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The Return of Captain Invincible (1983)

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
A Curate's Egg - good in parts, 4 junio 2005

Author: Steve_from_Wales de United Kingdom

This is a film that could have become a cult classic with better editing. Some bits just don't work - in the BBC TV showing these were edited out; if you can, get that version rather than the full version on DVD. If you do have the DVD version watch it once through then just skip the bits that left you cold.

The humour is mostly pretty low-brow, with some appalling puns, but there's more than one level; if you're a fan of DC or Marvel comics, watch sci-fi movies or know Australian and American politics and history there are some fine little gags buried in here.

There are also some very subtle sight gags - a film to watch the backgrounds as well as the foregrounds...

My particular favourite is what Christopher Lee eats in the film; watch the meal scenes and you'll see what I mean.

Don't worry too much about the plot - it is there and it makes sense, but it's a comic-book plot not a big story. Also, don't worry about some of the odder characters - they are ALL there for a reason, but if you haven't read/seen the right things you'll never work them out.

The songs are generally very clever and, despite the singing not being the best, well delivered. "Drinking Song" is probably the highlight, with Christopher Lee doing what he does best - showing his teeth and megalomaniac glare, although his "singing" is on a par with certain other actors (William Shatner and Telly Savalas come to mind). "Mr. Midnight" is also funny; shot as two scenes; Chris with leathers and whip, surrounded by scantily-clad dominatrices, Alan on a train trying to be anonymous whilst singing and dancing.

This is also Terry Pratchett's favourite film - I actually have one of his books signed "to the OTHER person who likes Captain Invincible". So there are at least *four* people in the world who loved this film - granted, the other two are my kids and they may be humouring their old man.

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Not everyone's fave dish, but ... oh man!, 6 junio 2002

Author: Dorthonion de Munich, Germany

"The Return Of Captain Invincible" starts with one of the greatest spoofs of a newsreel show I have ever seen in cinema as a pre-title sequence. Funny moments and tragicomic situations follow back-to-back, but the definite scene-stealers are the songs (two of which feature Christopher Lee's voice). How much better can a song about the eductive power of alcohol start than with these immortal lines: "Mai Tai say that I'm Old-Fashioned / Tres vin ordinaire / That I want a fresh Manhattan / With white Anglo-Saxons everywhere / A Black Russian's / No Pink Lady / Give her the Singapore Sling / And Moscow Mule is not your baby / So Highball the Vodka and name your sting"? But I'm digressing: if you have a nostalgic love for old superhero movies, are not opposed to a little parody on the US and Australia alike, and are willing to follow that film in its occasionally whimsy turns, this is your choice for a late night film with friends (and don't forget to "Have a short or a Port or a snort of any sort" while watching)!

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Classic Camp Superhero Fun, 13 septiembre 1999

Author: Benjamin John Evans (barrington@tmbg.org) de Melbourne, Australia

I first saw this film when I was but a young lad, and loved it - the fact that some of the film was set in Australia played something of a major part in this - although some bits frightened me for no apparent reason. On repeated viewings, however, I have to say the film still holds up in the manner it was intended: over the top, extremely silly, fun.

The casting is superb; Christopher Lee and Alan Arkin skine, and I'm one Australian who wouldn't have minded seeing Graham Kennedy as the real Prime Minister...

Although they're quite well written - the "Hypno-Ray" song still sticks in my memory - the songs do seem a bit out of place, but when you're watching the story of an alcoholic ex-superhero who's retired to Australia, well... Frankly I think the sillier the better!

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
DC comics meets the Rocky Horror Show, 15 mayo 1999

Author: Shrike-10 de Oxford, England

The US government's latest secret weapon is stolen, and the only man who can find it is an alcoholic ex-superhero. Captain Invincible returned to obscurity in his native Australia after a nasty run in with HUAC...

Captain Invincible is a hilarious, rock-opera parody of DC/Marvel superhero comics. To give away too much of the ridiculously ramshackle plot would be to spoil it, but you suspect this film was inspired by Christopher Lee's lament that he never starred in a musical comedy.

Lee steals the film as the dastardly arch-villain Mr. Midnight, belting out his numbers in a fine bass-baritone, as scantily clad slave girls massage his jodhpured thighs. Unforgettable.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
I think I like it., 11 octubre 2003

Author: (bokman7757@aol.com) de Columbia MO

I just saw the film for the first time tonight, so these are some brief impressions.

This virtually unknown little movie is a weird, goofy, silly, and touchingly sincere experience. The very premise of the film is fascinating, and though we've seen the "old-time hero in the modern world" premise before and since, this is one effort that really delves into the potential of that idea. The script keeps dropping in bits of social satire and commentary; the evil villain's plot is essentially the inverse of "white flight", seeking to "purify" New York by luring all the minorities to the suburbs and then killing them. The implication that he's also the supreme evil force in the universe adds a neat mythic touch. The Captain's quest to re- capture the spirit of America that inspired him to begin with is rather sweet, and Kate Fitzpatrick is charming as the spunky heroine. (Arkin and Lee are great, but aren't they always.) The songs are generally fun, even when predictable- despite being written by a number of different people (including Richard O' Brien!) they've got a nice consistency.

It's a flawed film in many ways- the humor is uneven, ranging from the clever to the silly (often at the same time- though "Amazing Computer Brain is Stuck!" got a laugh from me.) The finale is so abbreviated that I'm convinced there were scenes that were either cut or never filmed. And, this isn't really a criticism, but I do wonder why Australians were making a movie about the American spirit.

Still, this movie doesn't deserve the sheer obscurity it seems to suffer. It's undoubtedly a unique film, and as such provides a truly fascinating experience.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Superb super-hero spoof, 3 marzo 2001
Author: jonathan.eaton de Chesterfield, England

I love this film! Ok, the plot is a little thin, but when you have Alan Arkin playing his part so beautifully (with tongue firmly in cheek) and the marvellous spectacle of Christopher Lee as the evil Mr Midnight, coupled with songs by Richard O'Brian, who cares about a little thing like the plot?! There are lots of throwaway lines, sound gags, sight gags and puns in here which means that I can sit through repeat viewings and still find something new, much as I did with Airplane (sad but true!)and the highlight for me is Mr Midnight taunting Cap with 'Name Your Poison', one of O'Brien's best numbers (behind the Time Warp and the Floor Show from 'The Rocky Horror Show'. If the film has a weakness it's that it can't quite make up its mind whether to be a comedy, a musical, a super-hero story or indeed anything, but it still has a wonderful gentle charm. I just wish I could track down a commercial video of it in England, as my copy taped from the TV is starting to break up!

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Cop Rock meets Rocky meets Superman, 26 diciembre 2005

Author: Mike Sh. (michaelshannon123@comcast.net) de Lowell MA

The strangest movie I've seen since "Popeye" - part action movie, part fantasy, part comedy and part musical, this movie stars Alan Arkin as a onetime Captain America-type superhero who fell into obscurity after being accused of being a Commie by a McCarthy-like politician. Now years later, a group of scientists, government officials and military types are trying to sober him up and bring him back to superhero trim so he may save the human race from a new peril.

That's the plot in a nutshell, but it's really the songs which make the movie. The President of the USA, annoyed at the bovine excreta being shoveled his way by his advisers, suddenly screams "B______t!", and turns the expletive into a snappy toe tapping tune. If you look carefully, you can see the actor playing the President trying to keep a straight face (and not quite succeeding).

This isn't a consistently good or entertaining movie, but the parts that are good and entertaining are well worth the $10 DVD price.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A Child- Hood Memory From A Bygone Era!, 4 agosto 2006

Author: Kieran Greene de Ireland(originally Scotland)

There was a time when i was a kid, my mother used to rent some strange film's this was one of them, it's been quite a while since i've seen this and i only look forward to picking this up on DVD, What i can remember is The great Alan Arkin is Captain Invincible, and The alway's great Sir Christopher Lee, is his arch nemesis who with the aid of his sidekick, a Sock puppet of some sort, decide to take control of New York, The Return of Captain Invincible is seriously for Alan Arkin Fan's and Sir Christopher Lee( who in fact belt's out some sort of impromptu show-tune! Apparently George Miller of Mad Max, and that terrible pig movie 'Babe' had something to do with this curio, So that's All i can recall until i then watch this space for a much decent rating and review!

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
An outsider view of Namerican culture, 27 enero 2007
Author: cocorey de Spain

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This movie is an excellent parody which explains why some viewers may find it distasteful or cheesy. It is an Australian and not a NAmerican movie, and given that NAmerican culture is so widely exported it is natural that other nations will try to interpret it and to comment on the same, although from their own idiosyncratic point of view, and nobody is more idiosyncratic than the Australians. Yes, it is low budget, and often simplistic, and the ending is predictable, as NAmerica so often is itself. However the fallen hero, redemption through the intervention of a loyal companion whose faith renews his own, the battle not so much against evil as against his own weakness (the mai-tai scene is sublime), all of these are the ingredients of every epic story from Ragnarok to Superman. I recommend an open mind and a mellow drunk or similar to watch this absurd gem.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
They don't make 'em like this anymore - our loss!, 24 julio 2006

Author: deightweetabix de United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Have you seen Billy The Kid and the Green Baize Vampire? Little Shop of Horrors. Think back to Rocky Horror or Lisztomania. Even the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is of a similar mould. Off-beat musicals. These little gems that people once had the balls to make.

Captain Invincible or 'Vince' is such a film. After winning WW2 for the red, white and blue, our super hero is subjected to McCarthy type interrogation and accusations. Excellently edited pathe news reels bring us up to date during the opening credits. Vince runs away down-under and drinks himself stupid for 30 years. Then an APB is put out for him to save the world from the outstanding Christopher Lee and his baritone voice. At the end of the film Vince regains his patriotism and saves the world, singing a few songs along the way.

A great parody of the hero genre, songs of all styles and well written. My favourite is the US President putting his advisers straight with a single word. That word repeated and repeated at speed to a little ditty keyboard number that'll leave you in tears.

Don't study the film too deeply, it's not that type of film. This is simply a visual and musical experience to enjoy for those with a sense of humour and who appreciate the people who make these movies without a care in the world.

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