Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975). Third Place Adventurer.
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2023
- #docsavage #thingsdontgosowell
Stam Fine Reviews looks at an attempt to bring the pulp novel character of Doc Savage to live action in the 1975 film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze. Ron Ely stars as Doc Savage, a brilliant guy who can do almost anything. Produced by George Pal, Directed by Michael Anderson. Also stars Pamela Hensley, Paul Wexler, William Lucking, Paul Gleason.
It works some of the time, and at other times, the film needs to be yelled at to get off the couch and mow the lawn. 
Развлечения
"Clark Savage, the Man of Bronze with his Fortress of Solitude" all appeared in print from 1933, years before Clark Kent, Man of Steel with his identically named Fortress of Solitude, saw print. This pulp hero also inspired *The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension* which you have already covered, but at least the creators of that movie readily acknowledged the fact. Buckaroo's team, The Hong Kong Cavaliers were also a nod to Doc's band of followers, sometimes referred to as the Fabulous Five.
Wow. Never knew Fortress of Solitude was originally a Doc Savage thing. Thanks.
"Only Alloys". For such a brief, throwaway joke, that tickled me.
This makes me appreciate the Rocketeer. The Rocketeer felt like it was in the correct time period. Doc Savage was a mess
Doc Savage, and Ron Ely are peak nostalgia for a 60s kid. 5 stars!
Ron Ely: a popular Tarzan, and somehow manages to out-Roger Moore Roger Moore as Doc Savage!
70s too
You can call him the Feast Unknown as he portrayed Tarzan and Clark Savage Jr.
@@digipeeper lol, I wonder if anyone is shopping that script around.
He lobotomizes his enemies.. this Doc is Savage.
you forgot ..Paul Gleason - The principal in "The Breakfast Club" - Discuss
As a teen I read the books over and over again.
Thanks Stam Fine, you're an absolute legend. You solved a mystery of my childhood. I remember being about 4 or 5 and seeing a guy dressed in white on a ship lying on a bed with green vapourlike snakes coming under the door....freaked me the hell out and gave me nightmares😅. At least I now know 40odd years later what that crazy crap was.😅
10 year old me loved this film.
Being a Doc Savage fan since the 70s I loved that movie.
Have it downloaded on one of SD card.
Even Lester Dent's (real name of writer) widow liked it. (there was an interview with her in one of the issue of Marvel's B&W Doc Savage magazine) magazine.
And they got most so on point. Johnny's long words. Monk and Ham good natured bickering. Ham's sword cane. Renny's Holy Cow. Doc riding outside the car.
Even got Johnny's glasses right. (He's mostly blind in one eye, so the lens to that eye is used as a magnified glass)
Again, loved it. And glad I have it saved so I can watch it whenever I want.
Recommend Buckaroo Banzai for a modern version of Doc and his Amazing Five.
My grandfather left me a bunch of the original pulp novels and a handful of the paperback reprints when he passed away in 1971. I think collected everything Doc Savage and I am the proud owner of all of the novels, many of the pulps, and all of the comics and magazines. I once spent 50 bucks on one novel because it was a double and very hard to find. It is now worth over 500 bucks but I won't sell mine. I was so excited in 1975 when this movie came out and while I didn't mind it being so campy, it is hard to rewatch today. I wish someone had done a proper movie with a serious tone like the books. I still own this on DVD and watch it every few years but I find that I watch The Phantom with Billy Zane much more than Doc Savage.
I saw this at the cinema back in '75 and thought it was highly original and pretty darned good. I was surprised there was no sequel as the movie was perfect for one. As a young kid in the 70's I wasn't familiar with the old radio show which _Doc Savage_ was based upon nor the pulp books, but I feel this movie was aimed at me due to my age---meaning the tongue-in-cheek humour didn't bother me so much as it reminded me of TV's _Batman_
My dad bought all the reprints back in the 1960s, the ones with the James Bama covers, when he was in the Air Force in Vietnam and I inherited the lot of them, including a neat poster showcasing Doc Savage that hangs on my bedroom door now. 😎
You’ve got a great inheritance/gift from your dad, I’m still trying to find the paperbacks or the reprints and the film.
@@ajclements4627 I have over one thousand Doc Savage paperbacks. I usually sell them at the annual Paperback Exchange in North Hills, California but have not attended for a few years.
I enjoyed this film in the 70s! Still makes me smile today. Now Pamela Hensley is probably better remembered for Buck Rogers! By me anyway but I was a teenager at the time😊
I know the character but never heard of this movie.
But I suddenly have a better understanding and appreciation for The Adventures of Buckeroo Banzai.
I remember going to see Buckaroo Banzai the week it came out and being the only person in the group i went with who'd ever read a Doc Savage novel. To put it mildly, my experience with the film was a lot different than theirs. They missed so many references...
You described perfectly my remembrance of this movie. I loved it on tv as a kid then found it almost unwatchable several years ago. Thanks for reviewing it.
This was a solid movie and Doc Savage is still one of the most iconic characters ever written.
It’s buckaroo Banzai 1930’s style !!! Love this movie - just appeared on Apple TV as well so now can get my fix of Stam Fine and the Doc 👍
The folks behind BB have said they had Doc firmly in mind while making the film. Manages to be a gentle parody and an homage at the same time, which is a nice touch.
If you're only familiar with the movie, reading (or listening - there are audiobooks of most of the series on youtube free) the books is an eye-opener. The tone is much more serious and quite a bit more grim, with Doc and his Fabulous Five killing a *lot* of even more vicious bad guys. Much more typical of pulp stories in that era, which were not written as camp for kids.
Doc Savage is Buckaroo Banzai's grand-pa
@@richmcgee434 I’ll have a look - i imagine they would be a bit more boys own due to the time they were written - anywhere particular you’d recommend to start ?
@@carlh-thehermitwithwi-fi679I buy that - Ely and Peter Weller do look a fair bit alike.
In the original comic book version of Moore and Gibbons's Watchmen, Ozymandias was deliberately based on Doc Savage. There's even a Gibbons illustration of a photograph of Ozy that explicitly shows him as looking exactly like Ron Ely! 👍
Kind of surprised this hasnt been remade. It was an amusing movie
This film was on frequent rotation in HBO's very early days. My siblings and I loved it, especially the cheesy dialogue. "Mona, you're a brick," was our comedic catchphrase for a long time.
I saw this movie during its original theatrical release, and that was the one part I could remember. My aunt and my sister, who saw the movie with me, got a hoot from that line, and would repeat it parodically for a time.
Still love to read the novels; as a kid I liked the movie, haven't seen it since.
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze was like Movie Crack to me as a kid. I had a VHS recording of it in the late 90's and always had a blast with it. Not seen it for 25 years and the adult me would probably find it very cheesy but it'll still hold a place in my movie heart for just being fun escapism.
A movie with ambition bigger than its budget.
I had no clue that we almost had the Rifleman as Doc in a TV series; as a fan of both, I'd have loved it! I remember seeing this movie back in the 70s. Personally, I loved it. What a time to be a Doc Savage fan. He was in the comics (including a sort of team up with the Thing. Which placed him in the Marvel universe and had us hoping he'd show up in an Invaders special or at in a Captain America flashback. His old pulps were rereleased and some new ones, all with great painted covers. Such a shame the Savage wave was so short-lived and that this movie flopped. For a moment we were hopeful of an actual Shadow v Savage movie. But not even a single action figure (not that that stopped me from turning my Mego Aquaman into a suitable stand-in). Sigh. Oh well. Thanks for covering this, even if bittter-sweet.
A Mego Aquaman as a Doc Savage figure? I think I’ll try to find an Aquaman.
Read as many of the books I could lay my hand on - compared to them the film came out a bit flat - but then again, I already had my imagination rolling the film in my head :)
The only thing I remember about this was the snakes, which scared the bejesus out of me as a kid 😅
I also loved this movie when I was a kid! Might have been my introduction to the character.
I had a Doc Savage action figure when I was a kid.
I have no idea why.
I LOVED THIS MOVIE WHEN I WAS A KID.
Grew up with watching reruns of him as Tarzan.
Long Tom: "You mess with the Bull, you get the horns!"
*this film is so much fun to watch...have this on video (yes, i'm that old)...a personal favorite*
I got to see this movie in the theatre when it came out. Although it was high camp rather than serious I enjoyed it, and wish that they had gone ahead with the promised sequel.
Eldon Quick appeared in quite a few things as what I can only describe as an aged nerd. And he's still alive!
Damn good book series.
It was my staple as a kid, along with Mack Bolen, The Three Investigators, and Remo Williams The Destroyer Series.
Saw this years ago on TV and absolutely loved it, good clean, if a bit campy boys own adventure tale (think 60's Batman) and I so wish they'd made a sequel.
I would love to have a copy of this on DVD or MP4 but I've never seen it available in the UK or even on TV in years. I noticed the similarities to Superman with his Fortress of Solitude etc but I think Doc was created before Kal-El iirc.
Great video for all Savage fans.
Watching Doc Savage as an adult it seemed like the film really came together in the last ten minutes or so with that turntable answering machine the perfect combination of humor and seriousness the whole film had been going for but never managed. Maybe if they'd had a sequel they would have finally gotten it right.
Great TV movie . Left a lasting impression since I saw it 2🤣😂😁
in 1975, new films played theaters for months. Doc Savage was gone in two weeks. It ended George Pal's career. Pal believed that such pulp style adventures could not be played straight, but only tongue in cheek. Six years later he was proven wrong with Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of the most popular films of all time. Had George Pal taken a serious approach to Doc Savage like he had with The Time Machine, it would have been a classic. Even the studio didn't like the end product so that most of the music in the film was public domain John Philip Sousa music. There was once a rumor that a more serious cut of the film existed but I spoke to someone at Warner Brothers in the 1980s who said that it wasn't the case.
I kept waiting for the movie to show up at my local theater. Never happened. The first time I saw it was on TV (did an audio recording)
Whitman Publication did hard covered illustrated reprints of some of the pulp stories at the time of the movie.
I saw that "fighting styles" scene randomly on TV years ago! And I saw some scenes from this film on a RUclips vido about pulps. Finally two and two are put together
Madre de dios I have spent about 4 decades trying to remember what this film is saw as a kid was and I watched this is felt it may be it then saw the green snake things and finally I know...thanks
this film is a guilty pleasure of mine. Thank you for this.
Thanks for this review! I loved the Doc Savage pulps and was looking forward to a film franchise. My brother and I saw this when it was released... the two of us were the only people in the theater. Didn't do well at the box office is an understatement.
My aunt and uncle saw this movie on one of there first dates together (because he was my uncles favorite superhero) and they have been together for the last 48 years
For knowing the comics i'm livin' on the wrong side of the ocean and am not old enough, but i love this movie for so many reasons. Doc Savage is an ideal hero, like Billy Zane in "The Phantom". Like the Alan Quartermain movies with Richard Chamberlain it's kinda light hearted, easy to rewatch movies, cause it's not so dark. The humor is well dosed, so the audience know that the movie doesn't took itselve too serious, but enough to tell an nice upto thrilling story with a villian that was more on the harmless end of the scale, compared to someone like Tharnos, Sauron or Voldemort. The Fab Five represents the spirit of progress and professionality with an optimistic view towards the future. Compare this to the Avengers or the Justice League. This movie feels refreshing, stylish and well entertaining and i wish that some filmmakers will find the guts to bring that kind of movies back to life. It seems to be necessary.
I remember seeing this as a kid...don't recall all the details, but as a 10 year old, I think I liked it.
My dad loved doc savage, we watched the film together, we both loved it
This was a disappointment when it came on the telly back in the late 70s, I didn't really know what to think as a kid. I do remember there being frequent large ads in the back of film mags/comics for a Doc Savage bronze figurine. This was in the early 80s, years after the film's release so I'm guessing someone had a warehouse full of them, anyone else remember that?😄
I loved this movie when I was very little! Man, this movie really stuck with me since then. It really make the imagination of little me fly...
I bought the books when I was a youngster, as a child I adored them!
Loved this and "Legend of the Golden Gun"
Would love a reboot 😊
I vividly remember Goro being encased in gold on Whatever Movie of the Week I was watching on 1 of the 3 networks.
I remember this movie. I remember the books covers even more.
Ron Ely reminds me of Adam West, They could even be related in my mind. Would have been interesting to see Ron as Batman.
I had vague memories of seeing this at a drive-in theater when I was about 7 and always wanted to rewatch it. I bought the DVD about a year ago and had a very hard time sitting through it. Ron Ely is great, but even him showing off his muscles wasn't enough for me to enjoy this as an adult.
The green animated snakes freaked me out when I watched this as a kid back in the day
Never heard of it, didn't know it existed, and a George Pal film i have not seen, where has it been all my life. Thanks Stam Fine you have delivered gold (or bronze) once again.
I didn't even know it was a George Pal movie - if you like his other work from the 50s, this is not a movie that you *must* see, for sure. But it's a free world (n some countries at least).
I saw this once on TV, and Have never been able to find it since.
You realize Archeologist guy had one of the funniest lines ever on the TV series MASH as the quartermaster.
"That makes sense...... You can't have one".... I guess you'd have to see it.
Me: Doc Savage, kind of a silly name
Stam Fine: then the doc lobotomizes the movies bad guy at the end of the film
Me: i stand corrected. He is pretty darn savage😂
I like the movie.
I only wish I would have seen it when I was a kid. I knew about the books becuase they were at the newsstand at the market. But only enjoyed the fantastic cover art and never really read them.
I have vague memories of this character, seeing the film on TV when I was a kid, during the summer holidays. I also remember my mum having a serious crush on Ron (Tarzan) Ely, which meant we got to watch it without her talking all the way through. That, “You’re a brick,” line stuck with me. I remember us all saying, “Did he just call her a pri’. . .” “A BRICK!” my mum quickly corrected.
Really cool to get your funny, Clive Jamesesque take on this. Thanks. ✌️👍
Funny you say that. I just watched this with the sound down, and the closed caption actually mistranslated that line to "you're a prick" and I laughed so hard I woke my wife up😂 The earlier statement "make Crime disappear" was CCed to "gets a beer".
@@ahhamartin : I hadn’t been aware of that. Brilliant! It’s the way he annunciates it. It really almost sounds like, “prick,” to a young ear, unused to early 20th century usages. I’ve fallen in love with this channel for the nostalgia and humour. It’s like Mr Fine has been living inside my head, what with Blake’s 7, John Carpenter movies, Star Trek, Doctor Who and Knight Rider, etc.
But there’s so much more he could add, like Monkey (bizarre but popular Japanese show about a Chinese mythical hero), Starsky and Hutch and, like I said, The Rockford Files, etc.
His back catalogue always gets me saying, “Oh yeah! I remember that. That was awesome!”
I saw this film back around the mid 70's when a cinema 3 miles (and allowed to travel alone as a child) away had Saturday morning Matenee's where you could watch two films. Doc Savage was the first film followed by Spider Man (the one where they didn't care if you could see the ropes). Fun times.
I remember this stupid movie. My favorite line was "Mona, you're a brick." I think it's time for a reboot, this time with Alan Ritchson as The Man of Bronze.
My Grandfather wrote some of these, back in the original print form. He did not get rich, as it was a normal-paying job for most back then. Neither did it bring any real fame or accolade. But I think it's pretty cool, nevertheless. I have a few copies that will be framed, eventually.
Under the name Lester dent?
@jmen4ever257 His nom de plume was "Kenneth Robeson". He also wrote the Johnny Saxon detective novels.
Edit add.- my brother said he and Dent co-wrote several together.
Ahh, the Doc Savage movie… an extremely guilty pleasure 😅 Would love to hear your take on the other notable pulpy-type Hollywood outings, both good and bad 😁
I read the books, as a teen, I was a bit disapointed by that TV-movie. I didn't know it was a George Pal movie.
I wish I would have seen this movie as a kid. It looks campy and almost fun.
I saw as a kid and enjoyed it. It turned me on the comics out at the time and then onto the paperbacks and original pulps. Each iteration was better than than the previous.
Saw it at our local drive in when I was 10. And only thing I really remember were those animated snakes. Which I thought look pretty cool
Awesome video, I never even heard of this movie.
6:54 Just a heads up for those who don't have the closed captions on, when Savage tells the love interest "you're a brick"... that's not what the closed captions say! Lol. I will leave it at that. Check it out for yourself!
I still have an old pulp fiction copy of him versus the Invisible Force fighting the destruction of the American Armed Forces. I still re-read it on occasion! I would love to see this in full.
Classic 😊
Ron Ely was the Buster Crabbe of the sixties and seventies
I saw this film dubbed in French ages ago... It was HILARIOUS! Someone decided to have Doc Savage speak with a lisp... Changes the movie completely!!!
As usual, Mr. Fine, you deliver the goods - thank you!
Thanks Stam Fine! I saw this at the cinema when it came out as part of a double bill with Warlords of Atlantis - oh how I waited and waited for the much promised but never materialised sequel.
I remember seeing at the age of twelve at cinema back in the 1970s and was looking forward to the sequel but unfortunately it never happened . . .
I remember seeing this movie, when I was like five or six, at a school thing (we would watch a movie every Friday) and this was on a projector long before home video.
For years I thought it was a fever dream and I couldn't find anyone who remembered it until a few years ago thanks to the internet. :)
I saw it twice the year it came out; as an 11 year old I really enjoyed it, and reading some of the novels a few years later, I thought the actors in all the main roles really brought the characters to life.
Now that I'm nearly 60, I can see the movie in a different light. I would have preferred the movie to have been played more straight, and would like to see a remake with new actors. The only thing is, is that Doc Savage seems similar in some ways to Indiana Jones, and I wonder if a Doc Savage franchise would be seen to be trying to compete?
Such fun as a kid seeing 'Tarzan' in this film :)
THIS would be a bade ass cartoon series.
saw this film many years ago, was strange but fun.
I really only remember the glowing snakes on the boat
I never saw this movie back in the day. I've tried watching it and I still haven't been able to make it through the movie. Doc Savage is just too perfect. If you're going to have a movie with a character portrayed like this then you need to kick the plot way up and make an epic challenge with only Doc and his amigos to try to resolve the problem. It feels way too small of a scale. It seems like something made for television. It's too bad, I'm an affectionado of all things 1930s, and I want to get into Doc Savage, but there's just nothing that's helped get me onboard.
Like it or not, 1960s Batman was the source of many bad decisions to camp up films and TV which would have been far better without. I only recently discovered that it was also the reason that the later, sillier, episodes of Man from UNCLE differed so much from the more dramatic first series. The edict came down from above that because Batman was so successful UNCLE had to emulate it.
Oh yes, I was immediately reminded of the campy sillyness of the '60s Batman. And yes, I remember now that Man from UNCLE really deteriorated in the last season or so, and became completely ludicrous. Not even adorable Illya (the Russian Scotsman) with his blonde bangs could redeem it
I absolutely loved this movie when I first saw it as a kid , and still do ..I got into the black and white comic books that came out not too long after the movie came out ...would have loved to have seen The Arch Enemy Of Evil...
Thank you for posting this a week ago. Could not have run across this video at a better time! (Though a wee bit weird you posted this about a movie from 43 years ago the same week I rewatched it in about 20-25 years.) Last week I didn’t feel like doing much of anything due to a sinus flare up and the ridiculous heat indexes so I spent the day watching old movies from my high school and college days. Well “Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze” came out the year I graduated high school so when I ran across it I had to watch it. A friend and I saw it numerous times on the big screen as Ron Ely was rather popular with our age group as we grew up watching him play “Tarzan” in the late ‘60s. It was fun, light hearted, and then there was the dialogue. At the time, we could think of no one else that could have been better than Ron Ely to play Doc. I was a bit disappointed with the casting of the Fab 5 as they did not resemble the way I pictured them from reading some of the novels. But I digress. I must agree with your statement about the movie not being as good as I remembered it. I still enjoyed the memories it brought back. Ron Ely still looked fine in the costumes but nowadays I figure an actor built more like Doc as he was portrayed on the paperback Doc Savage book covers would be cast (D. Johnson, H. Jackman, maybe C. Hemsworth type). I also agree it would now need to be either played serious or more like “Airplane”, “Police Academy”, “Hot Shots” style. Would kinda like to see a revamped version made but still set in the timeframe of the novels. With the movie “magic” available today, I imagine a decent version serious version could be made. But then again, I’m not sure how I would feel and react to a Doc Savage movie that didn’t have the line “ …you’re a brick.” delivered by Doc himself in it. That could be the tag line/running gag in each episode if a revamped Doc Savage movie lead to a film franchise.
A great popcorn flick.
Was so bummed there wasn't a sequel :(
I've got this on DVD. Watch it for a laugh after 'a few' jars.
Wow, nostalgia much, I remember watching this on the TV in the late 70s. It was probably the first film I was allowed to stay up and watch with my parents. I thing that stuck in my mind was the animation of the snakes, I think my sister had a meltdown (she was like four or five at the time). Thank you for revisiting this movie. Brought back some memories. On a side note, do you remember a film called “In like Flynn”?
You are quite right about fans of the books being irritated at the presentation. I sat down expecting something that never materialized. It was like a big drink of lemonade when you expected coffee. It was entertaining once I built up a tolerance for it.
For the last time Dwayne Robinson was not an antagonist
He was a cop in over his head like john mcclane
Couple of additions to your doc....Marvel comics published this story in Giant-Size Doc Savage #1. Released the same month as the airing on TV. I followed the story live during the airing. Also there's a scene that shows Doc is Bullet proof when he gets shot in the chest by a machine gun on the ship. Doesn't make sense since he was dodging bullets at the beginning. Nice job.
I have not seen this since the 80s I enjoyed it. It is a very old cartoon strip tho. The Superman and Batman comics both nicked things from the Doc like the fortress of solitude for Superman and the worlds greatest detective with his own crime lab for Batman. I half would like to track down a copy and see it again. Those snakes were creepy as a kid :)
As a kid i loved this film, especially the fighting scene, was stupidly funny.