Superman (1978)
Heralded by some as the greatest superhero film of all time, Superman is an epic befitting a legendary, larger-than-life comic book deity. No easy feat for a character so well-known and revered by millions the world over, but director Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon, The Goonies) pulls it off with barely a hitch. It’s the film that would make the previously unknown Christopher Reeve (The Remains of the Day, Somewhere in Time) a star, who delivers all of the looks, grace, charm and, yes, vulnerability you could ever want in a Superman. A surprise in many ways, Superman isn’t just a good comic book adaptation, it’s darned good storytelling, taking its time in the necessary character development to make us care about the man and his need to help humanity. It’s not just a guy who can fly — he’s the embodiment of Americana, born into proper Midwest values, fighting for truth, justice and the American way.
The film starts on a distant, dying planet, where its imminent destruction causes a renowned scientist (Brando, The Godfather) to send his only son to Earth to survive, thrive and grow up. On Earth, he will embody superhuman strength, near invulnerability, and the ability to fly, which he tries to keep under wraps so he won’t be treated as different. He is adopted by the Kents, a couple of good-natured farmers, who instill their heartland values in the boy. Yet, destiny awaits young Clark Kent (as the boy is known), so he heads to the city of Metropolis (a Metropolis that has New York City landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and Grand Central Station, mind you) to live a dual life: that of Clark Kent,the reporter for the Daily Planet, and that of Superman, the fighter of crime and savior of humanity. While there, he meets an attractive fellow reporter, Lois Lane (Kidder, Black Christmas), who develops a crush on the Superman side of him, while hardly giving the Clark Kent the time of day. Meanwhile, the diabolical master-villain, Lex Luthor (Hackman, Unforgiven), hatches a plot that will see millions perish for his own profit and pleasure, and only one man can stop him — but can he do it in time?
Due to the amount of material that screenwriter Mario Puzo put into his original script, which was turned in at a reported three-hundred pages in length, Superman was originally slated to be the first part of a two-part movie, with both parts filmed concurrently, with an ending that had originally been meant as the conclusion of the second part, to be released the following year. The Salkinds, who had purchased the 25-year rights to make Superman films for a $3 million price, used the back-to-back film-making technique in their prior venture when they made The Three Musketeers and its follow-up, The Four Musketeers, simultaneously to success, though the production on Superman still ballooned in budget astronomically as the shoot progressed, especially as the second film brought in a new director, Richard Lester, to replace an increasingly belligerent-about-his-ideas Richard Donner, who himself was a replacement for the originally attached Guy Hamilton (who would not shoot in England due to a desire to avoid taxes there), that necessitated extensive re-shoots and new script directions.
Though Christopher Reeve might seem today as the natural choice to play Superman, the makes originally wanted a big-name star attached, with reported looks at Burt Reynolds, and, if you can believe it, a hodgepodge of just about every big leading man performers, a la Ryan O’Neal, James Caan, Charles Bronson, Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Sylvester Stallone, Warren Beatty, Nick Nolte, Kris Kristofferson, Neil Diamond(?!), Bruce Jenner, and the man who would end up being cast as one of Superman II‘s villains, Terrence Stamp. A lanky Reeve ended up winning out thanks to a strong screen test, of course, though he was ordered to immediately start a bodybuilding regiment to bulk up to twenty more pounds of muscle to his upper torso. (David Prowse, the man who wore the Darth Vader costume in Star Wars, was tagged to be the trainer).
Meanwhile, a similar cycle of actresses were considered for Lois Lane, including Stockard Channing, Lesley Ann Warren, Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon. Eventually, Margot Kidder was considered late in the casting phase to replace the tentative pick of Anne Archer, mostly because she seemed to connect with the light tone of her character and the plucky banter that the comedic aspects of her interplay with Superman inspired. Gene Hackman, who mostly scoffed at playing in a comic book movie initially, took home a sizable fee for his role as Lex Luthor, though he despised having to shave his mustache, and absolutely refused to shave his head for the role, eventually agreeing, reluctantly, to wear a bald-cap for one scene to keep him in keeping with the traditional look of the character.
For those with more religious perceptions in mind, what started out in the comics as an origin story with parallels to Moses (the creators of Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, were Jewish), is now transformed into a distinctly Christian narrative, where the power father “of the Heavens” sends his only son to Earth (in a vessel that resembles a Christmas tree ornament) to become the savior of humanity with his seemingly god-like powers. As with Jesus, Kent doesn’t take up his Superman identity and become a savior until his adulthood. The miracle worker once known as Kal-el cannot lie, even if he misleads quite often (especially in his alter ego, Clark Kent), and cannot stand to see the evil that certain men do without action.
The inclusion of Superman’s origin in Krypton is a fascinating one, as, in this day and age, such things would be truncated on the notion that audiences would grow impatient for taking an hour for Superman to appear in his cape and do the things we all associate with his legend. The scenes on Krypton and of Clark growing up are paced well, and are devoid of some of the bad attempts at humor that mar many of the scenes that take place as we follow Clark Kent and Lex Luthor in Metropolis. The less of the main plot, the better the film is, as a land grab is not very interesting or very plausible, as Lex Luthor schemes to make the cheap Central California desert land worth more by destroying the coastline through an induced earthquake, but he likely would have been caught immediately and sentenced to the death penalty, given that the missiles were obviously stolen and launched by a bad guy, and the fact that he bought all of the land just before would be a dead giveaway of his culpability. Or, perhaps he wants to be caught, which may explain why he goes out of his way to draw in Superman to explain his plan in full, and, essentially, make it much easier for it to become unraveled.
Probably the biggest thing I dislike about Superman are the corny jokes and sometimes silly slapstick elements that are sprinkled throughout as comic relief. Mostly, these occur whenever Lex Luthor is on screen, as he has two less-than-brilliant sidekicks, Otis and Miss Teschmaker, played by Ned Beatty (Silver Streak) and Valerie Perrine (What Women Want), that are totally unnecessary, and quite counterproductive to the plotting of the film. They take you away from the moment, from the direness of the perilous situations. Even with millions of lives hanging in the balance, it’s just hard to take any of it very seriously, though, in this day and age, we have seen a number of actual people with buffoons personality scheme to gain power, including heads of state. (Not naming names here, but it’s easy to think of a couple).
One nitpick I have always had for the film is the inner dialogue for Lois Lane in the romantic flying sequence with her and Superman. Originally, we were supposed to hear a song sung by Kidder called, “Can You Read My Mind?”, but Donner felt it didn’t work, and opted for the dialogue to be spoken as a romantic poem. It’s still, to this day, my least favorite scene, though I will acknowledge that the attempt is admirable as something not typically done in films up to that point, and rarely since. Still, it must be one of the most-skipped scenes in DVD history among many Superman fans like me.
Some people might gripe about the dated special effects, but it must be remembered that these were considered state-of-the-art effects in 1978. If you can suspend your disbelief and just consider the intent of the effects instead, you’ll be rewarded with a well-done story and immensely thrilling action. Sure, there are quite a few logic loopholes (Jimmy Olson (McClure, Back to the Future)) and Lois Lane happening to be in the middle of the action where disasters are taking place defy belief), questionable physics (Supes uses his arm and body as replacement for a missing railroad track that surely would have still resulted in a derailment), and even some events that completely contradict all scientific rationale (including an event in the finale in which Superman performs an act to try to save the life of one person that, in reality, would have killed everyone on Earth), but hey, it is a comic book movie, after all. The main thing to take away from the moment is that Superman truly loves Lois above all else, and that he values the words of his stepfather to be a help to humanity over the admonition of his biological father to not interfere with the course of human events. Sitting back and taking it all in as a fantasy spectacle with visual metaphors is perhaps the best approach for maximum entertainment value.
From the screenplay by Mario Puzo (The Godfather), the red-hot writer who agreed to do the work for $350k and 5% of the profits (though his original tome of a screenplay went through several waves of rewrites due to deviating too much from the source material — they kept Puzo’s screenwriting credit to sell the movie, even though most accounts are that Tom Mankiewicz (Mother Jugs & Speed), credited as creative consultant, ended up drafting the final script in order to remove the rampant campiness brought in by revisions done by Bonnie and Clyde‘s David Newman and his wife Leslie), to John Williams (Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark) score, this is top-notch entertainment all of the way, chock-full of classic memorable scenes.
If you’re a fan, or even if you’ve never heard of Superman before (it’s hard to imagine!), this is a terrific epic film that seems to get better with age — probably because it is about the characters and not the special effects, like so many blockbusters are today. Like Spider-Man did for a more modern generation, Superman showed that heroes aren’t born from brute strength and superhuman abilities alone. They are our heroes because they use these powers for what’s good and right, and as strong as they might be, their physical prowess pales in comparison to the strength of their morals and convictions.
— Followed by Superman II, Superman III, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. A spin-off, Supergirl, was released in 1984. The series would pick up again in 2006 with Superman Returns. Rebooted in 2013 with Man of Steel.
Qwipster’s rating: A
MPAA Rated: PG for violence, some sensuality, and mild language
Running Time: 143 min. (extended version that had originally been created for two-night television airings runs 188 minutes)
Cast: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Marlon Brando, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Glenn Ford, Valerie Perrine, Phyllis Thaxter, Marc McClure
Director: Richard Donner
Screenplay: Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, Robert Benton