Welcome to a very special site about that First Great Fantasy from Alexander and Ilya Salkind --- Superman: The Movie!
By now, you all know the story and the legends regarding the Man of Steel. Indeed, it's been close to a quarter of a century now since that incredible December 15th, 1978, when this incredible journey into the complete history (and beyond) of the Man of Steel first began inspiring legions of fans from all over the world who sought to believe that a man can fly. Now, they can again --- with the help of the Special Edition DVD.
But of course, as with all things about movies, in the end, it's the story told in the movie that matters above all else; and, accordingly, this site is dedicated to taking on that story. Our principal source for Superman: The Movie --- The Richard Washington Site has been the plot synopsis of the film, as originally prepared by my colleague Hiphats for the Superman 60/20 Celebration pages, with contributions from Bill Williams. Here, I've adapted and slightly juxtaposed the text to include complete sequences, with dialogue in more than a few cases taken verbatim from the film itself.
Using the same format I developed while constructing my other big Salkind movie site --- KringleQuest.com --- I've divided this plot synopsis into segments, each with its own distinctive subtitle. The attempt here has been to get as close to the movie as possible without glossing over the gory details in any way.
The ultimate goal of this Superman: The Movie page is to allow the majority of you Superman fans out there to relive some measure of the tale, if you have not yet seen the DVD; or experienced it on television. That said, I hope that I haven't taken on more than I can handle. After all, telling the tale of the Man of Steel's first big movie adventure is quite a challenge. I only hope I'm up to it.
There is, as always, the usual disclaimer thing to deal with, so let's get that out of the way before we go any further: SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE --- Motion Picture, Story & Screenplay: (c) 1978, 2002 Film Export AG. Special Edition DVD Material: (c) 2001, 2002 Warner Bros. SUPERMAN and all titles, characters and other related elements are trademarks of DC Comics, Inc. TMs & (c) 1978-2002 DC Comics, Inc. All rights reserved. This site is not intended for commercial use; and no material herein may be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the copyright holders.
Finally, as I did with KringleQuest, let me say again, as so many others have said in the past, that if it were not for the efforts of the members of Team Salkind, Superman: The Movie would not be possible. I can only add that, since we lost Alexander Salkind himself almost 10 years ago, the Web has been flooded with all sorts of information about his life and legacy. That has largely been the result of the efforts of folks like Hiphats, GandAlf DC, and --- to some extent --- myself. We all saw this film when we were kids. So many years later, its magic simply refuses to leave us. For my part, I'm just thankful that that magic never left me to begin with!
So that's your Introduction, folks. We've just finished the Prologue and Super-credits. Now, let's begin the adventure!
Fearlessly yours,
Richard