Holding out for a hero


Coming off of Batmania in 1989 I was all set for a repeat in 1990 w/the announcement of a new live action Captain America. I had no reason to think it wasn't going to be just as big. That Summer I was reading the Captain America comic (The "Streets of Poison" arc as I recall) and there were ads in every issue proclaiming that CA was due to hit theaters in August.

This was before the 'net, and so there were no movie sites, no IMDb message boards. I was a bit confused as to why there weren't any commercials or merchandise, but I had no reason to think there was anything wrong. So, come the day it was supposed to open I eagerly open the entertainment section of my local paper to read the review and find the show times and... nothing. Next week, same thing. After a few weeks I just gave up. It wasn't until early '91 that I saw it listed on the "Coming soon" board at my local video store.

Anyone else out there spend that Summer waiting for the Cap movie that never came? These days it's hardly a footnote in genre history, and it's quite awful, but that was the best Summer of my childhood and I can't think of those days without pausing to think about waiting for that movie.

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This was before the 'net, and so there were no movie sites, no IMDb message boards.
I don't mean to be rude, but there was a thing called the telephone back then too. I suppose, it's possible that it didn't even come to your town. I don't know if was released anywhere, though. I can't remember. I saw it once, wherever I saw it when I saw it. I remember being disappointed with the Red Skull not having a skeleton face for most of the movie.

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As in call the theater? Didn't seem necessary since they run ads every day showing what movies are playing, showtimes etc. According to Wikipedia, it was never released theatrically in the U.S. (was internationally though, but it didn't specify where), and didn't get its home video release until Summer 1992, so a year longer still than I'd remembered.

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It was released in the UK, though probably not a wide release, and very probably only those cinemas (and there were quite a few at the time) which were owned by Cannon.

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