Pumaman (1980)

In France, when a movie is so bad he becomes funny (unintentionally, it's important) we call it a "NANAR".And there's a real audience for this kind of movie (Ed Wood like). These movies are treasures because they become rare. Nowaday, the bad movies have at least decent SFX, decent editing, the directors have all followed a formation... But during the 60-70-80's absolute incompetent directors could make movies. So there is a bunch of them, but a limited bunch, and this one is famous.So if "Puma man" made me laugh and spent a good time, I must give more than 1 or 2 stars. And I must recommend it.My favorite quotes : Boss ! This man is FLYING like... Like ?.. ... like a PUMA !(Because, as everybody knows : the pumas fly.) LOL !;-))

Bad news is: it's awful. Good news: it's hilarious. When I watched it I was howling with laughter for most of its running time.The Puma Man has to be the most ridiculous superhero ever seen. In this uproarious origin story, milquetoast Tony Farms meets Vadinho, Aztec shaman with the unusual habit of defenestrating people to find a superpowered individual able to fly. Together, hero and sidekick face villain Kobra (a badly slumming Donald Pleasence), who controls a powerful ancient relic.The funniest scenes occur when the Puma Man uses his powers and flies (why should a *Puma* Man be able to fly, I cannot say) with an exceptionally cheesy visual effect and a ludicrously inappropriate heroic music, and also when he is repeatedly saved by his strangely competent sidekick, who seems to be vastly more proficient at fighting criminals and saving the world. One has to wonder why Vadinho bothered to find the Puma Man at all.This one deserves a 1/10, but laughs redeem it to an extent.2/10

I saw this one years ago on KYW-Channel 3 (Philadelphia) "Saturday Night Dead" with "Stella", one of the last of the old local "horror host" programs. One thing I look for in "bad" movies are flashes of talent and snippets of dialog that actually are intelligent and witty. The three I remember from this movie are the shaman's disgusted observation to his charge "You are the worst I've ever seen" but then like a strict and unyielding DI with an inept recruit, he's going to make him learn what to do, no ifs ands buts or arguments. When the reluctant hero finally accepts his fate he asks the shaman "Do these powers include invulnerability?" and is told simply "No." There's a scene where the Pumaman grabs one of the villain's henchmen and hoist him up into the sky. The villain threatens to the shoot the Pumaman who calmly tells him "Look down. You shoot me, who's going to catch you?"

"You are the worst I have ever seen, but you are the Pumaman." -- Vadinho Flying over Stonehenge, a UFO drops off a magical golden mask. A voice-over alien promises that the mask will be protected by his son, and his sons after him. They will be man-gods; blessed with the infinite powers of the puma (a Puma-man, if you will). Naturally, any device of great power must eventually fall into the wrong hands. Quicker than you can say Warrior Queen, the mask falls into the evil hands of Kobras (Donald Pleasance!). He discovers that the mask can control the human mind (not unlike Pabst Blue Ribbon), which can be very helpful when wanting to take over the world. Unfortunately, plans for world domination are cut short when alien hieroglyphics reveal that the mask is protected. Any NE'ER-do-well who attempts to use it for evil will fall to a grisly demise by Pumaman. So logically, Kobras must eliminate the mask's guardian. But how does one go about finding a Pumaman? Easy. By throwing random men out skyscraper windows. If they splat, they're obviously not Pumaman. So Kobras and his goons spend lazy summer afternoons tossing random men out skyscraper windows. On the other side of town, Vadinho, native shaman and friend to all Pumamen, does his part in finding the man-god. Not wanting to break from the tried-and-true method, he too tosses random men out skyscraper windows. Vadinho soon comes across Tony Farms, a paleontologist working at a local museum. After Tony survives his window toss, Vadinho runs up to him, tells him he's a Pumaman, and disappears. He's just mysterious like that. (This later segues into the obligatory: "I'm not a Pumaman" and "You are a Pumaman!" conflict, but let's skip it.) Unfortunately, Vadinho isn't the only one who discovers Farms' hidden gift. Kobras sets his sights on the heroic paleontologist, for once the Pumaman is out of the way, nothing can stop him from taking over - the world!!! (Pronounced "verld" with an echo effect to increase menace.) This review is part of Secret Santa, the latest B-Masters' round table. Lyz, of And You Call Yourself A Scientist! fame, drew my name. I must admit that she went fairly easy on me. Out of mercy? Charity? Who knows? Pumaman isn't a good film, but it's not that painful, either. The acting is sub-par, but that's to be expected. Besides, Donald Pleasance is always a treat. He hams like none other: The beady eyes. The emotionless line delivery. The shiny pate. As a director, you can't go wrong with big Don. But you can go wrong with Walter George Alton. It's nothing personal. Considering the material, he does just fine. But why get Gary Busey when you can just as easily hire Nick Nolte? Meaning, Alton wants to be Dirk Benedict so bad he can just taste it. Fresh off Battlestar Galactica, Dirk could've brought some star-power punch to the production. Or was Donald Pleasance supposed to provide the ratings' draw? There was lots of action; fighting and what-not. I'm not talking about fancy-Schuman's wire work or characters freezing in mid-air while a bullet flies between their legs. Apparently, Pumaman likes to mix the power of B. A. Baracus with the unorthodox dork-FUD of William Shatner. We get some thug tossing (across cars, into walls, but sadly, not into dumpsters) along with a dabble of "In real life, that would've never connected." Things like Pumaman falling between the legs of an attacker, then kicking him in the chest. With the lightning speed of, say, Jackie Chan, I might be able to accept this feat. With the clumsiness of Walter George Alton, however, it proves a bit harder to swallow. And if you're going to pay homage to Shatner, everyone knows you have to throw in a weak chop to the back of the neck. It's a staple. Perhaps a chop to the back of the neck would've prevented Our Hero from being made a fool of by Donald Pleasance. Pumaman beats on a dozen bad guys without breaking a sweat, only to be out-muscled by Donald Pleasance in the film's finale? Suspending disbelief, I can accept Pleasance as a criminal mastermind. But he's just a little too doughy to be slapping around a man-god. Unless that man-god happened to be Corey Haim. ----Vadinho is a proud member of The Temple of the God Who Came From Other Worlds. If any organization was in desperate need of an acronym, this would be it. Hypnosis through shaky cam! Why spend lots of money on special effects? We'll just screw with camera lens. Nobody will know the deference.Pumaman spends a great deal of time flying and looking. Flying. Then looking. Then back to flying. Nothing is more exciting than bad blue-screen flight interrupted by periodic pauses to look around. It truly completes the effect. I can understand having a protector for a mask that could enslave the world, but it begs the question: Why bother dropping the mask off in the first place? The stirring love theme from Pumaman. Pumaman, as the name implies, is blessed with all the wondrous powers of a puma, which include: The power of flight. The power to tear steel and crumble bricks with your bare hands. The power to telnet (I have a great story about this puma that deleted into my grandmother's bathroom in Wyoming, but for the sake of brevity, I'll refrain). The power to see in the dark. The power to punch guys really hard (my grandma was punched by said puma, but again, we should probably skip it). -- Copyright © 2001 by J. Bannerman