(1978)
In December of 1978 I was 9 years old. One of my older sisters
took me and our younger sister to see the movie in New York City. I can
still remember the reaction of the audience the first time we see Christopher
Reeve as Superman. There was a jubilant applause. Few fictional characters
can evoke such a response. The film starts at the planet Krypton
where Jor-El (Marlon Brando) launches his infant son into a space craft
to Earth moments before the planet explodes. On Earth the child is raised
by the midwestern couple Jonathan and Martha Kent as their own son. After
his foster father dies of a heart attack, Clark travels to the arctic where
he constructs a fortress of solitude with a data crystal from Krypton.
There he spends the next 12 years learning about his powers and the world
he'll face.
As Clark Kent, he gets a job as a reporter at the
Daily Planet newspaper in Metropolis. His debut as Superman is in saving
Lois Lane (Margo Kidder) after a Helicopter is about to fall off the roof
of the Daily Planet building. Superman's main mission in the rest of the
film is to thwart Lex Luthor's (Gene Hackman) pan to destroy the California
by detonating a nuclear missile in the San Andreas fault.
This is my favorite Super hero film. Like many great
films it works on many levels. When I was young, I liked it for the
action and the humor, as I got a bit older I was able to appreciate it
for it's drama and deeper messages.
Superman is presented here a a classic hero fighting
for "truth justice and the American way". He really does represent classic
american values. He does what he does not because he is still haunted by
a psychological trauma from his youth, but because the people who raised
him taught him those classic midwestern values. It are these values that
make him the hero.
In some ways this is a story of the limits of power.
Early on in the film we see an anguished Clark after his foster father,
Jonathan Kent (played by Glenn Ford), dies and despite all his abilities
he is unable to do anything. Later in the movie, Superman find Lois Lane
dead in the aftermath of an earthquake. This time he he goes back in time
and prevents her from dying.
With a character such as Superman, special effects
played a big part in making the film work. The advertising for the movie
said "You'll believe a man can fly!", and with very few technical problems
aside the flying shots all look wonderful.
No film is perfect, so here are a few of my gripes.
The biggest problem is in some of the shots the blue of his costume looks
green. This is an artifact from the blue screen process. Another effect
problem is in the sequence when Superman is standing on the side of a building.
His cape doesn't drape "down". The only other effect problem with
the film in my book, is the time travel effect. Making the Earth rotate
backwards wouldn't make time go in reverse, but it may cause dramatic geological
changes. One last quibble, the character of Otis is a waste. I assume he
is there for comic relief, but from Reeve's winks at the camera to Lois's
line "You've got me! Whose got you?" the film has plenty of light moments
as it is.
As for cameos check out the scene where the young
Clark is racing the train. Kirk Alyn ( the first actor to play Superman)
and Noel Neil (the first Lois Lane) are the parents in the train of the
child who sees Clark.
Starring: Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Margo Kidder
Directed by: Richard Donner (who later directed the Lethal Weapon movies)
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(1978) IMDB page
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