Fresh from the police academy, Dave Speed (Terence Hill) is sent to deliver a parking ticket to a member of a tiny Native American village in the Florida Everglades. Unbeknownst to him, the U.S. government and NASA are planning a secret radiation test, firing a nuclear missile loaded with red plutonium into the evacuated village. After Dave arrives, he is struck by the blast and survives long enough to return to civilization. His tale of having come this close to the explosion is met with wide-eyed amazement by many, but dismissed by Sergeant Willy Dunlop (Ernest Borgnine), his partner and longtime friend.
Back in the world of civilians, Dave discovers he has awakened a broad range of superhuman abilities: super reflexes and speed, incredible endurance, immense strength, telekinesis, precognition, intuitive perception, hypnotism, telepathy, invulnerability, and more. Yet these powers are not flawless. At seemingly random moments they shut down, especially whenever he encounters the color red.
As Dave wrestles with his gifts, he stumbles onto a counterfeit-money operation run by a local businessman named Torpedo (Marc Lawrence) and his alluring mistress, Rosie Labouche (Joanne Dru). The scheme pulls Dave into a dangerous clash of crime and ambition, but he is not alone in this struggle. An old retired magician named Silvius (Herb Goldstein) has become accidentally entangled in Torpedo’s plot and is now being hunted by Torpedo’s henchmen. When Dave witnesses Silvius’s peril, he steps in to intervene, using the moment to learn a troubling truth from Silvius: his powers—remarkable as they are—are nullified whenever he sees the color red.
With his secret now out in the open, Dave confides in Dunlop and Evelyn (Julie Gordon), Dunlop’s niece and Dave’s girlfriend. Evelyn’s reaction is complicated; she admires Dave’s abilities but wonders about the risks of living with a man whose talents feel almost otherworldly. Dunlop, meanwhile, worries about the practicalities of presenting such powers in court, while Evelyn’s feelings wobble between awe and fear.
Tensions rise when Dave and Dunlop infiltrate Torpedo’s clubhouse. Dave stages a ruse with Dunlop dancing with Rosie while he poses as a crooked cop eager for a cut of the winnings. Under a subtle spell of hypnotism, he coaxes Torpedo into revealing the location of his printing facility: the fishing trawler Barracuda. But in a turn of misfortune, Dunlop inadvertently reveals Dave’s abilities to Rosie, heightening the danger around them.
Armed with the new information, Dave and Dunlop sail out to sea to reach the Barracuda. Dunlop boards alone and discovers the printing press and a cache of counterfeit money, but he’s knocked unconscious by Torpedo’s men, locked in a freezer, and the trawler is sunk to erase the evidence. Back on land, Dave faces arrest at police headquarters on a trumped-up murder charge, and Rosie makes sure his world stays colored by red to prevent any escape from prison.
Dave’s powers, tested against the gallows and a string of execution attempts, pull him through death row. He breaks free, dives into the sea, and makes for the Barracuda. He finds Dunlop aboard, alive but frozen, and uses an inventive bubblegum balloon to lift them both toward safety. Word spreads that Torpedo and Rosie are planning to flee with Evelyn as their hostage, so Dave closes in by leaping onto their amphibian aircraft and steering it toward an awaiting police airfield.
With Dunlop now convinced of Dave’s powers, he sacrifices a moment of pride by leaping off the balloon, trusting Dave to save him. In a dramatic last-minute rescue, Dave catches Dunlop as they plunge toward the earth and rocket back to the city. The city is abuzz with the near-miraculous rescue, and the pair prepare to face what’s next together. In a final twist of resolve, Evelyn, still unsure about a super-powered husband, asserts her own will by dyeing her hair red, signaling that she’s ready to embrace whatever the future holds—with or without fear.
The tale of Daredevil courage, unlikely heroism, and stubborn friendship unfolds with a blend of action, humor, and human warmth. Across the wild sequence of near-disasters and improbable escapes, the film keeps its eye on the bonds between Dave, Dunlop, Rosie, Torpedo, Silvius, and Evelyn, weaving a story that is as much about trust and choice as it is about extraordinary powers and the strange color that can both empower and confine a man.
