User reviews

Puma Man - who is he? Why is he here? Where did he come from? Why is he a manic-depressive?

All of these questions - or at least most - can be answered by watching "L'uomo puma" (or "Puma Man", as I know it). Made (solely) to cash in on the "Superman" craze, this comes in at just barely more tolerable than "The Indian Superman" (never seen that one? Check out "Stomp Tokyo").

Seems Aztec priest Vadinho ("an onion?") is throwing guys out of high-rise windows all over London to see which one is a super hero. Well, if there's no better way to find out.... Then he comes upon college professor Tony Farms (Alton, whom you probably haven't seen since those old "dry look" commercials), who survives a three-story fall quite nicely. Vadinho then bestows a magic belt on him that grants Tony the heroic powers of a puma.

Okay...stop there. Comparison time. Tony jumps, pumas jump. Tony claws things, pumas claw things. Tony flies, pumas.... Aah, there, SEE? Of course, if a puma was going through the air, it would probably flail its limbs all around and have its butt up the air, too.

Anyway, Tony's first assignment: stop the evil Kobras (Pleasance!!) from taking over the world by staring at people through an aluminum foil mask and controlling their minds with papier-mache mock-ups of their heads (poor representations, too), and while wearing leather S&M suits or silver nehru jackets. Oh Donald, what were you thinking? "Paycheck", no doubt.

Everything here suggests the film-makers were trying to attain the lofty heights of "Superman"; but this group doesn't even get close to "Super Mario Brothers" territory.

Love the disco soundtrack, though, as well as the special FX (no more special than back projection technology) and that perplexed look Donald Pleasance has on his face throughout the film. Maybe he was expecting Steve McQueen to drop by and help him escape?

At any rate, MST3K is the safest, least harmful way to witness the disaster that is "Puma Man". For certain, Mike and the robots supply the best dialogue (favorite - "Couldn't control me bladder - sorry, mate!")

Three stars for "L'uomo puma" (for sheer joy in its stupidity), and ten stars for the MST3K version.

Catch it, just to see what puts the "poo" in "Puma Man".

"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

As I've said before, you've just got to love those wacky Italians and some of their wacky cinematic "achievements". The Puma Man (or The Pumaman as the title card indicates) tells the story of Professor Tony Farms (Walter George Alton) who reluctantly accepts his superhero birthright. A direct descendant of extraterrestrials, he is given the power of the puma (Until I watched this movie, I had no idea that pumas could fly? Who knew?) so that he might defend the secrets of the Aztecs. One of those secrets, a golden mask that grants its possessor the power of mind control, has been stolen by the evil Kobras (Donald Pleasance). With his Aztec guide Vadinho (Miguel Angel Fuentes), The Puma Man must put a stop to Kobras' plans of world domination.

It might be screwy, but I can't help but enjoy parts of The Puma Man. The movie comes across like a twisted, no-budget mix of Superman and the U.S. television series "The Greatest American Hero". From the superhero costume that includes brown slacks straight off the rack at Sears to the poorly done rear projection special effects to the repetitive (but admittedly catchy) Casio keyboard soundtrack to the Christmas ornament-like space ship, it's obvious that the budget on The Puma Man was less that what I spent on dinner last night. But the odd thing is, regardless of how cheap looking most of the movie is, it's got a charm to it that money can't buy. And while that doesn't necessarily make The Puma Man a great movie or anything, on occasion the movie overcomes its many faults (or it might be because of these faults) and is often quite fun. The acting isn't much to write home about. Pleasance proves he could be a scene-chewer without equal. His insistence on pronouncing "puma" as "pyuma" is hysterical. Our would-be hero, Alton, is generally ineffectual. The female lead, played by Sydne Rome, while reasonably attractive, doesn't display much in the way of acting skills either. Still, given the material they're given to work with, the entire cast is serviceable. But probably the best thing I can say about The Puma Man is that it's not dull. In fact, it's well paced and generally entertaining throughout its runtime. And as I've argued so many times, entertainment is the single most important thing to me when watching movies.

Compared with most everyone else on IMDb, my rating for The Puma Man sticks out like a sore thumb. Maybe I enjoy it for all the wrong reasons, but whatever it is, I do enjoy it.

Pumaman has got to be one of the worst superheroes of all time. His "costume" consists of a shirt with a Aztec happy face on it, a pair of Abercrombie and Finch cargo pants, cheap pleather cowboy boots, the WWF Hardcore Championship belt (the only thing that's "hardcore" about this loser), and a fey red cape. He flies at about the same speed as the Goodyear Blimp, he can rip the top of a Jaguar but has a hard time wrestling a sixtyish fat man to the ground, he can teleport, but only to places he has been before (such as his friend's firetruck(?)), and his theme song sounds like a commercial for a personal injury attourney. Worse, he has a hulking mongoloid with a Moe Howard haircut following him around doing all his dirty work, like getting beat up by bad guys or tying Pumaman up during one of his many suicide attempts. In the same vein, the "villian", Donald Pleasance, has one of the worst evil schemes of all time: taking over the world by staring at manniquen heads through a mask mounted on a pole. Other idioic characters include Pumaman's mouth-breathing girlfriend (why she wears a leather flying helmet is beyond me) and a whole army of thugs as cannon fodder for this wuss and his Aztec. ONLY watch this on MST3K!

Puma

man, when he finally gets around to being Pumaman, looks like he got his outfit from Primark's 'Sensible Gentleman' section and attached a cape to it. He also displays the natural talents of a Puma. You know, like seeing in infra-red, passing through walls, and flying. If you start thinking about why aliens and pumas are linked and why Donald Pleasance can somehow take over people's minds using a gold mask from South America attached to what looks like a tricycle, you are going to end up having a stroke.

"It looks bad, and not good bad," my wife remarked while heading to our indoor pool manned by Joe Dallesandro look-a-likes. After watching it, I tend to agree to a certain extent. Pumaman has a reputation as a bad movie. Donald Pleasence said it was the worst film he starred in. Alberto De Martino says it was the worst film he ever made. Are there laughs to be had? Let's see.

After a demented introduction about how aliens contacted the Aztecs and made the first Pumaman, we switch to Donald Pleasence who has this gold mask that he's using to take over people's mind. He won't to control the world and only Pumaman can stop him, if only he knew who he was. This leads to various Americans in London being thrown out of windows before some mystic good guy tracks down the real Pumaman. I can't be bothered looking up what his character's name was.

New Pumaman has to learn to be Pumaman and is reluctant to fly about the place looking like a complete moron but eventually he does, and the effects really do look like someone hung Pumaman from a hook attached to his arse, then used the worst blue-screen effects in the world. And they use it in about 50% of the film. He can also go in and out of walls, something he seems to forget when chasing Donald Pleasence later in the film.

Donald's gold mask/mind control set up is pretty crap too. Once he grabs someone's mind, a rubber head of theirs appear on a shelf and then Donald commands it through the gold mask. This looks worse that it sounds, as the visual effect for communication seems to be wobbling a bit of sheet metal with the rubber head reflected on it. Truly dire. There are some laughs to be had by this, but apart from amatuer fist fights, Pumaman arguing with his mentor, really bad romantic scenes with Sydne Rome, and the constant nose-bleed inducing flying sequences, the best bit for me was when I realised that ten minutes of the film had begun to repeat itself, leading to a blissful moment where I fast forwarded the film, therefore reducing the running time.

Ah, this movie is a blast. What is Donald Pleasance doing here? And why does he keep mispronouncing "puma?" It is a one star movie, but I upped it a couple of points because it is so entertaining. The main character is more like Tiggerman than Pumaman, unless bouncing is what pumas do best. He is undeserving of superherodom. He whines incessantly and has to have his Aztec (yes, I said Aztec) Boy Wonder bail him out. Still, the cheesy special effects, music and bad acting elevate the film into kitsch and there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours.

A bunch of Aztec aliens make a tremendous navigation error in a giant flying humbug, in a deep north American accent, deposit a mind-controlling mask on what appears to be Stonehenge, England, now with a nice coastal view. To look after this, the fabled "Puma man" (constantly miss-pronounced, rather aptly, as "poo-ma man" ) is entrusted to prevent it from falling into evil hands. Alas, a team of archaeologists in bondage gear find the mask and set off on world domination.

Need I go on? Nothing in this movie makes sense. Who cares if the hero's sidekick pushed a bunch of Americans to their deaths for no obvious reason! Poo-ma man's powers include dangling in front of London's skyline, posing like a squirrel and leaping around with 80's synthesized "boing" noises, and walking through walls - all the abilities you would expect from your average south-American feral wildcat.

Oh what's the point of going on. This movie is so bad, it bounces off the bottom depths of the chasm of suckness back up into the realms of inadvertent hysteria. Cue 80's disco music and, "Poo- ma man, he flies like a mor-on!"

On July 2018 IMDB changed the criteria for inclusions on IMDB's Bottom 100 (the list of the 100 lowest rated movies based on the users' ratings). Now, instead of 1,500 ratings movies must have at least 10,000 ratings for being eligible for this list... making the list more for major releases than for obscure movies of the past like it used to be. And the old Bottom 100 was also full of almost all the movies featured on the TV show MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000. I'll put it straight: the movies were riffed in this show and the folks (including the fans of MST3K) gave lots of scores of 1s assuming that these movies are the worst movies ever made. I actually saw various movies featured in the show and I have to be honest, NOT all of them (including PUMAMAN) are that bad! And this movie, despite its score of 2,2 it's quite enjoyable and funny in its own way.

Is ''Pumaman'' that terrible? No. Now, it's not a GREAT movie, but not a TERRIBLE movie either.

At the beginning we hear about an Aztec-like cult that has Superman-like powers and the villains (led by legendary actor Donald Pleasence) want to destroy it and kill their emissary, the Pumaman. We soon get to know who is the Pumaman, and no one would think of the English paleontologist as a superhero... but he soon begins to suspect of something weird when he is thrown out of a window and lands on his feet safe and sound. Soon a South American believer named Vadinho chases the guy for announcing him that he is the Pumaman and soon this ''super-hero'' tries everything and eventually succedds in defeating the villains and even saves his girl.

So, why this movie doesn't deserve the hate? The plot is very similar to a comic-book based movie, and despite the special effects seem ridicolous and very dated, this is not a major problem. And the very tense soundtrack fits perfectly the movie's 1980s atmosphere.

The bottom line is that while the movie is silly, predictable and with many shortcomings, it's funny and enjoyable and more than a time-passer as well. I would personally NEVER put it in the Bottom 100 as there are many movies worst than this (like ''Manos the Hands of Fate'', ''Beast of Yucca Flats'' and ''Santa Claus Conquers The Martians'').

I pride myself in my knowledge and appreciation of bad films. Back in the late 1970s, Harry Medved wrote an amazingly funny and brilliant book called "The 50 Worst Movies of All Time" and it kicked off the craze to see and appreciate bad films. I actually found and watched all fifty of the films from the book and then went in search for more awful films and decided to try watching IMDb's infamous Bottom 100 list. Not all of them are available and several have no subtitles or dubbing, so I cannot possibly see them all. However, I've seen a huge number of them and have noticed an annoying trend--nearly all the American films on the list were skewered on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and MANY really bad films were never on this show--mostly because they couldn't get the royalties for all the films. Plus, other bad films have come out since the show ended. As a result, many absolutely horrid films NEVER appear on the list even though they are much worse than those featured on "MST 3000"...such as "Plan 9 From Outer Space", "They Saved Hitler's Brain", "Robot Monster", "The Room" and ALL of the films of Larry Buchanan, William Grefe and Ted Mikels! Clearly this list is NOT even close to being the 100 worst films...just the lowest rated and apparently the TV show's fans vote!

So is "Pumaman" worthy of being on this infamous list? Well, not...not at all. Sure, it's bad...but not THAT bad. While the story is silly and the special effects god-awful, there is a certain fun kitschy quality that made it much easier to watch than most bad films.

When the film begins, you hear about some weird Aztec-like cult that has great power--and some baddies want to destroy them and their emissary of goodness, Pumaman. But who is Pumaman? Well, no one really knows as he's soon to be revealed. Unfortunately, the dopey guy in England seems a very unlikely candidate to be a superhero...but he cannot help but believe something is up when he falls out a window yet lands safely on his feet! Soon, an American- Indian believer arrives and announces to the guy that he is Pumaman...and at around same time, so do the baddies who want to destroy him.

The plot is very much like the TV show "Americas Greatest Hero" (which it pre-dated)--with a naive new hero who has a hard time believing and then controlling his super powers...so the idea COULD have worked. Unfortunately, the film appeared to have a budget of about $64.38 when it came to special effects!! The scene where the guy falls out the window is just sad to see...as it is when he is supposedly flying. Heck, back in the 1950s "The Adventures of Superman" had MUCH better superhero effects...so why does it look so terrible in the 1980s?! And why does the musical budget appear to be even smaller--with really cheap and craptastic electronic keyboard effects that become VERY repetitious?! And, why does Donald Pleasance agree again and again to be in crappy films?! After all, he once was a respected actor!

The bottom line is that although this is a crappy and ugly looking film and the writing is occasionally very goofy, there is a grain of something NOT miserable or awful in it as well. No way would I put this in any Bottom 100 or possibly even Bottom 1000 list!

This movie is perfect in every way. The music is great, especially when pumaman flies. And the way he flies is so realistic, I can't believe this was made in 1980. He has to be the best superhero ever- his flying, his puma vision, and his hands are claws. And Kobras - can you possibly imagine a better villain? His suit alone makes me nervous. And most of all, the acting is superb- the whole film is so lifelike, that sometimes I think there really are pumamen. 10 out of 10, no question.

Low-budget film about a young man given a mystical medallion by an Aztec shaman, in order to become a puma-empowered champion like his father before him. In trying to initially locate the young man, the shaman has the nasty habit of pushing candidates out of windows to test them.

If not for "Mystery Science Theater", this film would probably have been forgotten. As of now (2015), the film was released on VHS, but never DVD. The VHS tapes actually got for a fairly high price online. There must be some kind of a demand.

And, you know, despite being a bad movie, it is a fun bad movie. And many folks (myself included) love Italian horror / fantasy / adventure films. It would be great to see this film released on DVD or even Blu-ray, cleaned up with some sort of information on its creation and the director.

Vadinho, Aztec High Priest, should be the Pumaman, not that idiot Tony Farms. Throughout the movie, Vadinho proves himself worthy of the title of hero. He is the one who knows what is going on most of the time. The only thing Tony (aka Pumaman) does is bounce around and distract the villains. As far as I'm concerned, Tony is as good alive as dead. The only time Tony was ever effective at confusing the villains was when he WAS dead!

Secondly, Vadinho's character is much better than Tony's. Tony is a whiner, crying and sobbing about every little problem. Vadinho, on the other hand, takes each difficulty with pride and grace. Never once does he lose his temper.

Another reason Vadinho should be the Pumaman? He actually believes the religion. I'm surprised Tony even knew of Aztec religion. Vadinho, the HIGH FREAKIN' PRIEST, is not worthy of the title Pumaman, but Mr. Sarcastic American gets it handed to him? I don't think so! I think Mr. Alberto De Martino needs to get a nasty letter for this movie. What does he have against the Aztec?!

"The Puma Man" is a gloriously incompetent, cheesy, bizarrely entertaining and totally decadent Superhero Movie knock-off like only those wacky Southern Europeans could make them. Like its Spanish equivalent "Supersonic Man", "The Puma Man" is such an atrociously bad film that you should probably better just avoid it, unless of course you have an eccentric sense of humor or unless you have a weakness for totally bonkers and inept European exploitation cinema from the late 70's/early 80's. Puma Man is presumably the lames superhero in history. First of all, it actually takes an awful long time before the Puma Man – in every day life he's named Professor Tony Farms - discovers and acknowledges that he is, in fact, the Puma Man! His friends and foes are more aware of his powerful capacities than he is and they even have to conduct experiments to convince him; like throwing his ass out of a third storey apartment window only to prove that he will land on his feet. Puma Man's mentor Vadinho, a giant native Indian type of guy who obviously has some oppressed homosexual desires, is undoubtedly a lot stronger and powerful than the superhero himself. He can prevent cars from leaving with his bare hands, for Christ's sake! Why would he need the help of the Puma Man? In fact, this is the only superhero movie where the mentor/sidekick character actually has to do all the important work himself, as the titular hero is always unavailable for some reason. Either he's running away from his responsibilities or he's captured by his nemesis. Since my mates and I spent so much time hysterically laughing at this film, we didn't had the chance to follow much of the actual "plot", but it has something to do with Puma boy and his pal – who's actually an Aztec Priest – trying to prevent the ultra evil Donald Pleasance (who else?) from stealing a golden mask that provides mind controlling power. Speaking of Donald Pleasance… Yup, here he is again in yet another embarrassing supporting role as the mighty and powerful evil genius; a typecast role he's forever associated to ever since depicting the most legendary of all Ernst Stavro Blofelds in the James Bond classic "You Only Live Twice". The plot remains rather vague and evasive regarding what exactly Kobras' wicked intentions are. World domination, I presume, since they all want that, but how exactly is unclear. The Puma Man's superhero outfit is pathetic, with a miserable red cape and a costume that isn't even tight around the crotch like it ought to be. He flies like a hummingbird under alcoholic influence – whoever knew pumas flew, by the way? – and he has the annoying power to spontaneously appear in peoples' cars. That has got to be so dangerous. In case you haven't figured it out yet, "The Puma Man" is a bad and utterly cheesy Italian trash production that should only be endured by the fans of this peculiar type of cinema. There's shabby music, terribly written dialogs, inferior acting performances and a total lack of really exciting action sequences. You'd have to be crazy to even like this film. I love it

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 !

;-))

Pleasance must have been pretty hypnotised to do something this bad. Pumaman is a terrible movie made only cool and livable by the antics of mystery science theater(oh thank you). LOL tossing people out a window to see if they fly what an idea. Woops there goes my little brother(i guess he didnt)

This "film" completely deserves to rank among the top 100 of worst movies ever made. Only see it though if you're set on watching some of the worst performances ever brought to the silver screen.

The whole story is utterly ridiculous and laughable and I highly recommend reading the user's comments on this one. It has all been said before and I have little to add except that I feel sorry for Donald Pleasance to have been forced (must have been) to take part in this particular production.

This movie will NEVER grow old! It is the best movie I have ever seen, ok maybe my version was "edited" by a trio of sarcastic friends, but nevertheless, you will believe the mystical "Aztec" religion. It is so well done and detailed, you will forget that the Aztecs were nowhere near the Andes mountains. Pumaman, aka Liberachi in Dockers, is a superhero who could take out the Justice League, Fantasitc Four, The X-Men, Spider Man, Batman, and Even Superman all at the same time and not even break a sweat! I mean c'mon, who could possible stand up to his uncanny ability to sense danger? And my, god those claws, he somehow ripped through the top of that Mercedes! He is also somehow able to fly by merely bending over to tie his shoe against a bluescreen. His teleporting capabilities are unmatched. And dont forget the kool-aid vision, I mean this guy has it all! he can even pretend hes dead by somehow stopping his heart!! HOW DOES HE DO IT? I dont know about you, but Pumaman is hands-down the best superhero EVER.

Now we come to the AMAZINGLY well dressed, and cunning villian Kobras. That strange Intel-Inside mask made me shudder in fear and look over my shoulder for weeks to ensure a fat, bald Donald Pleasance wasnt trying to take my will, and place a ceramic model of my head on a rack to control me from afar. He amazingly is able to generate a forcefield, which for some reason he likes the "bald setting". Donald Pleasance delivered the best performance of his career in this role, and give a steller portayal of this dastardly villian. Kobras, only flaw, aside from his poorly though out schemes is that he runs out of triscuits only 20 minutes into the movie. He is taken out after an epic struggle with the Pu-may-man and his buddy Vadino.

Ah, Vadino, half man, half Onion. Not since Robin has their been a better sidekick! I mean who WOULDNT want a serial killer for a side kick... Vadino's handy work makes Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th parts 2-10 for those of you living on the moon since 1982) shudder in fear!!! The way he chooses who will be the next Pumanman is impeccable, a simple trial that if you fail you fall to your death. The mystical Aztec guide helps Pumaman develop his powers and together they destroy Kobras. The bravery of our dear onion is shown best when he straps TNT to his chest and breavely mozeys right on into Kobras inpentrable fortress! The only downside to Vadino is when he punches Pumaman out cold.

Th only real casulaties in this file are a Mercedes and Wesminster Abby, but for a film of this quaility, youd agree it is well worth it. I am saddened deeply that we didnt get a Pumaman2: THE RETURN OF KOBRAS!

EVERYONE MUST SEE THIS MOVIE, IF YOU SEE ONE MOVIE IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE THIS IS THE ONE TO SEE!

"Pumaman, he flies like a moron!"

As someone who made a point out of watching bad movies, then when I couldn't stomach it anymore, watched hundreds of reviews of bad movies, this is not a movie deserving of a rating that can be compared with the likes of "the Girl With the Gold Boots" or "Son of the Mask." Is it poorly made on a technical level? No doubt, but not on the level of the movies it's thrown in with.

For one, this movie is actually cohesive. It's stupid, but it can be followed rather easily. The Aztec gods put a godchild and a golden mask on Earth, centuries pass, a bad guy finds the mask and uses it to try and take over the world, "epic" battle ensues to some kick-ass disco music.

Does Pumaman actually fit the implications of his name? No. Does he do anything? Not without complaining, but yes, he does dumb superhero things. Which is more than can be said for the other 70's superhero movie that just so happened to be tied to a Marvel License... Captain America.

That is why I think this movie is actually quite good. It has energy. Things happen. The things that are unintentionally funny (the whole movie) are that pure sort of funny, not that cringe inducing, embarrassing kind of funny. It is all around a joy to watch.

And yes, the MST3K version is the way to go

Hard to believe that this film has not achieved the fame it deserves. Apart from the excellent, well paced plot and realistic dialogue, the performances are spot-on and personable. The direction is snappy with a keen eye for detail. And the special effects, obviously secondary to the story, are nonetheless convincing and clearly ground-breaking for the time. A classic in every sense. Do whatever it takes to see it.