“Nobody cared a damn. So it was just get it in the box and get home. A misfit from start to end.” Most Dangerous Man Alive director Allan Dwan was nothing if not honest about the film that brought his prolific career – a staggering 130 features and approximately 300 shorts – to a somewhat underwhelming conclusion. Indeed, celebrating its 65th anniversary, the sci-fi revenge flick’s troubled backstory is largely more interesting than the action that unfolds on screen. In short, this is a movie that is more fun to think about than it is to watch.
Originally conceived by character actor-turned-screenwriter Leo Gordon — the story of an escaped convict who becomes a literal man of steel after wandering onto an atomic bomb testing site — was initially intended to be a three-part TV pilot. But when a film syndicate in its location shoot in Mexico determined the project was actually a movie, and therefore subject to higher labor rates, producer Benedict Bogeaus was forced to cut corners.
