Goldface, the Fantastic Superman

Lore & Background

The film follows Dr. Vilar, a scientist and womanizer who secretly operates as the masked wrestler Goldface. When businessman Matthews's property is attacked by terrorists working for The Cobra, Dr. Vilar is tasked with delivering a $2 million ransom. He recovers the money and later saves Perera's daughter, Pamela, from multiple assassination attempts, including a sabotaged motorcycle and a waterskiing attack thwarted by a radio-controlled toy plane with explosives. The Cobra is revealed to be Matthews himself, who plans to collect insurance on his destroyed property. Goldface ultimately rescues Pamela from The Cobra's secret base, and the police shoot down The Cobra's helicopter as he tries to escape.

Reader's Guide

Goldface, the Fantastic Superman is a notable example of 1960s European superhero cinema, blending wrestling, espionage, and action. Directed by Bitto Albertini, the film was shot in and near Caracas, Venezuela, with professional wrestlers in the cast. Its production included a dangerous climax where actor Attilio Severini was hung from a helicopter and dropped into the sea, with barracudas present. The film was released in Italy in 1967 and later in Spain in 1971, where it sold 522,832 admissions. While not widely known today, it represents an early international co-production in the superhero genre and reflects the global appeal of masked crime-fighters during that era.

Did You Know?

• The climax involved actor Attilio Severini being hung from a helicopter and dropped into the sea, which was full of barracudas.
• The villain The Cobra is revealed to be businessman Matthews, who planned to collect insurance on his own destroyed property.
• Goldface uses a radio-controlled toy plane with explosives to destroy the assassins' boat during a waterskiing attack.

Origins & International Production

Goldface, the Fantastic Superman (Italian: Goldface, Il fantastico superman) is a 1967 superhero film directed by Bitto Albertini, produced as a three-nation co-production spanning Italy, Spain, and Venezuela. The project originated when Giuseppe Maggi, head of the distribution company Filmar, arranged a private screening of Albertini's earlier film Supercolpo da 7 miliardi (1966) for his employees, drivers, and friends. The audience's enthusiastic response prompted Maggi to approach Albertini directly and sign a contract for a new picture to be shot in Venezuela. As a condition of the deal, Maggi insisted that Ambrogio Molteni be credited as a co-scripter. Principal photography took place in and around Caracas, and the cast was rounded out with various professional wrestlers, reinforcing the film's central wrestling-ring premise. This multinational collaboration gave the production a distinctive texture, blending Italian direction, Spanish distribution interests, and Venezuelan locations into a single exploitation-era superhero spectacle.

Plot & Narrative Structure

The narrative weaves together a wrestling spectacle and a crime thriller. At businessman Matthews's party, his industrial property is destroyed by the terrorists of a megalomaniac villain called The Cobra. Simultaneously, the masked wrestler Goldface wins a match, though a German reporter discovers that no one knows the identity of the man beneath the mask. In truth, Goldface is Dr. Vilar, a scientist at millionaire Perera's laboratory and something of a womanizer. When Cobra extorts two million dollars from Perera for factory protection, Vilar is sent to deliver the cash. After Cobra's agent Number 2 seizes the suitcase, Vilar chases the men to a hotel, transforms into Goldface, and recovers the money. The villain escalates by targeting Perera's daughter Pamela—first sabotaging her motorcycle in a race, then attacking her during waterskiing. Goldface thwarts both attempts, even deploying a borrowed radio-controlled toy plane loaded with explosives to destroy the assassins' boat. The Cobra, furious and exposed, kills his own henchmen. The scheme ultimately reveals itself as Matthews's insurance fraud, culminating in a helicopter chase and Goldface's triumphant return to the ring.

Cast & Supporting Ensemble

Espartaco Santoni headlines the film in the dual role of Dr. Vilar and the masked wrestler Goldface, a performance that anchors both the laboratory scenes and the high-flying action sequences. The supporting cast includes Evi Marandi as Olga, Pamela's friend during the beach attack, and Micaela Pignatelli as Pamela herself, the daughter of millionaire Perera who becomes the Cobra's primary target. Attilio Severini plays Pamela's Assassin, a role that would later place him at the center of the film's most dangerous stunt. Beyond these credited performers, the production drew on various professional wrestlers to populate the cast, reinforcing the film's central wrestling-ring conceit. Other characters woven through the plot include Goldface's assistant Kotar, police Captain Claridge, Cobra's right-hand agent Number 2, and Perera's administrator Gunner, who serves as the villain's inside man. This ensemble of wrestlers, actors, and character roles gives the film a deliberately crowded, pulp-serial energy.

Release & the Helicopter Stunt

Goldface, the Fantastic Superman first hit Italian screens in 1967. Its Spanish release came considerably later, on 18 September 1971, under the shortened title Goldface, where it drew 522,832 admissions—a respectable figure for a mid-tier exploitation import. One of the film's most memorable production anecdotes involves the climax scene, which the Venezuelan producers staged as a public spectacle, inviting press and television crews to witness the shooting. In that sequence, Attilio Severini is suspended from a helicopter and dropped into the sea. When the camera captured the moment he hit the water, several motorboats drifted into the frame. Rather than reshoot, Albertini had his crew simply zoom in on the action to crop the boats out of the final cut. Meanwhile, the production manager dispatched boats to retrieve Severini from the water, a precaution made urgent because the sea around the location was teeming with barracudas.

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