FAN BOY FANTASY MOVIES by Dave Goode

When I first imagined a Mighty Samson movie based on the Gold Key comic book from the Silver Age I stunt casted Clint Walker or Denny Miller as the mutant superman of a post apopaletic future. Largely because of their physical stature. But since this was a fantasy anyway I reimagined Kirk Douglas in the role. After all the paintings on the covers of the comic books have Samson resembling Douglas as he appears in the movie THE VIKINGS ( 1958 ). Peter Cushing would be perfect as the scientist Mindor. And rounding out the cast as Sharmaine , Mindor's daughter and Samson's love interest , would be 60s fan boy favorite Deanna Lund. Of course the real star of the flick would have been Ray Harryhausen's special effect mutant monsters.

Sam Katzman was the type of producer you could imagine making movies based on the stories found in " men's sweat magazines ".The man who cast Johnny Weissmuller as Jungle Jim after the former Olympic champ became too old to be a believable Tarzan would see the potentialof casting Steve Holland as a jungle adventurer. Especially after realizing he could use the covers of the sweat mags as posters. Just write in a scene to match the action of the cover illustration.You could do the same with the WW Two covers Holland posed for as a two - fisted American fighting man.

Steve Holland was also the model for Jason Striker , the martial arts hero for a series of books written by Piers Antony and Roberto Fuentes. The series came out in the 1970s when everyone was " kung fu fighting ". And at the time I thought Jason Striker , the black belt judoka and karateka would have made a good subject for a series of movies. But not starring Holland. Though the covers featuring Holland would make great posters. The person playing Striker would have been American karate and kick - boxing champ Joe Lewis.