Doc Savage (film)



Or, to give it its full name, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072886/ for serious details.

The film (released in 1975) is based on the pulp fiction Doc Savage series from the 1930s and 1940s created by Henry W. Ralston.

Doc Savage is played by Ron Ely (he of Tarzan fame), with a supporting cast of bods most of whom I have never heard other than the rather pneumatic Pamela Hensley).

The Doc is a polymath. He has a "gang" of five associates, all of whom are utterly brilliant in their respective fields, such as chemistry and engineering. They all served together in The Great War, rather like Biggles and his companions.

The film is distinctly camp and definitely does not take itself too seriously - just as well as the story tends to telegraph exactly what comes next. Still, it's a reasonably enjoyable romp, and the other Wiki claims a remake is being one in 2011.

Plot

Long to short, the Doc returns to his New York office (from his Arctic hideaway, cunningly having the same name as that of Superman, only this predates the latters - seriously, it was called the Fortress of Solitude in the 1930s books), having felt that something was wrong. It transpires that his father has died and that a package of papers has been left for the Doc.

Just as the Doc is about to go through his father's papers, someone tries to kill him. Clearly, the assassin fails. The Doc then gathers his confederates, and they depart for an adventure in South America. Unsurprisingly, there then follows the obligatory hunt for trust, justice and oodles of treasure, and the good guys prevail.

The film contains examples of these trope:

 * Ace Pilot: All five of Doc's Associates are excellent pilots but Doc is better than any of them.
 * Banana Republic: Hidalgo
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: Doc. His training regime takes two hours everyday and trains not only his muscles but also every sense. He's been doing since he was a child.
 * Genius Bruiser: All of them except Johnny, and while he's "frail" compared to the rest of them, he's still no slouch in the fighting department.