If Frank Capra had made a superhero movie, it might well have been 1980’s Hero at Large.
This underrated comedy-melodrama, arriving in the wake of the 1978 Superman, follows the Capra formula of an inadvertent public hero who is unjustly disgraced, but finally redeemed by his honest, inspirational courage and heroism.
Struggling New York City actor Steve Nichols (John Ritter) gets a wearying gig as one of 62 men appearing in costume as an old comic book hero, Captain Avenger, in a movie promotion. When Steve stumbles onto the armed robbery of a convenience store while still in costume, he quips “Mind if I drop in?” and routs the two thugs, much to his surprise.
He’s “…amazed at what he’s done, what he’s gotten away with, what acting he did,” observes Erik Lundegaard. “The rest of the movie follows from this one act of daring and kindness.”
“Hey, I would never believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes,” exclaims the store owner.
“I can’t wait to tell my Sheldon,” says the store owner’s wife. “He always used to read your comic books.”
“Yours and Batman!”
“No. He was always Sheldon’s favorite!”
News stories about the mysterious champion captivate the city. A TV news reporter tells her audience, “You can tell a child that Santa Claus is on Macey’s payroll. He may believe you, but he really won’t thank you for it. So perhaps the question is not ‘Who are you, Captain Avenger?’ but ‘What next, Captain Avenger?’”
“What do you mean, what next?” Steve asks for his TV.
All this attention tempts him to continue his heroics, but it turns out that trying to behave like a comic book hero in the real world entails any number of difficulties…
Screenwriter A.J. Carothers and director Martin Davidson nailed the heart-tugging appeal of a comic-book rescue fantasy. Composer Patrick Williams backed them up with his stirring score.
At the time, critic Roger Ebert called it “…a big, dumb, silly, good-hearted albatross of a comedy.” But the film’s finale still gives me a lump in the throat.
“Hero At Large was made at a time when the genre didn’t even exist,” wrote Lundegaard. “It opened on Feb. 8, 1980, when only one superhero movie, as we now understand them, had been made: Superman, starring Christopher Reeve. Before that, you had a few TV superheroes (Hulk, Shazam, 1950s Superman), a mess of Saturday morning cartoons, and the movie serials of the 1940s.
“More, popular cinema was just beginning to switch from an era of gritty antiheroes, disappearing frontiers, and depressing endings to the over-the-top heroics and ultimate triumphs of … take your pick. Luke Skywalker. Rocky Balboa. Indiana Jones. Maverick. John McClane. Superman. Batman. Spider-Man. Iron Man. … In its way, despite its gritty New York locations and everyman message, Hero is trying to push us toward that future. It wants us to want heroes. It wants us to feel good again.”
Posted 31st May 2013 by Dan Hagen
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