In 1980, a brand new hero burst onto the scene. He had amazing powers, which he inherited from his ancestors, who, in turn, received them from the gods. He was also new to his role as a hero and inexperienced, resulting in as many mistakes as successes. No, this wasn’t some lost Stan Lee creation, descended from the mold of Spider-Man, nor was it television’s Greatest American Hero. It was the Pumaman, star of his own 1980 feature film. In this article, we’ll go behind the scenes of this minor camp classic via a brand new interview with the film’s star, Walter George Alton. We’ll investigate the stories behind the film’s production and most memorable moments, including the unforgettable flying scenes and the Pumaman’s unique costume, and even take a look at how the Pumaman has returned to the public consciousness. This is the inside story of The Pumaman.
BIRTH OF THE PUMAMAN
If you’ve never heard of the Pumaman, you probably shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, the Pumaman has only appeared once, in the eponymous 1980 film The Pumaman, starring relative newcomer Walter George Alton and cinematic luminary Donald Pleasence. The film began production in 1979 in Italy, where it is known as L’uomo puma, under the direction of Alberto De Martino. Influenced by Erich von Daniken’s 1968 book Chariot of the Gods and almost certainly inspired by the success of 1978’s Superman: The Movie, De Martino set out to write a screenplay about a superhero who was granted his powers by an ancient alien race that had once posed as South American gods. According to the film’s introduction, “An ancient Aztec legend tells of a god who descended from the stars at the dawn of time and became the father of the first Pumaman.” Seemingly divine powers were then passed down through the generations from father to son, giving rise to the film’s rather nifty mantra, “Each man is a god. Each man is free.” In De Martino’s story, palentologist Tony Farms, the modern Pumaman, has no knowledge of his celestial lineage. Thus, when the evil Kobras attempts to use a golden mask, left behind by those same aliens, to take over the world, Tony finds himself in over his head, desperately trying to master his newfound powers in time to defeat the madman. While the story had the promise of a genuine superheroic epic in the mighty Marvel mold, a muddled script and low budget unfortunately got in the way of the film’s heady ideas about gods, aliens, and men, and even undermined the possibilities of the unsure, rookie-superhero plot that, for decades, had worked so well in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man—and which, shortly thereafter, would also prove a rousing success on the small screen with The Greatest American Hero. Still, seen as a camp superhero adventure, more in the vein of Adam West than Christopher Reeve, The Pumaman is actually pretty entertaining. The film’s star, Walter George Alton, puts it nicely, saying, “In a way, the movie was kind of a camp movie, not really a spoof, but a fun, crazy movie about an Italian superhero guy.”
The Greatest South American Hero The original movie poster art for L’uomo puma (The Pumaman) depicted a blond champion who looked nothing like the film’s star. © 1980 ADM Films Department - DEANTIR.
68 • BACK ISSUE • Cat People Issue
by
Eric Houston