Steve Nichols (John Ritter) is a struggling New York actor. PR man Walter Reeves (Bert Convy) hires him and others to dress up as Captain Avenger to promote a cheesy superhero movie. Steve stops a robbery at a grocery store which becomes local news. Reeves is working to re-elect the mayor and sees value in a superhero making the citizens feel good. He searches to find which of the 62 actors he hired is the Captain Avenger hero. Steve has a crush on his neighbor Jolene Marsh (Anne Archer) who slowly takes a liking to his non-stop flirting.

John Ritter is a really likable actor. His charming personality is mostly what this movie has to offer. The rest is functional but not much more. Anne Archer is fine but the movie needs a better villain. It is a superhero movie after all. The plot lacks tension. This all boils down to Ritter being such a nice charming guy.

Believe it or not, he's not walking on air. Like Michael Dorsey, John Ritter is a failing actor in New York City, perhaps not difficult like Dustin Hoffman's iconic character who comes a soap opera heroine, but struggling in the theater capital of the world nonetheless. You get to see billboards for "Sugar Babies" and "Eubie" as a publicity truck drives around Times Square, and an argument between Ritter and his girlfriend leads to an apparent breakup over her pregnancy. He's doing publicity for a superhero movie which leads to an amusing encounter with Kevin Bacon (post "Animal House", then a soap opera actor preparing to be slashed in "Friday the 13th") and some other young toughs, ridiculing him because of his flamboyant outfit. Coming from the event, he goes to a little convenience store on Bleecker Street in the village (which follows a shot of the still there Village Cigars) and saves it from being robbed.

Publicity about him gets out, and soon, he's being used in a mayoral race scheme by the film's producer, Bert Convoy, even setting up a fake subway train robbery, all for the sake of creating a new government regime. But this is not Ritter's ethics, and his love for next door neighbor Anne Archer (playing a commercial production designer) helps determine how he will deal with the corruption of the scheme he's become involved with against his will.

Great vintage shots of New York, particularly of the West Village on a gorgeous afternoon, historical value as many of these buildings and businesses are still there. Such familiar character actors as Harry Bellaver, Kevin McCarthy, Henrietta Jacobson (as the convenience store owner's wife, who played into the Matchmaker in many Broadway and touring performances of Fiddler on the Roof") round out the cast, with Dr. Joyce Brothers in a cameo as herself.

Certainly this is a variation of many themes used in movies over the years, and as others have stated, I immediately recognized "Meet John Doe" as one of the influences. Ritter's charm takes what could have been a silly, phony looking comedy and turns it into something special, sweet in many ways, and making some substantial points about how corruption can be utilized through manipulation of the public through their naivete and innocence. So this certainly is not groundbreaking, but is more than another innocuous time passer, and it will leave you feeling good after it's over.

Martin Davidson directed the teen classics The Lords of Flatbush and Eddie and the Cruisers, but today we're talking about his lone superhero movie, an early entry in the form that starred Three's Company lead John Ritter and Anne Archer. Obviously, the success of Superman had a lot to do with this movie.

Steve Nichols (Ritter) is a struggling New York City actor posing as Captain Avenger to promote a film, but when he stops a robber in costume, he learns that he loves playing hero for real. Soon, he's working for the mayor's staff and Bert Convy and Kevin McCarthy, which thrills me to no end.

The mayor's goons, however, are shady and their plan to fake Captain Avenger's heroics gets exposed by the media. However, Nichols girlfriend Jolene (Archer) convinces him to leave the mask behind and become a real hero.

Keep an eye out for former Howard Stern Show reporter Penny Crone, a young Kevin Bacon, Dr. Joyce Brothers and Robin Sherwood from Tourist Trap and Death Wish 2.

There are also several references to Taxi Driver in this movie, such as several scenes of cab drivers hanging outside of the Belmore Cafeteria at night and Leonard Harris, who played Senator Charles Palantine in Scorcese's film, as the mayor.