Back in the eighties USA network used to have a late night weekend show called Night Flight that would show bizzare old movies like The Terror of Tiny Town and Reefer Madness. One of the most popular movies they showed was Firesign Theater’s J-Men Forever. The film is mostly made up of footage from old Republic serials redubbed with new dialog and intercut with new footage of Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman commenting on the action.
The plot involves a Lunar invader called the Lightning Bug who attempts to take over the Earth by flooding the airwaves with Rock n’ Roll while the J-Men try to keep the world safe with Lawrence Welk and Arthur Murray music. Using clips from Adventures of Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, Captain America, King of the Rocket Men, The Masked Marvel, Manhunt of Mystery Island, The Purple Monster Strikes, The Crimson Ghost, The Black Widow, Fighting Devil Dogs and Undersea Kingdom; most of the film shows the costumed (and some non-costumed) J-Men meeting their apparent demise at the hands of the Lightning Bug’s henchmen only to reveal at the end after the Bug has been defeated, that they all survived, so as to keep it more in the style of the serials they came from.
Most of the jokes used in the film vary from amusing to lame, but few are actually able to evoke a gut busting laugh. A few highlights are “We made a little oopsie and we’re on the West Coast instead of the East Coast” and “This music could make me pregnant!” But most are on the level of a guy riding a motor cycle and exclaiming ” I should have worn a cup!” or a henchman complimenting the Bug on his new mask and the Bug replying, “What mask?”
Proctor and Bergman’s hijinks in between the dubbed footage is mostly slapstick such as Proctor falling out his chair when he leans back too far or both of them banging into each other as they pace the office waiting from report from the field. A weird moment is at the end, when to celebrate their victory over the Bug, they light up a joint and pass it back and forth.
The DVD includes an interview with George Wallace, who played Commando Cody in the Republic serial Radar Men From the Moon (which wasn’t used in the movie), and and interview with Proctor and Bergmen.
Neal said
July 22 2009 @ 9:21 am
I remember in those days before I had a VCR staying up all night to watch “J-Men Forever” on Night Flight. At the top of the show, the announcer would tell you the sequence in which that night’s features would be shown, but not the exact time when they would appear, so you just had to guess. I remember one night watching the beginning of Night Flight at 11 and finding out that J-Men would be shown at the end, so I set my alarm clock for 4 AM and turned the TV on. I missed part of the opening credits, but I was pretty accurate. I loved J-Men in the 80s, but when I bought the VHS in the 90s, I didn’t get the same kick out of it. The sex and drug humor had grown stale for me, I guess.