"Fearless Frank" is a parody of super-hero films that looks as if it was made on a budget of about $48.32 but was, amazingly, made by MGM! It also features Jon Voight in the lead...and he shows none of the acting ability that would soon earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. To put it bluntly, his performance is like a MUCH stupider Gomer Pyle...and this is really NOT an exaggeration!
The story finds the addle-brained Frank (Voight) shot by mobsters. Oddly, however, when he awakens he's fine...and he also becomes less stupid over time! This is all thanks to 'the Good Doctor'...who is a bit of a mad scientist. Then, Frank becomes a crime fighter...if you can manage to last this long, I am impressed.
There is a fine line between parody and just plain bad...and "Fearless Frank" falls in the just plain bad category. Additionally, the film is just boring and awful to watch. It's also a film, I assume, that Jon Voight would just as soon have us all forget!
Fearless Frank
1967
Action / Comedy / Fantasy
Plot summary
A satirical comedy about an unsophisticated country boy who treks off to Chicago, Illinois, gets shot by mobsters, and awakens to find that he has the powers of Superman.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Is it a parody which deliberately is over the top or is it simply bad?
Joe Buck the superhero
Knowing that Philip Kaufman directed movies like "The Right Stuff", it blows the mind that he once directed the cornball "Fearless Frank". Jon Voight plays a drifter who gets murdered and then reanimated as a superhero. With cartoonish action and speech that sounds like a recording of a recording, it's impossible not to laugh at this. It's going to be hard to find a copy, though. I suspect that Kaufman's too embarrassed about this movie to release it.
As for the rest of the cast, Monique van Vooren apparently is best known for appearances in Andy Warhol movies. Severn Darden was a character actor over a number of years (I best remember him from "The President's Analyst" and "Saturday the 14th"). Nelson Algren (Needles) was the author of "The Man with the Golden Arm", and Ken Nordine (the narrator) was a jazz vocalist.
Midnight Superhero
Wow. You actually have to wonder how Jon Voight got the Midnight Cowboy gig after being in this one.
I only watched it to see Monique Van Vooren who got top billing and she was in it much. David Steinberg, of all people showed up playing The Rat.
This tells you what a weird movie it is. The effects suck.