A Miami police officer gains godlike powers from a nuclear accident in this 1980 comedy.
In short: In the 1980 film Super Fuzz, a rookie officer named Dave Speed survives a nuclear blast, only to find himself gifted with everything from telekinesis to invulnerability. There is one catch: his powers vanish whenever he sees the color red, a weakness that his enemies are quick to exploit.
Directed by Sergio Corbucci, a filmmaker previously celebrated for his 1960s Spaghetti Westerns, Super Fuzz was a deliberate attempt to capture an American audience. Set and shot in Miami, the film stars Terence Hill as Dave Speed, a bumbling officer who accidentally absorbs radiation from a red plutonium missile during a secret government experiment in the Florida Everglades. This exposure grants him a vast array of abilities, including super reflexes, precognition, and telepathy, yet leaves him vulnerable to the color red.
The plot follows Speed as he attempts to dismantle a counterfeit money operation run by a local gangster known as Torpedo and his mistress, Rosie Labouche. The narrative complicates when Speed's partner, Sergeant Willy Dunlop, inadvertently reveals the hero's weakness to Rosie. This leads to a series of escalating confrontations, including a stint on death row for Speed and a daring rescue mission involving a frozen partner and a giant bubblegum balloon. The film concludes with a humorous domestic twist, as Speed’s girlfriend, Evelyn, decides to dye her hair red to keep her super-powered husband in check.
Upon its release in 1980, the film was met with harsh criticism. Variety dismissed it as "miscast to the hilt" and technically poor, while The New York Times suggested its only real achievement was providing work for veteran actors. Despite these negative contemporary reviews, the film found a cult following through heavy rotation on HBO in the early 1980s. Retrospective analysis, such as that from AllMovie, suggests the film remains a fun, lightweight experience, appreciated by adults for its retro charm and by children for its slapstick absurdity.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Super Fuzz
- Also: Super Fuzz
- Also: Wikidata — Univox Super-Fuzz · CC0
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