Directed by Richard Donner, Superman: The Movie was not only the
definitive film about the Man Of Steel, but it was one of the best--if not the
best--superhero films ever made. When he came onto the project, Donner threw
away all the campy, joke-ridden scripts and treated Superman’s story straight.
He demanded verisimilitude, or truthfulness, from all of the production
departments, as well as from the script itself, and the result is a movie that
is pure gold. An instant box office smash at the time of its release, Superman
became the standard by which all future superhero films have been measured
against.
Chronicling Superman’s origins from back when he was an infant, whose parents
placed him in a starship to escape the destruction of his home planet Krypton,
little Kal-El is sent to Earth, where his dense molecular structure is amplified
by the yellow sun into god-like superpowers. The first truly awe-inspiring
moment for me in this film is when Ma and Pa Kent find the little boy in his
crashed spaceship. They’re about to take him back with them, but their pick up
truck suffers a flat tire. While in the midst of changing it, Pa Kent just
barely escapes when the jack gives out and the truck falls to the ground. Little
Kal-El promptly lifts the truck back up and holds it there without any effort on
his part.
This moment is not only very funny, but it’s remarkable in how it depicts
Superman’s strength. If he’s strong enough to lift a truck as a toddler, then
how powerful will he be as an adult? We find out as the film flashes forward to
Clark Kent’s high school years, and we see his frustration at not being able to
show off his powers to his friends. The scene where Pa Kent (superbly played by
the late Glenn Ford) tells Clark that "you are here for a reason", and that it’s
not to score touchdowns in football games, is another iconic moment for me.
Clark’s powers have already been established, but now his future destiny has
been laid out for him.
After a tutorial with Jor-El in the newly built Fortress Of Solitude, the action
shifts to the gritty streets of Metropolis--New York City gives a fine
performance as this fictional burg, and placing the fantasy of Superman within
this harsh urban realism is another stroke of genius for the film, for it lends
the story overall some much-needed credence. Once you see Superman soaring
through the canyons of buildings, you not only believe that a man can fly, but
you fully believe the story overall. Even the comical, (and sometimes over the
top) performances by Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty as Lex Luthor and his henchman
Otis can not shake the solid foundations upon which Donner has placed his film
on, as Superman must contend with an epic land-grab scheme with a diabolical
twist that only Lex Luthor could dream up.
Superman was a star-making role for actor Christopher Reeve, and it’s easy to
see why, for he was natural in both roles as Clark Kent and the Man Of Steel.
Margo Kidder embodied the street-wise sass needed for Lois Lane, and Gene
Hackman was truly enjoyable as Luthor. Marlon Brando was famously hired for the
then-unheard of sum of 14 million dollars to play Jor-El, Superman’s father, and
it turned out to be a wise choice. It was also a wise choice to allow Donner to
go back and restore several scenes for the 2000 DVD release of the film. If only
he were able to finish Superman II as he originally meant to.
--SF
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