THE SPIRIT (1987)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

THE SPIRIT telefilm falls into the category I call "the return of the low-budget superheroes." The unquestioned box-office success of the high-budgeted SUPERMAN films (at least the first three) encouraged a few other superhero-like films with relatively substantial money behind them, such as the early 1980s takes on FLASH GORDON and POPEYE. However, during the late 1980s most superhero projects returned to Cheapville, as had been the case with the majority of such projects from the 1930s through the 1960s. THE SPIRIT, written by the famous (and sometimes infamous) Steven E. DeSouza, was one of these, certainly better than the 1990 CAPTAIN AMERICA film (which had a limited theatrical release) but not as appealing as the more obscure DARK AVENGER telefilm.

The creator of THE SPIRIT comic book, Will Eisner, decried this TV-movie, though I don't know the specifics for his disdain. But one of the biggest problems of DeSouza's script is that he decides to follow the "new guy in town" trope for the debut of Denny Colt (Sam J. Jones), the man who becomes the titular masked hero. In the comic, Colt is a private investigator who decides to take on his crimefighting ID to protect his native burg, Central City. But in the movie, Colt is a cop from Oregon, working a case that involved the unexplained death of a good friend of his. Thus, the young hero-to-be meets in rapid succession the members of his destined support-cast-- his police contact Commissioner Dolan, Dolan's fetching daughter Ellen (Nana Visitor), and a street-smart kid named Eubie (Bumper Robinson). Colt does not initially encounter P'Gell Roxton (MacKinlay Robinson), but the viewer sees her as some sort of society-woman known to Ellen Dolan. 

Within mere hours of Colt asking some unproductive questions about a crime that hasn't even happened, Colt is shot and dumped over a wharf into the sea. However, he survives and adopts his masked identity-- apparently deciding to take up general crimefighting while still investigating the original murder. Given that there really aren't any other suspects for the secret criminal mastermind, even the average viewer probably knew that P'Gell would turn out to be the main villain, since there was no other reason for her to be in the story.

DeSouza and director Michael Schulz (CAR WASH, TARZAN IN MANHATTAN) weren't capable of pulling of the stylistic flair of Eisner's comics-feature. However, they did make an effort to duplicate some of the visual tropes seen in the Eisner books, like the way the Spirit's clothes not infrequently get ripped during his many brawls. Though there only two comely young women in the film, the Spirit is automatically as catnip to both kittens, which is the one Eisner-trope the TV-film shares with the 2008 theatrical movie. Sam J. Jones, in addition to placing his ripped physique on display, successfully captures the "aw shucks" persona of the comics-hero, but DeSouza's script isn't more than occasionally amusing. And why bother introducing "Eubie"-- DeSouza's stand-in for the comic's "Ebony White," whose caricatured depiction was verboten by 1987-- if you're not going to give the hero's assistant anything fun to do? Robinson also doesn't get much help from DeSouza in portraying one of Eisner's classic "femmes fatales," but that too reflects not on the actress's talent but on the writer's decision to make her a "stealth villain" for no good reason.