154 DOC SAVAGE
In 1975, the character was
fi lmed as Doc Savage: Th e Man of
Bronze, produced by legendary sci-
ence fi ction fi lmmaker George Pal
and directed by Michael Ander-
son, with Ron Ely, who portrayed
Ta r z a n on television in the 1960s,
in the title role. Th e fi lm was not
received enthusiastically, however,
and planned sequels were scrapped.
Since then, there have been few
attempts to bring the character
back to public attention. In 1985,
a new Doc Savage series was cre-
ated for National Public Radio.
Although it was short lived, it is
generally regarded as a faithful ad-
aptation of the original pulp series.
Th e Bantam paperback editions are
long since out of print; however, the
original Street and Smith pulp nov-
els have recently been returned to
print in oversized magazine-format
volumes by the small press imprint
Nostalgia Ventures.
Along with Th e Shadow, Doc
Savage is a major infl uence on the
early superhero comics. A number
of Doc Savage’s attributes were ref-
erenced in the character Superman. For example, both characters possessed the given
name Clark; Savage’s nickname, “the Man of Bronze,” was mimicked in Superman’s
nickname, “the Man of Steel,” and both characters had Fortresses of Solitude in the
Arctic. Earlier incarnations of Seigel and Schuster’s Superman, prior to publication as a
comic book character, strongly resembled Savage.
Many comic book superheroes bear some infl uence from Doc Savage, whether
consciously or not. Th e Doc Savage character has also infl uenced a variety of other
fi lm, television, and fi ction characters. Various characters in men’s adventure fi ction,
such as Nick Carter and Mack Bolan, were infl uenced by Doc Savage. Th e character
Indiana Jones was also infl uenced by Savage. Th e fi lm Th e Adventures of Buckaroo Ban-
zai Across the 8th Dimension starring Peter Weller was an obvious homage to Savage,
as is the Cartoon Network series Th e Venture Brothers.
Robert O’NaleThe 1975 film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze was directed
by Michael Anderson and starred Ron Ely as Doc Savage.
Warner Bros./ Photofest