Sammy's Super T-Shirt (1978) User Reviews

70s kids classic

[anakaday · 7/10 · 28 May 2014]

I loved this film when I was 5 years old. They took the school on a trip to the movies. Very English. I liked the sound effects. I used to dream of having a super T-shirt. I managed to find the full movie on You Tube. Still worth the watch 35 years later.

Sammy's Tiger T-shirt made its way into a factory where a man was carrying out experiments on textiles to make them indestructible. Sammy and his friend sneak into the lab and try to get the shirt back. They accidentally set off the machine. The shirt gets zapped by radiation that gives it superpowers. Sammy and his friend escape but the men from the factory chase after them and try to get the shirt back.

Aaah, childhood memories and nostalgia

[nickjstone · 6/10 · 9 October 2006]

Created by the Children's Film Foundation (remember the pigeons taking off in Trafalgar Square on the intro credits?), Sammy's Super T-Shirt was just one of the cheesy kids flicks aired by the Beeb on Friday afternoons in the Seventies and Eighties.

This film was all the more memorable to me as it was shot around my local area. The cinder athletics track where the grand finale takes place was where I too competed in district championships while at school (although I would have benefited from Sammy's Tiger power and the ability to speed up the film to make me run faster!).

And the creepy house where Sammy gets kidnapped was known as Murphy's Mansion. Run down and dilapidated after its appearance in the film, it was home to many figments of kids' lively imaginations - killer tramps living in tunnels, murdered children haunting rooms, zombies lurking in the woods. Naturally it was the mecca for any adventurous child, and could only be accessed by swinging precariously over a river from a boarded-up bridge or by climbing over fences and running through back gardens.

It's long been knocked down and replaced by bog-standard new houses - not quite the same really. And the same goes for the pigeons at Trafalgar Square - where are they now?

Great 1970's tv movie. Bit silly but real fun.

[mendes105 · 20 July 2003]

A young boy has his faviorate t-shirt accidently electricuted giving him special super powers when he wears it. It helps him overcome bullies and win some running races, but when the t-shirt loses its power he has to belive in himself to win the final important race. Very silly and dated but great fun. A little predictable and very simialr to Teen Wolf 1 and 2 however i watched this film when i was very young because of the tiltle but it soon became one of my faviorates. I wish i could see it again but the chances of that seem very slim now. post me if anyone see's it.

Incredible

[mrbakasan · 10/10 · 21 August 2005]

For about the past 10 years I have been trying to figure out whether this was a real movie or just something I imagined when I was very little. After hours spent on the internet, I found that dozens of other people remember the same things about this movie that I did. It's about some kid that gets powers from a shirt with a tiger on it and races. I really want to see this movie again, seeing as I remember basically nothing about it, but I gave it a 10 out of 10 just for actually existing. I really hope that it will eventually get a release on VHS or DVD! For those interested it does have its own website (the URL I don't remember) but the site is really great.

Rather silly with abysmal special effects

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 26 April 2020]

This is a poor effort from the Children's Film Foundation.The usual kids v villains fighting for possession of a magical t shirt.I can't imagine the children who watched this will have been impressed by the cheesy special effects.

Loved this as a kid

[sjstobo22 · 9/10 · 8 November 2019]

First of all anyone wanting to see this treasure again the full movie is on YouTube I'm currently watching it. I remember watching this in the 80's and like most people I thought I'd dreamt it only to find it and realising it was after all real. I totally wanted that t shirt myself. Bit outdated now but still fun to watch

I do remember

[bungle2112 · 9/10 · 20 August 2006]

I used to love this movie, and would equally love to see it again. When I was in the 1st grade (1979-1980), my school's t-shirt had a lion's face on the front as our mascot. I used to constantly pretend that it WAS Sammy's super t-shirt. The only thing I couldn't do was run backwards, like the skid that stole it in the movie and put it on backwards. I don't remember too much of it since I haven't seen it in the last 25 years or so, but I just remember as a kid being totally into it. It was 70's kid television at it's best. Anyway, if anyone is interested in selling a copy, I'd be all about logging into PayPal to make it happen.

A family legend

[john_aalsmeer · 10/10 · 6 December 2011]

My son loved this movie so much, we had to make a Sammy's Super T-Shirt for him to wear, involving freeze-framing it on the VHS player, copying the picture, then reproducing it on a white t-shirt using wash-proof clothing dyes. He loved it. Why is the movie so good? It is a children's movie, made to capture the imagination of children and demonstrating that within each of us there is an ability to succeed if the effort is put in (which may not be true, but, hey, you'll never know if you don't try). Sammy is no different to Raiders of the Lost Ark, except for budget. You may say this is ridiculous, but I saw the looks on my son's and his friend's faces as they watched a movie made for them. Target market - a 100% hit.

Fantastic

[jchivers74 · 19 August 2006]

I'm so happy to learn the title of this movie. I remember it being shown to our elementary school in the 80s when we'd a have special movie day in the gymnasium where all grades got to watch. I thought I recalled it being a projected movie, but if it was a TV movie, then it must have just been something one of the teachers recorded and played back on the "giant silver top loading VCR." Same as a poster up above, I wasn't even sure I had really seen this or imagined it. The movies that stick in my mind from elementary school viewings are Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Disney's Ichabod Crane, the Pippi Longstocking movies (I had no idea as a child that she was poorly dubbed) and now that I know the name, Sammy's Super T-shirt.

Action-packed comedy concoction

[Leofwine_draca · 9/10 · 26 November 2018]

SAMMY'S SUPER T-SHIRT is one of the most enjoyable Children's Film Foundation movies I've watched yet. It's a fast-paced, action-packed comedy concoction with bits of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT added to the mix. The young protagonist is a fitness proponent whose t-shirt is accidentally given super powers, allowing him to outwit school bullies and various bumbling adult characters after him. This is a groovy slice of '70s fun complete with kitchen sink atmosphere, GRANGE HILL-style camaraderie, and some nice cameos from character actors including Marianne Stone, Michael Ripper, and Patsy Rowlands. The film contains simple but fun special effects and some quirky moments, and is oh-so-British in feel.