Hero At Large came out after the superhero movie craze from Superman: The Movie. It features a comedian (John Ritter) as a superhero years before people complained about another comedian being cast as a superhero. It’s a B-Movie at best with a thin plot, weak characters and average dialogue (at best), but it has heart and captures the idea of a superhero better than any big budget movie ever did.

John Ritter is Steve Nichols, an aspiring actor who is barely covering his rent and desperately in love with his next door neighbor. His latest gig is to be one of the many actors to stand outside the Captain Avenger movie in full costume and sign autographs. On his way home, he pops into a corner store for some milk and is in the back of the store when a couple kids come in to rob the place. Steve drops his coat, puts on his mask and makes an entrance that scares off the would-be robbers. Having done his good deed for the day, he goes home and wakes up to find his story all over the news.

With nothing else working for him, Steve decides to search for crime to stop during his night job (as a taxi driver) by monitoring the police band. He stops an escaping car and gets shot in the process, but holds up the robber enough for the police to catch him. Steve returns home to find himself locked out of his apartment and is forced to recover in his neighbors apartment.

Meanwhile the PR firm that hired Steve to do the theater signings realize that it’s one of their actors who is involved. They track down Steve and convince him to stage a fake superhero event to help give the people of New York hope (and help their other account, the mayor, get re-elected). As a pesky news anchor uncovers the truth, Steve becomes a laughing stock of the city at the celebration thrown in his honor.

The movie ends with Steve showing the world what a hero really is and what a hero does. It’s an upbeat and (dare I call it) heroic ending that displays the difference between fake and real heroism. Like I said at the beginning of the review, it’s not a great movie, but it’s a heroic one.