(Photo Credit: Mubi)
Fans have received several versions of their favorite jolly green giant over the years, but for many viewers over a certain age, the Hulk will always be two people: Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. Two halves that make a whole, Dr. Bruc—er—Dr. David Banner, who was the focus of a hit 1978 show, a program that was arguably Marvel’s first real success in bringing their iconic characters to live-action. After five seasons of running from reporters and law enforcement, then a few years of rest, the character was brought back into the light with three made-for-television movies, and an ambitious idea to use them to introduce more characters ripe for their own outings on the small screen. The middle feature tries to give audiences a new type of adventure for Banner, offering heartbreak and justice while putting him up against a more notable villain, as we witness The Trial of the Incredible Hulk.
That title is incredibly misleading, but this is still worth talking about.
One second, this piano theme gets me every time…ngh, okay, I’m good now.
The plot picks up with Banner, under the alias of David Belson (he’s not good with fake names), working jobs that pay cash and staying on the move, but people are always pushing this nerd around. Even though we see the good doctor doesn’t have his anger completely under control, he decides to head to a large unnamed city – because that sounds like a great idea for someone with a raging monster inside them – and even gets on a subway, which other Hulk movies have informed us is a horrible idea. While there, two criminals, fresh off of a heist, are pumped up from the action and one of the creeps looks like he’s about to commit a little sexual assault before Hulk interferes. However, Banner is arrested and the woman he tried to save, Ellie Mendez (Marta DuBois), says that her good Samaritan was the attacker. Enter one Matt Murdock, the attorney who knows that Banner is innocent and the men involved work for none other than Wilson Fisk, the guy that is never referred to as Kingpin, but it’s totally him. Can the two heroes clear David’s name, save the girl, and do this whole team-up thing without having to fight first?
Airing on NBC, the movie ran for around an hour and forty minutes, but it honestly feels longer without the commercials to break things up. The story is solid on paper, especially the first half, but the bigger problems are with what is promised in the title. Hulk is never on trial, Banner is only arrested and held in prison, but the one scene that takes place in a courtroom is a dream that actually annoys the creature enough to transform and break out of his confinement, unaware that his bunkmate botched an assassination attempt on his life earlier. It is a cool scene, even if it didn’t happen, as the excellent tension builds and Hulk bursts out and tears up the room. It’s also where Stan Lee makes his first live-action cameo. Hulk never makes his court date, and he takes a serious backseat in the third act to our other hero.
We are introduced to Matt Murdock quite early in this film and it is clear that this isn’t simply a glorified cameo or guest spot for Daredevil, but an effort to truly share the screen. The beginning feels more Hulk-focused, with the second half certainly Daredevil’s time to go through some drama and shine because, like Thor’s appearance in the previous movie, this was another blatant attempt at a backdoor pilot. The Man Without Fear is played by Rex Smith, an actor with an interesting career who was even considered for the lead role in 1989’s Batman. He does a serviceable job as the Daredevil character, delivers some decent one-liners that could have fallen flat, and pulls a little bit of emotion from the scenes, especially when acting opposite Bixby. I especially love his line, “I was sighted until I was 14. I remember green,” and then we see that his sonar vision comes across in that same color, almost RoboCop-esque, making what seemed like an awkward statement feel very important to him.
The origin they give him is close to what readers expect, other than how they clumsily shoehorned in the name coming from his police captain ally. I like that we see the “Daredevil Rulez” graffiti to show that he’s been doing this for a while, and many in the city support his vigilante activities. Here he has an all-black suit that could have used a red “DD” on the chest, but it must have been a good call because the comics would use it soon after, though Stan Lee wasn’t a fan of the mask, believing it essentially told the villains he was blind. There’s no Foggy Nelson or Karen Paige, but Murdock does have a partner in Christa Klein (Nancy Everhard, who was also in The Punisher that same year) and an assistant named Al Pettiman (Richard Cummings Jr.), as well as Turk (Mark Acheson) also popping in from the comics.
Not long after viewers meet Murdock we are also introduced to the villain, Wilson Fisk, played by John Rhys-Davies, who shows some effort with the role, coming off as menacing in a couple of scenes, and who even offered to shave his head for the part once he learned what Kingpin looked like in the comics. I truly love this opening robbery scene he’s overseeing, but question his choice of personnel and hiring practices. Fisk is often seen with fancy techno-glasses, he loves a good wall of televisions and giant screens, like any ‘80s big bad. It’s very of the time, but kind of amazing when he isn’t coming across as a voyeuristic porn director. We’re given a good show of his power over the city, mostly with threats, witness tampering, and having agents everywhere, but in the end, we see his bid to consolidate crime and be the head of the table, so for as off as the character might look or feel, they were heading in the right direction. Everything was going well until Fisk made his escape in a hovercraft that looked like a prototype version of the Fantasticar.
This was the first live-action outing for Daredevil and Fisk, so it’s a shame that we didn’t get to see Hulk fight alongside and against them, respectively. There are good action moments in this, mostly involving people being thrown into things, but the real strength is the interactions between Murdock and Banner, seeing them relate as two very different people who genuinely have a lot in common and help each other with overcoming their personal issues. I did think Murdock revealing his secret identity so soon, just to get Banner to trust him, wasn’t earned, but it kept the story rolling. The only truly weird moment between them was Banner being so confident about his skills as a doctor again that he barely glances at Murdock’s eyes before saying, nope, those can’t be fixed, even though he’s spent a decade plus working on cures for his own radiation-based problem.
Kenneth Johnson, the creator of the original television show, didn’t appreciate comic books and worked to keep things as grounded as he could considering the subject matter, down to even changing Banner’s name from Bruce to David (because it was too homosexual-sounding or due to alliteration screaming comics, you decide) but this film was directed by actor Bill Bixby (a real-life alliterative name) and was certainly more of something in between. At times, this story feels down to Earth, like a gritty cop show, but it has moments that look to be right out of the funny pages, especially toward the end. In that regard, it’s a decent look at what the show might have looked like with a strong comic focus and without Johnson at the helm.
Without an actual trial and with so much Daredevil, it isn’t hard to think that there may have been wildly different versions of this script beforehand, but that doesn’t seem to have been the case. The biggest change looked to have come from not having one of the show’s staples, Jack Colvin, return as reporter Jack McGee, due to health issues. These three made-for-tv projects were also apparently produced quickly and were always meant to not only bring back people who liked The Incredible Hulk, but also be used as vehicles for introducing other heroes, so calling this film that was more to favor the inclusion of the Murdock character. Should have just called it Hulk & Daredevil or something, it’s working for Deadpool & Wolverine currently. Many factors played into the Thor and Daredevil shows not getting off the ground, including CBS buying out Smith’s contract so that The Flash (1990) would have less competition, but had things gone differently and financial factors also not come up soon afterward, there were plans to try and incorporate She-Hulk, Iron Man, and even Spider-Man into future projects.
The Trial of the Incredible Hulk was up against some tough competition when it aired and still managed to do decent ratings, garnering praise from fans, but it wasn’t quite what the studio was hoping for. The writing itself wasn’t horrible, but some of the dialogue is questionable, aside from a few sweet lines that I attribute more to the actors, combine that with the cheesy music and it isn’t hard to see why some people are quick to dismiss this one. Sure, it was made for the small screen, but there were a few excellent shots of the city (Vancouver) and it’s the first time fans got to see the Hulk wearing his iconic purple pants in live-action. It also answers the question (at least for this show): if Banner has a beard and transforms, does Hulk keep it, too? But some people think this is a production goof and are quite bothered by it. The DVD cover is also wonderful, and that home video version re-ads some small bits that were cut from the original broadcast, mostly in the UK. The courtroom scene is no longer trimmed down, and the British government really did not want their citizens to know that butterfly knives existed for some reason.
The Trial of the Incredible Hulk is not amazing, but it is fun, mostly for people who enjoyed the original show. In fact, if we look at this like an extended episode, it is arguably one of Hulk’s better and more comic book-inspired adventures, just one where he decided to take a step back and let someone else do most of the heavy lifting.
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