Captain America 1992 version DVD review |

Years before Marvel Entertainment released the recent Captain America: The First Avenger with Chris Evans- and back when comic-based movies received no respect – Jadran Film and 21st Century Film Corporation licensed the character for a low-budget take on the Marvel hero, and gave Matt Salinger the famed red, white and blue shield of Steve Rogers, a World War II-era American soldier who volunteers to undergo experiments to become a new breed of super-soldier, codenamed Captain America. This charming piece of B-movie history recalls a time of post-1980’s action TV shows, and the end of the cult mainstream (when indie genre films were getting broad theatrical releases).

In Captain America, the namesake hero is charged with infiltrating Germany to sabotage Nazi rockets pointed at the U.S. In order to accomplish his mission, he must face off against Nazi superhuman warrior Red Skull (Scott Paulin) who defeats the hero, throwing him into suspended animation. Frozen for 50 years, Captain America is found and revived only to find that Red Skull has changed identities and has targeted the President of the United States (Ronny Cox) for assassination.

If you enjoy watching reruns of Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman, Bill Bixby’s The Incredible Hulk or Nicholas Hammond’s 1970’s-era The Amazing Spider-Man, you’ll enjoy Captain America.

My big issue with all of the DVD On-Demand titles being released is, most have little or no special features included for fans to dig into. The titles are made for die-hard fans, and we want behind-the-scenes featurettes, trailers, and trivia to digest, along with the movies themselves.

Director: Albert Pyun
Writers: Stephen Tolkin and Lawrence Block, based on characters by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Cast: Matt Salinger, Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin, Michael Nouri, Scott Paulin, Kim Gillingham, Melinda Dillon, Bill Mumy, Francesca Neri, Carla Cassola, Massimilio Massimi, Wayde Preston, Norbert Weisser, Garette Ratliff Henson, Bernarda Oman, Tonko Lonza, Galliano Pahor, Milan Kristofic, Antun Nalis, Mario Kovac, Zoran Pokupec, Catherine Farrell, Mia Begovic, Matko Raguz, Donald Standen

On-Demand DVD Release Date: August 23, 2011
Original Home Video Release Date: July 22, 1992

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