles, as seen in his Terrence Hill impersonating films, just that he was neither physically imposing enough, nor mean enough.  (This wasn't his only superhero movie though, he had also been one of the eponymous Supermen Against The Orient (1973), part of the popular Italian 'Three Supermen' cycle of films).  He was always far better playing good-natured or even weak characters, often in comedic roles.  The real star of the film though, is Cameron Mitchell as the villain,  Even hampered by being dubbed with an English accent in the English language version, he delivers the sort of slightly camp, utterly maniacal and scenery chewing performance this sort of role requires.  His crew of sidekicks include Spanish exploitation favourites Frank Brana and Luis Barboo.  

So, is Supersonic Man a worthless dud?  Well, it was never going to win any awards for originality or technical achievement, but it is a reasonably well constructed and packaged piece of exploitation.  A B-movie, to be sure, but, for the eighty eight minutes it is on, reasonably entertaining, (although not always in the way its makers intended).  It also does try to ring some interesting changes with regard to the usual superhero tropes, which sets it apart from most other Superman clones from the era.  Certainly, it is a better film than the contemporaneous Italian Puma Man (1980), even though that film appeared to have a bigger budget, or the Turkish Superman, for that matter.  To dismiss it simply as a 'worthless dud' is simply lazy criticism on he part of someone who had clearly not taken the trouble either to properly watch Supersonic Man or put in its proper context.