Superman : The Movie (1978)
Dir: Richard Donner (also known for Lethal Weapon, The Goonies)
The age of blockbuster had just begun. Jaws in 1975 chewed a whole new level of movie madness which Star Wars in 1977 blasted to bits. The race was on for the next big movie and then another one after that one after the one before that one. In 1978 Superman landed and the producers knew it would be big. They were so sure that they filmed two movies at once and paid ridiculous amounts for Marlon Brando to appear for minimal work and no requirement to memorize his lines. Finally, with new emerging film effect technology, it was believed that Superman could be pulled off convincingly.
Immediately when you turn on a movie and the kids find out it is going to be about superheroes you become the family superhero. When they find out it is about one of their favorite superheroes (they have non-favorite superheroes?) you really become a leader of superheroes. The squeals of delight were high just from the subject of the film. Also, they had a sense of wonder to finally see the original Superman, “you know, the one with Christopher Reeves that had the horse accident”. Apparently his fight was part of some books on great courage in their 2nd and 3rd grade classes. This added even more anticipation and interest.
Superman starts at the beginning. Actually before the beginning. Way back on Krypton. Marlon Brando tries to save the planet but instead only saves his son. Shot to Earth with enormous amounts of information a young Clark Kent grows up in the fields of Nebraska as an outcast. When his Earth dad dies he leaves to find his inner-self, amidst the Castle of Solitude apparently located under some ice at the North Pole. He is then told his purpose in life from a spectre Marlon Brando hologram. Meanwhile, while Superman is finding himself there is master villain Lex Luthor, played by the always enjoyable Gene Hackman, scheming under the city streets of New Yo.. uh, Metropolis. Ironically, also in Metropolis Superman’s alter-ego Clark Kent runs into fellow reporter Lois Lane at the Daily Planet. She isn’t interested in him despite his advances but she is very interested in that super-being who saved her from the helicopter accident. Yes, the helicopter accident. She gets the privilege of conducting the sole interview with the “Superman” in which she spends most of the time dreaming about him and flying around the sky and he spends spilling all his weaknesses to the printed paper. This information gets to Lex Luthor who plans to use it against him and remove the only power on Earth that could stop his evil plans, Superman. Stealing a couple missiles from the military and devising a fail safe plan (leaving your enemy alive but slowly dying and leaving the room) Luthar hopes to shave off a piece of California to make new beach front property. Little does he know Superman can stop all that AND make time go backwards to save lives. (My daughter exclaimed, “Daddy! He can do that?” and I scholarly replied, “You saw it didn’t you.”)
First of all, this movie clocks in at 2 and a half hours. When you are doing family movie nights with the under 10 crowd knowing how long you may have to remain there and when to get started is important. There is no reason this movie had to be 2 and a half hours. In fact, realistically the whole “Krypton is going to be destroyed” through the “nobody likes me in high school” parts weren’t necessary. It would have been more compelling and better paced to just have it alluded to in some fantastic cinematic technique. Even if you didn’t know the back story you would get that Clark Kent is fumbling and Superman is awesome. That being said, I suppose some young ones could be exposed to the origin story for the first time and, frankly, they want more Superman movie time.
Gene Hackman is good as Lex Luthor. Let me back up a second. One of the legacies of this film franchise is that it legitimized making a “straight” superhero movie. No longer did these muscled marvels have to live in camp but instead could be taken seriously. Ok, back to Lex Luthor and company. While Hackman’s ripping of his completely incompetent sidekicks is at times amusing, let’s face it, it’s campy! And Tim Burton’s Batman? That has camp in it too! Let’s not kid ourselves here people! However, I get it, the door had been opened to make a more serious superhero movie. However, Hackman is enjoyable in the role playing it properly straight through this buffoonery. Also, don’t forget “Otisburg”. Otisburg….
Christopher Reeve became a big star and household name from this series. He also became terribly typecast. However, is that because the character dominated the actor or the actor didn’t have much else to him? While he plays a cute dupetydoo Clark Kent his acting skills leave a bit to be desired. This lack will not affect your kids at all. At all…
So a movie that is going to appeal to kids probably doesn’t need the interview with Lois Lane scene where she is asking what color her panties are. Am I right? Maybe I’m being a fuddy duddy. I know, I know, the kids won’t even understand the jokes. They won’t understand that when Lois slips up on a question asking Superman how “big” he is instead of how “tall” he is that she really is talking about his… BUT I KNOW what she meant!
All ends happy and the kids were happy. Finally they got to see the original Superman and another celluloid milestone has been crossed. I found that it didn’t hold the magic it did when I was a kid. I wanted to really really like Christopher Reeves but he just felt really flat. I wanted to say “See kids when they made superhero movies the right way without all the… uh..” but I couldn’t. They were far from disappointed but I felt it was just a little long in the tooth.
Mom says : It’s a little long in the tooth.
Best Guess: 8+ (sexy jokes and gender stereotypes)
Grown Up Score: B-
Kids Grade : It was great!