FEARLESS FRANK (1965)

SYNOPSIS OF “FRANK’S GREATEST ADVENTURE”  (aka “FEARLESS FRANK”):

Frank (Jon Voight) is a simple country boy who goes to the Big City in search of his true love and to make good. On his way to the city he meets The Stranger (Ken Nordine), who is going there to write a book “about life in the Big City”, which immediately becomes the story of our hero, Frank.

Rushing headlong into the city, Frank immediately becomes entangled with Plethora (Monique Van Vooren) who is trying to escape from the clutches of The Boss (Lou Gilbert) whose smoky grip engulfs the city. Frank falls in love with Plethora at first sight, but finds himself surrounded by The Boss’s Mob ( Ben Carruthers, Nelson Algren, David Steinberg, David Fisher). Frank is promptly bumped off in true Big City (Chicago) style…before the film has even begun.

Fortunately for Frank, he is brought back to life by The Good Doctor (Severn Darden) and his assistant Alfred (Anthony Holland). The Good Doctor becomes Frank’s benefactor and mentor, and Frank in turn is invested with all of the standard super powers (flight, bullet-proofness, etc.) and becomes the unwitting instrument of the Good Doctor’s will in his never ending struggle against Evil.

Frank originally intends to set out and search for Plethora, but the struggle against Evil turns into a full-time job; and he spends all his time battling the Mob and then The Boss. The Boss declares all-out war on Frank.

Taking extraordinary measures, The Boss calls in Claude (also Severn Darden), the long-lost brother of the Good Doctor, who knows (more or less) the same ancient secrets as the Good Doctor. By morning, Claude has created a monster, a shabby replica of Frank, called False Frank (again, Jon Voight). A showdown is arranged between this monster (a Frank-enstein) and our hero (Frank Merriwell?).  Fortunately for Good, Evil proves to be no match for Frank.

But Frank’s innocent, country-boy personality has been undergoing a marked change. Even the look on his face has changes: he has become very urbane, very powerful. He has also become very independent, and before long the Good Doctor catches him sneaking into the bedroom of his now-not-so-innocent daughter, Lois (Joan Darling). And at this point, the good Doctor, overwhelmed by Frank’s behavior, decides to die of a broken heart, leaving Frank on his own, without a mentor, to fight Evil.

But Evil has its own problems. Claude’s False Frank has not proved to be a very successful weapon in the struggle against Good. Claude had said that he would be “very sensitive to first impressions” and that he would “grow a soul” (a nice, Evil one, hopefully). But unbeknownst to the forces of Evil, Plethora has instilled in this Frank—as she had once instilled in our hero—a yearning for love.

False Frank seems to be gaining just what Frank is busy losing. Frank doesn’t care about much anymore, except maybe beating people up in bars. He seems to be losing everything, and before long he discovers that he can no longer even fly—a discovery which ends his life.

 Of course there’s a Happy Ending, and just in time; for Claude is about to blow up the world with his latest invention. But it’s a strange kind of Happiness, where Good and Evil have become confused, and there is a tear of sadness, or is it happiness, on the face of Frank, or is it False Frank, as he returns home with the survivors of his Greatest Adventure, leaving Love and Innocence behind, or is he taking them with him?

And leaving us with questions that go beyond the bounds of the comic book frame, Frank and his friends go sailing down the river, forever.

 Reviews:

“The school of Chicago registers a victory with this pulp-pop version of the American Dream…we return to a capitalistic parable about Frank (enstein) what I would have written a short time ago the American myth of Cain and Abel finds its tailoring here under the sign of pop-art…Frank…is played in his two diverse aspects by the versatile Jon Voight, who parodies marvelously the innocent vulgarity, the dissolute jocularity, and the triumphant absurdity of the disenchanted superman.”—Robert Benayoun, Positif (translated from French)

“A disarming spoof of the American myths as embodied in its films…pic was shown in the Cannes Fest Producer Section with a Special Nod from the Critic Section who recommended it.”—Weekly Variety