Superman

When I started this endeavour of rewatching all the Batman and Superman movies prior to the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, this is the one I was looking forward to watching again the most. I just can't help but adore every bit of 1978's Superman. It may be too campy or too silly for some, but for me it is just the perfect Superman movie. 

The film begins at the very beginning, with Jor-El (played by Marlon Brando) placing his infant son in a specially built rocket ship designed to carry his son away from his doomed home planet of Krypton and across the galaxy to Earth. Upon his arrival there, his ship's crashing is witnessed by Jonathan and Martha Kent (played by Glenn Ford and Phyllis Thaxter), who take him in as their own son, Clark Kent. We then flash forward to Clark as a teen (played by Jeff East), who is having trouble finding a place in the world. His world is rocked when his father suddenly dies of a heart attack. Some time after that, he leaves his home, after making sure his mother will be looked after of course, and heads North to the Arctic. Using a special crystal packed in the ship by his father Jor-El (all Kryptonian technology is crystal based somehow. Whatever, it looks cool), He is able to create a piece of Krypton on Earth in a large structure dubbed his Fortress of Solitude. There, contained in a several crystals, are a series of recordings by Jor-El to his son. Clark remains there for several years as he learns from his father about both Krypton and Earth until he emerges as an adult (played by Christopher Reeve).    

Arriving in Metropolis, Clark lands a new job the newspaper The Daily Planet and has his first encounters with Lois Lane (played by Margot Kidder), Jimmy Olsen (played by Marc McClure) and Perry White (played by Jackie Cooper). He strikes up a friendship with Lois as he deals with life in the big city for the first time. One night, Lois is supposed to take the Planet's helicopter on a quick ride to Metropolis airport to meet Air Force One. A freak accident just after taking off leaves the helicopter spiraling out of control before becoming perched precariously on the edge of the roof of the Daily Planet. Clark witnesses this from the ground and finally debuts himself to the world as Superman for the first time, saving Lois as she falls in an impressive mid-air catch and then moments later, catches the plummeting helicopter as well. Meanwhile, 200 feet below Metropolis is the scheming criminal mastermind Lex Luthor (played by Gene Hackman), taking residence in an abandoned subway station. Joining him are his faithful assistants Miss Teschmacher (played by Valerie Perrine) and the dimwitted but lovable Otis (played by Ned Beatty). He plotting the absolutely diabolical Crime of the Century. He intends to detonate a nuclear warhead square in the middle of the San Andreas fault, causing a massive earthquake and sending much of California into the sea and make his recently purchased, previously worthless, land much higher valued beach front property. He also has a second missile heading in the opposite direction, surmising that this newfound Superman won't possibly be able to stop both. It will be Superman's biggest challenge yet to manage to thwart Lex's scheme and keep California from being completely destroyed. 

There is something very charming about the first Superman movie to me. Director Richard Donner had a lot reverence for the source comics and the character as a whole and worked tirelessly to capture that on film with script writer Tom Mankiewicz, who was reworking previous scripts written by Mario Puzo and then later re-written by David and Leslie Newman. You can tell the filmmakers absolutely loved the characters and were having a great deal of fun bringing it all to the screen in a grand style. The film is brimming with fantastic action, brilliant special effects (and the ways they pulled them off, such as young Clark outrunning a passenger train are fascinating in their own right). All of this is capped off with the iconic score by John Williams, whose opening march may just be my favorite of all his compositions. 

The cast for the film is amazing. Christopher Reeve, who was unknown at the time, makes the role of Superman his own and was probably the role he will always be best known for. Gene Hackman makes a fantastic Lex Luthor and is clearly enjoying every minute of it, spouting off one-liner after one-liner as he has to deal with the screw-ups of the dimwitted Otis. He may even be my favorite Lex Luthor. Hackman just creates such a colorful character. Yes, he's a heartless psychopath, but there is just something endlessly amusing for me with the interplay between him and Ned Beatty as Otis as poor Miss Teschmacher looks on. Margot Kidder makes for a great Lois Lane as well, perfectly capturing the strong willed, independent and at times wreckless reporter who is willing to do whatever it takes to get the story. Although, her spelling skills are a bit dodgy, asking Jimmy in the space of a few minutes how to spell bloodletting, massacre and then further corrected by Perry that there is only one 'P' in rapist (Geez, Lois, what kind of horror story are you covering?!). Marlon Brando is decent as Jor-El, although he made no secret he took the role for the money alone and seems oddly sedate through the role. He works well, for the most part but it was never one that blew me away. 

Overall, I would call Superman a true classic. It has adventure, fantasy and a healthy dose of humor (the last one being something that seems to be bordering on verboten in today's DC Comic's films, which is a shame). It's a film that was made in the style of the classic Hollywood epics and with a lot of love for it's main character and the legacy he has had in our culture. It's a film that has never failed to put a smile on my face and what can I say, I just love every minute of it.