Captain America (1979)

To watch this era of Captain America on the surface without context of the time in which it was produced is a travesty, I think of Bob Dylan's song :The times they are A changin" a very generalized lyrical song that became an anthem for social change. the song itself can be interpreted to represent many did things but remains a song of bringing an awareness to what is going on around and what is taking place in the most vaguest sense. 
When Stan Lee took over the writing of Captain America  from Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1964. It was well after the conclusion of the second world war, having that particular archetypal character at that point was irrelevant and unfavorable which was why the initial run ended and was dormant for about ten years.

  So in issue 4 of the Avengers, marvel comics recon his origin and many of the unpopular propaganda and social satirical liberties Timely comics drafted of this character and made him a man out of time. Stan Lee literally thawed him out of the ice age to a new era, from a simple patriotic solider sent out to protect his country from outside evil to  seeing evil  be done onto themselves and from within the branches of government who was designed to help. Stan Lee created relevance to a hero who stood a mirror to society and pointed out the trappings we have fallen into from a person who had an untarnished moral compass.

Captain America (1979) is hero of his time, The American military was not heavily favored by the people now at the end of Vietnam war and country was in a grip of A-changin, a reoccurrence of the OPEC crisis was gripping the world and in 1980  began the recession.  Similar to president Obama, the 39th president Jimmy Carter took office in January 1979 and inherited an economic downturn, an energy crisis, an escalating cold war with the Soviet Union and milieu of problems. So to have Captain America a war hero waving the flag and saying America the good would be ill conceived especially  on the second day in office when Carter drafted  an executive order of amnesty for Vietnam war era draft evaders.  That draft took place two days after the release of Captain America 1979.
So the outliers of the film are the following, there is no super villain but a wealthy man looking to make more money in range of 1.4 Billion in gold, he is represented in the form of a business company - Andreas oil company.  Our hero is a reluctant hero, an honorably discharged marine, who grew up at west point academy, and was done with that life, Steve Rogers in this carnation just wants to drive along the coast of California and enjoy life, sticking to his talent as an artist sketching beautiful coastal scenery and people.  We learn he is the son of the original Captain America, and possess the genetic markers that would grant him the same abilities of his father should he want it. His answer right out of the gate is to reject the idea and any further service to his service country, the villains are aware of him being captain America but don't want the research formula to make a super soldier, they just want money.  They want possession of a neutron bomb and seek the plans to create it. The villains only interest towards Steve  is that  he may know the location of those plans.

On the surface of watching the movie its reminiscent to Captain America 1944, you can say it might be connected because Steve Rogers' father would be of the time of Captain America 1944.  A man not of the war but a man who fought people of social injustices and they ridiculed him  by naming him captain America for his ideals. The film aired on CBS, and was a made for television movie, its writers, director, cinematographer and crew were all seasoned tradesmen working in television. Their general credentials were working on shows like the Six Million Dollar Man, Gunsmoke, Fantasy Island, and Mannix.

So the upbeat musical score, crane shots and helicopter shots was very familiar to its time.  Filming at night posed the problems at that time as detailed visibility was lost in many shows who shot sequences during that period. The movie itself was meant as an origin story, and further adventures of Captain America would come in November of that same year as a two part one hour episodes where actor Reb Brown would return as the main character and wear the outfit more often and perform more of the Evil Knievel motorcycle type stunts. Which was the what the young fan base really gravitated  to at the time, and enjoyed its toy marketing.