Columbia Pictures Announces Doc Savage Movie

From the Press Release:

Sony Pictures Options Rights to Doc Savage

Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, hero of pulp novels, films, and comic books, will return to the big screen; it was announced by Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, Presidents of Columbia Pictures. Shane Black is adapting the screenplay with Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry, and Black is also attached to direct the film. Neal H. Moritz will produce through his Original Film banner.

One of the most popular characters of the pulps of the 1930s and 40s, Doc Savage was also popularized on radio, film and television. He is a scientist, physician, adventurer, inventor, explorer and researcher. He has been trained since birth to be nearly superhuman in every way, with outstanding strength, a photographic memory, and vast knowledge and intelligence. He uses his skills and powers to punish evil wherever in the world he finds it.

Matt said, "Doc Savage is an icon, a character with limitless possibilities. We have had a great experience working with Neal to bring another classic character of the era, The Green Hornet, to a new generation of fans, and we think he and Shane make the ideal team to bring Doc Savage back to the big screen."

"I've been looking for an excuse to work with Chuck and Anthony, who wrote one of my favorite spec scripts of the last decade, `Tick-Tock'," said Black. "In 'Doc Savage' we've found a project that all of us have loved since childhood."

Ori Marmur is overseeing for Original Film. Sam Dickerman will oversee for Columbia Pictures.

Born 1961 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Shane Black is considered one of the pioneer screenwriters of the action genre. Black made his mark upon graduating UCLA's Theatre program with his Lethal Weapon (1987) screenplay. In addition to collaborating on the sequel Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), he has also penned such projects as The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight. As an actor, Black was the first to be eviscerated by The Predator (1987) and has appeared in As Good As It Gets, Robocop 3 and various other independent films. Black made his directorial debut with the action comedy-thriller Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.



From Harry Knowles at ain'titcoolnews:
I know from talking with Shane this will be period, will have Doc's team, and is going to be a s#!t ton of fun.

Doc Savage Movie Review

Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975)

DVD Movie Review

I saw the Doc Savage Movie when it was first released in 1975. At the time, I thought it was terrible. It was way too corny and I thought it was just wrong to treat the beloved man of bronze that way. And it was cheap. My friends and I were already making Super-8 movies and I could just tell it was cheap. I don't remember much else about my impressions from that one screening. It has never been out on DVD.


As I have blogged about previously, Warner Bros is in the process of making their entire library available on DVD and Doc Savage was part of the first release. I ordered a copy and within a week it arrived. These Warner Bros Archive titles are no-frills P.O.D. DVDs with no booklets or special features. I watched it with my kids last weekend.


The movie is bad. The filmmakers just didn't get Doc Savage. I can see Ron Ely really trying, but everyone else is against him. He plays Doc much better than I remember. Ron Ely's performance is the highlight of the movie. For the most part he plays it straight. Everyone around him is in some other universe. A horribly campy, silly universe where everything Doc owns is emblazoned with the Bantam Doc Savage logo.



My biggest issue with the film is the casting, especially Monk and Ham.



Ham is played by Darrell Zwerling, who plays dapper fine, but can't make much of his relationship with Monk.



Monk, on the other hand is played for laughs and is just a fat oaf. He provides unfunny comic relief and little else. Monk, as played by Michael Miller is fat. There isn't much else there - a major disappointment. Habius Corpus appears as well; my 7-year olds favorite part.



None of Doc's aids fare much better. Renny is the only one that seems competent, the others are fools.


Johnny is very nerdy, but he does get to say "superamalgamated" and other Johnnyish lines.


Long Tom starts an electric fire the first time we see him. He is played OK, but has nothing to do except fix an elevator.



The villain, Captain Seas, is also a comic buffoon. As are his henchmen.



The only thing that was interesting and clever were the visual effects for "The Green Death." While dated, the effects were effective. In fact, my 7-year old daughter went screaming out of the room.


The bare bone budget clearly shows in a number of ways. There is a modern bus and cars in an establishing shot. There is an airplane that explodes via a superimposed explosion. There is a plant in a jungle scene where the plastic pot is clearly visible. The locations make no sense - to get to the Valley of the Vanished, Doc travels across a vast desert, into some rocky hills (both clearly So. California), through the snow, and then back to the American Southwest. Then down into the Valley of the Vanished.

Here are some of the better images from the film...










The Valley of the Vanished is the final disappointment. There is no city of the ancient Maya, just a couple of huts.


I really hope that Doc Savage gets another chance at the Movies, but please, let it be a straight adventure movie. Indiana Jones, the Mummy films, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and others show that adventure can work and be successful.


The image quality of the DVD was pretty good. There was minimal dirt and scratches and the color balance was serviceable. The theatrical trailer was included, but there are no other features.


My two older kids (10, 11) rated this movie a 6.5 out of 10. They are generous.


Thanks to Chris for posting all those captures from the Laserdisc a few years ago.

Pulp Movie News - Doc Savage

Well, this isn't the Doc Savage news I am hoping for from Warner Bros, but they have announced a new no frills make-to-order DVD service called The Warner Archive. The plan is to make the entire Warner Bros library on DVD (no Bluray, dangit) and this week they announced the first 150 titles. 'Doc Savage' is among those titles.


Now get on the ball WB. Last year at the San Diego Comic-Con Michael Uslan announced that there would be a new Doc Savage movie. No news since. I recently had LA Times reporter and blogger Geoff Boucher (Hero Complex - great blog, by the way) ask Mr. Uslan about the Doc movie and Geoff reported back to me that, "I did ask him about Doc Savage but he said there's no update he could share publicly at this point." Maybe at Comic-Con this year...

FIGHT KLUB FRIDAY - Web Site Preview

Decipher has posted a preview of the upcoming Fight Klub card game web site.

You can see it bigger here.

So when the site opens remember . . .

© 2008 W. Peter Miller

Raiders of the Lost Adventure Movies

I love adventure stories. Doc Savage, Indiana Jones, Professor Challenger and the Lost World, Conan and many others. The early and mid twentieth century were full of adventure tales. The world was not fully explored and full of mystery. The pulp magazines of the time were chock full of adventure.

Where do we find adventure today? Our society seems skeptical about adventure. The world seems fully explored and there are not a mesa full of dinosaurs to be had. No Martian canals or Tars Tarkus to lead us. The moon is a dead rock; no Lunarians lurking about. The Earth is not hollow; no Pellucidar, no Ka-Zar with Zabu his Saber-Tooth Tiger. We seem to find adventure in the past far more than the present. Or maybe that's where I find myself looking...

At the movies this summer there are a few adventure films, I am even looking forward to some of them. All are sequels or remakes.


First off, last weekend saw "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" from Disney. I haven't seen the first, so I won't be seeing this one. Caspian did good money, not great, but solid.


Then comes the behemoth of adventure films, the upcoming "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". I am really wondering which Indy we will see. The tough as nails, gets through by brains and sheer force of will Indy from "Raiders of the Lost Ark", or the luckiest man on Earth from "Temple of Doom." I'm praying for the Indy with guts. (Friday, May 23 from Paramount)


Next is "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" from the minds of Mike Mignola and Guillermo Del Toro. I am really looking forward to seeing Big Red again. I'm had the good fortune to meet both of those men and in addition to being brilliant, they are wonderful people. This is my most anticipated film of the summer. (Friday, July 11 from Universal)


The same week is also "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D" starring Brendan Fraser. Word on the street is not good on this one... (Friday, July 11 from Warner Bros)


I am really hoping that "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" doesn't suck. It has been a long time since we last saw Mulder and Skully - OK, not as long as since we've seen Indiana and Marion - and this movie was really off my radar for some reason. I like the X-Files and I hope it's good. (July 25 from Fox)



"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" is yet another summer sequel and another Brendan Fraser film. There are good people in this - Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li. Here's hoping it's good. Another period adventure film, this one in China. I did enjoy the previous Mummy films, and Rob Cohen has made some good films. Some lesser ones, too...

In the future I'm sure I will write more about adventure fiction and comics. May you find a little adventure in your life.