3 Supermen Against the Godfather (Italian: 3 supermen contro il padrino, Turkish: Süpermenler) is a superhero film directed by Italo Martinenghi.
Plot
A German professor (Ali Şen) constructs a time machine and decides to experiment with it in Turkey. He discovers where the Byzantines hid their treasury during the Fall of Constantinople. After this success becomes known, the mafia and world powers fight for the ownership of the time machine. The boss of the mafia wants to find his lost heroin and the world powers want to rule their enemies via the machine. Murat (Cüneyt Arkın) and the other "Süpermenler", a band of three detective superheroes, come to the aid of the German scientist and manage to save the world in the end.
The time between when Italo Martinenghi directed The 3 Supermen in the West and 3 Supermen Against the Godfather was a time of backlash within the Italian film industry.[1] With the rising popularity of television in Italy ticket, box office fell from 455 million to 374 million from 1976 and 1977.[1][2] In 1979, this had diminished further to 276 million.[2] This led to some filmmakers in Italy to move their productions to Turkey where they could create b-movies for less demanding and more enthusiastic audiences.[2]
The film cast Aldo Canti who had starred in previous 3 Supermen films, Turkish actor Cüneyt Arkın, and Aldo Sambrell as the godfather who also co-produced the film with his Spanish company Asbrell.[2]
Release
3 Supermen Against the Godfather was released in Turkey in 1979[citation needed] and in Italy in 1980.[2] Italian film historian described its release as "practically never distributed" and that it was a film that only surfaced on home video about a quarter of a century later.[2] The film was followed by two sequels: Three Supermen at the Olympic Games (1984) and Three Supermen in S. Domingo (1986).[3]
Curti, Roberto (2016). Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN978-1-936168-60-6.
