YMMV / Captain America (1990)

• Awesome Music: Come on, Cap's leitmotif that builds and recurs throughout the film is pretty encouraging.
• Designated Hero: Captain America fakes carsickness so he can steal the vehicle of a man who just saved him. Granted, he thinks the man is a German spy, but it's still a dick move. It's even worse the second time, where he doesn't want to bring his companion into danger, so he abandons her in a foreign country without even knowing if she speaks the local language or has enough money to get back home.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The Red Skull was apparently involved in the JFK assassination. Years later, the Ultimate Marvel version of the character would turn out to be Kennedy's assassin.
• Memetic Mutation: The Psyche Hitler
• Narm: Every time Cap pretends to be carsick so he can steal the driver's car.
• Older Than They Think: The idea of Red Skull's facial deformities being caused not by exposure to Dust of Death but a flawed version of the serum later used on the Captain, which was later adopted by Captain America: The First Avenger and some of the animated adaptations, actually originated in this film.
• Signature Scene: Captain America pretending to be sick so he can steal a car is the most-referenced scene from the movie. The first time far more so than the second.
• So Bad, It's Good: The movie feels distinctly cheaper and less committed than most superhero movies at the time (obviously exacerbated by its low budget), resulting in very odd writing choices, poor special effects, and acting of inconsistent quality. That being said, this lends itself to being fairly entertaining B-Movie shlock, fun for all the wrong reasons.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • Cap's rubber ears don't look very realistic. And his mask appears poorly fitted to his face, particularly in the film's closing shot.
  • The Red Skull's original red face looks very plastic-y. Modern reviewers often compare it to a bloody turd.
  • The mutated rat near the beginning reeks of terrible stop-motion.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Bernice telling Steve about how she knew he was still alive and waited for him to come back for 16 years, before finally having to move on and marry Jack before it was too late to have a family.
  • Bernice's death at the hands of Valentina. Sharon doesn't take it well.
  • Sam’s murder and dying moments with Steve.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously:
  • It can't be denied that Matt Salinger gave a pretty sincere performance in the vein of the late Christopher Reeve as Superman. Salinger plays Cap with such likability and sincerity it makes you wish he'd had a better film. His defiant delivery of the line "I care" in response to the Red Skull mocking him and the values he stands for at the end of the film, complete with a baritone, is pretty poignant.
  • Likewise, despite the weird creative decisions, such as making him Italian and getting rid of his distinct appearance for most of the movie, Scott Paulin offers a suitably menacing performance as Tadzio de Santis/Red Skull.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: The obviously fake ears on Captain America's costume, put there because the mask originally went around Matt Salinger's ears, but caused some rather painful chafing, necessitating the fake ears.

---