Summary
- A lost alternate cut of the 1990 Captain America film has been discovered, showcasing director Albert Pyun’s original vision.
- The newly uncovered version features a non-linear storytelling approach, with WWII scenes spread throughout the film as flashbacks.
- This cut is considered a significant improvement over the original release, which was heavily altered by the studio and received poor reviews.
While fans of the MCU are getting ready to welcome a new Captain America to the big screen early next year, it turns out that a much older Steve Rogers is getting a bit of love and attention he didn’t get when his movie first hit theaters. It appears that at least part of the reason this Captain America didn’t get any love is because the movie that was released all those years ago wasn’t the one the director wanted to release.
As it turns out, a brand new edit of the low-budget 1990 superhero film Captain America has been found. The film was revealed in a screening earlier this week on the user streaming platform Twitch. Those in attendance were told there was a special presentation headed their way on the streaming platform but not what they were about about to see or that it would have any ties to Marvel.
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Old Captain America Film Resurfaces
Justin Decloux then aired this new version of the old Captain America film starring Matt Salinger as that version of Steve Rogers. However, there were quite a few changes to this print than the one that hit theaters and is considered a massive cinematic failure. This version is a new iteration of the film that shows the original cut made by director Albert Pyun. The director wanted to release this movie, but executives at 21st Century Film Corporation took control and reformatted it into something that they saw as “more conventional.”
This version of Captain America was originally shot in 1989 and was expected to release in the summer of 1990. However, the studio decided to repeatedly postpone the film’s theatrical release for a total of two years. Eventually, the Marvel movie was relegated to a direct-to-video format. Once it was finally released to the public, comics fans blasted the movie as being poorly constructed and low budget. That even included the fact that the ears on Cap’s cowl were very obviously rubber for reasons passing understanding.
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Captain America (1990) |
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|---|---|
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Director |
Albert Pyun |
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Screenplay |
Stephen Tolkin |
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Starring |
Matt Salinger, Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin, Michael Nouri, Melinda Dillon, Kim Gillingham, Scott Paulin |
“You know all those WWII scenes in the theatrical release’s opening 30 minutes?” Decloux said during the stream. “In Albert’s Original Cut, they’re spread throughout the film as flashbacks in a non-linear order. Instead of seeing the fight with the Red Skull by the rocket right at the start of the movie, it’s scattered throughout the film in clever ways, to the point that even in the climax, it intercuts the WWII Red Skull fight with the Present Day Red Skull fight!”
Decloux has written a book about Pyun, who died a few years back and has studied this version of the Captain America movie quite extensively. Among the most interesting aspects, according to the streamer is that the non-linear version of the film that Pyun wanted to release really was quite a bit better and would have been quite the groundbreaking endeavor if the studio had allowed it to come to fruition. Decloux did also admit that some of the things that made people mad in the first place were doubled down on, including odd costume choices, but he believes that the film was better and showed a real intent in telling a story that wasn’t there in what most audiences have seen.
Captain America
Captain America, created in 1940 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby has become an icon of Marvel Comics. Acting as a major figure in the pages of comics while battling against foes like the Red Skull, Captain America has since jumped to the big screen to appear in various Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
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Source: FilmBuffOnline