Superman (1978)

There had been serials, radio and television shows and a whole variety of adaptations of Superman for public consumption for decades before Warner Bros. decided to throw a huge budget, a known director and a number of major stars at the first major superhero film.  Superman had debuted in 1939 in Action Comics and from early on was a major presence on both the large screen and in radio serials, fighting for truth, justice and the American way. 

Richard Donner, unlike directors like Tim Burton, Bryan Singer and many of the others that took over doing the Marvel and DC movies in the 1990s, had no illusions about what he was hired to do.  He was to bring a popular children's comic series to the big screen and compete with the likes of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg for the viewing public.  Newcomer Christopher Reeve certainly looked the part, Margot Kidder was an up-and-coming star and the powers that be even managed to wrangle Marlon Brando for the role of Jor-El, Superman's father.  So confident they were that a large part of Superman II was filmed at the same time, with a teaser of that movie's plot at the beginning.

The gamble paid off.  The movie went over budget, Richard Donner was fired, much of the sequel reshot (and then later reassembled) and the Warner Bros. shenanigans that would plague the D.C. Cinematic Universe decades later was already apparent.  Despite all this Superman became the blueprint for future superhero films, even if they became more serious as time went on.

Jor-El, a member of the Krypton's ruling council, informs his colleagues that the planet will explode within the next 30 days.  They disagree and forbid him from disseminating this knowledge.  With nothing else to do to ensure the survival of his people he places his son Kal-El (Lee Quigley) into a ship and sends him to live on Earth.  After three years of travel at faster than light speeds - thousands of years in normal time - he arrives on our planet and is adopted by Ma (Phyllis Thaxter) and Pa Kent (Glenn Ford) and raised in Smallville, Kansas.  Because they are afraid of what may happen if the government or others find out about the true nature of their son, whom they have named Clark Kent (Jeff East), they encourage him to hide his powers.  When Pa Kent dies and Clark turns 18 the shuttle he arrived in activates and he is called to travel to the Arctic.

Near the North Pole he uses a crystal to construct a Fortress of Solitude, in which recordings from his father teach him about the history of various galaxies and his place within them.  Emerging seven years later he travels to the city of Metropolis, getting a job as a reporter at The Daily Planet and befriending Lois Lane (Kidder) and Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure).  Soon he is forced to reveal himself to the world in order to rescue Lane and becomes a sensation in Metropolis.  He also is noticed by criminal mastermind Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), who with his henchman Otis (Ned Beatty) hatches a plan to get Superman out of the way before he can interfere with a long-festering real estate scheme that involves firing a nuclear missile into the San Andreas Fault.  

Superman is over-the-top in many ways.  For instance, it is nearly two and a half hours, features a number of elaborate (and, to modern eyes, quite dated) sets and tries its best to represent the character as he is in the comics.  This means Lex Luthor is as much comic relief as he is villain while Superman is an invincible goody-two-shoes.  Most people find the beginning a bit slow, but I find the movie at its best prior to reaching Metropolis.  Kidder was miscast as Lane and there doesn't seem to be any real attraction between Superman and her.  Despite this Reeve is still the best actor to ever play the role.  He looks similar to how the character is drawn in the comic books and, unlike Brando and Hackman, doesn't treat this movie as if he is slumming. 

The problems with this film are many.  Despite Lex Luthor's bloviating he and Otis are easily brought to justice at the end, and this is after a terrible deus-ex-machina sequence.  While the comic over the years made up more powers - he went from leaping tall buildings to full-on flying, and Kryptonite was a late introduction in order to make him vulnerable when the plot called for it - Superman feels like playing a game with a five-year-old that keeps making up more rules to avoid being killed.  The way he ultimately saves Lois Lane is one of the worst things ever conceived and I can't believe it ever got out of draft stage. 

I have always liked Superman II much better as it has real villains that are the equal of the main character and by then Kidder and Reeve had some real chemistry.  Not every superhero movie has to be as grim and dark as many that are made now but it helps to at least build a believable universe, something the first movie, despite its ambitions, failed to do.  

Superman (1978)

Time: 143 minutes

Starring: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando

Director: Richard Donner