Christopher Reeve Brought the Man of Steel to Life in Superman: The Movie
Written: Oct 11 '07 (Updated Jul 27 '09)
Product Rating:
Pros: Great cast in a very entertaining superhero movie.
Cons: Few corny things.
The Bottom Line: Superman: The Movie made people believe a man could fly and became one of the best superhero movies ever made. It is definitely worth seeing.
Over the years, several different comic book characters have become very popular. In recent years, several movies based on comic books have been released and I've seen most of them at least once. Some have been very good and others have been giant messes. I believe that Superman: The Movie was first really successful movie based on a comic book and it still holds up well today.
On the planet Krypton, Jor-El was instrumental in the conviction of three people who were sentenced to the phantom zone. Soon after that Jor-El was trying to convince the council that the planet was in danger. They wouldn’t listen and even went so far as to threaten him with punishment if he didn’t drop the issue. Jor-El agreed but made plans to send Kal-El, his baby son, away to Earth. Jor-El managed to send his son away just in time. He was found by Jonathan and Martha Kent when he landed on Earth. They took him in and raised him as their son, calling him Clark.
When Clark was older, he discovered something that allowed him to learn about his parents and the planet Krypton. After that, Clark moved to Metropolis where he got a job at The Daily Planet as a reporter working with Lois Lane. Clark made his first appearance as Superman when he rescued Lois and he quickly became very well known. Lex Luthor, who considered himself a great criminal mind, was plotting something that would make him rich. Lex didn’t like all the attention that Superman was receiving and decided to do something about it. He endangered many people, including Lois.
Superman: The Movie was based on the comic books featuring Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Superman became a very popular character leading to him being in various comic books over the years, cartoons, and a live action television show, Adventures of Superman, in the 1950's. I haven’t read the comic books but I do know some basic things about Superman. Based on what I know about the character, it did seem like the movie stayed fairly close to what had been established in the comic books.
Superman: The Movie started off a little slow but that didn’t bother me at all. That time was taken to share important background information that was integral to the overall plot and some of it would even carry into the second movie. I did like that time was taken to show Krypton before it was destroyed and how Jor-El made the decision and planned to send his only son to Earth. Martha and Jonathan were shown finding the baby and deciding to raise him. After that, only a little of Clark’s time in Smallville as a teenager was shown. I really liked that it was shown how he created the fortress of solitude and then spent all that time there learning from the image of his father. After Clark arrived in Metropolis and started working for The Daily Planet, the pace of the movie did pick up.
Once Clark was in Metropolis, it wasn’t that long before he started helping people as Superman. His rescue of Lois was the first thing he did and that got him all kinds of attention. Soon after that he met her and answered all kinds of questions which allowed her to write a very detailed article about him. She even came up with the name of Superman for him. It did seem like it may not have been the smartest for him to reveal so many things, but at that point there was no indication that he had any sort of enemies. Superman did things to help many different people which did help him to become very popular. Complications were added to the movie because Lex saw Superman has a huge threat.
Most of the action took place later in the movie after Clark arrived in Metropolis and started to do things as Superman. The first few scenes dealing with Krypton included a little bit of action when the planet exploded. As the movie progressed, more action was added that helped to keep things moving along and interesting. Superman dealt with different criminals including Lex in a variety of ways. I thought the action scenes were done well. Special effects were used for many things throughout the movie, like making Superman fly. His flying looked very believable. I thought that the special effects were very well done for the time and they have held up well.
I never saw any of the episodes of Adventures of Superman so I don’t know how the material was treated. I don’t think the show was as campy as the Batman television show, but I could be wrong about that. Superman: The Movie took a more serious approach to dealing with the subject. There were a few things here and there, usually connected to something Clark or Lex said or did that added humor in different scenes. The humor worked well without making the movie campy. I like that the movie was more serious and don’t think a sillier or campier version would have worked anywhere as good. Unfortunately the ending did get a bit too silly with how Superman making the Earth revolve the other way actually turned back time. That went just a bit too far, but it didn’t bother me so much that it detracted from my enjoyment of the movie.
The relationship between Lois and Clark/Superman has always been very important overall to the story of Superman even in the original comic books. Superman: The Movie took the time to lay the foundation for their somewhat complicated relationship. It was very clear that Lois was immediately taken with Superman while she sort of dismissed Clark. The connection between her and Superman was there from the beginning. It was easy to see the sexual tension between the characters that they didn’t act on. It didn’t seem like she and Clark spent as much time together though it was established that Clark was very interested in Lois. The relationship was handled well though it would have been nice to see just a bit more interaction between Lois and Clark.
When I recently watched Superman: The Movie, it was the first time I had watched the movie in many years, so I had forgotten several things about the movie. One thing I did forget was exactly how some of the original music created by John Williams sounded. I remembered the main theme music, but that was really it. I knew that some of the original music was used in Superman Returns, but I hadn’t realized exactly how much was included in that movie until I watched this one again. The music fit perfectly with the movie and never detracted or distracted from what was going on.
Clark/Superman was obviously the main focus of the movie. He was in most of the movie as one or the other. Before arriving in Metropolis, he was just shown as Clark even though he did do things with his powers while still in Smallville. For the later scenes in the movie, he did spend more time acting as Superman. He was able to learn things from his father and even interact with him at the fortress of the solitude. That time, along with the way the Kents raised him, greatly impacted the way he decided to live his life by using his power to help people. Christopher Reeve was wonderful in the part, making both sides of the character come to life and be believable. As Clark, Reeve was shy and a little clumsy, the complete opposite of how he was as Superman. Reeve had a different way of talking, standing, and walking as Clark that made it more believable that people didn’t immediately guess he was actually Superman.
Lois Lane has always been an important character in the world of Superman. She was a dedicated journalist who was always going after big stories, hoping to win a Pulitzer even though she spelled horribly. Margot Kidder did handle the part very well though there was something about her in the part that seemed a little off or something. I can’t place my finger on what it was exactly. I do think she handled the part well, making this Lois be a strong character who could stand on her own. She didn’t seem to be stupid even though she wasn’t catching on to the fact that Clark was Superman. She and Reeve worked very well together and had good chemistry.
Lex was a very devious criminal who was obsessed with real estate because of something his father said to him years before. Lex was willing to kill whoever got in his way, including Superman. Lex has been one of Superman’s main villains even in the comic books, so it made sense for him to be the villain in the movie. Gene Hackman was really good in the part, adding humor in some scenes while showing just how cruel and devious Lex could be. Otis was Lex’s bumbling sidekick who kept messing things up. Ned Beatty was good in the part. Eve Teschmacher was involved with Lex. It seemed like she cared more for him than he did for her.
Jonathan and Martha Kent were in very little of the movie. They were shown when they discovered Clark and then shown briefly when Clark was a teenager. Martha was shown just slightly more than Jonathan. Even though they were shown much, it was made clear the impact that they had on Clark and that they were a kind, loving couple. Glenn Ford and Phyllis Thaxter were good in the parts. Jor-El was shown during the first few scenes on Krypton and then again later in a different form once Clark had his fortress of solitude. Marlon Brando worked very well for the part. Lara, Jor-El’s wife, was in even less of the movie.
Perry White was the editor of The Daily Planet. Perry was frequently after his reporters to get big stories especially once Superman turned up. Jimmy Olsen was a young man working for the paper as a photographer. Neither character was developed that much. That didn’t bother me since neither of them were in that much of the movie. The three criminals from Krypton, General Zod, Ursa, and Non were only in the very beginning of the movie. They would go on to play larger and more important parts in the second movie.
Main Cast
Ned Beatty - Otis Marlon Brando - Jor-El Jackie Cooper - Perry White Sarah Douglass - Ursa Jeff East - Young Clark Glenn Ford - Jonathan Kent Margot Kidder - Lois Lane Marc McClure - Jimmy Olsen Jack O’Halloran - Non Valerie Perrine - Eve Teschmacher Christopher Reeve - Clark Kent/Superman Terence Stamp - General Zod Phyllis Thaxter - Martha Kent Susannah York - Lara
Richard Donner - Director
DVD Information
Superman: The Movie was first released on DVD in either 2000 or 2001. It was included as part of a special Ultimate Collector’s Edition DVD set that was released in the fall of 2006. I first heard about that set earlier in 2006 when elvisdo mentioned it in a comment. Once he told me about it, I decided I wanted that set and I finally picked it up early in 2007. The set contains all five of the Superman movies, the extended version of the first movie, the Richard Donner cut of the second movie and hours of extras on fourteen discs. Since I have the Ultimate Collector’s Edition DVD set, I will be mentioning the extras from the set that are connected to the first movie.
I think that some of the extras included in the set I have were on the original DVD release of Superman: The Movie. There were commentaries for the theatrical and expanded versions of the movie. A documentary called Taking Flight: The Development of Superman talked about things connected to getting the movie made, including finding a director and the cast. It was mentioned how an earlier version of the script was very campy and even had Superman meeting popular characters from television shows like Kojack. I don’t think that version would have worked well at all. Once Donner was hired, he had other ideas for how the movie should go and he brought in other screenwriters who agreed that the movie should be more serious instead of campy.
Making Superman: Filming the Legend shared a lot of things from the actual filming of the movie, including how scenes for the second movie were being filmed at the same time. It was very interesting to see how certain things were created for the movie. It was only very briefly mentioned how Richard Donner was replaced as director for the second movie even though he already had the majority of the filming done. The Magic Behind the Cape showed how the effects for the movie were created, including making Superman fly. Several new techniques were created during the filming. I thought the documentaries were very interesting.
The DVD also included what the booklet called restored scenes. A few of them did help to further explain a few things, but they didn’t overly important to me. Different screen tests, showing some of the different people who were considered for the parts, were also included. Some of them were just odd, though that might be because I consider Kidder and Reeve to be Lois and Clark. The set also included additional music clues, a television special on the making of the movie, Superman and the Mole Men, the 1951 feature movie feature George Reeves, and nine Superman cartoons from the 1940's. The set had those other features, including the cartoons and the 1951 movie, connected to the first movie.
Superman: The Movie was a very entertaining movie that has stood the test of time well. Many people consider it to be the best superhero movie ever made. This movie showed how superhero movies should be made.
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